Rick T

All good advise above. In the long run a good RO/DI unit will pay for itself. BRS has some in the very good units for under $200 GHA needs 3 things to grow: Nitrates, Phosphates and light. There's no way to avoid putting these things in your tank so you need to have a way to export them like Chaeto and/or GFO. Also reduce your light cycle until you have it under control Here's an interesting read on phosphates and where they come from http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry

I have the glass holes 1500 on my 120g and it works great. No leaks and can be tuned to near silent.

Dial it down with a valve

Looks like huge fun! I wish I could have made it but the wife made B-day plans for me today. Who's the lucky SOB that got the light?

I thought it was pretty unusual myself. I've never seen anything like it... I guess there's no end to the fascinating things we run into with this hobby

IMHO the goal with "curing" live rock is to be sure it's not producing ammonia from die off and/or not producing an excessive amount of phosphates If, after 4 weeks in your sump (your sump isn't the best way to "cure" rock) you aren't seeing a rise in these readings it's safe to put in the DT... Anything bad the rock will do has already happened being you "cured" in the sump

I'm not sure how long Frank has had his mother colony but I agree it "looks" like encrusted barnacles but being it's a frag from an established coral I find it interesting Here's a "my camera sucks" pic The 4 "mouths" are the teardrop/oval shaped things... One closed near the bottom, one open and sweeping and one closed about 1/3rd up and one open just above the half way mark. You can't see the sweepers in the pic as they are near translucent and like I say... crappy camera (the shadow you see is the front of the camera reflected on the glass) Again CCd in RC

A couple months back I picked up a frag of Franks Unnamed Tort (BTW: I think this should be named "Franks Unnamed Tort"). I mounted it on a small rock and it's gone nuts nearly doubling in size (IE: get a frag of this awesome SPS) Now the odd part... I moved it a few days ago. With the placement I ended up rotating it 180 so I can see the side I haven't been observing On this side of the colony there are 4 "mouths" (there where 3 but it's grown another that I thought was one dying) that send out a barnacle like sweeper. The sweeper is fan like (not fan worm like in that fan worms have the inside out umbrella thing going but fan like as somewhat flat but cupped to catch things) and seems to be able to rotate to meet the changing needs of the current Is this something unusual or just something noobie me hasn't seen before? BTW: CCing this at RC

I did 8 weeks with prawns in a nylon stocking... Not quick but worked well

One of our cats peed on the soft tactical case holding my $3000 target rifle. I didn't notice until I was about to shoot it... I placed my face against the cheek rest, that's when the smell and odd feel of the rest hit me Needless to say I was seriously grossed out and considered live targets for my next shoot

Wow... I wish I could come just for a shot at that Radion! Sadly, I have a previous commitment to shoot machine guns in Albany

I've been looking for a RBTA locally (I stopped at Garrett's Monday being I was passing through Salem and sadly he's closed for a couple weeks) Well, I found one that looks to be in pretty good health (at least to me) but it's a wild caught. I've been told that Aquacultured tend to do much better in tanks however, so I'm hesitant to pick it up. This would be my first Nem so any thoughts are appreciated

Almost forgot to repost a pic with the cut ruler (it's been hectic around here. My wife has a chronic health issue that's been rearing it's ugly head lately requiring many all day stays at the hospital) The cut ruler thing is going to help me a lot with consistent and accurate measurements 9.5mm?

Hey Frank Can you save me a larger Strawberry Shortcake frag until the weekend of the 12th? I don't think I can make it out there before then

Ouch, sorry to hear that. I'll +1 on the credit card/ID thing... make sure they didn't get anything there. While not the same as a home break in my truck got broken into not too long back with my wallet in it. Of course I was on the phone canceling credit/debit cards ASAP but I missed one... 3 weeks later we get a bill from Lowe's for $5000. Being the purchases where made in North Carolina they didn't even blink twice about crediting us the balance but still a hassle

I see there's a lot of stiff competition here but you all are going down!!!(threaten) About the tank: It's a plain old 120g AGA/Marineland tank with sump/fuge totaling ~150g. For rock I have about 70lbs of Pukani with about 60lbs of Reef Crystals Sand Filtration: The drilled overflow runs into 2 socks and a Reef Octopus NWB200 skimmer. I run GFO and GAC through separate reactors fed by the Mag 12 return pump. For circulation I'm running a 3600gph closed loop powered by a Reeflo Dart Lighting is a 6 bulb TEK. All bulbs are about 4 months old. Blue+ Blue+ Geisman Daylight Fiji+ Blue+ Blue+ The only dosing I'm doing with my light SPS load is Kalk in the ATO Current Params; Temp: 79, Gravity: 1.025, PH:8.0, Alk:8.6, NO3: 0, PO4: .03, Cal: 420, Mag: 1300 And Now, Introducing Your Next World Champion!!!! Fighting for Team Blue Ruler!! SLIMY THE MINI FRAG!!!!!!!!!!!! (kneel) The Frag will be planted mid tank about half way up I may submit a pic with the cut ruler thing... I'm not totally happy with the pic and it was a pain in the ***

I'll probably take you up on that Kim. So far I've only come up with a couple things I need...

Something Beth didn't mention. If you participate in a group buy, you become a preferred customer with BRS and you get get discounts for life!! (as much as 10% IIRC) Beth: put me on the list please... No idea what I need ATM as I just got an order from them and tried to stock up (free freight and all) Edit: As a side note I'd be happy to combine orders with anyone in the OC area for the free freight

Joined today!! Looking forward to my first frag swap