Sharkb8

If it were me .... I would pick a region of the globe you like best and try to recreate that environment so every time you see it it would be like you are diving there. But that's just me. Pick your favorite fish, figure out where it's native habitat is and recreate it. Just some thoughts for inspiration. My wife would tell you to put some stingrays in there.

Celebrating 13 year anniversary, my wife donated a couple hundred in my name to this organization that is attempting to restore coral reefs to Dominican Republic. They are very highly rated (she did a lot of research to find an organization worthy of donation and highly rated by an independent source) and funding it through donation is super easy through globalgiving.org: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/adopt-a-coral-dominican-republic/ SummaryCoral reefs occupy less than 0.001% of the world's ocean surface yet they contain about a quarter of all known marine life,each meter of reef can protect an estimated US$47,000 of property value,and provide economic goods and ecosystem services worth about US$375 billion each year.Yet coral reefs have been experiencing a long-term decline for years now, and most recently they have experienced a very sudden and radical degradation, threatening related ecosystems, livelihoods and global economies. What is the issue, problem, or challenge?Like in many countries, Dominican Republic's coral reefs have been declining rapidly due to overfishing, pollution, coastal development, urban and agricultural runoff, and now climate change, resulting on a global coral reef crisis hard to deal with. Given that most of problems affecting reefs come from humans, we play an essential role preventing and solving these problems. We also have a key part in restoring already damaged marine ecosystems, as natural recovery alone seems unlikely. How will this project solve this problem?This project aims to support coral nurseries, an active restoration tool to preserve genetic material of endangered coral and enhance natural recovery observed in Marine Protected Areas. By collecting fragments of naturally broken coral or from existing coral nurseries, and re-fragmenting into more, then placing into coral nurseries for grow out, to be later transplanted back to the reef. This work will be carried out trained volunteers as a way to raise awareness in coral reef conservation. Potential Long Term ImpactThis coral nursery program in La Caleta Marine Protected Area seeks to replicate the long term effort and success of Punta Cana Ecological Foundation and partners, and will serve as a replicate of biological material (corals) in case of any future impacts to a given location, decreasing the overall chance of coral nurseries damage by storms or other causes. Also, once coral nurseries grow in size and abundance of corals, the need to take corals from the natural reefs become unnecessary. Funding InformationTotal Funding Received to Date: $3,620 Remaining Goal to be Funded: $6,380 Total Funding Goal: $10,000 Resourceshttp://www.reefcheckdr.org/

The final rule is over 1000 pages long. I may be able to take some time this weekend to peruse it to see what the prohibition may mean for hobbyists. Being an attorney I have some experience slogging through bills like this. However, the language used in the NOAA website initially indicates flexibility. It also states, for now, that "[t]here are currently no prohibitions relating to individual conduct, except for those related to the two previously listed elkhorn and staghorn corals in the Caribbean." What can we do? I am just getting into this area of the hobby but I wonder whether any of us submitted comments and/or were involved in the information gathering phase after the initial rule was published and open for public comment. If so, my hope would be that the administration will take into consideration hobbyists and the helpful role they play in propagation. If not, then we should start writing. Meanwhile, I believe Julian Sprung did have a talk at MACNA 2014 on this topic but unfortunately I did not attend that particular talk. Now I wish I had.

I am going through MACNA withdrawals. It was an awesome conference. I really enjoyed all the talks and learned so much. Even cruising the vendor booths was very informative and helpful. Definitely got some ideas of how not to run a MACNA conference as well. Denver did a great job, but there were definitely some complaints as evidenced by the comments on their app. I can't wait for next year. Already looking forward to it!

I am confused about the schedule. The talks are an hour long but the workshops start on the half hour and the talks on the hour. So if you attend a workshop you risk missing two talks? That makes no sense to me. And there's little to no information about the workshops, I.e., what will be demonstrated or discussed. Can one of the MACNA veterans enlighten me on how best to plan this out? I feel like I want to attend all the talks and all the workshops but without cloning myself I see that's not possible...

Which talks are you all most looking forward to attending? And which booths do you really want to visit?

Just bought tickets tonight. Will be my first ever MACNA meeting. Cool to know there will be other WAMASians there. Should we have some kind-of secret wardrobe symbol or color to wear so we can spot each other in the crowds? What are these blinky things? Sounds like a good idea. Oh wait I got another option - everyone from WAMAS wear your t-shirts backwards. Then we'll know

Question about the lights you bought. So my understanding is there are only two settings, on/off? Or is there some programming involved? You can't do a sunset/sunrise program or moonglow with them? Is that right? Wondering how you are doing with them. Following your build - looks great and can't wait to see the "final product"

I will be setting up my own 90g soon, but it is not plumbed like yours (wish it was). It has no overflow. I will likely use an HOB skimmer, etc. I am very curious about what you will do with the lighting. I may be missing something but the lighting you described above seems entirely insufficient for corals? I am considering buying a new programmable LED fixture but am uncertain what brand/wattage to buy for this type of tank. Eventually I would like to grow SPS at least at the top/middle of the tank. I can't seem to find very good information on what LED system would be best for this type of tank. ... Anyway, I will be following along step by step. Good luck!

Just wanted to thank SEANTADEZ for posting this. I'm in the same boat. Was in the hobby around 2005-2008, but then moved to CA and got out of the hobby. Now, six years later, I'm trying to get back into the hobby and am completely lost. Everything has changed it seems. It seems I have to start from scratch again on researching what I need/want. However, I do recall my number one fear was going on vacation and worrying the whole time about my livestock set up. For those who have been using controllers for a while - I would be very interested in hearing how the controller has "saved your bacon" and situations in which it helps avoid catastrophe in the tank. This will help me figure out why I think I need one and which aspects are most important to me in terms of functionality. Also - not meaning to hijack the thread, is it ok to ask another related question? Can controllers handle power outages? I mean, if power goes out and I have a back-up power system in place, can the controller be programmed to automatically switch to the back-up power and power-save functions to run only critical life support? Thanks again everyone for contributing your experience and opinions. That's one of the things that makes this club so awesome.

any photos with the new LED light and with the old light?

Wow! I don't know which part of that comment is more cool, the fact that your are related to Br. Berge or what he said! Both are very cool

Most livestock I ever lost was due to a power outage ... still hurts to think about it. I'm sure I'm not alone in that one. And for the record, I don't eat fish (or cats or dogs, just in case anyone was wondering).

Ohhhh, ok. I think I need diagrams, but I think I get what you're saying now