racefan

I'm finally going to be able to make one!

I was impressed with how he packaged my snails. They were in a bag like if I had just walked out of a LFS! I have ordered snails via snail mail before(sorry I could not resist that lame attempt at humorDOH!) & they were packaged in a wet paper towel in a zip lock baggie. Good guy to deal with for sure.

I'm setting up a RO/DI unit & the directions say to flush the membrane for 15 to 30 minutes. Do you flush it BEFORE you install it in the housing? if so how?

I got the parts I needed for plumbing it yesterday. Hopefully get it hooked up this weekend. Ben's truck is still in the shop.

If you let them set to long the bottles will explode from what I'm told. I've always wanted to put some in a glass bottle,leave it outside & see how big it goes:D

Here's the recipe I use. There is also a place on Mill Plain & Grand in Vancouver. Bader Brewing I believe it's called. I went there Sat. & got a 24 gallon food grade plastic bucket with a lid for mixing salt water & they have home made root beer on tap. The guy also set me up with a extract I have not tried before that he says is real close to A&W root beer. I went to this web site & ordered a kit(probably could have gotten it cheaper from some place like Bader, but did not know of them at the time)http://www.leeners.com/rootbeer.html It's REALLY easy to make. I still want to try making sugar free some time. New plastic PET soda bottles need to be soaked in a solution of Straight A Cleanser prior to being used the first time. Mix 1 tablespoon of Straight A with one gallon of hot water and submerge the bottles. Let them soak over night. Rinse well with hot water. This will remove the new plastic character that these bottles can impart to your root beer. Recipe for one gallon. Please read instructions before starting. # Equipment Mixing Spoon # 6-8 Quart Sauce Pan # Kitchen Funnel # Measuring spoons & cup # 2-3 gallon Pail # Unscented Bleach # A clean one gallon plastic milk jug # 8-16 oz. PET Beer bottles # Ingredients 1 Cup White Table Sugar # 1½ Cup Dark Brown Sugar # 2 tablespoons Malto Dextrin # 1 tablespoon Root Beer Extract # ¼ teaspoon Champagne Yeast # 1 Gallon of Cold Water # Clean all equipment with soap and water. Rinse very well. # Prepare a sanitizing solution in a clean utility pail by mixing 2 teaspoons of unscented bleach with 2 gallons of cold water. Soak all equipment including bottles and caps in this solution for at least 10 minutes. Remove your equipment and rinse it well with hot water. # Fill a one gallon container with cold water. Now remove 1 cup of water from the jug and discard it. All of the water required for the recipe is now in the gallon container. Measuring the water in this way will save time and prevent you from adding to much or to little water later. # Place 4 cups of water from the container into a sauce pan and begin to heat it. It is not necessary to bring the water to a boil. Heating this small amount of water will help dissolve the sugars and will make a better soft drink. # Add the white sugar, brown sugar and malto dextrin to the sauce pan and stir until the sugars are completely dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved turn off the heat. # Add 1 tablespoon of Root Beer Extract to the sauce pan and stir it in. # Add the remaining water to the sauce pan and stir well. Check the temperature of the mixture by carefully touching the outside of the pan. It should be cool to slightly warm. It may be necessary to allow the pan to sit covered for a short time in order to cool. # Open the packet of champagne yeast by cutting off a corner. Measure out ¼ teaspoon of yeast and add it to the sauce pan. Close the yeast packet by folding over the open corner and sealing it with tape. Store the remaining yeast in the refrigerator for the next batch. # Stir the sauce pan until the yeast is completely dissolved. You are now ready to bottle your root beer. Bottling the Root Beer Use a kitchen funnel to fill each bottle. Pour the root beer into the bottles so that there is about 1¼ inch of air space left in the neck of the bottle. Leaving to little air space will cause the root beer to remain flat. Leaving to much air space will cause the root beer to over carbonate and may cause the bottles to gush when opened or even explode. Fill the used plastic soda bottle in the same manner. Seal the bottles tightly and store them for 4 to 7 days at room temperature. This will allow the yeast to eat some of the sugar and carbonate the soft drink. You can check the carbonation by squeezing the plastic soda bottle. When it is hard, the soda is done and must be refrigerated. Allow the bottles to chill for at least 1 week prior to serving. The root beer will improve in flavor with time but it must be stored in the refrigerator. WARNING: We do not recommend that you use glass bottles for homemade soft drinks because of the risk of injury do to over carbonation.

I gotta get off my butt & make some:p

I prefer to make my own root beer.

I just went out & checked it. Cold water does seem to be devolving it! I tossed in a Rio 1400 pump in there to stir it up. Fingers crossed.

Mine averages between about 78-80

I got a barrel yesterday for my RO/DI water. The problem I have is it last had organic tapioca syrup in it. There is still residue left in it. I'd guess about a 1/4" or so on the bottom & a stream going up the side where they poured it out. It makes a ball of clear sugary syrupy blob when you scrape it out. The top is not a removable top. I cut 1/2 the top off so I could reach down in to tighten the bulkhead fitting for the faucet when I noticed the residue. Cold water does not seem to be doing anything to it. Anybody have any ideas of how to clean it out other than emptying the hot water heater into it?

I will check with my wife she is a teacher at St Helens school in Longview.

I Have a torch coral. It's about 3 3/12 inches tall. Anybody want to trade for it?

This morning I noticed the lid on my sons 45 gal tank was open & a couple of Nerite Snails went carpet surfing. I tossed the larger one back in & he was fine. I grabbed the smaller one(about the size of a dime) & dropped him in the tank. WELL... the flow from the powerhead caught it, pushed it straight to his anemoneDOH! that snail went right dead center ringer! The Anemone closed up on it like it was being target fed. I thought "it can't eat that" well it did. After that it hid under a rock & was shriveled up, I thought I'd killed it(scary) I think it maybe just took a bit of work to digest it? cause it's just fine & dandy now.

www.reefcleaners.org is cheaper & they only charge $7.00 shipping & if you order over $150.00 it's free. Plus they usually have some sort of freebie that they have a link to at the nanoreef site. They will make custom clean up crews for you also.

Chewie Where did you get the adapter in the bottom picture? I'm thinking I may want to feed my unit straight from a faucet also.

moovinfast I don't really have any trading stock, BUT, should you find yourself with snails to unload I would be more than happy to buy some from you.

I use the second one on my pool filter & about 4 or 5 on my Christmas lights. I got them all at Home Depot.

To make a short story long, the LFS in Longview just takes city tap water adds Prime to dechlorinate it & adds salt. I just bought a RO/DI unit & am going to start making my own salt water when I get it hooked up & going. What brand of salt do you use & why? Mike

I was searching craigslist today for food grade plastic barrels & came across this. Kind of spendy but it could be handy to have a faucet to fill water jugs. Come to think of it a 1/4 turn valve would work better. http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/grd/1367762901.html

What's the best way to remove it?

Is this Manjano? It's at the rear of my Green Star Polyps. One picture with lights on & GSP opened up & one with lights off & GSP closed up.

There's a lot of good stuff in there. I can't wait to get to the memory improvement section:D

I hate when people make me start thinking(laugh) BUT, come to think of it, a couple of weeks ago I was cutting a frag of my green star polyps for my sons tank & it was coming off in little bitty chunks. I reckon some floated about in the tank & took foot there.