Flashy Fins

Just had a major rock collapse disaster! I had the idea to remove a large rock from the tank, so I could chip off some yuma babies. I've read it's best to chip a small bit of rock with them attached, rather than prying the coral foot off the rock, and I couldn't get the right angle in-tank. Unfortunately, I forgot that large rock was not a single rock, but three rocks I put together with a wooden dowel through the middle. I also forgot just how heavy porous rocks are when you go to lift them out. So, I lift up about mid-way, start to struggle, then BOOM! The wooden dowel slid out, and all three rocks went flying! The top piece crashed out of the tank onto my carpet, and the middle and bottom pieces (both large, covered in corals) went crashing into all my sand corals! I think my wellso got the worst of it, since he was all puffed up and happy one minute and beneath a coral-covered rock the next. Several corals broke and several more found themselves with other corals in their laps. I grabbed the fallen rocks as fast as I could, doing my best to see through the sandstorm to separate corals piled on top of one another. With no nearby tables or counters, I had no choice but to put all the rocks on my carpeted floor, at least until I grabbed a towel to place them on. In the chaos, I heard a crunching sound and looked over to see my dog chewing on a green slimer coral! I think he only bit down a couple of times, and he seems fine, but still scary! My wife came home just as I was getting the crash under control and helped me with putting things back together, and I did manage to get those yumas chipped off safely, but wow, not the way I wanted to go about it! At the moment, nearly all the corals from those rocks are in a tub, awaiting placement once the sandstorm dies down. I can't put everything back where it was, because rocks never go back together the same way they started out. Unintended aquascaping and fragging like whoa! I'm hoping nothing is seriously injured. In my early days, I had a bunch of small rocks in my tank and had frequent crashes that sometimes led to coral deaths, so I'm not overly confident that everything will be fine. It's wait and see for now. Exciting day, but NOT the right kind of exciting.

I used clear mesh for mine, which I got from another member here. He bought it from Bulk Reef Supply.

Yeah, I'm starting to realize that with pricing. I've also learned if it's a 1-polyp frag with a price tag higher than $5, I should stay far away. Never had a 1-polyp frag do well! My scoly has quite the attitude, always trying to swallow anything that lands on it, despite being well fed. It once tried to consume my urchin, who was rescued after this photo and is still alive and well 2 years later. When the Stunner fell in, all the feeder tentacles on the scoly were out (don't think that's what they're called, but should be explanatory); I pulled the chalice away to discover large white patches where it was stung, and it only lived a few days after that.

I also love the cheap frags at OIAB! It seems whenever I spend big bucks on frags, success rate is only 50%, but when I get the cheap stuff, it's more like a 90% success, and most turn out to be pretty nice after some conditioning. I've only kept a couple of chalices, one of which I really loved and would like to replace (bright pink/red with very yellow eyes and trim - lost it in a salinity swing) and one which fell into a scoly and died (Hollywood Stunner - probably for the best). Chalices were all the rage when I got into the hobby, but they do seem to have fallen out of favor lately, although I'm not sure why.

I need to hang my Aquatic Life 4-bulb T5 fixture. According to their website, I need suspension kit 420063, which they no longer sell. I've tried finding it on other sites, but just keep running into the wrong kits with out of stock notices on the right one. This is the metal stand I'm working with: Matty hooked me with a couple of these metal hangers (thank you!), which I'm going to bolt to the stand: He's going to help me with the actual hanging (another thank you!), but I can't figure out what to buy with the specified kit being out of stock. There must be a hundred ways to DIY this, but I am not good at this stuff, so input appreciated!

40 breeder with a t5 4-bulb fixture. It's only 30" long and the tank is 36" long, so no more getting by with just the plastic legs. Interested in the hangers if you have the patience to explain how to work them - I know how to hang a picture on the wall and pretty much nothing else.

Ah, didn't see Jeff's reply before I commented. No biggie if you opt for the dragon's breath.

I can give you some. I wouldn't mind picking your brain about how to hang my lights over the new tank (I'm clueless), if you want to come grab it. Tonight or tomorrow evening would work for me.

Crazy! Whatever it is, get the whole colony to do it and share!

Great meeting, indeed! Pizza, reef talk, raffles, and gifts - my kind of party! My wife Amy took some pictures, so I'll have her post them when she gets a chance. BIG THANKS to the sponsors and to those who donated frags, especially Bert! I did quite well in the prize department and left feeling like I had a Christmas stocking full of goodies! P.S. Holy huge cans of flakes, Cobalt Aquatics! I think it would take 10 years to empty that container with the few small fish I have, so I'm going to pass along to gumby when he comes to help with my tank today. <--- foreshadowing alert

Ooooh, LPS! Robert, the club is very lucky to have you! Can't wait for the meeting!

