Me, Myself, & Sherman too.

[Nate C.]

Had a nice visit with Nathan and Colleen yesterday afternoon. Very nice couple and we talked reefs for quite a while. They are in the research mode for a wicked in-wall install so I hope that their visit with me bore some fruit for their own project.

They were really nice and brought three sweet frags too. Very generous and thoughtful IMO.Sherman also joined us and that always makes for good conversation.

We talked about sound abatement, plumbing issues, water change system, and much more. Nathan brought a legal pad but I swear he only wrote one word on it. I hope it wasn't "Idiot"! :lol: He did take a picture or two so maybe he will have something interesting to post.

We also discussed sand bed husbandry and while everyone in the room had a little different philosophy, no fist fight broke out. That's always a plus...

It was very nice to meet them and I am really jazzed about their project. It is going to be sweet.

Hey, I wrote more than 1 word...it was about 5. None of them were idiot. We really enjoyed seeing your tank, and the set-up you have. The water change you did while I was there was so much less work than what I have to do (rental places suck...can't wait to have a drain right near the sump!) I'm definitely going to assemble something close to what you have, I've already drawn out my ideas. I want to use the pump to push the water back into the sump as well, so it'll be a slight modification to yours. Seeing how you have things plumbed helped a lot though! The main reason I didn't write more is, I had good beverage in-hand more often than not...and wasn't willing to set it down to write.

Colleen and I can't thank you enough for being so generous with your time...we spent most of the afternoon/early evening there, and for all the tasty beverages (we definitely plan to visit your store next time we get over...need more of the good stuff we can't find in local stores)! We are glad you liked the frags, the ones you gave us are very cool as well. They are in the tank and looking good.

We are still hoping you and Sherman will make the journey over this coming weekend for the meeting at our place. We have the futon and spare bed ready if you decide you don't want to banzi the run back home (this allows more consumption of tasty beverages here...I do have one you will enjoy and may not have had...Deschutes "the Abyss" imperial stout). If you do come down, we'll have to run you out to see the new place in person Sunday morning before you head back.

 

[jnarowe]

Good to hear from you. So strange but I couldn't find your messages so I did not do a follow up. Please post or message me with your designs so we can discuss pros and cons.

The Abyss: Yeah I sell it AND drink it, but I would never give that to someone traveling. It is almost like a sleeping pill. Damn good beer though.

We forgot about the acrylic too, so if I come out, I'll try to remember to bring you some.

The frags you brought me are in the display already. Very healthy and colorful specimens that I am very pleased to have. They will be show pieces for sure.

 

[Nate C.]

Messages probalby came from Colleen...I haven't been on RF much. Too busy at work most of the time.

As I get more of the plumbing drawn up, I will be in touch to show you and see what your thoughts are. Right now, it's just the water change system that I have planned out, and other than the extra line on the outlet of the pump, it's basically identical to what you have in place already.

 

[colleen]

previous posts - those would be from me

I'm the one usually on line lurking and reading up on things and occasionally posting. Nate usually just gets called in to read over my shoulder when I find something interesting (or entertaining!). :badgrin:

We may see more posts from him once we get in full swing on the new tank set up.

Thanks for being such a gracious host, we really enjoyed our visit and came home with a wealth of information (good thing we have the 2 of us to try to remember all we learned)! The frags are doing great, boy-talk about fuzzy!

I've attached a pic of the tank's rear plumbing and skimmer, and a bonus shot of the guys looking quite miserable after spending several hours discussing the pros and cons of various beers and reef keeping techniques !

~C

 

[jnarowe]

geez. I am 6' tall and look short there...got to improve my posture or wear lifts!

Anyway, thanks for getting back in touch. Unfortunately Sherman is very ill so we are not going to make it out for your meeting. bummer!

And I can't remember what frags you got from me...maybe a piece of the green table and something else? I don't remember much of our get-together of course. Some jerk made me drink a bunch of beer.

 

[colleen]

frags

Yep, it was a piece of the bright green table from the back left corner of the tank and a golden colored, extremely fuzzy acro with green polyps and lots of branches, of which you still have another almost identical frag on the frag rack (or at least you did as of last weekend!)

I feel real bad for you man, having witnessed how Sherm and Nate were ganging up on you and twisting your arms to get you to try those different (non-normal) beers! :doubt: You need to learn to resist that peer pressure!

Hope poor Sherm feels better, he said he felt like he wanted to die on Tuesday when I e-mailed an order to him; hope he's improving.

