Our Tbs

[bkelley02]

Originally posted by dwculp
Anyone else with a HOB refugium? I was seriously thinking of getting the large CPR Aqua Fuge. It has a capacity of 4.7 gallons and a size of 25" L x 4.5" W x 12" T. That will neatly fit on the back of my tank. I have about 26 inches from the end of my skimmer to the end of the tank and about 5 inches of clearance between the tank and the wall.

I figure I could scoop a few pounds of sand from my QT tank (never had meds in it), get a nice load of worms, stars etc to bury in the sand, a few hunks of LR and some good macro algae and I would be set. I could grow pods and macro.

Of course then I wouldnt have anywhere to put the phos-ban reactor. Of course if the macro does its job I wouldnt need a phos-ban reactor!

I just bought the large from Foster and Smiths for $99 delivered. Cheapest I could find. I bought a 14" off ebay and it seemed to make a difference but everything appeared cramped in that small a size. Bad aglea ( I've been lucky and haven't had much YET ) seemed to slow down some too.

[dwculp]

I just made a LONG post to the "All Things Salty with Anthony Calfo " forum. Hopefully he can help!!

It always seems my snails are NEVER where they need to be!

[dwculp]

Originally posted by bkelley02
I just bought the large from Foster and Smiths for $99 delivered. Cheapest I could find. I bought a 14" off ebay and it seemed to make a difference but everything appeared cramped in that small a size. Bad aglea ( I've been lucky and haven't had much YET ) seemed to slow down some too.

Thats exactly where I was going to buy mine.

Count yourself lucky. This brown algae outbreak is driving me crazy. A fellow teacher who is also a reefer came by today and said "Man, your tank looks like crap!"

[bkelley02]

Are you sure that CPR has a stand for the Fuge? I thought it was for the lights.

I bought the 36 watt lights and stands for them at the same time, different place though. The light stands are supposed to help support the Fuge from bowing and the CPR fixture with the 36 watt bulb is much brighter then the one I currently have.

[drk70]

Remember when everyone was talking about their peppermint shrimp and I said that mine come right to me when I put my hand in the tank. Well my wife took a pic tonight.



The skunk cleaner shrimps do the same.



Please exceuse the awful pictures. I had to give my mother her camera back.

[drk70]

Here is the newest addition. A purple firefish.





Again excuse the bad pics.

[patsan]

Okay, I just got home from taking my daughter to the mall for clothes.
I am still in shock. Remember how I said yesterday that gas had gone up 10 cents a gallon while I was at the doctor? Well on our way to the mall, I see it had gone up another 10 cents today!!!!
The big topper was on the way home from the mall 3 hours later, it had gone up another 50 cents a gallon! So 70 cents in 1 day! That is crazy.
I'll read all the posts now. I just needed to get this off my chest.

[bkelley02]

My skunk do that too. I'm still trying to catch those darn peppermints though. I did manage to get another Gorilla crab tonight. Only one left that I know of. I know. I'm sure there's more though.

[bkelley02]

Originally posted by patsan
Okay, I just got home from taking my daughter to the mall for clothes.
I am still in shock. Remember how I said yesterday that gas had gone up 10 cents a gallon while I was at the doctor? Well on our way to the mall, I see it had gone up another 10 cents today!!!!
The big topper was on the way home from the mall 3 hours later, it had gone up another 50 cents a gallon! So 70 cents in 1 day! That is crazy.
I'll read all the posts now. I just needed to get this off my chest.

I think I'll have to get rid of my truck and by a tercel.

[drk70]

Originally posted by bkelley02
I think I'll have to get rid of my truck and by a tercel.

Prices keep going like this we will all be trading for bicycles.

[drk70]

I moved my frogspawn to the bottom of the tank and it is already opening up more than it did when I had it at the top. Maybe it doesn't like being so close to those T-5 lights.

[patsan]

Originally posted by drk70
I moved my frogspawn to the bottom of the tank and it is already opening up more than it did when I had it at the top. Maybe it doesn't like being so close to those T-5 lights.

How far are your lights from the water?
I have to go pick up my salt tomorrow. I bet it will cost me a good $10+ just in gas. That really sucks.

We went to the mall to get clothes and take advantage of tax free week. We saved about $20 in tax, probably what the gas cost to go there now. (j/k)

[drk70]

Originally posted by patsan
How far are your lights from the water?

We went to the mall to get clothes and take advantage of tax free week. We saved about $20 in tax, probably what the gas cost to go there now. (j/k)

Maybe 6" off the water.

That probably isn't far from the truth!

[phil519]

Originally posted by dwculp
Anyone here use a HOB refugium and if so how do you like it and can you see the benefits of it?

