Gatortailale

Just ordered a set of lids for my Aqueon 65 reef ready tank from https://www.clearviewlids.com/ Getting their new to be rolled out modular lid design. This new design will let you swap out pieces in the future in your equipment needs change. Saves from having to get an entire new lid - meaning that say I want to swap out light mounts in future. Adam at ClearView Lids can create a new back piece to swap out. I'll have to post pictures once they are built and delivered. And another great thing is they are a local small business based in Virginia.

Prize list updated. Hope to see everyone at the meeting.

Saw this on bookface. No idea any good. Says for AIO tanks

WAMAS Platinum Sponsor Avast Marine Works is donating a Plank Automatic Feeder to the May meeting raffle. Thank you Avast Marine Works for the many years of supporting the WAMAS Club - It's great to have a local manufacture of quality reefing equipment in our area.

In an effort to be able to sponsor posts on Facebook/Meta to spread the word of WAMAS meetings we had to create a non-profit business page. If you can, please give a follow/like to help the club. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557924882673 WAMAS also has the public group on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/48990824750 Thanks!

WAMAS Meeting Sponsor Bulk Reef Supply is donating a 4 Stage Value Plus RODI System. Thank you BRS for your support of the WAMAS Club!

It looks like the Drop 1.4 comes with 2 power supplies. Are they both working - try switching the power bricks for each. And maybe you can find a power brick on amazon or a mean well one that is compatible with it.

I think I just sent invoice via email to renew.

WAMAS Platinum Sponsor Reef Nutrition is donating three gift cards to our May 4 Spring Meeting: $100 Gift Certificate for Reef Nutrition products (with $40 bump-up for shipping) 50 Gift Certificate for Reef Nutrition products (with $40 bump-up for shipping). (2 chances to win!) Thanks Reef Nutrition for your continued support of the WAMAS Club.

8 snails is not a big enough cleanup crew for tank that size. You need to add a lot more mouths to control it better. I was dealing with a hair algae issue in my 112 g system few months ago I added 150 astrea, couple tuxedo urchin, 300 small blue leg hermits, 5 chestnut, 10 Mexican, and 25 banded trochus snails. Also started running an AI prime 16 fuge light in fuge area of sump on reverse cycle. Also added a bristle tooth tang as I find them to be a workhorse at picking on algae. If the snails eat up all the algae I put small sheet of nori on clip. if you can’t find good selection at LFS, I’ve had great success with shipments from reeftopia.com and you can get some good mix of crews for $150ish. This video gives a good overview of different janitors and what they generally address

I’m not familiar with the AI Prime, other than the fudge one I recently got. Didn’t play around much in my AI app, but description of the prime on premium aquatic makes it sound like you can control color channels independently. If so, create your own custom schedule. Alternatively, I know world wide corals and top shelf aquatic share light program profiles on their website. Scroll down to AI https://worldwidecorals.com/pages/led-lighting-presets https://topshelfaquatics.com/pages/led-lighting-presets

A few years ago I picked up one of the SR Aquaristik mag-stirrer speed tester mixer and I love it. Makes things easier and faster than adding some solution and shaking the vial. It's worth the time and money to pick up any brand of mag-stirrer in my opinion. I find that by using my speed tester I'm less likely to let the Rich Ross coined term LARS (lazy-ass reefer syndrome) kick in since testing can be done relatively fast. And then I just plug in the result into the Apex Fusion app. and track my results. I've looked at investing in a Apex Triton but haven't decided to spend on one thus far. Most people can make the Triton work without issues and I'm sure I'm only reading the few who make a fuss on the F-book group; but has me shying away from getting one. In short, if you are new to the hobby or seasoned veteran and still doing titration testing by swirling a vial, take a look at speeding things up. No I'm not sponsored or paid to say this. Although I should reach out to see if they will donate some to a future club meeting raffle.

Welcome to the club and cheers to getting back in salt. We are looking at ways to add more events besides the quarterly meetings, based on member survey last year others also looking for more activities and interaction. Hopefully soon we will roll out some LFS tour days; and schedule some coffee meetups as a way for members to meet others in their area since there is a little distance and travel time to get around the capital region.

