new school

clowns you now i like these, are we in a race isaac? hahaha.....

tell ya what, i dont know mike but i heard from a friend, of a friend of mikes......and he was right........ ocean in a box is no joke. be warned, the selection is pretty real in that shop.

skimmer i purchased one of rubens skimmers of craigs list as it was a very close replica to the asm/octo..... i scooped the bubblemax 2500 for a quick try and its "ok". the build quality is good, but its performance in my sump is weak as im pumping 750 gal an hour thru my sump. the pump has continually given me problems. constantly freezing up everytime i unplug it, also seems as if the pump is not powerful enough. i would like to support a local nw builder for sure and ruben seems awfully nice, i too think this is commercial selling. to be honest, you can buy these skimmers at almost any store in the nw now, and for less then you are asking. it seems to me you are taxing the pnwmas members. i got the 6" bubblemax 2500 for 185.00 from "ruben" off craigs list. you want 295.00? what gives. either that or ruben may not be the nice guy he seems and is taxing you personally? am i in trouble? hope not, this post just seems like something isnt right and i will always speak on that.....years of bad experiences with shops and members off r.c. forces me to chime in here....

wow, smann, very, very, nice.... your aquascaping is fantastic and the growth is pretty serious as well. would like to see more-

seems i have accidentally erased some sentences of my reply. i bought a used 48" fixture from a member off r.c, its a finnex and non functional. i currently use this exact aquamedic and its very nice..... i was merely stating that the components in this are the best available, all german, not chinese. (sunlights nice but starters are chinese) a person could use all the parts in the aquamedic as a retrofit if they wanted too......i was offering a suggestion for garrettm85 on how to save money by just dismantling it and that i had some extra parts that are usuable if he would like em? i do apologize, for my miscommunication....my "mistake" guys.

you know,..... you can actually gut that thing super easy. it has everything you seem to be asking for, except its double ended, is that an issue? those ballast, and starters in it are the best german ones you can get. i dont think we can even buy the parts in the u.s. straight out.... i got ripped by "algblenny on a 48" fixture", after pulling it apart i have a bunch of sellable parts. i do have two re-wired working hqi ballasts along w double ended sockets, and reflectors if you might want. i still have all the fixture, in one form or another. hahahah... i am still debating on dropping it off at his house and collecting my 3 bills however. let me know if you can use any of it.

yes i was but i had to leave, i was called back into work for an employee disaster, my girlfriend at the time tori, stayed and hung out. the next eve dwight met me at waves and talked about the meet. i used to drive the lil red civic and crx. that house of dwights still sticks in my mind. wow, his aquarium was off he hook too! you ever hear or talk with him? we were sup to go visit and stay with him up north but after i shut down my tank and was in vegas for a few years i lost touch with him. he was there with trav and i when the whole oregon torte came about....if you know how to get in touch with him it would be greatly appreciated.

krux and garrettm85 are on the money with this. copper at these levels most likely will not test out. poly filter may take a while to show if the levels are super, super low but will work perfectly for this. this "is" your test kit, unfortunately. i know how frustrating this can be. anything related to the original purchase or use in this aquarium like rocks, sand, tubing, or plastic, pumps, powerheads, and filters should be tossed. they are made of porous material. the (once live) rock works similar to carbon and other medias (carbon,phosphate,nitrate cuprisorb), this porous media is able to capture metals and toxins down to microns for removal, this is how/why live rock cultivates our boilogical (good bacterial) filter bed that we need to establish in our aquariums.... when i was younger and worked in aquarium ind. we would NEVER use aquariums that had copper in them at any point in time for our inverts or coral tanks. this shop will also have known this. basic retail industry knowledge. you obviously have a problem with this store? i once had a spare used glass tank, it gave me the exact same problems. animals crawling out of their shells, moving slow, and corals not opening or worse, dying and melting on intro. if your aquarium silicone is no longer clear and has a light colored tint its from metal. it will retain and release it over time. light yellow or brown. lf blue, green, or pink its from other meds and will not cause any issues to you. on a positive note your water is fantastic, well water or spring water is perfect for aquariums unless man has damaged it with runoff from a toxic dump site? do use carbon and phosphate remover for safety. next the algae and diatoms are a positive sign, studies have shown these will absorb metals albeit on a smaller scale, like hemp plants are used specifically to absorb toxins from a nuclear accident. google chernobyl and hemp....and... diatom/algae absorption of oil spills in the ocean. i hope this helps and dont discourage you. sounds like everything you are doing is absolutely well done. i just pulled 3 rocks, about 10lbs from my tank im letting dry. you can have it if it will help after you solve your problem. im in vancouver as well.

