Higher Thinking

20 PMs for non-members and 100 for members. I don't know if that means people will automatically lose anything over 20. That would be a question only Chief can answer at the moment.

Hey folks, Tonight Chief will roll out our new membership sign up software. His dedicated hard work has enabled the club to start using an automated program which will save countless administrative hours. The new software will be activated tonight for everyone to sign up starting tomorrow. This means that all the current members will revert back to normal members tonight. We certainly appreciate everyone's support this past year and we hope to be able to count on your support again for 2015. It's been a tough year at times, but things are looking much stronger each week for the club and forum. Please stay tuned for an announcement on our February meeting. Spoiler alert! PNWMAS members will get free admission to the Portland Aquarium ($11 value).

So crazy that someone got that for free.

Robert, this is awesome! Absolutely legit. Thanks homie!

Courtesy of Kevin's phone, here are prizes for tomorrow. I'm excited to show Scott how we do it in the Northwest! These corals are worth more than the cost of paying for his time, so it's super generous. On top of that he's bringing some gift certificates. This man is extremely generous. Best of all, he's extremely knowledgeable!

Did you take them with your phone? You may have held you phone sideways and not had the screen actually rotate. Are they upright in your phone?

I didn't know anything about the blue ring octopus, but just did some reading.....crazy.

There have been a couple people who have not known how to post photos quickly and efficiently so I figured I'd give a quick tutorial. There are two main ways to do this that I will speak on. One is using Tapatalk and the other is using some kind of photo hosting site such as Photobucket. By far Tapatalk is the the easiest way to post photos from mobile devices. (For those who tried Tapatalk during our previous software, give it a try again, as it is way faster and more fluid than before). First, Tapatalk. This is an app that you can buy for free for either Apple or Android platforms. Download it. Not only can you post photos instantly, but you can scroll the forum way easier. I don't know how much different it will look on the Apple platform, but from what I've heard, it's about the same. When viewing any thread, just click the "+" button. Here is a screen shot of me about to give a reply to the January POTM Thread: Notice the + button? Click that. That will take you to this screen: Click the "Camera" icon and that will allow you to either select a photo already on your phone or just take a picture right then. Clicking the "Paper Clip" icon will allow you to attach images, but this is not nearly as convenient as being able to have the images imbedded in the text so you see them right when the thread loads. Once you select the photo, you can still type and/or add more photos. The other way to do things is through the use of a photo hosting site. For simplicity, I will use Photobucket, but you can use a different one if you prefer. You have to create an account with that hosting site, so visit the page, and create an account. When you first sign in, you will see this page: Click the "Upload" button. That will take you to this screen: Once here, you can select photos from your computer by either opening the "Choose Photos and Videos" box or simply dragging them from another folder and dropping them in. Once they are uploaded, you can visit your "Library," by selecting the Library button. Then when you select on the desired image you will get these options next to the image: Select the direct link. Photobucket will automatically copy it for you. After that, visit the thread on your computer and select the little green button. It's a tree, but it's very small. (It is underneath the Smiley face icon and a little to the left). Click that and then add the URL you just copied from Photobucket by pressing CTRL V or right clicking and then selecting paste. Voila! Picture added from your computer to your thread. I know this might seem difficult, but it really couldn't be much easier. Once you do it a time or two, it will become second nature. Now go out there and post some photos!

Welcome aboard. Glad to get a look at your system. Please feel free to start up a build thread or post away on other threads. Thanks for joining our community. Just as Kevin mentioned, you should definitely make it to the meeting this Saturday. We're flying in an expert to give an awesome discussion on nutrient export.

Sickness! That is super generous. Time to get ready to buy some raffle tickets.

Yeah, I second the dehumidifier vote. Such a simple issue to fix. And I think someone would be pretty disrespectful to take that system for free. You definitely deserve money for that.

Friendly reminder to be at the Lucky Lab this Saturday. It's not everyday that you get to have an event like this so I hope to see everyone's happy faces!

Come on y'all! Bring out those photos! Just to get things rolling, here's my stupid hydnophora eating a brain. I hate that hydno...no idea why I keep it.

Awesome work bud! Super informative and physically put together nicely.

Unfortunately not. The wife already tore it apart. Time for the next one! Thanks! It's a Christmas present from the in-laws. Yeah, I hear ya. Most of the time, finding things to do doesn't come easy so you gotta work at it. I'm no marriage veteran, but I do know that couples have to discover ways to build their relationship together. Supporting each other's hobbies and passions is one thing, but we have to make sure not to neglect supporting the mutual growth of the actual relationship. I know I always have to remind myself of that. It takes work to make it work, but it is so worth it!! I wish you the best on your own relationship and searching out what fits with you two!

I've heard about problems using manifolds depending on what you hook up to them. As reactors and other devices begin to clog up, the flow is altered and more of it will find its way into the DT. This will require you to have to adjust the overflow gate valve on the return due to increased water volume coming from the sump. I honestly don't know if restricting some flow with a valve will alter or prevent that. Honestly, I don't even know how much of an issue what I'm suggesting really is. Just something that I've read about.

What size tank you looking for? A 36" cube will be much different than a 36x12 frag tank. Anything particular that your looking for?

Are you asking about eco complete or something else?

Sweet! I ran several tanks just inputting the line into the canister intake. I honestly think it can be just as effective as a diffuser or reactor. Although, I currently run a reactor on this tank. I think I do just because that's how I read it should be done when I first started. But since then I've become pretty confident with the filter diffusion method.

Nice work Earthbound. What's you method of diffusion on the CO2? Let me know if you need any plants. I got a bunch of Anubias nana and petite that would work great in there. Also got some crypts, java fern v. Windelov, and some other stuff. I used to have way more, but I've switched into a much lower maintenance plant collection. Basically ditched most all my stem plants, red plants, etc. As my picture shows, I don't keep up on my maintenance enough for the better plants since starting my reef. Everything gets overgrown and chokes stuff out. Tank used to look like this:

Hmmmm....I thought I checked them. I'll fix them. My bad.

Given the right setup, a healthy planted tank can grow pretty rapidly. That definitely makes me wish that coral could grow as fast as plants. My 75 gets so overgrown when I don't trim that my fish can't even swim around. Here is the tank after about two months of no trimming. Got in there with some scissors and hacked away to end up with this. Do any of y'all keep planted tanks?

What about just using something like eco complete black substrate?

What units are you running?

It looks like this fell by the wayside for a bit so it's time to get it running again. Post the best photos you have for this wonderful new year! Let's get those camera skills going again!! POTM Rules: 1 - You can only post 2 pictures a month and you must be the photographer. 2 - If you want to comment or ask a question about a photo, please start a new thread. 3 - Entries will be taken through Sunday, January 25th to allow time for voting 4 - Vote will last 6 days. The POTM winner will have their photo on our home page for the site as well as the Facebook page.