michaelg

http://www.calacademy.org/research/izg/OCTOCLASS.htm http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/softcorals-se...t-corals03.html http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/index.cfm

Marine Aquarist Online Courses (MACO) Presents... http://aquaristcourses.org Advanced Reef Lighting Sanjay Joshi, the hobby leader in metal halide testing and publication, is teaching this course which covers everything from the basics of lighting your tank to the specifics of how light works. This course is aimed at most experience levels and has enough depth of subject to interest everyone. **Registration closes March 13th** First course the week following. $65/6 week course. Woodworking for Reef Enthusiasts A course detailing the contruction of a canopy to house your metal halide system on any size tank. The course covers the basics of structure and wood manipulation and in the end you build a hood/canopy or pendant system for your own tank. *registration will open very soon. Course starts in May. Reef Conservation and Restoration This course is taught by the leaders in world reef restororation, Reefball Foundation. You will learn how Reefball goes about its work of propagation of corals and restoration of differing marine environments. The course culminates in certification direct from Reefball Foundation! What is MACO? Marine Aquarist Online Courses are a series of internet based programs that are taught by leaders in the various subjects being offered. Courses are run entirely online, meaning they are at your schedule. Weekly chats are offered for the course, reading (and sometimes hands on projects if in a fabircation course) material presented weekly, and you always have full access to the MACO website (http://aquaristcourses.org) and a forum dedicated to the course. To sign up, please visit the homepage and use the paypal buttons! http://aquaristcourses.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reef Keeping IRC Channel, #reefs, AfterX Server Network Access Details -> http://www.reefs.org/access/ Website -> http://www.reefs.org/ Online Magazine -> http://www.advancedaquarist.com/ Online Courses -> http://maco.reefs.org/ --^----------------------------------------------------------------

I flew down and back to Houston this weekend with a cooler full of frags in both directions. I have done this too many times to count. Just don't make a big deal of it and put in on the scanner belt. The less you say the better. I was hassled once when I mentioned that the anenome was an animal- though I was being dumb and not wanting to put it on the belt (pre- 9/11). I have even sent fish through.

Very nice. The unknown stoney coral looks like hydnophora. Can't tell on the soft coral. Michael

find new homes for the eel and tang sooner rather than later. And probably the anenomes- as they are not in ideal conditions now and will pollute the tank bigtime if they die. Is there live rock in there now? What sort of filter is being used? Sand/substrate? Big water changes are in order to get it down, but make sure you are using RO/DI to make your salt mix. Michael

Holly- is the leak where the bulk head is? Is there a crack? What is the sump made out of? A small amount of salt creap or tiny leak might just mean the bulkhead isn't quite tight enough. Since you have it dry, take the bulkhead apart, wipe everything clean then tighten it back up. If your sump is glass, take care not to overtighten as you might crack the glass. It is fixable- if a crack, pickup some thin acrylic sheet at home depot, and cut hole to size. Make a sandwhich on both sides of bulkhead with a lot of silicon. Use the bulkhead itself to tighten it up- wipe smooth the excess that come out, then after sitting for an hour or 2, run a new bead of silicone around the outside edges of both plates. I know it is rather a hack repair job, but doing this held for me for a real long time. An alternative, ireland has an acrylic sump for sale.

some resources for teachers for classroom presentations and others. FWIW, I presented one of their presentations quite a while back, and it had a lot of good information in it. http://fmp.coralreef.org/library/home.htm

From Matthew Boyd:

Tom, I just wrote to them inquiring for a response. I looked it up and it is commonly used in animal diets, but could not find a specific ref for inverts..... my guess is that it will not cause any problems as the concentration would be way minimal, but let;s see what they say.

Other place many have picked up their tanks locally (well not really locally to nova, but driveable) is Aquarium center in baltimore.

I would think a single 1 1/2 drain would be enough. 1 " on the return is fine.

roozen's nursery from where you are located might be the closest.

