TheGooseWhisperer

bummer...must me frustrating to be hung up on just a couple of items like that. Speaking of PVC I was at Home Depot a couple days ago and went to check out the PVC selection. I couldn't find any bulkheads...where do yall get them from? That frogspawn is pretty nice:)

just curious... If the RBTA is splitting off the one in that tank shot...how do you get it off the rock? When it splits does it go wandering off for a few days and give you chance to catch it? Do you peal it off the rock or do you do the "flip the rock over ontop of it and wait for it to crawl out from underneath method"? BTW, I really like the aquascaping in your tank!

I have the 150W 20k XM on my tank, but since its the first time i've had a halide I have nothing to compare it too. After reading that article, I'm curious what the "HQI" thing is all about? My ballast is a 175W Icecap...would that be or not be an HQI? It doesnt say it is so i'm guessing its not.

Thanks for posting that...not cuz I want to buy one, but because it gave me the right idea for making my own:p I wanted to put a small one in the back of my display tank and was trying to figure out how to hang it w/o doing something dumb like using a coat hanger:p I'm going to use a strip of eggcrate super glued to the frag platform and then just leave 3 sides of the box on the other end to hang it on the edge of the tank.

Sorry to hear that happen...if i would have come across your post 2 hours earlier I would have busted my butt over to the airport to get them for you. Enough animals die in this hobby from accidents and mishaps...its really a shame to have more suffer in this way :(

I'm a self serve person. Its annoying to have to wait in addition to the dripping issues as mentioned above. 2 other recent occurrences at the pump for me.... First- Some stupid kid that insisted on sticking his hand in the car to pet my dog even after she growled at him. She's a pit mix too and looks the part. I flatly told him that if he gets bit its his own [language filter] fault and he deserves it. Second- Some lazy punk who couldn't stand up on his own and needed to lean on the pump handle while it was in the tank. On the flip side though these 2 individuals would most likely be on some sort of state assistance if it wasn't for full-serve so I guess it all comes out in the wash.

I guess this explains why I could not find the mantis shrimp in the tank at Waves when I was there yesterday! I had never seen one in person and was lookin in the tank for sometime trying to find it...little did I know he was already nice and cozy in his new home:) Thats a really neat tank! What is the fuge light you used? I'm lookin for something for a DIY HOB fuge and haven't found anything I'm happy with yet.

So looks like I cant make this after all and now that i've seen those acan's i'm way more bummed about it (sad) My wife has a conference out of town and I need to keep an eye on the little one. With the time of the frag party and the 2 hr drive it would be way past her bedtime. Oh well, maybe the next one:) Is someone still planning on recording some demos? I would very much want a copy. Perhaps I could mail someone 5 or 10 blank DVDs in exchange for a copy?

I was pokin around lookin for some zoas and came across an online dealer that has lots of colorful varieties. I was getting pretty interested when I came across the following picture: The color is way too saturated not to be doctored up by something like photoshop. So that got me wondering, to what extent have the rest of the images been altered? I was wondering what you all think of these. I'm especially hoping to hear from some folks who own these varieties... bloodbath enchanted meadow/magma cone caldera

OK lemme see if i can get some pics posted now... FTS Aug 2008 (you can sorta see the Potter's angel between the red shrooms and Lucy's Gooses) Lucy's Gooses zoas (no ID on zoaid.com so I just made that up) Red Shrooms with a yellow sponge nearby. The largest shroom is about 4 inches across Watchman goby holdin' down his turf Frogspawn- purple with green and purple buttons (just a few purple ones...you probably cant make them out from this shot). 2 branches Eagle eyes and Sprite (no ID on zoaid.com so I just made that up) The cleaner shrimp was hiding and yes, I know the glass is dirty...I'm trying to hold off on cleaning it too much to make sure the Potter's has plenty to graze on. Since pics were taken my female clown and yellow clown goby have died (ich):( and I added some palys that I havent snapped a pic of yet. If the paly's color up a bit they will look very similar to "Lord of the Rings". They have the grey speckled skirt (or should I say ash and pewter:p), and pink rim, but the mouth doesnt have much color atm. They were under pretty weak lighting at the LFS so I'm hoping to see them come to life a bit more under MH. And yes I know my pics arent that great. I cut the file sizes way down and my camera isnt too hot either:p

