ctenophore April 27, 2007 Share April 27, 2007 Hello everyone! My name is Justin Casp; I have recently moved to the DC area from sunny Gainesville, FL (home of the Gators!). My family and I will soon be living in Rockville MD, somewhat near Manor country club on Norbeck Rd. I've been keeping marine tanks for about 17 years, and have hopefully made just about every mistake possible in the hobby by now. My first salt tank was a 45, using an awesome undergravel filter with powerheads rather than air stones in the lift tubes. Luckily, I was young and eager to learn, and issues of FAMA quickly taught me everything I needed to know about wet-dry filters and countercurrent protein skimmers. My next tank was a berlin style attempt, complete with bare bottom, a closed-loop spraybar on the bottom, and a big pile of live rock. Looking back, this was actually a decently advanced reef tank for 1991 or so (although I didn't know what an alkalinity test was). Then came the deep sand bed rage, and my next tank was an air-driven 110 with lots of sand and a macroalgae refugium. That tank worked pretty well except I really never got good coloration out of my stony corals. I ended up adding a bigger skimmer and more light, and the corals responded beautifully. My current tank is a 325 acrylic tank, back to the bare bottom approach. This one is getting broken down in the next few days and the movers are going to pack it up and move it up here. You can see some of the pics and write up about it here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...hreadid=1012738 Photos of animals and equipment can be seen here, along with a few pics of my old 110: http://flickr.com/photos/ctenophore I'm actually contemplating selling the 325 and getting two smaller tanks built instead. Our new house has a basement and I don't want to put all that weight on the main floor, which is the only place this tank could go in the new house. Other tidbits about me: - I have two kids ages 4 and 1. Both love the tanks; the 4yo helps me make frags and the 1yo splashes in the frag tank. - My wife and I are huge Gator fans; my wife just graduated from UF with a PhD in immunology and a law degree. We are sad to leave Title Town at the peak of Gator glory! - I own Wavespring Aquaculture, a coral aquaculture facility based in Gainesville. We sell 100% captive propagated corals to aquarium shops primarily in the Southeast, and to online retailers. - I enjoy just about every water sport there is, along with some terrestrial sports as well. I am looking forward to the strong sailing community in the Bay area, and would love to meet other reefer/divers in the area to coordinate scuba trips. - I am also an independent software engineer by trade; I have focused on that much less though since going into aquaculture. I am familiar with many modern languages and software development methodologies. I am anxious to meet all of you, and hope to lend my skills and experience where possible. Thanks for reading this far! Justin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzekunoi April 27, 2007 Share April 27, 2007 Hello, welcome to WAMAS! It's great to greet you in our club, as well as your family and tanks (which, by the way, are fantastic! ) We are neighbors - I live in Germantown, used to live in Rockville. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller7 April 27, 2007 Share April 27, 2007 Welcome to the DC metro area. Enjoy the new tank setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bemmer April 27, 2007 Share April 27, 2007 Hi Justin, Welcome to the club. Your tanks are/were awesome. Did you sell all your SPS colonies down in FL and are just bring up the frags???? They were so beautiful, I hope you brought some of them up with you. Your expertise in the SPS world will be a wonderful addition to our group, as there are many SPS fans here as well. I know you are in the middle of your move but if you and your family are not doing anything tomorrow, there is a WAMAS social at one of the favored LFS in the area, Blue Ribbon Koi (BRK). Might be about an hour for you from the Rockville, MD area but worth the visit. There will be lots of WAMAS members to meet. There are several links on the boards about the social. It is taking place from 4-7 pm Look forward to meeting you in person. Rebecca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco April 27, 2007 Share April 27, 2007 Welcome. I thought you were the perfect member, til you mentioned that "gator" thing. You'd think a reputable school wouldn't horde all the championship trophies! Geez.... Looks as if our next meeting will be June 23. Look for more details in the coming weeks. Also, we could always use friends in the biz to help out with our sponsored tank in the National Aquarium in DC (but we'll actually let you unpack the boxes first). Looking forward to meeting you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tgallo April 28, 2007 Share April 28, 2007 Hello Justin,welcome to the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite April 28, 2007 Share April 28, 2007 Hi Justin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan mcilvried April 28, 2007 Share April 28, 2007 Welcome, I am a new member, too, and all I can say is that this is a really cool group of people and I have nothing but great things to say about WAMAS members. I've got more help from the forum than from most of the books I've read. I live in Damascus and work in Rockville. Welcome to DC. By August you'll be wishing you were back in Florida to cool off. Sorry about the Gator thing, hopefully you'll grow out of that. Al PS Rockville LFS's are Aquarium One and Congressional Aquarium on Rockville Pike (Rt. 355). Both are on the west side of Rt. 355 between Montrose Road and downtown Rockville. They are about a mile or two apart. Tropical Fish World is in Gaithersburg, also on Rt. 355, about 1/2 mile north of Shady Grove Rd. in the Walnut Hill Shopping Center. There are phone numbers on the links here on the website. Scales is also pretty close, over on NH avenue if you go cross county - maybe 25 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore April 30, 2007 Author Share April 30, 2007 Thanks everyone- sorry I couldn't make it on Sat. I am currently back in G'ville for a few days taking down my tank. We finished last night at 2am after starting Sat. 8am. Bemmer, all of my colonies were fragged down about 3", then everything transferred to our greenhouse. So all corals are now safe and happy under the sun. I will start my new tank in MD from these frags. The colonies will probably just live at the greenhouse from now on. Are any of you going to IMAC in chicago in June? Go Gators! Justin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco April 30, 2007 Share April 30, 2007 Don't know many planning for IMAC, but could be wrong. I believe we will have a pretty big contingent going to Macna in Pitt in Sept though. What's your preference? Never been to an IMAC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott711 April 30, 2007 Share April 30, 2007 welcome to the club. I am in Kensington, MD very close to you (10 minutes). Let me know if you need any help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcerna April 30, 2007 Share April 30, 2007 Welcome to Rockville! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore May 2, 2007 Author Share May 2, 2007 I haven't been to IMAC yet either. I've heard that it is a bit smaller than Macna and easier find time to talk to the various speakers. I just made my flight + hotel reservations; I've been told that the hotel is about 1-2 days from filling up for those of you thinking about going. Justin Don't know many planning for IMAC, but could be wrong. I believe we will have a pretty big contingent going to Macna in Pitt in Sept though. What's your preference? Never been to an IMAC. Thanks scott, be careful, with the aquarium projects that I will be starting on after we move into our house, you may find yourself being called on that offer! welcome to the club. I am in Kensington, MD very close to you (10 minutes). Let me know if you need any help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leishman May 2, 2007 Share May 2, 2007 Welcome. Put me on the list frags........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezza May 3, 2007 Share May 3, 2007 Welcome to WAMAS...you'll like it here. Your frags are beautiful, I cant wait to see what you will build for your next tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lletellier May 13, 2007 Share May 13, 2007 welcome to the club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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