badxgillen

So the LEDs make them look a funky color in this picture as it is in a corner, but you can see em just pulsing away. If it works out for you make sure to keep them in check with kalkwasser or something similar to fire. They can spread very effectively. SAM_4121.MP4

I just got done working and finally made it back to my computer, I have the white pom pom xenia that isn't as long stemmed as some of the other varieties. I know I have a pic of it here somewhere. Let me see here.

If your coming to the meeting I can trade you for that bad boy, if you know what your gettiing into I can get you plenty of xenia, along with some sort of favia frag perhaps.

I see that this thread will need temporary closing due to differences that need working outside of the public forum.

Alright folks, we are going to have to strongly recommend the use of Private Messaging or texting instead of public forum thread posts here weather it be a miss communication, mishap, or misunderstandings. I will PM you two shortly.

YES!!! This is very Cool, 72,000 feet is lot of space as an addition to the facilities. And it says that it will be in a tsunami inundation zone with a new style of evac, something Cid had mentioned is almost none existent at the current location.

Yeah, that auto correct can wreck a sentence pretty quick like, but I love being able to use my phone to check in and post from. OptimusPrime told me I should just turn it off but I have yet to actually get to that. And Yes Cherany, I certainly think of spoon over fork when it comes to you. So far it is looking like we will have a pretty large turnout for the festivities.

Youcallmenny- You can twist my arm and I will take that Mummy Eye off your hands, we can always get you some more goodies when your tank is rockin and rollin again. Albertareef- The litttle guy was looking pretty haggard after the long trip home that day/night but he might just hang in there...Now that I am thinking about it I better go and check on it. Paratore- I already have a couple Shazamscalled for but I will slice you a polyp or two if I can for sure, I will also get you some of the oxides and Supernatural.

Well Chris, it is open to all members of the club so you are certainly envied, if you are just getting started I am sure I can bring you a tank warming frag of sorts just for fun, otherwise I am sure a few forks including myself will be bringing extra corals they no longer have room for.

I can get us started here, in addition to the zoas,montis, acros, mushrooms, softies, LPS, and things I have that I can cut I have also fragged a number of encrusting corals that I find interesting. Such as, but not limited too... This Golden Basket encrusting Goniopora I temporarily forgot the name too. Jason Fox Grassy Fields Stylo Lucky Charms Cyphastrea Mine Field Cyphastrea ORA Kelly Green Psamacora Pumpkin Pie Psamacora Lemon Lime Psamacora Another Blue Psamacora, ORA Supernatural Still got some Devils Armors up for grabs and... Aquamans AKA Aleles Blue Blueberry Fields Flame SKirts Old School Event Horizons AKA Mohawks. Red Oxides And I even have a Shazam or two I can cut. The Neon Green Pocilipora has gotta come apart, this was taken under super blue LEDs, sorry folks. And various Acroporas like this Microlados need trimming again. I can add more to this later for sure, especially if someone want to give a shout out as to what kinds of corals they are looking for, give me a variety and I will post what I am willing to cut that falls into that genus/species..And I suppose I am looking for anything I do not have and that is comparable to what is wanted from me on my end. And here is a link to some other things I may part with via my facebook as to not bog down the thread with too much unnecessary clutter. https://www.facebook.com/bert.gillen/media_set?set=a.999764476708656.1073741832.100000253400124&type=3

As promised, a thread starter for a Frag Swap at our December Meeting, I used my own previous template, so if it looks familiar...It is. Some of you may have heard that the December Holiday meeting coming up. In addition to the gift exchange and raffle there will be another one of those fine frag swaps we put on every few months. If you would like, you can do your trading on the fly by just bringing by a few pieces and hoping that some one will have a desirable coral you want...Or better yet, you can post up what you have to trade and work out a preemptive exchange here on the forums, that method always works best for me. You can feel free to use this thread to post your trade-ables in or start a thread of your own. But First, let me get you some of Bert's basis tips for success here. 1.) make an attempt to have a fragment of reasonable size and health and try and get things cut and ready a few days to a week ahead of time to have the wounds healed up for the exchange. And double/triple check for pest invertebrates or algaes before sending your corals out, we try to keep invasives to a minimum here...And once you get your frags home, just in case, always acclimate the specimens then dip the corals before you put them into your personal aquarium. QT Aquariums are best but good old Revive, Coral RX, Melafix, Iodine, or Bayer will do much better at prevention than nothing. 2.) Try to package your corals appropriately. This can mean not putting a spiny coral like birds nest into a thin dollar store bag or not utilizing insulation on an extended cold or warm trip. Try a small cooler or Styrofoam. If you can't find either of these and the destination is a long distance, keep the vehicle air conditioned or heated appropriately. As far as packaging goes you can double bag and use thicker mil plastics, or something else like a Tupperware or specimen container. I have even used washed out yogurt or cottage cheese containers that stack well inside the coolers. Just use something that will work, nothing like losing a nice and colorful animal because the bag got too cold and leaked all the water out on the way home. 3.)Do your best to be courteous and fair to one another by not take advantage of each others ignorance or generosity. These are people of all levels in the hobby so give them the benefit of your knowledge and experience instead of the cold shoulder. And speaking of generosity, that giving nature has always been smiled upon here at PNWMAS and pay it forward tends comes back around these parts. Well, the meeting is not too far off now, about one month yeah. So Let's see em folks, Whatcha Got!? Corals that is!

