Chad

Didn't Hemdal do some research a few years back that linked the carbon dust as a cause? Ahh, found it: I don't know if the formal study was ever issued, but here's the abbreviated writeup. http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/activated-carbon-hlle-smoking-gun-found (and, hi Dave!)

Not sure if your route goes through Knoxville, TN, but sustainable aquatics is just outside there and gave a pretty good tour (if you called in advance) that was worth while.

^totally agree... plusses and minuses to each. external = more complicated in terms of equipment and piping (since you usually need an additional pump or run your overflow to it) and usually they are more expensive. But, it is more versatile since you don't have to run it in your sump and it's not affected by changes in sump water level. internal = more common, less expensive, and simpler to run. But, they are usually more sensitive to water level changes in your sump and are limited with where you can put them.

This is totally awesome! I can't wait to see what Justin and Dan have cooked up on it

Looking awesome, Justin!

With recent airline news, I have a feeling Bill's attention won't be on updating this thread for a bit.

Hahaha!

Hmmm, well mine isn't terribly complicated...

Holy crap, the second one just went for $10,520!! Congratulations, Matt!!

Marco, honestly, I don't know if I'll change anything or not... I've put a lot of thought into it and still don't know where I come down. No, there weren't any wild caught clowns in the system (at least not recently, I did have a group of wc clowns years ago...). I don't know for sure that it was brook (from pictures it looks too similar to velvet to easily discern), but the speed was just something else. Eat normallyone morning, 100% dead the next evening. I may lengthen the QT period but since the tank is fallow, I may do the same thing again with a longer FW dip. Yes, that LFS earned my loyalty and respect as a customer.

Thank you, it was a pretty hard and unexpected blow that I don't wish on anyone (most especially the fish!)... I agree, the lfs (Aquacare) is awesome. He's a small, by appointment place in an out building behind his house, but he's doing things right.

Well.... Not so good... Unfortunately, I think brooklynella had severe sonsequences. It was either that or MV, but I think it was brook based on the delay - three weeks - and the speed with which it hit - no observable symptoms to total loss in 36 hours. For those who will ask, I QTed for ~2 weeks and put them under observation, but nothing was treated during that time, before adding them to my tank. I was honestly very saddened, so I decided immediately to go fallow for 15 weeks (which ends mid-July). Since this, I've pretty much ignored my tank. You should see the coraline growth on the glass, I don't even know what's going on in there right now and it's going to take a few razor blades and some elbow grease to get through it... The lfs owner has been awesome through this. He did the two week QT in a standalone system he set up specifically for my fish, claimed responsibility and completely unexpectedly offered to replace the fish. Although I told him I didn't think he was at fault, he insisted. Pretty awesome, really.

Hi Matt! Glad to have you pop in! Congrats to you on this, by the way. I've mentioned on many occasions how big a deal this really is for the hobby. Iv'e rather enjoyed following it. (by the way, I think I'm going to win!)

OK, cool $6235

So, I'm all for doing this... However, there are something like 30 fish being auctioned off... some "look" like normal PNG maroon clowns and are only special because of the lineage and others are pretty killer looking... Is this for one particular clown, the first auction, an average? "normal" "lightning"

I'll share links when I see them... Honestly, as much as I both support the overall effort and would like one, since I have no intentions of undertaking a breeding effort, I will go ahead and pass to someone else who hopefully will breed.

The first generation of lightning maroon clowns (F1) bred by Matt Pederson will be available through Blue Zoo Aquatics eBay account this Saturday. Whether you are interested in purchasing a clown or not, the auctions should put on an interesting show. Here's pre-images of the fish being put up for auction.

^The magic of time lapse... I bet it wouldn't take from the show for them to do exactly that, HG TV does shows like that all the time. The only difference that I see is people know up front that building home stuff takes time.

http://reefbuilders.com/2013/06/18/tanked-learns-a-hard-lesson-from-hasty-fish-stocking/ Tanked. Fail. I can only hope (though I have low expectations) that this will encourage the show to take an opportunity to be ambassadors of the hobby.

Deadline for scholarship applications is 6/21. If you know someone or are interested yourself, apply!! Let's get this scholarship awarded to a WAMAS member!

I agree about needing pictures. I ran an aquaC EV400 for a while and liked it OK (at the time - early 2000s), it was the bees knees. The only complaint I really had about it was it's super-sensitivity to oils in the water (i.e., if I put my arm in the tank, the bubble column would be gone and take a couple hours to return). Can you measure the height? That will tell us what model it is. Also, what is the size of the nozzle fitting that goes into the skimmer? Some of the original models had a 3/4" fitting that was eventually replaced (for free I think, but you'd have to contact the company) with a 1" fitting that worked much better. These days, there are more efficient things that do the same thing in a smaller size out there, but it's still a solid and simple model, so I would not replace it immediately if there are other priorities.

Overall, I agree with you. It seems that the way of a natural and very biodiverse tank seems to be transitioning into a technology driven tank. Although I agree that a tech driven tank can be successful, I feel that overall they require too much maintenance to be sustainable by hobbyists in the long-term. To your point on "Live" rock being tougher to find, unfortunately I've found that true too... My best educated guess on that is LR is expensive to ship and keep all the biodiversity live, since hobbyists tend to not want it anyway (there are "pests" after all - lol), it's probably not worth it to them. That all being said, there are a few out there who still supply nice stuff, though much is Caribbean. Like Tampa Bay Saltwater.

Lol!!

^that was my takeaway on it too... I think that things like varying light, temperature, minor predation, pests and usually slightly lower calcium and alkalinity levels in the wild can lead to slower growth than we sometimes see when we hit on that magical combination in our closed environment tanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=j35mHTksN9E