www.reefstore.com- aka TRT or the reef tank. over in VA off Braddock road. sometimes is slow on updating website, so I would call about a specific piece. Unfortunately no longer in business (edited 4/2006) New place down by fort washington- called ultimate saltwater aquarium Hopefully Anderson, the owner will start posting up sales and stuff here on our website. exotic Aquatics up in baltimore- http://www.exoticaquatics.com/ marine scene in herndon- http://www.marinescene.com/index.shtm If you are up for a road trip or on your way to ocean city, then Dr. Mac's east coast aquaculture is where you want to go. www.drmaccorals.com These are your best bets, though for many of the soft corals, club members/locals are your best bet. a visit to David Oh's house off new hampshire is a good place to start chideloh here on the website- you can PM him. I'm a stones throw away from you and can set you up with a few things. Seriously though, start by visiting David Oh. and if you road trip up to exotic aquatics, stop by George Schwab's (geofloors) for some more very sweet frags. Both have a good mixture of different things to choose from. Oh yeah- and a couple of us from around here (silver spring, rockville, g-burg, etc are always up for a mail order- though not nearly as much fun as shopping at a decent store). Michael Listed for FYI only. We do not endorse or recommend one shop over others. Several people ask what are the LFS's so here is a FAQ list WAMAS web page of Locals Pinned post in General Discussion gives some comments on them. Thread Dr. Mac's Pacific East Corals (Salisbury, MD) http://www.drmaccorals.com/sys-tmpl/door/ Call us toll-free 877-887-5224 Mailorder Hours: Monday-Friday 10 am-6 pm Eastern, Saturday 11 am-5 pm. Retail Outlet Hours: Saturdays from 11 am-5 pm, other times by appointment only. Marine Scene (Herndon, VA) http://www.marinescene.com/index.shtm 293 Sunset Park Drive Herndon, Virginia 20170 (703) 689-2815 Blue Ribbon Koi / Marine (Manassas, VA) Current Hours Thurs - Sat 10-6 Sun 10-5 703-753-7566 Blue Ribbon Koi & Marine Fins & Feathers (Ashburn, VA) m-fri 11-8 sat 11-6 sun 12-5 703.726.1655 http://www.finsandfeathersstore.com/aboutus.htm Roozens Nursery http://www.roozens.com/ 301-248-2500 Ultimate Saltwater Aquariums http://www.usaquariums.net/ 11101-B2 Indian Head Highway Fort Washington, Maryland. exotic Aquatics up in baltimore- http://www.exoticaquatics.com/

couple ways to attach- blot frag on a paper towel and put on a gob of superglue gel. did in a bowl of tank water to "make a skin" then press onto where you want to stick it and hold in place. Sometimes it doesn;t work but if you wiggle it a little at first that usually gets the skin of glue to pop. Second way is using 2 part plumbers epoxy (or the coral epoxy- same thing). kneed up a small amount, the I like to place the cap frag into a small groove of the rock and smoosh the epoxy in to hold it there. THe rougher the surface the better the epoxy works- it isn't glue, but rather like a putty that hardens. Third way, which I don't recommend is just to wedge it in a crack real well. Too often something will knock it out before it takes hold. All the cap frags came from Craig Kuhn aka Gaitortailale. The history behind them- red one originiated from Sanjay Joshi, and the green with purple rim (if that was in there) might be the imfamous leng sy cap.

Thanks to Steven for an awesome and entertaining talk. I will never forget the description of getting stung by an lionfish, and now know what to do if it were ever to happen.... It was great to see so much coral exchanging hands yesterday and such a strong turnout. I know my cooler came home stuffed, and everything made it through the night just fine. Was up till about midnight making sure everything was mounted in snug (I didn't get home until about 9:00). ousnakebyte- the pea-sized "superman" is frickin' RAD! It is already my wifes favorite coral. It will make it through just fine, and I have it in a safe spot. The other montipora is super nice also. To everyone else who swapped generously, many many thanks.

No, Zac will not be there. Our condolences go out to Dr. Mac and his family.

mike, I have a weird xenia that is white. it is just polyps though- it doesn't grow a stalk. Adam cesnales gave it to me. It isn't as pretty as the pom-pom though. I already have some grown on a small rock if you want it.

John, I have an uncommon pavona- not the super green one- it's chocolate brown and real hairy. I will bring that and probably some of the purple tip acropora for you. Maybe a piece of yellow turbinaria.

Well where are the photos?????? Hope you took a bunch along the way Maybe we should make a special section in the gallery for the true WAMAS tanks- there is this one, the 90 gallon that morgunda won, and andrii's old tank which was also raffled in the fall (which a youngster won I believe).

jake, this might be a good price on a reactor. http://www.aquadirect.com/store/customer/ Look at the aquamedic one they have on sale.

Hey Tony, You going to make it to the meeting? Long time no see.....

filter- none really. Lots of rock, a very healthy critter population, and a skimmer (with ozone in my case). Oh yeah, and a bag of carbon for good measure in the sump.

the stuff steve mentions is what you want. You really would not want to be handling pure ammonia- very toxic stuff.

I think when it comes to snails, there are no "reef safe" hermit crabs. My feeling is this term is used in reference to corals.

Please don't take what I said the wrong way. Most of what I said was just in jest. I actually laughing. I fully appreciate you trying to help- you do a WHOLE lot of it, and many of us appreciate it! I too am just trying to help. Seriously, no offence taken. As a jesture of peace and goodwill I will have a frag for you at the meeting. Seriously. And most certainly, do not be deterred from posting up good prices you come across. Michael