Charlie97L

i love some of those explanations. hilarious. a good idea though, business wise, for costco.

shouldn't be a problem. flame angels tend to only go after coral and clams. i'd get 2 or 3 for a 90.

that's the one downside... i have 2 modded 1200s on my 58 and they won't run on wavetimers. what i'm thinking of doing is have one at each end of the tnak, have one on for half th day, and the other on for the other half, and then get some mixup from my return, and maybe 1 or two 600/900s going perpendicular. sort of a simulated cross tide thing. i read about it somewhere.

ahah, you didn't start anything. i'm just playin around... but that is the official story.

they are not! :-) he sent pms out. the first two people to get there and pick them up get them... they need to be gone today, so he's not holding them for anyone. darn my wall for only being 7' long!

there's still a possibility he'll go buffet on your coral and clams though, isn't there? is it safer than the pygmy angels?

johnny, any pics on those orange deresas? what're they going for?

peppermint shrimp from F&F!! 3 days, and my tank went from 40+ to none with 2 shrimp. woo! i even had some HUGE ones.

sweet... i'll stop by after work... i have limited time, but it's always the same evenings/days every week. :0) wooo.

woweeee! that looks awesome! is he in a reef or FOWLR?

i've seen you mention clean up crews in both your threads... if you have a tank with triggers and wrasses in it, as you are planning, dont' bother putting any snails or small inverts in there, unless you're feeding the fish. they'll kill them all within a day or two. "clean up crews" as they are, are really for reefs only, not the aggressive tanks.

there's a new store in rockville, aquarium one, that had 2 gorgeous lunare wrasses when i went in yesterday. one was a good 6-7". amazing fish. they also had a saddleback wrasse. i think tropical lagoon in silverspring regularly has the lunar as well. and of course, sean and johnny can get you anything under the sun.

what ratio of vingar to water?

the only thing i'd add to the already great info, is don't put a damsel (blue/domino/bicolor) whatever, in your tank. green chromis and clownfish are the same family, and much less aggressive. the damsel, if the only occupant, will claim the entire tank as his doman, and become very aggressive towards anything else you put in. a good starter fish is a goby, some of them are jumpers, though, so watch out. think your fish choices over VERY carefully. i had (initially) a sixline wrasse and chromis, and i opted to take them out, they were harassing my goby, and i had to disassemble the whole tank to do so! welcome! (btw)

i'd love to come by... i don't fall into the "beginner" or "expert" categories, i'm definitely in the middle, but i'd love to lend a hand with the new tank if you need it howard! :0) i got a NAGA tank too, but unfortunately, that has stalled. I'm trying to find someone to do me a custom stand, that's a little different, that won't charge, like 500 bucks.

well, i stopped by aquarium one today at lunch! was very impressed, especially considering the short time they've been open. the direction the store is going in is very pleasing to me, especially considering the saltwater offerings at a few other places. I was very happy to see a lot of larger holding tanks. the tanks looked like they were still settling in, but all the animals were lively and active, and curious when you came up to look at them. all looked very healthy as well. freshwater selection (which i'm getting into) looked excellent as well. dimitri was great, he talked to me for about 20 mintues about the setups, and then plans they had. it sounds like they are definitely headed in the right direction. prices looked good on the standard items, huge food selection, etc... but i'd say the best part was the dimitri was very open about answering my questions, and repeatedly reminded me that if i wanted anything specific, just let someone know and they'll order it. the fish variety was appreciated too, i saw several fish, that i consider to be common stocking items, i haven't seen anywhere else regularly... yellow watchman goby springs to mind. he was cute! you guys looking for any part time help? my saturdays and a few weeknights are still open! :0) i'm definitely going to come after a frag of those zoas when i get my frag tank up this weekend!

and MEEE! :-D

Pat- I'm also in MD, albeit in Bethesda, so I'm a little bit more accessible to you, and to NoVA, but I too, was initially frustrated with the (seeming) center of the club being in NoVA. However, when you take a look at the area, and where the really great LFS's are (not that there aren't great ones all over), they do seem to concentrate around the NoVA area. Personally, I just make a list, and go down there a few times a month on saturdays to buy stuff. Stops me from impulse buying. Kind of. :-D I too have felt in the past (although I joined immediately, I'll address that in a minute) that some of the group builds/parties were cliquish, and inaccessible to those of us with smaller tanks, who lived elsewhere, or who were (in my case) younger. HOWEVER... This is an impression that I received solely from reading and misunderstanding things on this board, and it is TOTALLY incorrect. I went to the meeting in February, and while I warmed up to the club a little, I still got the feeling of being an outsider, despite having been posting for about a month. That all changed when I went to Chip's (flowerseller) tank tour/social after the party. I was warmly welcomed into his home and reef, and had a great time, and made some great friends. It may take 1 instance of being brave, and just pushing forward, but it's worth it. On the whole, the people I've met in this club, are far and away the nicest, most giving people I've met in the DC area in general. They are always ready with advice, suggestions, offers of help, and great deals. And on that note. The 20.00 is worth the price of admission ALONE for the buy/sell section. I saved hundreds of dollars the first WEEK alone that I was a member, buying used equipment from WAMAS members, and made some great trades as well. You also get discounts at many DC area stores, which is more savings. Like I said, I too, felt a bit of an outsider at first, but just give WAMAS a chance, you won't be disappointed. By the way, any time you want to come see my setup, just shoot me an email. I'm 30 seconds off the beltway and 270 in Bethesda. I know it's only a 58, but I've put a lot of time and work into it (guided by the WAMAS veterans) and I'm really pleased with the result. We can also do a frag swap if you're so inclined. I love to meet fellow refers. My roommates just don't geek out like we do. Anyway, I hope you'll decide to stay with WAMAS and give this great club a second chance!

debate aside, i think anything that pushes non-pollutant tecnology and ecological conservation is a good thing. i don't think we have enough info or understand the factors enough to make a true call on what's going on with the planet, and, yes, it is a political hot button, but if the end result is money towards developing more eco-friendly technology, that's a good thing, regardless of the means. i mean, the hole in the ozone is going away... wheter that had anything to do with us in the first place, i dunno. but we did reduce the hairspray pollution. end result = less pollution = better.

maybe ich? any spots on the fish?

i think it depends on the individual... but in a 20 gallon, i wouldn't put in any other shrmp... the CBS can get pretty big with their antenna. that's a tiny space for a potentially territorial creature.

john, i sent you a pm with a few questions.

that's just pathetic. i hope they ban him from Nano-Reef. i know they're trying to shore up their selling area... but too often lately i've been seeing things being sold for exorbitant prices there. esp zoos, rics, acans, and blastos... i've been catching the whiff of scamming... and i'm came from the auto modification industry, so i'm unfortunately practiced in finding them. :-(

your livestock load should be a bit lighter than one would think with 42 gallons, because it's mostly vertical room. most reef fish need lateral room to swim, and the hex doesn't really provide that... in addition, you have less surface area for oxygen exchange. i would primariy go with fish that like to hang out... gobies, firefish, maybe a blennie... and stay away from active fish like wrasses or anthias. smaller clowns would probably be ok... i might downsize your fish load from a comparable size rectangular tank. that being said, hexes are way cool! i love them. they make great seahorse tanks, and you can get some cool aquascaping going with them as well.

what kind of scratches are we talkin here? deep ones? i don't think you can buff out glass scratches, at least my experience with cars would lead me to belive that... repair chips/cracks with fiiller, sure, but buff out, i'm pretty sure not. do you have a picture of what you're talking about?