Steve G

I bought an AC3 from them. They forgot to send it out when they said they would but they fixed the mistake. I would use them again.

Looks like a Portuguese man o' war.

It would help to seed it with some real live rock. Put a piece of live rock in the middle of your base rock to help populate it with organisms (bacterial as well as microfauna). THat's what I've always done.

I run a two little fishies phosban reactor. Things got worse after I started running it. Correlation or causation? Anyway, my is to do some more careful testing and observation with different media, flow rates, etc. to determine whether the reactor is helping or hurting. THere are a lot of variables in my tank (flow, feeding, salinity swings, etc.) that I'm dealing wiht at the same time.

Tagging along. I'm interested in this! (I love reef-keeping fads and want to be on top of the next one, since I missed the BB, wavebox, and T5 lighting fads) My phosban reactor doesn't seem to do squat.

Make sure you include carrion-eaters. They are useful for when you have an undetected death, like those overturned astreas. I forget which species, but read the species descriptions of common reef cleaner packages. Carrion-eaters can detect rotting flesh from great distances. I find that shrimps are the best omnivores for uneaten fish food. They're faster than snails, more interesting to look at, and if you're lucky, pair off and lay eggs. As for algae eaters and poopivores (I just made that term up), snails and crabs help, but don't count on them. Hermit crabs are just snail-killers. I will never buy another one.

This thread is extremely useful. Does anyone know if carbon becomes any less useful if it's been sitting on a shelf (shrink-wrapped) for years? I'm guessing not.

I'm thinking a gigantic phosban reactor the size of Rhode Island would do the trick. Get Dandy on that.

My head is exploding from shopping. Vendors never package their stuff in the standardized bundles. Hidden shipping and discounts. Who has time for this? Anyway, I thought I'd ask the community for some advice. This is the package I'm going to get. AC III + DC8 + Temp probe (standard) + pH probe (lab grade) Does $460 shipped for a brand new unit seem about right? Aquacave and Marine Depot seem to be the places that will do this at this price. And no, I'm not driving 100 miles round trip to a group buy or a not-so-Local Fish Store. I love WAMAS but you guys stretch the meaning of "Washington Area" to its limits!

Well, my wife called and alas the fish jumped again, this time on the floor with nobody to rescue it. I thought this might happen but hoped against it. RIP, Mr. Foxface. What to tell my 3 year old son?

One of my favorite fishes (and my son's favorite) is a Foxface rabbitfish. After this morning's feeding I was walking away from the tank when I heard a loud splash that made me freeze in my tracks. It was VERY loud. I ran back and scanned the floor. After a few seconds I realized what happened. This nearly 5" fish somehow leaped over the lip and into a 6x6x6 overflow. This overflow is not a true weir with open slots. The slots are closed on top with a straight edge, so it must have been a flying leap. It was a very tense 2 mins or so while he flipped and flopped himself around, wedged between the box and the large PVC elbow that forms the inlet. There was barely 2" of water (normal) for him to stay wet while he struggled and I struggled to get him into a net (remember those venemous dorsal spines!) It felt like an eternity. Back in the tank it took him a few minutes to return to his unstressed color, but I think he's gonna be ok. I had to go to work but I stopped off and bought a pound of fresh nori to give him as a treat tonight (not all at once!). I hope it wasn't the anthias that chased him out. I may have to set up a 10 gallon jail for that guy. The 75 gallon display is a bit tight for two large fishes like that, but everyone's gotten along since they've been together. The anthias (4") is a bit aggressive toward the others (ocellaris pair) but not towards the royal gramma. If I had a bigger tank I'd get him a couple of girlfriends but I don't like to crowd the space. Just thought I'd share today's aquarium drama. Steve