I just went for the first time last weekend. My wife got a one-day guided trip on the Deschutes from a charity auction. I've never fly fished prior to this, but a buddy of mine that went too has been into it pretty heavy for about a year now. We put in a Beavertail and floated down...unfortunately due to my schedule we had to go on a Sunday so it was a bit of a mob scene:( I really enjoyed the experience overall, but later in the day when I was trying to do the "snap-T" cast on a spay rod I was about ready to snap the pole over my knee and chuck it down river:p I will definitely go again, but I'll stick with trout fly/nymphing for now...it would be nice to feel like I actually had a *chance* of getting a bite lol. BTW we check with a ranger as we were driving out and there were only 3 steelhead landed the whole day from the stretch of river we were on...and they were all w/ gear, so on top of being a total noob I just didnt have a chance to begin with:(

ZOMG I was just looking at these posts on my way to starting a "Please ID this fish" thread with a pic. I did a google image search to see what a watchman goby looks like and low and behold...this is my previously unidentified fish:) Thanks for the help w/ ID. I think I got a steal on it...the person selling it to me didnt know what it was and sold it as a yellow clown goby due to the color. I knew it wasnt right, but he didnt seem to care...so why should I. *shrug*

I dont have one of these guys, but I always love watching them swim around in display tanks at fish stores. I also like the juvi dragon wrasses:) Nice pics!

I'm on the verge of buying some frag plugs from a seller on Ebay. I dont like the standard circle/plug shapes and there is a seller (sorry, I lost my stickie note with the name and dont want to take the time to find the name atm) that offers some that look more like rubble...shaped kinda like a large jelly/kidney bean. Would any of you be interested in making and curing 20-50 frag mounts and selling them? I'm still a probationary member at this point so I don't think i can get PMs yet...

I have about an inch of crushed coral on the bottom of my tank (29g w/ ~30lb LR) and I'm starting to get detritus build up in hard to reach places. I cant get into most of the spots and gravel vac it during WCs so I've been relying on using a turkey baster or fanning it with my hand to get it kicked up in to the water and then let my MJ900/1200 run w/ sponge prefilters for a bit and then rise them out. The tank looks like a snowstorm when I do this and I'm afraid its going to coat the rocks/corals as it builds up more and more. From what i've seen people usually have sand and rely on sand sifting critters...not sure what the best way to control the build up is and I would appreciate some advise.

Just testing out posting a tank shot...if this works i'll add more soon.

So things took a bad turn for me yesterday. My YCG has ick now and the clowns look a little worse. Its really hard to see, but it looks like both clowns have a small nip/tear in one of their swimming fins (i cant recall the proper name atm...I know pectoral, dorsal, tail, but cant think of the name for those). I want to get them in a QT, but I doubt I'll ever catch the YCG and it would be nice to just get the tank treated so i dont have to worry about future outbreaks. I guess I'll get the Ruby Reef and try it out. If anyone has experience with this product I would really appreciate a PM. Thanks.

I'm in the throws of an ick battle atm. My green clown goby had a massive outbreak and died in a couple days. I thought I would be OK, but then my female perc started showing signs. It has now spread to the male perc, but the yellow clown goby and Potter's angle are doing OK. I'm not worried about the Potter's because it regularly accepts cleanings from the cleaner shrimp. The clowns tend to not let the cleaner shrimp near them although this morning I was delighted to see the male giving the shrimp a ride for a few seconds. Anyway, I started using garlic soaked formula 1 (12-24hr soaks) for feedings and have actually increased my feedings at this point and also started adding Tropical Science Marine-Max Disease Prevention & Life Extension System. Its a 2 part mix of probiotics and antioxidants. I have a 29g (w/ 25g of actual water) and I added 3 tablespoons of each the first day and then 1 tablespoon of each every other day. The bottle ran about $20 bucks at the LFS. I'm about 10 days in now and the female clown actually looks to be improving this morning. I'll keep you posted, but so far so good. *keeps fingers crossed*

