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A buddy on mine came down from D.C. this weekend and he and I went to Atlantis yesterday. The selection was just as good as the first time I was there and his new infinity edge clam tank is sharp. Marvin took care of us WAMAS members and said he'd like to come to the fall meeting as a vendor. Make the trip, it's well worth it. Garrett.

I was looking to switch over some of my VHO lighting to T5. I had heard lots of good things about ReefGeek so I knew that I wanted to do business with them. Shopped around and found the exact same equipment for sale at DIYreef.com, but a shade cheaper. Contacted Greg at ReefGeek and told I him wanted to do business with him, but would he price match. He agreed to look into it, called me back and said not a problem. My stuff arrived yesterday and all told there were over $25 discounted and free shipping to boot. Everything was packed very well and looks wonderful. I will gladly do business with them again. Garrett.

John, I remember meeting you last fall and spending the afternoon in your house enjoying your beautiful tank while my poor girlfriend became more and more upset with the length of time I was NOT gawking at her. I asked you then about a zoanthid pack at some point... now I see you sell dead zoas. Shame on you. j/k John. I'm sorry you had to put up with this. Thank God you are active on more than one board and were able to catch him. BTW, if you do come across another frag pack, said girlfriend still owes me for last Christmas. Sorry again John, Glad that everything worked out for you though. Garrett.

James, I've got a 42 hex and though I enjoy it, it can be a challenge to work with and is not at all flexible or forgiving. I had two different seems split on me in the past two years. Once while I was out of town and I lost 90%of my livestock. The second time was about two weeks ago. Had to drain the tank, re-silicon everything and set it back up. What a PITA. That being said, I do like the tank. One day I'd like to set it up as a species specific tank with just a large derasa and maybe a few fish. All of that being said, I've utilized with a decent amount of success two different approaches. The old way - I had a DSB (6-7") with a gravity fed 30 gallon display fuge. Remora Pro skimmer w/mag 3 upgrade. There were never any problems with nitrates. The new way - see signature. Here is an article by Dr. Ron outlining DSBs: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-06/...ature/index.php Here is his website with all of his articles: http://www.ronshimek.com/Online%20Articles%201.htm By the way, I keep a pair of GSM clowns and a coral beauty in the hex tank. I certainly believe the system could handle another small fish or two, but the coral beauty is a bit of a bully and I haven't done it yet. Good luck James. Garrett.

Check out about 2/3 of the way down. http://forums.marinedepot.com/Topic35284-4-1.aspx Garrett.

These aren't the same things as the Cirolanid isopods that prey on fish. I've had those on some TBS liverock I got. Those things are scary. Way scary. The personification of evil in a reef tank as far as I'm concerned. It took me about two months of hunting at night to remove all of them and their little satan spawn children. Garrett.

I had this occur on an old pep a few years ago. Contacted Dr. Ron via his old forum on RC, and this is where he directed me. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/index.php Here is a direct quote from the article "Epicarids appear to be rather well-adapted parasites, and do not seem to harm their host much, in spite of their rather ghastly appearance. They may be found occasionally on the sides of all of the various shrimp imported for the hobby. They appear to be most frequently seen in peppermint shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni" In the end, no big deal. Garrett.

Chris, check this out http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic21596-11...ght=silica+sand basically, any non-toxic sand will do. For example, I have some southdown in my backyard that I have sprayed with weed killer (not joes juice btw). I would consider this to be toxic. In other words, go ahead and use what you have. Garrett.

Thanks Doug, must have missed that. Chris, simply awesome. I'm so used to a manual darkroom, digital is a whole new ballgame. Got to catch up with the times. The camera is a Nikon D1 w/Sigma AF 50mm F2 macro lens. Just tank lighting and minus the tripod. I was just screwing around with the camera. I don't have the info in front of me, so I couldn't tell you aperature and speed settings. Garrett.

I wish my lawn looked this good. If I had the slightest idea how to photochop I could lighten this up. Garrett. Chris, how to we submit for the picture contest?

I'm looking for some pom-pom xenia if anyone has any extra to spare. Garrett.

I'm in the process of switching over to SE 250 hallides from my 150 DE. I'd like to compare a few different color lamps to get an idea of which way I'd like to go. So, the question is, does anyone have any old lamps they'd like to donate to the cause. I don't care how long they've been burned for, I just want to give myself an idea of what I'm going to get permanently. Garrett.

Hey Scott, I was looking for some as well. Did you have any colorful encrusting gorgonians? garrett.

Jon, sorry to hear about the crash. If you ever need some water in an emergency let me know. Garrett.

I'll take the 36" VHO actinics. Garrett.

They say dog owners look like their dogs... I look like the one on the far left <----------

Sachin, My snail taxonomy skills are extremely limited, however, your snails appears to be nassarius (scavengers that eat meaty foods), while the other picture is most likely a conus (or cone) snail, some species of which can kill a man in just a matter of minutes. Very rare in the aquarium trade though it does happen from time to time. IMO (FWIW) you are in the clear. If you want a definitive answer you could check with Dr. Ron at http://www.marinedepot.com/forums/ Garrett.

Is this a standard 20" long 10G tank? I used to have an 80W 20" Orbit fixture that fit very nicely on a 10g. Nice coloration and plenty of wattage. Garrett.

Dave, I've got a red saddleback clown (A. Ephippium) hosting in a rock anemone (Epicystis crucifer), which is more of a fish eater than a host anemone. It has eaten (in short order), a royal gramma and two firefish gobies. Here's a pic I snapped while the anemone was spawning: Garrett.

Roozens can be a bit of a touchy subject in some circles. I however enjoy a visit to Roozens. They don't exactly cater to hobbyist though. A well educated, informed hobbyist could find some nice stuff there, though some would say that a well educated, informed hobbyist wouldn't go in the first place. Good luck. Garrett.

Johnny, when do you do your orders? I'm going to be up in NOVA from Fredericksburg this Saturday. Is it too late to order some livestock? I'd like a small kole tang (say 2"), and a juvenile gold stripe maroon clown. Garrett.

http://www.marinedepot.com/FORUMS/Topic30052-9-1.aspx

Eric Borneman can be found here: http://www.marinedepot.com/FORUMS/Forum9-1.aspx Christmas tree worms live commensally with porites, an "SPS" coral. I believe they live off the bacteria the zoanthellae produce. If the coral dies, then the community of worms die as they no longer have a food source. I don't have porites, but to generalize (inre to it being SPS), it probably needs better water quality, more light, more flow than the sarco and bubble. Garrett.

try http://www.fragglereef.com/zen/index.php?m...e=index&cPath=2 Garrett.

I agree with Phil, got a cheapo unit off of e-bay, spent a few hours trying to fix the leaks, including using teflon tape in ways it surely isn't intended for. Now it works fine. I was also missing one fitting, just stripped the fitting off an unnecessary piece. The unit works just fine. No gizmos or gadgets, and not very pretty to luck at, but it works. G.