yeah, i first met shawn right before he started building that store, i worked for car toys at the time and did trade out with him on a stereo sys for his truck, we got to be what i felt was pretty good friends, went to his wedding, we used to grab lunch next store too... cold water steve, and james (envision) used come hang, do biz, and many, many others. i loved it, first time i ever saw super glue used for frags, to be honest it was the first time i ever seen fragging in his shop.. met rick and tom at soutas when i was 17. same with gateway bob. travis and his pop at upscales when i moved back from cali in 94 "got to be decent friends too". over at bobs we would fill that garage and wait like coyotes while he unpacked his boxes. he finally started letting us pick outta the box (naughty), let me tell you it was different then, zoos had NO name, were 20.00 on a rock for as many as you would care to count, all lps 25-35.00 bones and acros were just becoming keepable.....starting around 17-25.00 a med size head, competition was fierce then. i remember battling with dwight guss over what acros we took turns picking.(clap) travis was absolutely light years ahead of people in the industry. rick had his garage and was "starting" to collect acros. my first calc reactor was a "custom" that was terrible...... anyhow, im very glad to be collecting again but wow have prices changed.... i remember seeing very few chalices and acan,s come thru, mostly bleached and no one wanted em at all!!! thats a small walk down memory lane(rock2) thanks members, wil.

whats going on all, gonna start this off by telling you i have been keeping aquaria of some type since i was a kid. first saltwater i remember was in middle school, first reef was high school. worked a couple pet/aquarium shops during high school. car audio for many years, and still privately. my wonderful girlfriend found trav's tank at upscales amazing when i stopped to say hi and b.s.......now "we" have since setup my last 120. her name is alex, mines will.... for years i was a regular face around here, back in the day i used to shop at upscales, soutas, and gateway bobs, (wonderful gentleman he was). also waves when shawn owned it, shortly afterward during a new home purchase. i, for very disappointing reasons, took a break from the hobby. i feel as if technology has advanced so well that i will do the same..... just call me new school, (laugh) i want to let you know i didnt really have a build thread, but ima load some tank, sump, flow, aqua scape and livestock pics this week in the members tanks area. we also wanted to say thank you to travis and tom at upscales for the friendship over the years, also thank you to isaac at seahorse for breaking me off some knowledge and giving me some support as well. plus nick at rose city for some smooth deals. i find myself enjoying the very clean japanese design and modern style of the european aquariums so much that i followed similar principals. now if i could only throw in some "weed and feed" to get this thing growing..... more to come soon. thanks, will and alex.

matt hopper yep, he ripped me off personally, i signed up with reef central about a 3 months ago and purchased a 48" finnex 250 hqi fixture. he advertised it was nice and a single wire needed repair for the t-5's to work. a good picture was posted..... i paid him...... what i got? a completely non functioning unit. NONE of it worked and could have never worked when sent. the wires and switches were melted fans corroded and it sits in my garage collecting dust. since then i have been weary of any boards, this dude had a good rep..... actually a fantastic rep on r.c. got me for about 3 bills. i still have the actual reefready labels from the box, his cell number and multiple addresses. im saving it, next time i visit my family in the bay ima stop in since he is avoiding me...... wanna see it? there is a whole slew of individuals that he ripped on his final sale post.... look in seller feedback on r.c. not purchased off ebay and he closed his paypal,....... i was told, sorry sir. what a joke. my first ever purchase off any boards and i got ripped by a respected seller.... this is my first actual reply on this board to by the way.... watch out for this cat. definitely on his way out.....