What I saw snorkeling and diving on the GBR (off Lady Elliot Island at the very southern end of the GBR marine reserve): (no pics yet, I have to get them developed) - loggerhead turtle (the size of a VW bug, very old, initially mistook it for a boulder) - smaller loggerhead (current pushed me practically on top of it while I was snorkeling on the reef flat) and green turtle at surface catching a breath - black tip reef shark (3-4 ft), very active - leopard shark (3 feet) - wrasses galore: fairy wrasses, bird-nose wrasse, cleaners everywhere - angels (many many varieties including king, lemonpeel, many gorgeous ones I could not identify, etc.), butterflies, parrots, clown triggers, surgeonfish including kole tangs, yellow tangs, and others I could not identify - clownfish inside anems, almost all were bubble tips anems, including one about 5 feet across with at least 4 large (5") one-strip dark-orange clowns (cinnamon?) -- saw dozens of clown/anem combos, but never saw a single clownfish in open water - 1 billion humbugs of all sizes from 1/2" to 5" - dinner plate sized foxface rabbitfishes - schools o' vivid blue reef chromis and chromis viridis - cukes (up to 4 ft. long, 1 ft. circumference), urchins (up to about 2 ft. diameter), clams (one about 2 ft long, could probably eat me if I came in feet first or head first) - goniopora heads the size of a car - dozens of blue linckias, up to 18 in. diameter - an octopus, but fleeting, it withdrew inside a rock and I only saw a glimpse. - something that I think was a wobbegong (sp?) but it was half buried and sand-colored. Could be anything really. I took a pic, so we'll see when I get the photos developed - breathtaking plating, finger, and staghorn formations of all colors, including some spectacular blue and purple tip acros disappointments: - no rays (They are supposedly plentiful where I was diving) - no turtle hatchlings on the beach, just missed them - less color on the reef flats than I was expecting. Corals were just two or three colors between brownish, reddish, yellowish, green (however, linckias and clams, not to mention the fish, added spectacular color) - no softies, not endemic to southern GBR coral cays - hardly any crustaceans, did not see any nudis Nothing interacted with me except for several triggers and some wrasses that did an approach/retreat dance in front of my mask. The schools of chromis were probably most impressive while snorkeling because there were no exhalation bubbles and they just drifted within inches of me and simply did not care, treated me like driftwood. Amazing how indifferent most marine animals are to human presence. As a newbie diver I did a good job at NOT touching/kicking coral, but used way too much air flailing away from them as my poorly controlled buoyancy had be drifting awfully close. The crackling sound of fish eating is truly amazing.

Ok, so I went diving (to 12 meters) on the GBR. It was a religious experience. I'll post details in another forum. But the camera I used was a disposable Kodak. I have no idea how the prints will turn out. It was very hard to see through the viewfinder, but I took snaps of turtles, sharks, corals, and fish. Many of the pics were taken very close to the surface (while snorkeling, which was easier than shooting during the dive). So where should I send them for developing? I'm nervous about sending them just anywhere because I imagine that underwater pictures would require a real professional touch to develop properly, to deal with all the blue and the backscatter and what have you. Can anyone recommend a good photo lab?

I made my main tank a DSB. I gave up a few inches of depth, but so what. BB is overrated.

I have this pest and I have two words for you: Mexican Turbos. My foxface won't touch the stuff (he's become quite a meat-eater in my tank). Hermits, other snails, no dice. When an outbreak gets bad, I get out the reef-safe toothbrush and a net and do a lot of manual pruning. If my mexican turbo population is too low I get some more. All that plus aggressive skimming and phosphate adsorption via phosban reactor and I can keep it under control. Best of luck. --Steve

The Ikelite one for my camera was $300 and boy, does it look cool, but I can't justify it for this one trip. I wonder how deep I would go for an intro dive (uncertified) and snorkeling, but I'm guessing not more than 3 or 4 meters. Let's hope for clear water and I'll buy a disposable. I hope there is some good shallow reef. I went snorkeling on the reef near Caye Caulker in Belize 20 yrs ago and was blown away by the fish and inverterbrates. Didn't know much about corals back then. Wish I had had a camera but in 1989 the technology was not there.