Just over a month away and I am already anticipating this upcoming December gathering. You know I am going to be participating in the gift exchange, raffle, and the coral swap...Oh, Whats That? Coral frag swap? Don't worry, I am formulating a thread as we speak/type/read So hold tight you coral nuts, should be plenty of diversity at this meet, both people, gifts, and frags.

He will be missed, that's for sure.

I am digging the cave in your center rockwork, and so is the Tang. Nice Gonioporas in there too, always a fan of their motions, the whole tank itself seems to have some movement on all fronts. Looking good!

With those black tipped claws almost the size of its body I wouldn't trust him around all my inverts and corals...Although I see you have him in with your zoas and echinata/echinopora. Does he have "scoop" shaped claws, or are they tapered and sharp? From this angle I don't like the looks of him.

Got a pic of them under water or still in the sump? They could very well be sponges of a smaller nature like "pineapple" sponges.

Hello Carla, I believe we met at the NWFrag Fest. My name is RoBert and I was probably wearing a blue tank top running around all over the place. And I must say your tanks look immaculate, we are probably going to have to work out a trade for next year as I see some goodies in there I would mind getting a frag of. Glad you found us, maybe I will see you around the forums.

If anyone else has some good pictures to contribute to the thread please feel free to post some up. No one person can be every where all the time. Lots of moments that I missed thats for sure, between running around and the speaker event I barely got to hit the tables. I did however, get some pretty nice coral and tank shots though.

I am marking the calendar and finding a sitter, the holiday meets never disappoint.

