wreck

Interceptor? Is that the pet heartworm medication? If it is I think I have some somewhere. Wreck

When you're crazy about diving, you'll take what you can get and around here that means cold water. I used to love the look on students' faces when I took them on a deeper dive in the quary, we would hit the thermocline and the temp would go from the 60's to the low 50's and they're eyes would go wide open. Of course I would be in a drysuit, but I'd usually be doing twice as many dives as the students. I did do my first ice dive in a wetsuit as per the tradition, but it wasn't that bad, the second dive felt much colder and I only lasted 5 minutes. Try it you just might like it, it's fun to walk upside down under the ice and try to kick a soccer ball around. This dive talk makes me want to go blow some bubbles. When's the dive trip? Wreck

Cool, I'll be over next week . Do ricordias have fancy names like zoas or are they just named by color? Wreck

That's an awesome ricordia. Can I buy one of your babies? Wreck

nice color. That branch on the left looks fraggable . I would love a piece when you frag it. Wreck

Welcome to WAMAS. You'll find that there are quite a few divers here on WAMAS. I used to instruct until two years but still try to do some dives here and there. There is a thread here that DaveS posted about certifying some WAMAS members and doing a trip down to NC for some wreck diving. If you've never dove NC wrecks, I highly recommend it. Wreck

I'm sure in a couple of months or so we'll all be trading rics and then we'll all have the same colors. What's a rainbow ric look like? I'm pretty new to ricordeas but love them, I got my first one from Lanman a few months ago which is now 6 rics, it's green with purple skin. Wreck

I can give you a hand on the Bethesda end but can't go up to Frederick. I work from home and live right down the street from BethesdaJim, earlier in the day works better for me. PM when you know when you're doing it. Wreck

If the frag is just introduced from another tank the shrimp may just be cleaning up some excess food or something that is left on the rock. After the shrimp is done cleaning the rock or plug the polyps will open up again.

There are heaters that shutoff when removed from water. I believe the Stealth heater is one of them. Glad you were around to shutoff the heater. Wreck

Clearwater FL, that's near Tampa Bay, St Pete Beach right? I don't think there are any coral reefs near there, but there are some freshwater springs where you can snorkel and see manatees within an hour or two drive. I went to St Pete Beach a few years ago and tried to find a spring to snorkel in but the dive shop I found in Tarpon Springs told me there were no public access springs nearby. They did trips to a spring to see manatees but I didn't have time to do it. Try to call some dive shops in the area, they'll have the best info. Tarpon springs has an aquarium that had a ray touch tank and a shark feeding tank, a little pricey for what it was but my daughter liked it. Wreck

If you bump up the number of posts to 3, maybe you should make a 2 post limit after post #90. That way people won't just hold on to 3 posts until the end and at least make one post to get things going quicker. Thanks for the entertainment. Wreck

I'm in, I've been keeping an eye on the cashless auction since it started. Let the sniping begin. Wreck

Your GBTA ate your Mandarin? That sucks, sorry for your loss. Wreck

1. the 20 may not cycle or it might just quickly cycle. Do tests to watch it cycle, like you would a new tank. ammonia climbs then falls, nitrite climbs and falls to zero. 2. I would not mix the clownfish in a 55. 3. I don't know, no personal experience with damsels. I think the madarin goby should go in your biggest most established tank, so he has enough pods and such to feed on, unless your goby eats other foods. Wreck

Welcome to WAMAS, Kerrnel. Wreck

I've been using a Quietflo600 from Hurricanefilters.com for over a year with no troubles and it's very quiet. I paid $50 for mine, but I just looked on their site and it's on sale for $36. But if I had an empty tank I would drill it for a couple of bulkheads. Wreck

I love Ricordias, I think they look cool. I got my first one a couple of months ago, it moved off the plug it came on and left bits of itself on the plug which grew into two more. I got an orange one from Bkmarket with two mouths which is starting to split. Give bkmarket a pm, I think he had a few to sell. Wreck

Bikini Atoll is at the top of my dream dive destinations list. I believe they allow only 12 divers at a time on the atoll and you stay at the old barracks. There are a bunch of historic ships there that were sunk when they tested the bomb there. I want to dive on the aircraft carrier Saratoga that sits upright in the lagoon. I'm glad to hear that the reef is coming back. Wreck

Welcome Tromni, you'll find your WAMAS membership your best investment is the salltwater hobby. Wreck

You can buy it any LFS or online at bulkreefsupply.com. I just put up a WTB posting here and picked up a big bag of Mississippi Lime from another member. Wreck

For all top off you can use a Kalk mix of 1-2 tsp(2 tsp makes it saturated) Kalk powder to one gallon of RO water. Test your calcium level now, you want near 400 ppm of calcium, then test again after a few days of using the Kalk to see if it is bringing the CA level up, once your at your desired level you can adjust the amount of Kalk to maintain that level. I highly recommend a Ph monitor so you can easily see what your Ph is doing at different times of the day/night and dosing. I have my Auto top off which flows through my Kalk reactor to only come on a few times a night when lights are out to keep the Ph more constant. I found if I left the ATO to top off whenever needed, day or night, my Ph would go a little higher than I was comfortable seeing (over 8.6). This is what works for my tank, every tank is different, just find what works for you and your tank. Good luck. Wreck

aww shucks , you're very welcome. Wreck

I would recommend that you NOT do your certification on the boat, unless you want to spend a lot of your vacation time on the class. You could do a referral class where you complete your classroom and pool time up here (expect a minimum of 20 hrs combined) and then do your certification dives (4 open water dives required for PADI cert.) down there. For your best training, I'd say do it locally where you don't have to rush and you can complete your dives with the same instructor. Wreck