Dr. Ron Shimek, at our November meeting.

[Tenner]

Hello club members,

Next month Dr. Ron Shimek will be our guest speaker. The meeting is set for November 15th.

In preparation please start dropping subjects here so I can get a list to Dr. Ron for discussion and possible presentation.

Here are a couple of subjects Justin and I were kicking around.

1. Live Sand info, since our live sand project is back up and running.

2. Anenomes, since we've had several club members who have had anenome splitting going on.

3. Food for our tanks. Dr. Ron did a project recently on the real contents of fish foods we add to our tanks.

Please throw out any other ideas you may have.

Thanks,
Matthew

[Tenner]

Hey everyone,

Lets start dropping questions or topics for Dr. Ron.

I'd like to hear his response on adding sand to an established live sand bed.

Tenner

[Tenner]

Hey Everyone,

Just a point of clairification, our November meeting is on the third Thursday of the month, which is the 15th, the week BEFORE Thanksgiving.

Thanks
Tenner

[anathema]

I would like to hear a little about protein skimmers.

It seems like both Heavily skimmed, and skimmerless work, but every time I think about buying a skimmer, people recommend a multi-dollar behemoth.

I keep wondering what are the real downsides of a minimally skimmed tank. Not skimmerless, but one equipped with maybe half the skimmer people recommend. I don't hear about this much, but it seems like it would still be beneficial, since it would still remove things, but possibly leave some of the plankton etc.

I am also wondering if anyone has done any research on how skimmer power affects which particles are removed. Is it relatively the same on all skimmers because foam only accomodates certain particles, or do stronger skimmers remove larger particles weak ones might miss?

Seems like a basic question, but could be an interesting topic.

[RustySnail]

How about proper documentation techniques for discoveries like reproduction, new species, etc? We should all know what things the scientists do to document discoveries so we as 'hobbiests' can help expand the knowledge base of the science.

Russ

[Tenner]

Hey all,

Justin had a suggestion for Dr. Ron. That is specific feeding requirements for Anenomes.

[RustySnail]

Also along the lines of care for anemones is lighting intensity/duration/spectrum, etc. The bubble tip that Matthew gave me is doing good (growing like a weed actually), but since I upgraded my lighting (about 3x brighter now), it has been exhibiting it's 'bubble tips' again (something these commonly lose in captivity). So I am wondering if the more intense light is really that beneficial, or some other reason has caused it to undergo these changes.

Russ

[dsb1829]

There have been some discussions as of late on the fine silts and how necessary they are for a DSB. Also ideas on seeding without the IPSF or other expensive seeding kits would be cool. This all falls under the DSB topics, but I would really like to pick his brain on some of this.

[Tenner]

Hey all,

Ok, I sent Dr. Ron the list. His response was very positive, he's up for all the subjects. His only question was, would we perfer a presentation or a general group discussion on the topics we sent.

My thoughts are, perhaps we pick one subject to go with a presenation, then round table the rest of the subjects.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Matthew

[Tenner]

Hey All,

Well, I got no favorites requested for a formal talk, so I asked Dr. Ron to give us a formal discussion on Anemone's, then a general group discussion on the other topics.

Thanks,
Matthew

PS, got the web site pretty much back in order. I would love to start updating the members tanks sections, please send me photos of your tanks and favorite animals.