Yep - I use the CPR one. (Landon - good memory!). I use it more for the goal of having a safe haven for copepods, amphipods. In addition the mitigation of the PH swing between day/night also appealed to me. The last benefit was the uptake in nutrients. In this respect, it competes with my phosban reactor for phosphates.

I like the HOB because it goes straight from the main display and back. So any escaped pods will either become food or breeders in the display. In the sump they would have to deal with several pumps before finding the right one to get back to the display.

Danielle -the gravity fed fug is a great idea. I like it more so because you can actually make the fug a "mini" display. But unfortunately I do not have the room or the desire to set something up above the tank.

Pat - I filled up for $2.68 today - 89. NJ Turnpike. The price change won't be until friday. I'll be topping off on Thursday. It was $2.59 for regular unleaded. And yes there was a 10 car line on each pump. I wouldn't be surprised if it price-corrected to $3 on friday.

Landon - you've got an e-mail
Brian (bkelley) - you've got an e-mail.

Dennis - I like the pics! My shrimp do not co-exist like yours do. The cleaners have a distinct niche on one side and the peppermint hides all day and only appears at night foraging.

Jason (Scuba) - Tank is going "ok". Still trying to get my maintenance/testing routine down. I love the auto-top off and the Ph monitor. I'm now thinking about a calcium monitor. I just want to try and dumb down the amount of checks I have to do. The plus is I believe I am completely without cirolanids (after catching two early on) and without xanthids (after catching who knows how many). I actually only rusted out one "Claw". The new one sits relatively unused.

AJP - welcome! Now that you guys mention it - it is kinda like a quasi forum. Originally the intention was to share the TBS experience. Now the only difference is that some of us have TBS for 8~10 months, others have just got part 2 in recently - and still others are waiting for their orders. It's neat in that in one thread (albeit one that has split multiple times) anyone that is interested in TBS can see all the pluses and minuses through a relatively decent sampling of time.

Oh - before anyone asks every 5 pages or so...TBS = TampaBaySaltwater. They are a small partnership (i think...you could almost call them mom and pop) shop that deal in florida aquacultured rocks. I use their Gulf rocks. Some folks use their Keys rock.

[phil519]

Originally posted by bkelley02
My skunk do that too. I'm still trying to catch those darn peppermints though. I did manage to get another Gorilla crab tonight. Only one left that I know of. I know. I'm sure there's more though.

I didn't want to jinx myself but it's been a good month now since I caught my last xanthid. It's kinda funny but there was a long wait for me between part one and part two. So much so that I knew every single nook and crannie in part one that all the xanthids were caught relatively quickly. When part 2 came and I didn't want to aquascape anymore - egads what a terror those crabs were. I could no longer just rely on watching for movement because now I had hermits, shrimp, snails, plus those mantis.

[drk70]

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
the books i have are
Marine fishes, Scott Micheal
Marine invertebrates, Ron Shimek

i would reccomend all of these books.

Thanks Landon. I picked up those 2 books this weekend. Very good books and easier to understand than the Eric Borneman's Coral book.

[phil519]

Dennis - I forgot - the purple firefish is really nice. Where'd you get the fish?

[phil519]

As a side note - this stuff going on with the hurricane is awful. But what gets me sick to my stomach is those that would capitalize on the situation - looting or selling relief goods etc.. Not looking for any responses. Just wanted to share how disgusted I am.

Related to "reefs" in a roundabout way...Anyone see this pic? I was a little shocked. Dolphins in a pool in Missisippi. I assume they were somehow washed in by the hurricane.

[lossman]

Originally posted by phil519
As a side note - this stuff going on with the hurricane is awful. But what gets me sick to my stomach is those that would capitalize on the situation - looting or selling relief goods etc.. Not looking for any responses. Just wanted to share how disgusted I am.

Related to "reefs" in a roundabout way...Anyone see this pic? I was a little shocked. Dolphins in a pool in Missisippi. I assume they were somehow washed in by the hurricane.

No, they were deliberately placed there. One Aquarium placed their dolphins into inside hotel pools. If I remember correctly, it was lucky they did as the aquarium was completely destroyed.

I am currently working for a local television station and they showed a story of a couple of people "looting" a store. They were taking clothes, food and drink from a store that had been destroyed. I had one lady call in and say how disgusted she was that we aired that story. She felt we were condoning the looting. I told her, that in this instance, we did not consider what these people were doing as a crime. They had lost everything. They had no homes to go to. The only possessions they had were the clothes they were wearing. They had had nothing to eat or drink since the night before and it would be several hours/days befor the Red Cross or Guards were able to set up relief areas where they were. In this instance, I did not blame them for taking what they needed.

On the other hand, there was a story about people going into stores and stealing jewels and electronics. Those people should be shot. Those others taking the necessities of life......well, if I were that store owner, I would have not minded one bit.

