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zack aka zackery taylor-swift


z4ck38

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Hello everyone, my name is Zack. I figured that after a month or so of lurking and an upgrade to premium member tonight I should give you guys my formal introductions. 

I've totally been into aquariums since my dad and I kept a little 10 gallon aquarium for my ever growing goldfish when I was in elementary school. Fast forwards several more years and I was keeping a 30 gallon fresh water tank in college, but decided to give it up when I left. Fast forward several more years and my good friend Jon Hanna is telling me about how he's starting up some salt water aquariums and how it's not really that expensive to get one set up. Since having a salt water aquarium had always been a dream (I never really liked the color palette of the fresh water ones) and after doing a little math, I decided in January that it was time to take the plunge. 

Since that day I've spent countless hours researching the #saltwaterlife and the different corals that go with it and now about a month and a half into the hobby I feel like I have a pretty good thing going. Granted it's not a 300 gallon behemoth, but it is my little 10 gallon IM Nuvo 10 I like to call castle greyskull. Things have been going great so far, my corals are vibrant and growing, and I haven't had my tank turn into a tire fire (yet. I know it's bound to happen as it's the nature of the beast). I've always been intrigued by little ecosystems and boy have I got an ecosystem going in this thing. 

Other than being a saltwater hobbyist I'm a support analyst for a local company that specializes in SaaS CRM and accounting software and I love my job (even with it's ups and downs like everything else), I like to play guitar a little, but I would in no way say I'm good, and finally I enjoy turning some Magic The Gathering cards sideways with my friends (This is how I met Jon in the first place). 

If anyone is curious to see the going ons of my tank, my instagram site is http://www.instagram.com/zackerytaylorswift. I hope you'll check it out and tell me what you think. I'm always open to constructive criticism. 

Anyway that's a little bit about me, I hope over time to meet some of you and forge friendships. I def plan on being at the Q1 Meeting at RCA, my own LFS and look forward to meeting some of you.

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Fellow MTG nerd (or former nerd) here as well, actually started way back in Unlimited, but it's been a few years since I was really into it, got my daughter hooked so I have someone to play with more often though... 

Sounds like you have a really well thought out set up going. Anyway, welcome to the club addiction.

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Welcome Zack!  Former MTG nerd as well, I started with The Dark back in 1993-1994.  I passed the obsession on to my college age son who got his buddies into it, so I still tag along with him to new release tournaments.

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1 hour ago, mFrame said:

Welcome Zack!  Former MTG nerd as well, I started with The Dark back in 1993-1994.  I passed the obsession on to my college age son who got his buddies into it, so I still tag along with him to new release tournaments.

That's awesome. I started playing around unlimited / revised, quit after the end of the Urza block, and then came back during the Return to Ravnica block. It's awesome that you were able to pass your obsession addiction to your son. What store are you playing out? Living in South Austin I assume, Who's Turn, Mage's Sanctum, or Juniors? 

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1 hour ago, z4ck38 said:

That's awesome. I started playing around unlimited / revised, quit after the end of the Urza block, and then came back during the Return to Ravnica block. It's awesome that you were able to pass your obsession addiction to your son. What store are you playing out? Living in South Austin I assume, Who's Turn, Mage's Sanctum, or Juniors? 

I did sort of a similar jump, was playing off and on through onslaught, then took a big break and have tried to get back into it the past few years. I had a ton of high end beta, unlimited, and legends, back in the day but cashed those ones out around 2003. Wish I had them now though, I could have put a down payment on a house for what they're currently worth. Don't have a ton of time so mainly have been playing online and just with the few remaining decks I have.

How did you get used to all the changes? Honestly, the whole game went beserk, some of the card combo's are so absurd, it's hard to imagine them even being legal when I stopped playing. It honestly makes legacy, which is what we usually played, completely broken. Introducing planeswalkers was a huge shift but I swear the number of different abilities has gone hyperbolic. Trying to teach someone used to be only a factor of them being able to read. Now, a person needs a few dozen hours just to get the basics...

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7 hours ago, jestep said:

How did you get used to all the changes? Honestly, the whole game went beserk, some of the card combo's are so absurd, it's hard to imagine them even being legal when I stopped playing. It honestly makes legacy, which is what we usually played, completely broken. Introducing planeswalkers was a huge shift but I swear the number of different abilities has gone hyperbolic. Trying to teach someone used to be only a factor of them being able to read. Now, a person needs a few dozen hours just to get the basics...

It wasn't easy at first, but I did a lot of research on the game as well as a lot of playing and discussing things with my friends. I do feel that keyword type abilities have gone of the rails to an extent. You have your evergreen abilities that will always show up (ie haste), but now each block has to have it's own set of abilities that will most likely only be in that set and tbh a lot of them aren't that great. As far a legacy goes, it's completely broken, I'll sat that it's broken enough that my legacy deck is a combo deck that has no lands in it. Its just nuts the more cards get printed you never know when suddenly an old school trash rare is going to become broken (example lion's eye diamond). Also I guess I'm wierd in that i LOVE combo decks and i like that sort of thing. The first deck I ever did very well with was the prosperous bloom deck from mirage. 