Woo-hoo! Reef raffles are the best raffles!

Let's hear some more info on the white elephant exchange! Last year, the mention was so slight, I think only 3 of us ended up bringing gifts. I know we can do better than that!

Great idea! I'm getting a page not found on your link.

Of course he liked it! Lobos are delicious! I wanted to buy that one, too, but a recent fish order meant I had very little to spend on corals. Glad you got it!

In case it gets buried, Holly posted a thread with some great pictures here: http://www.pnwmas.org/topic/36184-what-happens-on-the-party-bus/ Now, a little showing off of my purchased goodies! My favorite score of the day was this lobo from Golden Basket, which I have a feeling is going to turn into a rainbow-licious beauty in time. $40! Rudy was not kidding when he said there would be deals for us! Small purple plate coral with a green rim. I've been wanting one of these for a while, so I was happy to take this off Rudy's hands for $25. My all-time favorite coral, the sun and the stars and the moon! A sun coral was my first-ever, and it thrived for close to 2 years, but a couple of back-to-back vacations with terrible tank sitters did him in. Looking forward to keeping this one for many years to come! $40 from OIAB. He offered me a larger one for the same price, but I thought feeding so many mouths might overwhelm my small QT, so I opted for the little guy. Still a very nice size! All in QT for now. The lighting is sufficient in that tank, but doesn't enhance colors as well as my main tank. Can't wait to get them in there! My only regret on this trip is that I wasn't able to spend more! The deals really helped stretch my meager budget, so thank you to our sponsors!

I know there are lots of different ways to do a frag swap (person to person trading, selling booths, etc.), but a swap I found especially fun was the one at the Cuttlefish Christmas party last year. Everyone brought a few frags with them, and they were separated into 3 tanks - easy/cheap, moderate/mid-priced, and expensive/difficult. For each of your frags, you got a raffle ticket, and then as tickets were drawn, you were able to pick something out from the frag tank the same level or lower of the frag you brought. My numbers were drawn towards the end, and I still walked away with some fantastic corals. These started out as a nub-sized acro and a very drab little raisin colored lobo, but grew into beauties.

Fun hanging out, guys! I took a few pictures on the bus, where the party lights added some unexpected elements to some of our faces. Holly got the party light confetti booger! Or should we call it the light saber booger? I fared better with an atomic green tear. Guess it's to be expected with my hair color! Tiny glowing hair clips for Andy! When Bill laughs, red confetti falls out of his mouth!

It was great! I also spent too much. I think the only people who did not go over budget were those who did not have a set budget, but I got some great stuff! Pictures to come.

This is a really helpful chart for mixing fairy wrasses: http://www.reefedition.com/cirrhilabrus-complexes-inferiority-need-not-apply/

Is there a planned return time? I'm in the unfortunate position of having somewhere to be by 7pm in Vancouver, so I'm really hoping I don't have to cut my party time short. Worst-case scenario, I don't take the return ride and worry about getting my car back later. Anyone need a styrofoam cooler? I can bring a few extras. I have so many, I recently had to resort to throwing some away, and it made me feel so guilty!

Some questions about the raffle(s) at Upscales! Is that multiple raffles, or all the tickets are going into the same pot with multiple prize drawings, or all items are one prize to one winner? Can we bring multiple cans of food for multiple tickets? Not like an entire grocery shelf or anything, but maybe a bag full of canned goods is reasonable?

Thank you! Juicy is how I think of it, but I like fluffy, too! Certainly less suggestive of me snacking on corals. Mmmm, LPS! Thank you! I definitely go for brights when picking out corals, but I also find that having a lot of solid colors helps a tank look more colorful as a whole than stocking the entire thing with corals that have 3-4+ colors per polyp, which are amazing up close, but tend to look far less colorful from a distance. It's also cheaper to sprinkle in the rainbow stuff amongst larger, brightly colored solids.

That's limited edition cyano. Tank has no sump, skimmer, or filter, except the human one who has been slacking on water changes and dumping way too much food in lately. Given all that, not too shabby. Upgrade is in its final stages and will be set up before the year is done. Larger tank, sump, skimmer, etc. - basic stuff I skipped out on as a newbie 2.5 years ago. Tank is set up and plumbed, but the sump is still in the works, so a few more weeks to go. I'll definitely start a tank thread once I get there. My old thread was killed in the forum wipeout. (Kind of glad about that. Who likes recalling failures/mishaps/first tank mistakes?)

This sounds like fun! Looks like a couple spots are still open, so I'm in! Paypal payment sent.