Hi everyone! I'm really excited to come across this society:) My experience w/ aquariums started in college with a 29g eclipse FOWLR that somehow spawned a 30g FW planted tank. I soon realized the limitations of the eclipse setup for SW and switched to a 20L w/ PC lighting and went the "semi-reef" road (probably had 10lb LR and a few softies). I had a CPR bakpak (this was back in the days that bio-balls were all the rage:p) on it and it did pretty well for a long time despite my painful lack of knowledge. The tank survived a move from Sacramento to San Diego in the back of a U-Haul truck in 5g buckets with the lids snapped on tight and no circulation (like i said..."painful lack of knowledge"). About this time the eclipse 6 system came out and I got the dumb idea of doing a kitchen tank with about 2lb LR, a crab that hitched a ride in on the rock and a yellow clown goby. The YCG never died in the 10 mo. I had the tank, but it sure was ugly! My next move was from San Diego to Connecticut, so I cleaned out the eclipse and turned it into freshwater for my mom and broke down the SW tank and sold it off. I was in CT for grad school so there was no time or money for an aquarium so I took a few years off from the hobby. After relocating to Portland (one of the best decisions I have ever made!), my wife got me a 29g glass tank and stand for my birthday and said "go for it!". I immediately wanted to do saltwater and after thinking about it for awhile settled on doing an anemone/clown tank. My past experience was a bumpy road of misinformation and huge algae growth so this time I buckled down and did my research. I poured over wet web media for a few weeks and decided to go with BTA(s) and MH/VHO lighting. The lighting was probably going to be overkill on a tank this small, but I figured it was worth it to spend a little more now to keep the anemones happy and leave the possibilities for expansion and corals later. I'm pretty handy, but with an infant at home, my wife and I working full-time and a new home that still needed some things done I had Isaac at Seahorse put together a custom canopy for me. The canopy houses a 150W 20k MH, 2x 24" VHO actinics, 2 cooling fans, has a door in front and is open in back. I bought a 250W Ice Cap ballast and had the VHOs wired to a single ballast, both for future expansion capability. Circulation comes from a MJ900 and MJ1200 on a wave-maker power supply. I got a Remora C HOB skimmer (very happy with this!) and run some ChemiPur in the whisper HOB that came with the tank. I know the ChemiPur isnt doing much just sitting in the whisper because the water is not getting forces through it...I flip the bag over and stir it up every couple of days though so I still figure its better than nothing. I also toss a few spoonfuls of Kent phosphate sponge in once a week or so over-night. I put down about an inch of crushed coral substrate on the bottom and added about 30 lbs of sumatra LR. It was fresh out of the box from the over-seas supplier so this gave my tank one heck of a cycle! I checked the ammonia levels daily and it was off the color charts for almost 2 full weeks! By the time the ammonia and nitrite levels were stable at zero the nitrates were in the 100-150 range and still rising. Somewhere in there the canopy got finished and I switched it on to kick in the algae bloom, only running the MH for 3-4 hrs and the actinics for about 5-6 hrs per day. The diatom bloom was pretty weak and gave way to green algae in only about a week. I was doing big WC's every few days and when the nitrates got down around 50ppm I added a small CUC (about 4 small snails and 5 blue/red legged hermits) and started looking for fish. I started w/ a yellow clown goby, green clown goby, scooter dragonette and another unidentified goby (elongated dirty yellow body w/ blue gem spots...he's finally coming out of his little cave after not eating for the first few weeks so I'll try to get a pic posted). The scooter was a noob move...I had one before in SD that ate pretty much everything I put in the tank, but I guess I got really lucky with that one. Now I know they tend to be picky eaters and should be treated like other dragonettes...my tank was way too small and immature for him and by the time I tried to catch him to give to a LFS that could care for him properly he was dead:( A little later I increased the CUC a bit with a couple more snails and added a cleaner shrimp. Nitrates were down around 20ppm and at this point I added a few frags of some shrooms (red, green striped and green spotted), a small yellow sponge about the size of a dime and a pair of perc. clowns. One of the red shrooms is over 3 inches across now and I'm thinking about taking a razor blade to it, just to see if I can successfully split it. I was still wanting to do an anemone tank so the last fish I wanted to add was a dwarf angle. I didnt want to do a coral beauty or a flame angle and after looking around a bit I settled on a Potter's (absolutely love this fish!). The Potter's is very active, but I'm getting a little concerned about him. When I first got it there was lots of algae still growing in the tank and it was getting plenty to eat from grazing. Now the algae growth is pretty minimal and it still hasnt started eating formula 1. A few days ago it was feeding on cyclopeeze, but I'm afraid thats a pretty small food for that size fish. I'm keeping an eye on him, but I would like to hear what other think about this fella... I've got the MH running about 8 hrs and the VHOs running about 12 hrs a day now and nitrates are hanging around in the 0-2.5ppm range. I've added 3 varieties of zoa's: eagle eyes/wammin watermelon (i cant tell the difference) and 2 unidentified's (i dont see anything that matches them on zoaid.com): the first has a green skirt with yellow center and green mouth (I call them "Sprite") and the second has an orange skirt with thin blue center, orange mouth and white speckles (I call them "Lucy's Gooses"). I'd like to start fraggin these soon and trade around for some other varieties. Ultimately, I'd like to have a nice zoa garden in the tank with 10-15 varieties. After hearing enough stories of BTAs "going for a walk" in peoples tanks and seeing enough really cool corals that I can keep with the MH/VHOs I've dropped the idea of keeping anemones. I was a little nervous about making my first coral purchase (still feeling very much like a noob), but decided to go for it and picked up 2 heads of a branching frogspawn, purple with a mix of green and purple buttons. It fit in perfectly and right now is competing with the Potter's as the tank's "centerpiece". So that brings us to the present. Next coral I am thinking about adding is a torch coral. I would love to see the clowns hosting in a coral and from what I've heard frogspawn and torch are the most common although I know its not a given and may never happen. I'm also looking for more zoa varieties, but I dont think I am going to buy any...I'll see how fragging/trading goes first. I also lack a fuge/sump on this tank so I want to do the DIY AC70 HOB 'fuge mod that is popular on nanoreefs to grow some chaeto in. I'm just trying to decide on how I want to do the lighting for this and I'll get started on that little project. I was thinking of getting a lampkit at the hardware store for the socket/plug and using a screwtype 8-13W CP 6500K bulb and making a small "hood" out of either ABS, expanded PVC or sheetmetal. I want to do sheet metal because I think I can make a nice box, but I lack the equipment to drill a hole in metal for the socket. With ABS or expanded PVC a wood spade will make the whole, but I have minimal experience melting, bending and gluing these materials. Umm, I'm guessing thats enough for now...see yall around the boards and hopefully at a get together soon:)

