BeltwayBandit

I am also the proud owner of an Ivory Staghorn. (Unfortunately one of my Dr. Mac corals from this weekend had a bout of RTN.)

I had to wipe the drool off my keyboard after seeing some of those tanks. But, I would have to think that some of those designs would be a nightmare to clean. I also think that my tank is part of the decoration in my house, but it is more of a labor of love for me. I could never see paying someone to take care of it.

Did anyone get a frag of the Elegance coral that they had?

Ok. I'll take the greenies

You mean you can't just drop an old alkaline battery in the tank to boost your Alk?

I was just bummed that I couldn't spend as much time in the different speaker sessions. I moderated the Washington A educational session on Saturday morning and worked all day on Friday (with a few breaks to hit the trade show). I'm just sad that I didn't have more time with work and school to attend the entire conference. That being said I am much more interested in the K-12 education stuff now. I was amazed by Zach's (coral forum) presentation on all the different areas that a reef tank can be used in teaching students. Everything from math, physics, biology, english, business, geography, conservation, etc. I had not considered all the tangents you can get from a single display. BB

One note on the Ice Cap pump.. The $250 is the BETA tester price. They are looking at a price point in the $350-450 range. The problem is, it is such a simple idea, they even said so, but they have the patent! No one else can make it so they can charge what they want. They are pricing it below the Tunze, since they see that as their competition.

It is about 3 long blocks from the metro, the hotel runs a shuttle. The entry fee is cash or credit (they might even take checks). The one day pass to the vendor area is only $15 and is highly worth it. I picked up some nice corals from Dr. Mac and a 2.5" Derasa for $25 from Northeast Aquaculture. Plus they have some amazing displays.. If you are even thinking about going you should definately go. BB

Well the waiting is over. MACNA starts tomorrow. I don't know about ya'll but I am psyched!

Condi got big lunch?

NO GOLDFISH!!! (They are high in fat and too large for the anemone to digest easily, long term feeding can be harmful to the anemone) As a general rule stick to the rule of only adding marine based foods to your tank. It will do fine with mysis, other marine fish (like from the seafood counter at the grocery), squid, or other marine based proteins. A good source of this type of food is the frozen prepared foods at the lfs. Stay away from brine srhimp as they have little nutritional value unless spiked with vitamin supplements. Also the anemone will capture detrius from other inhabitants and food from normal tank feedings. You should only have to target feed 1 to 2 times per week, unless you see it capturing food during normal feedings. Then you may cut it back to 1 target feed/week. Also anemones get food from the symbiotic zooxanthellae that they host within their tissues (like corals, but a slightly different mechanism). Note: this info is based on my research, I just got my first anemone (S. Haddonni) within the last week, but I did copious ammounts of research before the purchase. A very good reference site is wetwebmedia.com. BB

Well it is built. I have a few "issues" to work out with it. I ended up simplifying the design somewhat. Here is what I ended up with. Basically it is a 4" cylinder, 18" tall. I have a riser that brings in makeup water from the bottom to about 8" into the main chamber. I am using a Maxi-Jet 1200 as my mixing pump. This pump is actually inside the chamber, I cut the plug off of it and ran the wire through the former discharge hole at the top. I sealed the wire in with plumbers epoxy and silicone. I capped the top with a 2" PVC cap. I drilled and tapped that cap with a 1/4" nipple. I then feed about 40' of tubing. I am pushing the water with a MAG-7 controlled by a Tsunami float switch. I tested the float switch and pump last night, no problems. I ran the main pump for about 12 hours and had a very small ammount of seepage from the top of the unit. All in all I am fairly pleased with the unit. I think that I will actually end up running the unit inside my makeup water reservoir for space reasons, flood control if it breaks and to protect the reactor since it is in my storage room and would get a lot of bumps and jostles. Here is a standard picture of what the XL looks like. I removed the collection cup from the top. I also removed one of the internal dividers. The small divider is the one that I cut. I will try to post some pictures of the finished product soon.

On that note what is the attire for the different jobs. I was just planning on some khakis and my Washignton Nats polo. BB

I have a TON of Capnella, Anthelia, and Xenia (brown and white) that you are more than welcome to have and anyone else for that matter. Some of the xenia is already mounted on rubble, the rest is not. BB

He could be a free lance writer.

Edited inventory.

Also free sand.

I am posting this for a friend of mine, Kevin, who is taking down their tank this weekend. Please respond directly to him. The tank is in Woodbridge, VA Email: kbferrie@yahoo.com Phone 703-494-0567 approximately 50lbs fiji live rock $2/lb approximate weight 1 serpeant star $5/each 1 hippo tang $20 1 mithrix crab $5 assorted snails, $0.50/each

www.yetisports.org For the complete collection of yeti/penguin games.

I have a school of 5 that I have had for about 8 months or so. I like them because they are usually out and under my halides they do shimmer a bit. They do tend to hang out together in a group of 3 or 4. There is always 1 or 2 off on their own. I also like that they add some movement and are much cheaper than anthias. As far as agreession, these guys are milktoast. They run from anything. Just my experience.

http://www.ndtoday.com/games/files/penguinswing.swf My best is 301.5

I am looking to order an S. Haddoni for my tank and was wondering if anyone here had mail ordered anemones before. I know they are listed as delicate shippers and I was just wondering what your experiences have been with them. My other option is to get Marine Scene to order it for me. They have them listed on their price list at $39 which in all actuality is probably less than if I ordered a plain one mail order and paid shipping. That being said I am actually leaning towards a green one which would run about $80 or so on the mail order sites and I was just wondering what to expect before I drop that kinda money on something that they won't guarantee shipping on. Thanks BB

Ok. Will do that. I will try to clean up the old skimmer and take some pics this weekend. I'm still pondering how to configure the unit so I don't get siphon to/from storage reservoir to the reactor or reactor to the tank. I'm pretty sure that I will plumb it straight into my overflow (AGA 120 w/corner overflows). That way I will get good mixing as it falls to the sump and it will keep the discharge well above the water level in the reactor, while still keeping the reactor full. Would some type of check valve be necessary between the reservoir and the reactor? I am using a large rubbermaid trash can for my fresh water, but can't seem to think of a setup where the water levels in the two would be independent of each other. BB

On the subject of anemone's. Has anyone mail ordered them? How do they do. I have seen the warnings on virtually every shipper's website. I was just wondering what the average experience has been? BB

I would post pictures, but can't seem to figure out the secret handshake for getting a login to the gallery section.