I know, You ALLLL want to hear about October 2017 North West Frag Fest... Well it was Freaking Amazing!!! And for those of you who know me personally, know that "Freaking" is not the word that would be coming out of my mouth had you asked me this in person. We were not quite sure what to expect for turnout but we were pleasantly surprised when people just started pouring in. I mean we had some pretty busy moments there. Of course, before that could all happen we had alot of ground to cover,/ The club, the volunteers, and the vendors. Good thing we haves some of the best people out there on our PNWMAS team. Miles was one of the Corvallis crew that made the long trip up to Washington early morning to get the setup under control. Thanks for the carpool Mile man, as always it was a pleasure getting some chat time in on the trip. Good company for sure. He has made a fine secretary for PNWMAS. He makes note of what goes on, makes great input on logistics, and is always happy to help. Thanks Miles! Jim and Roy ot alot of things done before any of us got there including the power cords and surge protectors, salt water made up, and not to mention much of the logistics between the Boys and Girls club venue in general. Thanks man.Sean here on the right had the grueling task of being on the raffle team as well as getting the projector/screen worked out for us all. Sean is a great member of our BOD and a killer idea man. There is a good head on those shoulders thats for sure.Thank you Albertareef, Stylaster, and Gumby. Cherany was enlisted as a raffle coordinator as well and she did a fine job. She handled the microphone exceedingly well and that little yellow purse sold a lot of raffle tickets I am sure.She has a well deserved seat on our BOD and brings a welcome opinion when it comes to decisions, ideas, and fine tuning various club agendas. Thank You Cherany! Sirena hard at work setting up the food area with all the tasty goodies she fixes. She pours a ton of love into the club and we just love her back. Thank you Sirena!..I have to also mention that it is completely dark in the background outside as it is maybe 6 something AM when this pictures was taken. Early birds! Look at Golden Basket and TPA getting ready for the opening hour. Rudy and Garret have both been tremendous assets to the club over the years and are both very nice people with lots of experience behind them. Jeff made a cameo and dropped off some more raffle prizes! This guy comes through with some crazy discounts and donations for the club. Always a generous guy, thanks a ton Jeff. Unrivaled and Barrier Reef were side by side. This made for some very nice coral flats that did a great job of representing our Washington friends diversity. I know I will drop a few dollars in this strip of salt water goodness. Natalia W, getting her ducks, I mean frags, in a row. Her team were veterans at setting up shop via booth/table events. Calm and collected she just talked the talk and walked the walk. And this guy might be familiar to you all, if not by face then maybe by name...MattV was in the house with David A with StumpTown Corals. Always bringing some fire, these guys just got back from RAP a couple days before this event so they are definitely some die hard reefers here. Kyle and His Wife Kiera setting up the Tampico Coral Farms table, the Mrs brought some very impressive coral jewelry to display as well. Very cool. A shot for those of you who wanted tto see this crafty merchandise for yourselves...Or at least in picture on the forum. I love this pic with Flashy Fins-Left, laughing while Albertareef-center, points in a scolding manner into the room , all while Gill&Fin smiles and shakes her hands explanation of whatever may be going on. A perfect example of the atmospheric feeling of happiness and good cheer. Holly does an amazing amount of behind the scenes work with the Officers and Board of Directors for the club not to mention she is an outstanding member of our community. Thank you Holly! Lexxiinverts, our Vendor Relations, giving Rudy and the other sponsors a hand unloading and setting up. Andy is a stand up guy, super glad he is in our corner. Thanks man. Karen AKA KKnight ran the door attendance for a while and boy was that a full time job, so glad we had so many volunteers ready and waiting to help where needed. Just in case you didn't know but she is currently our lead for our famous tanks for teachers program. Thank You Karen! Roy or "Stylaster" setting up Pacific Corals for the event. This man helped get things all lined up with Jim before the doors opened. Ex President has done his share for the club and continues to give, Thanks Roy! I had a few pics of our beloved president but I chose this one for this thread in particular. There was so much good energy and vibe at this show it was astounding. All of us on the BOD and office make a great team accomplishing our goals so effortlessly as a whole, and we certainly are happy to have this lady lead us in her presidency, Thank You Kim! Left we have The Clark and on the right here we have our own Bicycle Bill! Bill is one of the model citizens who always offers a hand when you need help, gives generously of his tank and corals, and makes great contributions in discussions via forum and in person. We love you Bill. And much love to the Clark, Jeremy here is one of our leading moderators and computer tech guys, making short work of any of our website problems while being a cool cat and sharing his information and DIY projects with the rest of us.Thanks Jeremy! And another Shout Out to an Office member Mr Bret, our club Treasurer. He unfortunately could not make it to this event due to some more important family matters but never the less this guy contributes so much for the PNWMAS that I have t make sure he gets a mention for his contributions to the support of our club. Thank You Mr.Bret! Even though Scott is not on the BOD I want to also thank Spectra for the cooking done and setup efforts made along with just being a good guy. That was good Mexican food man, all the sides you made were spot on! Also on the BOD that deserve thanks but are not in these pictures are the Amazing Chief who has helped keep this forum together on many occasions via your technical skills, and Zoolander, who has been a new helping hand in the PNWMAS endeavors. Thank You! And then there is this guy... Bert or Badxgillen ...Not too sure what to say about this odd fellow. He does like his corals though, and he also likes this club thats for sure. I just do what I can when I can, and I must say It has been a pleasure working on this tteam, thank you for having me! OH! And Don't let me forget about Joanne and her Spokkan Crew that came all the way over to join forces with the PNWMAS. Having the extra hands and input was great, we loved having them out with us and look forward to getting together for an even bigger and better experience next year. Looking forward to whatever comes out of our clubs teamwork. Thank You! Zondebok was one of our volunteers, thanks for coming out man, the more the merrier yeah. Hope you snagged some tank loot for the new rock work. What What!!! Colin from The Photiiczone ready too get it ON!!! Optimus Prime Say Whaaaaat! That chalice has reached Beast size and the Euphylia rack is Stacked! Dodge on the left was of excellent help breaking down and assisting the vendors in the end, we all got out way earlier than we had anticipated because of all the awesome volunteers here., Thank You Prime! BShot from behind the tanks, Reefrun grabbing some choice pieces from one of my main mans here Roy at Pacific Corals. She has good taste yeah. Picoreefer You. Long time no see, as you can probably tell I am getting some mad photography experience in so I should be taking pictures of nano and your caliber any year now. But really, good seeing you man, wish I knew you were coming and I would have brought you a frag or tow. Always next time yeah. SASQUATCH FOUND!!! But we all call him Derick from time to time. Another good guy here, he has a taste for the finer zoanthids and has recently started to delve into the gorgonians. Glad you could make it out Squatch, and thanks for the assistance man. DJ from NWA, no attitude here though. Fun guy to chat with and get crazy about corals. I gotta come by and see some of those in person again. Cody from West Coast Corals was able to make it over in time for the Frag Fest! I am sure Paratore found a few things worth while here. I mean who couldn't!? Don't get mad Reefermadness, there is plenty of corals to go around for everybody. Mike here was able to snag a couple crazy corals and talk with our Garret of TPA too and get a special cowrie set aside for h back at the premium aquarium shop on the way back home. Now that's service! And Mike...Lets make another Milwaukee run soon yeah. Trailerman caught in the hypnotic gaze of the rare and elusive Monster chalice...Okay, maybe its not elusive, but it is rare. Albertareef, PDXmonkeyboy, and Holly have a good talk amidst the chaos of what IS NW Frag Fest. Hamby is Bad to the Bone here runniing shop and getting his raffle on. I love these two guys, high energy and very cool to talk with. Their corals are pretty sweet too, and very well priced. Gil&Fin, Colby, and Lex all taking a look at Pacific Island Aquatics newest accomplishments on cell phone. That man and his facility are going to be doing some big things in the future. Another person I am glad made it to the show and talk on sustainability. Ann speaking about sustainability! Laura Simmons talk on sustainability, short chain acquisitions, and conscientious reef keeping was nothing short of enlightening. When in doubt about a livestock purchase and its origins and possible impacts, feel free to ask questions to the seller, and then do a little research. A little homework goes a long way in this hobby. So much of what we purchase goes through a number of hands and lands. We all fail to remember this. The slides shown made all the issues talked about very easy to intemperate and digest. Long chain supply is typical of the profit driven markets that care little of the livestock or the lands they are acquired in. And due to the convolutednes of the situation it is hard for anyone to truly know how sustainable any part of the chain is. Where as the short chain is much more transparent from having things straight forward. Just look at how these species are initially caught then only distributed by a handfull of exporters before they almost become "bounced" around other exporter/importers. SHEESH! The trickle effect of finances becomes very apparent when portrayed in the fashion Laura presented. .08 Cents per trigger, commonly inflated hundreds of times the Original value. Ultimately the low wages getting to the actual collectors is causing quite some strain on the whole environmental systems themselves via increasing pressures of unregulated fishing for fish collected. And lets not forget about the illegal methods used in certain regions not to mention the complete lack of incentives and enforcement. But there is some good news out there. Some examples of sustainable fisheries that are the leading model to follow, no surprise here is Australia at the peak. And exactly what are we all shooting for here our hobby for the long term? Powerful information as well as questions we have to ask ourselves.Great stuff from Laura here that was not what we typically have presented from a speaker. I would say it was a Success!!! Andy, Laura, and Colby feel the same! Just look at that enthusiasm!....Well, actually this is Lex winning the MP40. But it certainly instills the mood I had about this wwole tthing. WHOOP WHOOP!!! Put those hands in the Air! And speaking of winning. Karen took home the Vectra I believe. Nice score. I took home some nice pictures and good memories, If for some reason I didn't mention you personally here I apologize, out of 500 pictures I still didn't get a good shot of everyone. But know that I appreciate everyone of you and I Thank You All. I mean it though, the people, the officers, the Board of Directors, the club itself...Thank You so much for making all of this a reality...As I quite often leave these posts ended with a nod of encouragement and thanks. You All Rock!!! Reef On!