Hey everyone...first post here. I've just started stocking a 29gal...got 4 varieties of shrooms, zoas and a frogspawn atm (running 150W 20k MH and 2x 24" VHO actinics). A sweet acan frag would be an awesome addition. I've got a red shroom that is 3" across and would like to see someone split it just for the experience. Plus I really want to learn how to frag my zoas and hopefully do some trading. I only have 3 varieties atm (eagle eyes and 2 other unidentifieds: green skirt w/ yellow and green center (I call them Sprite); and Orange skirt w/ blue/orange center and white speckles(Lucy's Gooses)). Eagle eyes and Sprite are set for a few small frags, but Lucy's Gooses went skipping across a concrete floor when they got frag'd at the LFS so they are still recovering atm...maybe in a few weeks they'll be ready. I'm hoping to get 10 or 15 cool varieties for a nice zoa garden in the 29g and eventually do a desktop pico zoa tank. Anyway, I know it would be a bit of a drive for me, but hands on experience from some pros would be way too valuable to pass up. I'd be down for contributing financially and my preference would be acan>zoa, but either would be cool with me. Reef food and anything else would be cool to see, but I dont really have the livestock atm to need it, but tossing another 5-10 bucks into the pot prolly wouldn't hurt the checking account too much. And since I plan on being active on the forums I'll just admit it now: My grammar sucks. I'll try not to drown you in my stream-of-consciousness writing:p