Rick

My guess is high phosphates.

The best thing to do is to replace the offending equipment and install a GFCI outlet. All a grounding probe will do is insure that any short that exists has a direct path to ground. In the event that the short is only on the positive side it will create a situation where a person can be shocked that otherwise may not exist. If you do use a grounding probe (I will not use them) then it is extremely important for safety that you also have a properly installed GFCI outlet.

The only concern would be to make sure the wire and controller will carry enough amperage to cover all of the lights. It's doubtful that it will be an issue though as the wires are generally way overkill already.

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Locations showed up for awhile today and has again disappeared?

Not sure yet. Need to get a better look at the front dorsal before I can make a guess. (It's folded down in all of the pics I can find)

Great pics. For the equipment used these are really good.

LOL, I considered sorting through these pictures on my memory card during the meeting but decided it would be too time consuming. (I had a few hundred pics I would have had to sort through)

I agree. I started my tank almost 2 years ago.

Cool. I remember the first time I caught the red scooter blenny eating pellets. I'm not going to worry too much about it as long as they both stay happy and healthy.

And a couple of more.....

It's been a long wait however I finally got a Mandarinfish a couple of weeks ago. I searched for several months before I found one I really liked. (I did find one about 6 months ago that I also liked but I passed it up since it didn't seem very healthy) This one has been spending most of it's time hiding back behind the rocks however each day it comes out a bit more and I finally have a few decent pictures now. My purple tang bugged it a little the first day or two however it does that with anything I add and it stopped now.

Over the last couple of months or so I've noticed that my anemones seemed to be growing quite a bit. Looking through some of my pictures I was able to find a couple for a comparison. Kind of surprised me a bit as I thought it had been longer. The first picture was taken at the end of November. The second one was taken 8 days ago. (About 5 weeks between them)

I didn't take many however here are a few pics I took.

Go to a different store as they do not really know what they are. A diopter is used to change the focal length. There are diopters both for lenses and for view finders so they are correct to that extent. (You want one for the lens) It is not a multiplier although they are probably talking about the same thing. (Many people will incorrectly call it a multiplier which is not correct) A plus 2 diopter cuts the focal range approx. in half. (The range at which the lens focuses) A plus 3 cuts it to about one third. These do not double or triple the focal length which is what a multiplier would do. Run a search for 58mm lens diopter on amazon and it should come up with several options. Substitute whatever filter diameter you need for the lens you will use. I mentioned 58mm because that is the size for the 18-55mm you were using yesterday. Just be sure to get a decent quality set (Hoya, Canon, etc.) since the quality will effect the image. For those above that didn't make it to the meeting I'm glad there were enough details there to still be useful. If you or anyone else have any specific questions post them here and I'll do my best to answer them. (If I don't know the answer I'll try to find it)

Thought I would throw up a few more tips when I think of them that didn't get mentioned during the meeting or that resulted from questions others asked. 1: A couple of people mentioned that raw files slow down their system. I assume this is occuring when they load a large directory filled with them. One person mentioned shooting raw and jpeg at the same time (Kate). I didn't mention it at the time however I do screen all of my raw images on the memory card and will even do some preliminary post processing before I transfer them to my archive folder. At this time I delete any really bad photos (something I never use to do) and then afterwards I transfer them. I normally do not shoot both raw and jpeg at the same time though. The only exception is if I need to preview them on another system or print them out right away. I.E. If I am unable to wait and post process myself then I'll shoot both. 2: Holding the camera properly. This is important when you are shooting handheld. You can run a search that will show the proper way to hold a camera however as a quick tip I'll just say that your arms need to be pulled close to your body which will help steady them. Then use your right hand to hold the camera positioned to click the shutter button. The left hand is held under the lens (or camera if the lens isn't long enough) and is used to actually hold the camera and lens steady. 3: When taking pictures of fish (people, animals, etc.) focus on the eyes. 4: Use single point focus when you are trying to capture a particular subject. (Especially when the depth of field is shallow which is what we usually are encountering in our tanks) Spot metering also usually helps to make sure a particular subject is lit properly. 5: Avoid using filters. They are great outside in daylight however even a normal UV filter takes away some light and we already have a hard enough time with getting enough light even without them. 6: If you find you are getting flare from the lights in your pictures get a lens hood. Lens hoods also help protect the lens. 7: Always, always, always..... Keep a backup copy of all of your images. I learned this the hard way about 8 years ago when I lost 2 years worth of images I had taken. I now keep a copy located on my local server and synchronize it once a week or so to put anything new there. I'll add more as I remember them.

Ah, nice catch. I need to go dig through the forum to find one of my replies (not certain which sub forum it was in because it isn't showing up in new posts now) and change it. I thought he just didn't have it in his profile but it may just not be showing up here.

If you need to you can just do the pitcher trick once every hour or two. I doubt 8 hours would be a problem (I've gone upwards of 48 hours without aeration during tank swaps) however as mentioned above it's better to be safe than sorry. I think keeping the temperature consistent is the biggest issue to worry about. Especially this time of year. There is one really compelling reason I can think of though to keep it aerated that would not exist during shipping. That being that you will have a wood stove burning which will be taking oxygen from the air "and" will raise CO2 levels. This could cause a big PH swing if you don't use the wood stove all of the time.

Great Pic. Yes. Focus on the eyes. This applies to photos of people and animals as well.

In IE the user bar at the top is clipping off part of the PNWMAS banner. In Firefox the bar only covers a portion on the right but in IE it extends all of the way across the screen. Also is it possible to get a Today's Posts link added once we are logged in? It shows up before logging in but disappears afterwards and changes to New Posts. (The old forum had one) I think I have new posts figured out now. Apparently posts disappear from the list once they are viewed. I would prefer to still see the posts listed. (You can still tell they have been read already) It's kind of disconcerting to go back a few minutes later to review a post you just read a few minutes earlier and have to try to figure out which sub forum it was posted in since it's not in the list anymore.

I concur and your very welcome. Thanks for the compliments.

Your all welcome. I enjoyed doing it. Pictures are looking good. Are some of those taken with the diopter?

Your welcome. I enjoyed doing it.