lanman

I traded hbh a couple of frags for a loaf of her home-made bread. Great trade, but now that I've tried the bread - it wasn't a very fair trade! Holly - I owe you another frag or two!! YUM!! bob

I got a half-dozen gold-ring cowries a couple of years ago; at least 2 are still running around; so would like about 4-5 of each of the above, if you see them. bob

Me!!!! bob

Can you suggest a particular transformer from Radio Shack or somewhere?? Would a 24v wall-wart work? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A287AI/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000H5Y7MU&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0Z9ZJFXJZZTR292RWSXE also - haven't seen the 'whole thing' picture. How long is the 'rod'? Does one end stay out of the water, or is it just a small magic wand, and you reach down into the tank to zap? Thanks, bob

Find a used psychlone... cyclone? Oh, yeah - Sea-clone! Made by 'Aquarium Systems'. You will hear nothing good about these things. They are cheap, don't work... next time you are over - have me show you mine. I got it free, being thrown out by someone. YES - they need to be adjusted almost daily. YES - they need to be cleaned every few weeks (the air/water intake gets clogged easily). BUT - they work GREAT if you do that. And when's the last time you didn't spent 5 minutes doing something with your tank in the course of a day? Get the Seaclone 150 if you can afford $90 new... It seems somewhat superior to the Seaclone 100. This skimmer uses a little maxi-jet pump, which lasts forever. I've been tempted to get rid of my Deltec and hang 4-5 of these things in my sump! bob

This is getting better and better! I am DYING to know if it will kill my nuisance palythoas. I have been pulling rocks out of my display and clearing them - but it takes forever. I have to nibble off rock under the paly's, and then leave the rock in my 'rock storage' tank for a while to see if any more appear. Then scrape those off. How evil are these things? 1.5 years ago - I took a rock outside, and put it in a bucket of fresh water. After drying out, fresh water, snow, freezing temperatures, and heat of summer... the polyps are still there - attached firmly to the rock. I'm sure they are dead - okay PRETTY sure... but they are still there. I would love to try it out - and happy to contribute to the Paul B. mad scientist fund for the privilege. bob

At least the freshwater is lighter than the saltwater! Phew! bob

Excellent! Don't have to wait for a sunny day! bob

If you ever happen to get some cowries in, please let me know! Particularly fond of the smaller ones, like 'gold ring' and 'money' and 'snake head'. Thanks!! bob

And above and beyond!! The service individual at Ecotech told me that he was SURE I had at least one bad wet-side unit, and it would fail eventually. So - even though I was out of warranty - he sent me a wet-side unit 'under warranty' - for free. I guess we can call him 'boy genius' because the unit failed again 48 hours later. The replacement arrived 49 hours later. It is all back up and running again. That's service! bob

ONE of about 15 red mushrooms with blue spots that I have on a rock stays pale pink - no idea why. bob

Wow... that was fast! If you are going to keep using carbon or phos remover - you might consider 'Filter-Fine Aquatics'. He is local, and both his carbon and phos remover are really good products. They better be - I have like 5 gallons of each! http://ffaquatics.com/shop/ bob

Excellent job - you put a lot of hours and work into that! bob

One of my three $400 Ecotech Vortech MP40's quit working. It was the 'master'. I couldn't get it to run; would turn 3 revolutions or so, and stop - and start flashing RED. No problem, I de-programmed the other two, and set them on independent mode. Then THEY wouldn't run - would run for about 6 seconds, stop and flash red; try again for about 6 seconds... after three tries, it would just stay on flashing red. I wrote to Ecotech and explained the problem. Customer support wrote back and told me to 'de-program' the automatic cut-off (if your motor and the inside unit separate for some reason). I did that, and both of them started running again. I said thanks, and that I would send the other one in for repairs (no longer under warranty; which makes this a profitable thing for Ecotech). He wrote back and said he didn't think I needed to do that, that he thought it was probably a wet-side issue, and to keep playing with it. I swapped the wet-side units between that one and another one, and now all three are happily running again. Obviously, I didn't understand the 'magic' involved - but they work, and he saved me both money and down-time when he could have earned some money. Thanks, Ecotech!! bob

I always have 5-10 gallons of 'used' water sitting around. Great for rinsing things, a nice place to put algae that I pick out of the tanks, etc. AND - it's there in case you have an accident that spills a few gallons of water out onto the floor! Which reminds me - that carpet hanging on the deck railing is probably dry by now... bob

Congratulations to all of you - and many thanks for your service to the club!! bob

I was just talking about what I could see in the photo - looked like about 100-120 of them. bob

Is this green 'dust' only on the glass? That is pretty normal. Just use your magnetic tank scrubber every day. If it gets 'hard' - use a scraper; but don't wait too long. bob

Looks like about $4,000 worth - retail! bob

Better Business Bureau

That picture alone is worth the trouble of raising them! Awesome job, Almon!! bob

You will get as many opinions as there are members. MY suggestion is to take everything out. Throw the sand away, or clean it, and save it to use mixed with cement to make frag plugs. Soak the rocks - in freshwater, or saltwater - for at least several days or a week. Then blast/scrub everything you can off of the rocks. After that, keep them in a bucket of saltwater with a powerhead. Meanwhile - scrub down the tank, put in all new sand, fill it with saltwater, and check all of your hardware/plumbing. Make sure it is just the way you want it, and then introduce your rock. Get a few pieces of live rock from an LFS, or someone that is selling it 'live' here on WAMAS. Add those to the tank, and do your aquascaping. Start running your lights - but only a few hours a day; no use fueling the algae that's likely to grow. Start checking your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. If you never get an ammonia or nitrite spike (i.e. you did TOO good a job of cleaning your rock) - add a piece of dead fish or shrimp to the tank. You need to feed/train/grow your nitrifying bacteria in your old rocks. You should see a spike in ammonia, then nitrite. After a while both of those should drop off, and you will see some nitrates. Once all three have dropped to acceptable levels, your tank is cycled, and you have a sufficient populaton of 'good bacteria' to handle at least some load. Add a cleanup crew - snails and hermits, or just snails as you prefer. Then start slowly adding fish. Least aggressive/smallest first. Once everything seems to be running well, and you have good chemistry readings, you can start to add corals (type dependent on what kind and how much lighting you have). Best of luck to you - and be sure to let us know where you live. You can find a lot of help, and a lot of support, and even a lot of 'freebies' here in WAMAS. Oh - and be sure to join the club as a paying member. You will find a lot of inexpensive stuff for sale in the 'hidden' for sale section. bob

I know what you mean about tools, Paul. Someone I know was closing down her machine shop after 50 years of operation. I actually had to stand and think for a while about that 10-ton drill press she was throwing out. Despite the fact I would have to build a building for it, and have electrical run! bob

Hmmm.... I can already think of much safer ways to build that thing. I wonder if it would kill nuisance palythoas? bob

Sounds like you're all set. Once you get the sump/return set up, you can start taking readings, and watch for a cycle. Don't worry about the stirred up sand - it will eventually settle. More quickly if you had a nice quiet sump for it to settle into, and some filters to pull some of it out. Welcome aboard. bob