gastone

I've been out of reef keeping for about 5 years now, but I'm thinking about setting up a small tank in the fall for the kids. I've talked to our science teacher, and she's game, but she doesn't know anything about sw tanks. Not sure how to proceed. Dave? Doug?

Steve, Looking good man. Glad to see you back at it! Garrett.

Ah, bought a house, got married. Two dogs. Got a new bike. Don't know if I'll get back into it. Too much time and too much money for my broke behind. I hope all's well with you Rik. G.

Rik, it's almost been six months. Just checking in on you. Garrett.

Short follow up on Trupanion pet insurance. Less than two weeks after my previous post, my female mastiff became ill with IMHA. Nasty, nasty disease. We were fairly certain that she was not going to make it. She spent 10 days receiving blood transfusions and costly immuno-suppresants at the VEC in Richmond. Her medication upon being discharged was costing us 190/week... and we were told she would be on it for 6-8 months. She also returns to Richmond every two weeks for follow up blood work. So far my wife and I are into her treatment for well into 5 figures. Trupanion has paid out 90% of our claims totals. Unbelievable! Garrett.

I've used 3 different vet insurers. VPI is awful, read AWFUL. I still carry them as one of my dogs has had a policy with them since puppyhood. If we switch to a different insurance provider his conditions (which are numerous would be considered to be pre-existing and we would get nothing). To be fair (which often I'm not), many people who have small dogs don't have a problem with VPI. We don't.. we have mastiffs. They aren't small. So VPI's ridiculous payout schedule is insulting. Our male mastiff had surgery this past spring. The bill was about 3k. VPI reimbursed us $140. His anesthesia bill alone was $400... of which they paid $40. Now maybe a pomeranian can be knocked cold for 40 bucks, but a mastiff sure as heck can't. Previously I had a shar pei (don't get me started on health issues...) who was insured via the AKC healthcare plan. Better than VPI (3x monthly cost), but again they don't cover congenital issues of which she had aplenty. At the time there wasn't much in the way of pet insurance providers when I had both dogs. Now there are options available. My female mastiff is insured with trupanion. Expensive, but my research leads me to believe well worth the cost. I haven't submitted a claim with them yet... Go here. http://www.petinsurancereview.com/ Garrett.

Steve, I call dibs on this setup when you tear it down next month. Garrett.

Hey Rik, glad to see you are doing well. Every six months or so I'll jump online to see how it's coming. G.

Bob, pics look awesome. Garrett.

Chris was the photographer at my wedding this past summer. He was absolutely wonderful to work with. He and his crew made us feel incredibly comfortable (and good looking to boot). Everyone at the wedding was impressed with his professionalism, and his product. I have no doubts that if this one doesn't work out, I would re-hire him for the next wedding. Garrett.

Bruce, IIRC IO historically has high alk and low calcium. I always un-stratify any salt when first I open the container. Even given the same manufacturer, different batches could give different measurements. Heck, if a batch sat on the floor for too long, it could stratify and when dumped into 2 different 5 gallon buckets, they could have different measurements. My process is un-stratify, measure values, then write on the bucket what I need to addend (Alk, Cal, Mag) to bring the batch up to acceptable levels. I then know how much to add to each successive batch that I mix from that bucket. I repeat the un-stratify, measure and label with each new bucket. G.

Stu, on a 12g tank I would go with large, regular water changes as you have been. You may also consider topping off with kalk to get the extra ph/alk/calcium boost. As far as dosing, I don't think I'd do it on a 12 gallon. Too much chance of failure, and failure on a nano could be catastrophic as just a small amount of two part could throw your level way out of whack, or cause a major ph spike. G.

Contact Oceanic and find out if it was tempered. I don't think Oceanics are, but I could be wrong. If it hasn't, I say go for it. G.

I agree with others. The 150mh + pc combo will probably suffice, but you'll find that you have a lot more options regarding potential livestock and placement, as well as many more lamp/color combinations if you were to go with 250mh and T5s (my personal preference). You could also utilize T5's only. Browse the member tank threads. I'm sure you'll find plenty of nice looking 120g tanks. Check out their lighting scheme and ask them questions. If you get it right the first time, you only have to buy equipment once.

http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?act=...e=%2Bnyaquatics

Tom, I tried it a few years ago. In addition to pest algae control, my thought was to use the babies to feed to any salt water predators. They survived in my fuge and even had a few broods. Unfortunately I didn't provide a place for the babies to grow out and pumps quickly devoured them. The parents (2 females/1 male) didn't last too long either, somewhere in the neighborhood of a few months. To boot, in my situation I didn't notice any change in any of my pest algae. In the future, I'll try it again, but mostly to feed the offspring to either an frogfish/lion/grouper/etc. G.

Are we supposed to neuter our sea kittens to prevent overpopulation? Are feral sea kittens best left in the ocean?

Although aesthetically it looks nice, there is no way to know how well it performs. I'd be concerned that the ballasts are not up to par (no pun intended) and would have to be replaced. I feel the same way about the unnamed bulbs, which could be quality, my guess is that they are cheap. Garrett.

Maureen, you should definitely check out Fish World. And if you are in Richmond, check out Atlantis as well. I haven't been down that way in about 1.5 years, soon after Marvin relocated the store. At the time it wasn't quite up to snuff with the old place, but I would imagine he's got it up and running at full speed by now. FWIW, the Richmond guys swear by Atlantis. They pretty much clean him out immediately when his new shipments arrive. Traveling an hour or more for a quality LFS is quite the dichotomy for us WAMAS "southerners". We've got fantastic options both north and south IMO, being right in the middle. Unfortunately we are an hour away. Then again, maybe we are fortunate to be an hour away. If I was in BRK or Atlantis' backyard, I'd frequent and spend more money on my tanks than I normally do. G.

Man... $25 per is steep! When Gary Majchrzak first started distributing these things he let them go for $10 apiece. I can't understand selling the common variety like this for such a price when they split almost non-stop. I purchased two a few years ago and within 6 months had over 40... that were in plain sight. At the time, not a single one was manually divided. I passed on a few to James when he picked up some refugium rock a few months back. Great little anemones, but I wouldn't pay much for the common variety. Daniel has some sweet, less common varieties that seriously kick tail. Garrett.

Maureen, glad to here that there is a viable local option. Garrett.

Wicked anemone Carla. Garrett.

Here you go: http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluore...SLR_Reflectors/ I know that Johnny at BRK carries these local. Garrett.

Rik, sorry to hear about this. G.