MrSexyShrimp

Ok we'll put a pin in the extensive home renos. I think this is an attractive tank and great value: http://www.scaquariums.com/aquarium-systems/24-gallon-pnp-system-best-deal.html A bit more elegant than the Biocubes IMO. I prefer the look of sharp corners to bent glass corners.

Do you own this place, or are you renting? Planning to move anytime soon? If you could afford your dream tank right this moment, what would it be? When I have a 'dream' in mind, it's very hard for me to settle for a compromise. I tend to just wait a long time until conditions are right. But for me, planning and preparing is very rewarding. Here's my vote: 1) Sell all the books. Everyone's digital these days. Get a kindle. Rip out the existing shelving. 2) Install a long tank approximately 2/3 the length of the wall on the left side. Starphire, rimless, etc. Underneath put your sump. 3) Install a sink in the remaining third section on the right. This will be your clean up area, mixing station, and general wet bar area. Underneath store liquor. Install floating shelves above for glassware. 4) Replace ceiling fan and track lighting with lazers / disco ball. 5) Enjoy your new party room! Invite WAMAS members for the grand opening. I'll make a playlist and swing by the D.C. Costco for booze and appetizers.

Nice. Did they make you ship back the old one? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

translation: happy (expecting!) wife, happy life. That's me. I've been to his house and seen it in person. It really has never been used. It kills me that I don't have the space for this in my place or I would've bought it months ago.

oh god now i'm a paranoid mess and i don't even have a tank yet. sorry that happened to you.

I had a friend who had a GSM, and it bit her arm when she cleaned the tank. She said it made her bleed! Vampire fish IMO.

Ah. SPS only?

Newb question. What's zeovit? Seen it mentioned a few times, googled it. Looks like some proprietary system of chemicals?...

It was an old 2 seater convertible with reliability issues. So technically I had a car, but I couldn't haul anything, and I was scared to drive it for more than very short distances.

Oh! Forgot to mention. I got a new car last weekend. No longer semi-carless!

I have two small conures. More than enough noise for one condo! I'm pretty sure I'm "that guy" the neighbors seethe about. Besides, don't they hide in crevices/burrows most of the time?

DC

... wow there's no wikipedia page for royal//tuxedo urchins (Mespilia globulus). Someone get on that!

Ha ha I know I said peaceful, but I'm OK with animals that 'bully' coralline algae. Especially on glass. I think I remember reading that urchins can actually help spread coralline algae, because they scrape bits of it off as they're eating it, and it propagates it around the tank.

Ha! So much for a peaceful tank. BANG. BANG. BANG.

@BadCrab Thanks for the feedback! I'm still months away from stocking, but it's really fun for me to plan it out in my head. Geez you leave a hobby for 10 years and they change stuff around on you. Ha. Figures. I like mandarins enough to consider making it my only fish so it wouldn't have to compete with anything. But realistically, assuming I went with a 50g+ tank and had a refugium, we'd be well into 2015 before my tank was ready for one. We'll seeeeee. Right now it's feeling like a 'no' just because the 30gal size is more appealing to me. But I don't want to have regrets later on... I mean it's my FAVORITE fish. I've decided I want a peaceful, relaxing tank. No bullies. So no damsels/clowns. On the fence about hermits. My blue ones were murderous, but my scarlets were pretty chill. Although I don't remember the scarlets doing much to help clean. #whycantwealljustgetalong

@Keraxis Yep I've read that about mandarins. Don't worry, I wouldn't jump into anything. I'd only even consider getting a mandarin that I can observe eating prepared foods. Or buy from an LFS that would take him back if I couldn't train him. I work from home, so I could keep a pretty close eye on it. Have you ever kept one? I'm curious to hear experiences with the ORA mandarins that are supposedly raised on prepared food. The duncans in the store had a lot of movement-- the tentacles swayed gently in the current. Or did you mean movement like a fish? Other things I saw and really liked at Marine Scene: - Blue spotted jawish: Beautiful, but with my luck he'd make his home under a rock on the backside of the tank and I'd never see him. - Fairy wrasse. - Favia. Green, I think? - Maxi mini carpet: Pretty green and purple. But this particular one was not pretty enough to risk eating fish or stinging corals. - Orange acans - Galaxy coral: But read they're notorious stingers, probably not great for a small system. - Something blue that looked sorta like Xenia. I forgot to ask about it. Might've been cloves or a pipe organ. Definitely don't want anything that spreads like Xenia though.

I went to Marine Scene this afternoon and fell in love with some duncans. Would a duncans-only specimen tank be ridiculous? They're so neat... I'd probably get bored, but it'd be really pretty.

Hi all, @DuffyGeos -- Thanks. So much better than Craigslist. I went to the Leesburg outlets this weekend and randomly found a nearby LFS. They had a 25 gallon cube that was tempting, but it wasn't an AIO and I think fitting a sump underneath it would be awkward. My condo furniture layout probably calls for a traditional rectangle tank anyway. @Keraxis -- I love mandarins, but I'd need to find one trained to eat prepared foods. I'm big on "personality" fish, I guess. I had true percs in college, and they were cool to watch, but I don't think I'm going to do clowns this time. Think I want a yellow clown goby... Maybe a reef-safe wrasse? I also really want a group of sexy shrimp, but they're so small I'm afraid they'd be too hard to see in a normal nano, so I was thinking about having a pico dedicated to sexy shrimp and rock flower or mini-maxi (maxi-mini?) anemones. Coral-wise, I like LPS.. duncans, elegance, torch... Maybe some rics, and I'd like to try SPS just to see how it goes. NO XENIA. Learned that the hard way. And no brown corals. Life's too short for brown corals!

It's a common malware technique. Happened to me when I ran my own Wordpress blog. The redirection only happens under certain circumstances, in an effort to fool the site owner into thinking the site hasn't been hacked. At first I assumed WAMAS had shut down, but I'm glad I persisted. Hopefully you guys aren't losing too many potential members from this hack.

Hi all, I had a nano reef for a year in college (plus multiple freshwater tanks throughout the years) but I had to part with it because of the inherent instability of breaking it down for winter/summer breaks. And then after college I spent several years in short term rentals, but I have my own place now and I think it's time to get back into the game. It's a small condo in Logan (NW D.C.) and I'm mostly car-less these days, which will present its own set of challenges... But no one gets into this hobby because it's easy! I'm looking at probably no more than 50 gallons. Been keeping an eye on Craigslist but it's so... depressing. In other news--- I think this site has been hacked. When I clicked on the homepage link from Google, I'm redirected to some spammy domain. Clicking on the forums sub-link from Google works, however. It probably uses some sort of cookie so that regular members don't suspect anything is wrong. If you want to verify, try opening a Google Chrome incognito window and searching from Google. I'm a web developer professionally, so if the WAMAS webmaster wants any help, just ping me. edited: typo