It's easy to condem people for their actions when we are sitting here safe and cool in our homes with full bellies and a drink in our hands. Right now their are people down there fighting to survive........and a lot of them won't make it. This storm was a horror. I have no idea how that area is going to recover.

Sorry....stepping off my soapbox now.

[bobt2]

phil, after 2 months of gorilla free i just found 2 more. i have no idea where they have been hiding!

[patsan]

Originally posted by bobt2
phil, after 2 months of gorilla free i just found 2 more. i have no idea where they have been hiding!

I wish I could even be gorilla free for 2 months. There are still lots in the tank. I think I have/had as many gorillas as Brian had cirolanids.

[drk70]

Originally posted by phil519
Dennis - I forgot - the purple firefish is really nice. Where'd you get the fish?

I got it at That Fish Place. I have only seen them have red ones but this time they had purple ones and no red.

[liverock]

Originally posted by lossman
No, they were deliberately placed there. One Aquarium placed their dolphins into inside hotel pools. If I remember correctly, it was lucky they did as the aquarium was completely destroyed.

I am currently working for a local television station and they showed a story of a couple of people "looting" a store. They were taking clothes, food and drink from a store that had been destroyed. I had one lady call in and say how disgusted she was that we aired that story. She felt we were condoning the looting. I told her, that in this instance, we did not consider what these people were doing as a crime. They had lost everything. They had no homes to go to. The only possessions they had were the clothes they were wearing. They had had nothing to eat or drink since the night before and it would be several hours/days befor the Red Cross or Guards were able to set up relief areas where they were. In this instance, I did not blame them for taking what they needed.

On the other hand, there was a story about people going into stores and stealing jewels and electronics. Those people should be shot. Those others taking the necessities of life......well, if I were that store owner, I would have not minded one bit.

It's easy to condem people for their actions when we are sitting here safe and cool in our homes with full bellies and a drink in our hands. Right now their are people down there fighting to survive........and a lot of them won't make it. This storm was a horror. I have no idea how that area is going to recover.

Sorry....stepping off my soapbox now.

You are so right.

After Hurricane Andrew in Miami I had access to a refrigerated truck, so I filled it full of ice and drove to Miami to a friends house that was at ground zero.

When I pulled up to his house with a police escort, they were sitting in his front yard as his house was destroyed. We made signs out of debris that said "Free ice, keep your beer cold" as that was all they had. It was two days after the storm, there was nothing for them to eat or drink so they we forced to scavenge what they could find to eat and drink, and it was beer form a destroyed gas station.

It was a matter of survival, not somebody looting clothes and jewelry, but the necessities of life. I stayed there for three days giving away about 5000 pounds of ice to everybody in the area.

During those days we ate what I had brought, there was nothing to be had anywhere.

But Andrew was a baby compared to what has happened on the Gulf coast. We are talking total devastation, hundreds of people dead, hundreds of thousands homeless as their homes were scraped off the planet. This is the worst disaster this nation has ever faced, it will be years and years for folks to get back to any sort of normalcy.

New Orleans is 20 foot underwater in some places, 80% of the city is underwater, and the rest will be soon as the Gulf of Mexico is flowing in through many breaks in the dikes, and they cannot stop the water, the whole city will soon be submerged, 480,000 people are having to evacuate. There is no water, food, gas, electric, on most of the gulf coast, and now officials fear huge disease outbreaks as raw sewage and chemicals are floating all over the city.

The city has been "closed" as a disaster area. The 20,000 people who evacuated to the Super Dome are being moved today as it too will soon be under water.
Here is a link to 100 pictures of this disaster.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/galleri...MPLATE=DEFAULT

The Red Cross is feeding 500,000 people today, and is asking for help.

Pray for these people, the worst is yet to come.

TBS

[Sheol]

I think its the lake, not the Gulf. Not that the fact changes anything. A flood is a flood.
I saw that video of them moving the dolphins into that ad hoc aquarium before the storm hit.
Question though: How can a category 4 hurricane have done more damage than Camille ( A Cat. 5). Will it be upgraded like Andrew eventually was?

Matthew

[liverock]

Originally posted by Sheol
I think its the lake, not the Gulf. Not that the fact changes anything. A flood is a flood.
I saw that video of them moving the dolphins into that ad hoc aquarium before the storm hit.
Question though: How can a category 4 hurricane have done more damage than Camille ( A Cat. 5). Will it be upgraded like Andrew eventually was?

Matthew

The lake connects to the Gulf, so at high tide more water pours into the lake, through the levy breaks and into the city.

It was a cat 5 175 MPH winds, just before landfall, then went to a cat 4...150 MPH winds....it was the surge that did a lot of the damage...look at some of those pictures...all the casinos were destroyed.