 

[dhnguyen]

Don't feel too bad for J. He uses that as an excuse often

As if he's going to get any sympathy from me pfffft!

 

[jnarowe]

Come on D, you know I get victimized every time Sherman comes over!

 

[sherm71tank]

Hey Jonathan, thanks for killer swap today! I feel like I robbed you though. A Vortech for a Maxi-Mod? Whatever makes you happy bro!

 

[jnarowe]

:lol: I was just kidding man. Hope it turns your tank into a jaccuzzi.

 

[jnarowe]

Things are going well despite my sending a lot of time taking pics for our business. Alk is steady and water quality is good. Corals are healthy but I still envy some of the more experienced reeferkeepers' high growth rates. I guess that is something I will have to work on this year.

Strange thing is going on right now though, and that is the pumping xenia is all dying off. Sherman and I also noted the the PLTA is getting extremely large. It has good color but the size is a bit shocking...I wonder if it will split?

I am alos getting lots of mini stars in my floss. This is a new problem since I have started mechanically filtering ALL water moving through the sump system, and they are a total PITA to remove from the floss. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Something I wanted to share since I had a very similar experience:


Jill Bolte Taylor on Insights of her Stroke

 

[Vicki]

I am alos getting lots of mini stars in my floss. This is a new problem since I have started mechanically filtering ALL water moving through the sump system, and they are a total PITA to remove from the floss. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Bleach works really well! :badgrin: Not only does it kill them, it turns them so white you can't even see them any more! (Maybe it's dissolving them?)

I use filter socks and just toss them with those mini stars right in the washing machine and add the bleach, nothing else. I do run a double rinse on them too.

Vicki

PS..... I have Skunk Cleaner Shrimp babies!!! Also Fire Shrimp babies!

 

[ziggy]

Jna-
Rinse the floss in R/O then put it in a nano with only harlequin shrimp. They will pick the stars out and you will be in the harliquin breeding biz.


Jna & vicky
missed you guys at the Seattle Aquarium meeting.
Vicky I had to smoke alone!

Jna- Dont give us S!@# for smoking

 

[jnarowe]

But I want to SAVE the mini brittles! AT least you both have sure-fire ways of getting rid of them eh?

Vicki: Congrats on the cleaner babies...wow! What stage?

My wife smokes too. I can't stand it. I would much rather kill myself with beer.

 

[jnarowe]

BTW, I thought th emeeting was Sunday, but I couldn't go anyway. Too burnt out from taking pics for my store. I have been in every day for two weeks and yesterday I had to stay home and chill.

 

[Nate C.]

And, because you stayed home to chill...we missed you when we stopped in to buy lots of good beer to take home with us. :shock:

We were over to visit Colleen's parents, so had to stop and get some good stuff to take home with us...since you introduced me to even more hard-to-find good beer.

 

[colleen]

I stumbled across the store's cool website today, and have now a co-worker drooling over your selection of beer (ROOT beer that is!) :lol: It even comes in kegs??? Sounds like I may be needing to pick up a 'to go' order when we come back over in April.

Might see if we can pick up that big tub for Ed if he hasn't got it by then. We'll be bringing the pickup over for the next meeting.

 

[jnarowe]

yeah we keep about 20 root beers in stock and rotate them. Got some good ones. Find out how many tubs he wants. I have 3 available, 2 with extra holes.

 

[jnarowe]

Quick update:

Reef is fine. PLTA is fat. Fish are fat too. Everything is fat.

I set up a 29g Tall to use as a second QT. Have a bunch of stuff coming in this week.

Something I have been meaning to post about is DI Resin. I have been buying my resin from discounters like a couple of eBay sellers for the past 18+ months, but I had noticed varying resin lifespans. It got to the point where it seemed I was getting about half the water production compared to when I started out.

I discussed this with fellow reefers and a couple I respect a lot pointed me toward Spectra Pure. I have bought some items from them in the past and have found Scott to be very knowlegable, so although somewhat like asking the fox about the henhouse count, I discussed resin with him. I was more looking for specialized resin but after some back and forth, he convinced me that all I needed was the regular mixed bed resin.

I picked up a bunch in the Fall of '07 and just now changed out my first canister. While I realize that the Spectra Pure resin is double or even triple the cost of many resins available, the results speak for themselves. In reef keeping, quality does matter and I am really happy that I switched.

 

[Nate C.]

I'll second the worthiness of Spectra Pure's DI Resin, but don't buy the RO membrane from them, it's the exact same DOW membrane you can buy from others for half the price!