503Reefland-I was hoping to trade corals for corals since ther will be so many vendors available for purchases. You got anything to trade out? I like all sorts, you would be surprised. Reefrun- I have a number of zoas and acros but high end is subjective to the person and the time it was purchased, as at some point everything is high end until it is fragged and distributed amongst the populace. I have a Westside rainbow tort, Upscales Microlados, 500Efflo, Rose Mili, Aussie Pink Hyacinth, Rainbows in Spain, Tierra Del Fuego, Red Dragon, Twilight Dragon, True Blue Rufus, Medusas Bane, MattV Blue Ocean, and a few others I could be perusaded to cut. Zoanthids wise I have a few as well such as Oxides, Blonde Blue Eyed Bits, Devils Armor, Aquamans, Captain Americas, Orbits, and a number more I should check on, I need to see what Prime wanted first since we are still working our our trade.

Get this man a volunteer frag! You too Prime...Spetra, I have to think about...We'll just see what makes it into a leaky bag and go from there. Just Kidding friends, having a little fun here. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Well Zone, I can get you a couple frags as tank warming presents just for fun, if you need more I am sure we can work something out. And if Optimus doesn't take care of your Oxide fix I can for sure. And Prime, you do realize those are just different types of capriconus under good lighting. Nothing special , but classics still, I can get you some frags no problem.

Hmmm, let me see here. I will get some more up in the morning.

I would be totally down to trade for a zoa pack but am unsure of what you may be wanting for trades? Montis or Acros maybe? Mushrooms or LPS?