I don't know much about underwater camera housings but I am going to be snorkeling and diving on the Great Barrier Reef in a couple of weeks (poor me) and need to figure out how to take pictures. Are there disposable underwater cameras? Should I get a housing for my current digital camera? I have a Canon Powershot SD800 IS. I looked up prices for underwater housings and they seem to range from $150 to $300. I can't imagine I would use it more than just for this trip. Should I try to borrow one? If so, how likely is it to find someone with exactly the right housing. I assume they have to be very closely matched to the camera. Will this give me the ability to use my camera just as I do on dry land? thanks in advance for any advice.

I have a neighbor from Grenada who says he kept a saltwater pond outside his house. Not sure what kind of livestock he kept, but he said that proximity to the ocean made it easy to replenish water and sand as needed. Anybody seen any good examples of home salt ponds (in tropical locales, natch)?

I think it would pretty nice to not have to test for Calcium and just read it off a monitor. What do others do? It looks like Ca monitors are fairly pricey. Are they accurate? Last long? I'm wondering whether to get a monitor but a few strikes against are making me re-think. (1) I still would have to test for alkalinity. (2) I don't think the monitor can be integrated into a controller like the AC. Maybe #2 is not that important since it's not a parameter that should swing so much during the day. What do others think/do?

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. WAMAS rocks. I found a lot of AC Jr's with no DC8 for sale on reefcentral, which tells me that lots of people who buy the Jr. come to regret it and upgrade. So I guess it's down to the III or the 3Pro for me. I'd love to support my LFS if I had one. BRK is over a 70 mile round trip, about $10 in gas and two hours of wasted drive time. Tropical Lagoon is the closest place to me and I have only had bad experiences with them in terms of customer service, and their hours are inconvenient. I'm going mail order. If anybody knows the best vendor for this I'd appreciate the heads up. I'm sure there is price variation. Looks like you can order straight from Neptune Systems. I've never heard of the mfger selling direct like that.

I'm surprised to see so much skepticism about climate change here. I'd be willing to change my lifestyle if I thought there was a chance of reducing coral bleachings and extinctions of marine life even if there's a chance that I'm wrong. Give the reef the benefit of the doubt. I read something about how humans used to eat only marine animals at the top of the food chain. Then, as we fish/hunt those animals into extinction we have to move further and further down. The idea of people eating crabs and other crustaceans and mollusks instead of using them for bait was once strange. Commercial fishers are promoting jellyfish consumption now. One day we'll all be algae eaters (and farmed-shrimp eaters, I guess). California roll, anyone?

I have a few questions about aquacontrollers, some of which I could pose to Neptune Systems directly, but I like asking actual owners instead of salesmen. So thanks in advance if anyone can help me out here. 1. I missed the last group buy(s), but I'm wondering whether there really is much of a discount from doing a GB? It looks like a big headache and you still have to drive somewhere to pickup, as opposed to it coming to your door. From my read of the looooong group buy thread it looked like someone buying the Jr. with DC8, Serial, and lab probe (the setup I'm looking at) paid about $320 after accounting for discounts, shipping, and paypal charges. Is that right? 2. Does anyone know whether the difference between the standard grade and lab grade Ph probe is worth getting the fancier one (and why)? 3. Can the Ph probe that comes with it be used in a regular Pinpoint monitor? I ask because I have a monitor with an old probe that I'd like to keep as a more mobile water testing device. 4. Is there anything special about the serial cable that Neptune Systems tries to sell you? I have a box full of old computer cables and I don't want to shell out $18 for something I have multples of anyway. 5. My system is not that complicated. No Ca reactor and I don't need my tank sending me emails, as cool as that sounds. So I'm thinking of going with the Jr. I figure that I will get the serial cable and attach it to an ancient laptop I was going to junk anyway. Has anybody else been in that position and regretted not getting the III or the III-Pro?

So it would be like the Fedex Wrasse, Verizon Wrasse, or Coors Wrasse?

Welcome. Let us know where in the DC area you plan to locate. We have members in DC, MD, and Virginia and you'll want to know who's close by for convenient trades, equipment/emergency help, and other help.

Hmm, I've had tubeworms growing on my magnet for months and doesn't seem to affect the cleaning surface. Maybe a mat of polyps would e different.