Smoky recently posted had a bulkhead leaking and still trying to solve the problem; so I think he is not using overflows right now until he resolves the issue.

By Randy Holmes-Farley https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-aquarium-salinity-diy-calibration-standards.1042851/ Hope you find this helpful on calibration of checking your water

Looking at your picture here, it does look like the right bulkhead / gasket is overlapping the larger bulkhead/ gasket on the left. If that is the case it may be preventing a tight seal - if that turns out to be the bulkhead leaking.

WAMAS 2024 Coral Swap/Show - (aka Aqua Affair - Don't tell your spouse, bring cash!) Saturday, December 14, 2024 Time: Noon - 4:00 PM (Raffle starts at 3:00 pm) Vendor setup 9:00 AM Where: Green Acres Center, 4401 Sideburn Rd., Fairfax, VA General Admission - $5 (Kids 12 and under are FREE) Vendor rates and details posted soon. Contact officers@wamas.org if you are interested in reserving table space. * Note this event is outside/in addition to our normal quarterly meetings

I bought a bottle of microbacter 7 last fall when I was setting up a 65 seahorse, but ended up going with Dr. Tim's product. Dr. Tim's makes several types of bacteria products for use beyond an initial tank setup one. You may benefit from Dr. Tim's. I just picked up some waste away and the eco-balance probiotic for my main system since it has been running since 2005. Not that I'm having any problems, but I run ozone, skim heavy & use UV; never tried to replace beneficial bacteria. I have had experiences of losing a few sps corals to a little slow stn. Hence hoping beneficial bacteria will help. As for dosing phyto - I also would hold off a bit longer until you see few weeks of no signs of cyano returning before adding more nutrients - and reestablish beneficial bacteria base.

Hopefully the lfs put a union inline on drain line under tank where leaking. You can also buy a python hose you connect to faucet or use a hose to drain overflow to work on it. Unless you go nuts you shouldn’t harm glass as thick as you describe by trying to tighten nut.

If you can gently try to tighten the black nut sitting on glass, may be all that is needed, shouldn’t need to hold bulkhead on inside overflow unless it’s really loose and wobbly. You may be able to take a picture of bulkhead inside overflow to see if you can spot o ring between bulkhead and glass on inside overflow

Randy Holmes-Farley article. https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php ESV Bionic is what I use in addition to dripping Kalk. The ESV says to always dose in equal parts. Once you read Randy's article it makes sense why dose equal parts to raise alk. https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.htm "Reef aquarists take great advantage of the 1:1 matching of calcium and alkalinity demand in reef aquaria by using additives that supply calcium and alkalinity in this same ratio. In this way, over- or under-dosing of such balanced calcium and alkalinity additives should not result in skewing the aquarium water's chemistry toward too much calcium and too little alkalinity, or too much alkalinity and too little calcium. On the other hand, independent additions of calcium and alkalinity, even with careful and frequent measurement, often lead to such imbalances."

nova tropicals and Blue Ribbon Koi & marine are waterbox retailers. IM website - looks like have to go 90 miles to authorized dealer - Saltwater Aquarium in PA; or Pacific East in Mardela Spring, MD on way to Ocean City.

Good stuff Graham. I agree about flow, & sand bed is probably a nutrient trap, especially if not using a vac type tool to export detritus. I also agree on adding lots of mouth’s and diversity in cleanup crew. I’ve been struggling in my 112 tank system with hair algae and had it looking better just before Christmas. Then on December 26 found out about detached retina/ 2 surgeries through January 18 and orders to not lift more than a gallon in weight and fear of infecting eye by reaching in tank resulted in setback. I recently added few hundred snails and 700 hermit crabs to try to combat in addition to water changes and harvesting what I could by hand. Keep trying, you will get it addressed.

We had Marc here last summer to speak to the club. I often listen to his videos and many times learn something new and/or get inspired to try something new or it keeps me motivated to keep up with maintenance. Yesterday's video was another interesting topic, and I found myself guilty of posting pictures of things when tank going good but hiding the struggles I've encountered over the 23 years in the hobby. Hope you all enjoy his video and it keeps you inspired to keep trying in the hobby. Post your comments below and share your thoughts and experiences.