 

Also as far as teaching people, get out of town, it's redic hard. I mean you can teach them the basics of tapping lands to cast cards as well as teaching them the basic phases and when they get priority etc, but as far as the crazy abilities, ppl just gotta read the card. lol

Btw i noticed you said you played online. A friend and i play EDH and are starting to do Canadian highlander online (two very easy / cheap to build for formats) if those seem like something you'd be interested playing, hit me up. It's hella fun

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9 hours ago, z4ck38 said:

Also as far as teaching people, get out of town, it's redic hard. I mean you can teach them the basics of tapping lands to cast cards as well as teaching them the basic phases and when they get priority etc, but as far as the crazy abilities, ppl just gotta read the card. lol

Btw i noticed you said you played online. A friend and i play EDH and are starting to do Canadian highlander online (two very easy / cheap to build for formats) if those seem like something you'd be interested playing, hit me up. It's hella fun

I have not played either of those formats at all. I may have to give them a try. I'm looking at the Canadian Highlander and it looks like a lot of fun. I'd have to completely re-tool every deck I have, but at least that's easy in MTGO.

I was briefly trying to find a place with open nights or friendly tournaments, but really the only shop I had seen was Pat's games, and that's a pretty decent drive for me. I did just look and see they have beginner nights, I might take my daughter up there one of these Fridays. 

Have you played anywhere down South in Austin at all? I've been to places that are super competitive or with only the same group of people there every night (not in Austin) which I was trying to avoid to a point. I used to play at one when I lived in South Carolina, and it wasn't a welcoming place for anyone they don't know.

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On 2/16/2017 at 2:43 PM, z4ck38 said:

That's awesome. I started playing around unlimited / revised, quit after the end of the Urza block, and then came back during the Return to Ravnica block. It's awesome that you were able to pass your obsession addiction to your son. What store are you playing out? Living in South Austin I assume, Who's Turn, Mage's Sanctum, or Juniors? 

I think Who's Turn closed.

The best store I've found, hands down, is Mage's Sanctum at Slaughter and Manchaca. The guys that run the store are very cool, low pressure, and all about having fun.  We've played several release tournaments there.  Despite the fact that there are some very competitive players there, I have noticed them staff and players go out of their way to make sure that everyone feels welcome.  I've seen them take it easy on children playing their first tournament, as well as being cool to an old guy like me who isn't current on all the latest rules.

As for the game being nuts, that's why I'm not totally back into it.  My son and his friends play all the time, and know the new sets and cards well before they're even released.  They have set up a server and are playing a self-hosted Magic online program that allows them to chat, play, and use any cards or formats.  With all the new abilities and such the only real games to play are new draft releases. Otherwise you're constantly competing with deep-pocket guys who just buy their decks on ebay.

We should set up an ARC magic game night....

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1 hour ago, mFrame said:

I think Who's Turn closed.

The best store I've found, hands down, is Mage's Sanctum at Slaughter and Manchaca. The guys that run the store are very cool, low pressure, and all about having fun.  We've played several release tournaments there.  Despite the fact that there are some very competitive players there, I have noticed them staff and players go out of their way to make sure that everyone feels welcome.  I've seen them take it easy on children playing their first tournament, as well as being cool to an old guy like me who isn't current on all the latest rules.

As for the game being nuts, that's why I'm not totally back into it.  My son and his friends play all the time, and know the new sets and cards well before they're even released.  They have set up a server and are playing a self-hosted Magic online program that allows them to chat, play, and use any cards or formats.  With all the new abilities and such the only real games to play are new draft releases. Otherwise you're constantly competing with deep-pocket guys who just buy their decks on ebay.

We should set up an ARC magic game night....

I'd likely be down, I haven't purchased much new stuff in a long time, I'm not sure what would be the best way to do it. I was PM'ing with Zach and they play some pretty cool formats that make vintage usable again. They're online though, I'm not sure we'd all have the cards to build many of these deck types in real cards. 

I'm not sure when you got out, but some of the changes in sets in the last 8 or so years, have completely broken the vintage format, which is one of the few formats that allows cards from any set. I have some broken combos in one of my decks but playing against some of the newer stuff was simply laughable how ridiculous it has become.

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I think Mage's Sanctum is a fine store, it's just as far as it could be from where I live and there are other stores I prefer that are closer. 

As for building an EDH deck or a Canadian Highlander deck online, it does require a little bit of an investment, but it's far and away cheaper than buying some paper stock. I play EDH on paper too and there are def cards in my online decks I'd never get to use on paper. 

Also, sorry for my absence from this thread recently. I was released from my job unexpectedly about a week and a half ago, my dad is preparing for cancer surgery on Monday, and I've been getting my frag tank together. 

--

In terms of Aquaria, I really enjoyed the talk at RCA a few Sunday's ago. It was very informative. Is anyone hitting  up their first Friday sale this coming Friday?

I plan on being there to kind of hang out and to get a good fish for my frag tank, which is a 10 gallon short tank with filtration in the back. First compartment is the regular floss and charcoal, the second chamber is a Reef Octopus NS80 Protein Skimmer, and then a pump in the third. I also have a Hydor power head flowing in there. 

Jon.Hanna and I are working on getting frag racks build from black egg crate. After I get either a six line wrasse or a lawnmower bellini, and a blue stunner strip for my metal metal halide light (running blue and purple right now) it should be good to go. 

As far as my display tank I'm hoping to get a Ghost Skimmer desktop for the Nuvo 10, but we'll see. My water parameters are good from just changing water, but I want them to be the best they can be. 

Not much else going on, just catching up on my reading, and job hunting. 

I hope everyone else is well. 

 

-z out

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I think Mage's Sanctum is a fine store, it's just as far as it could be from where I live and there are other stores I prefer that are closer. 

As for building an EDH deck or a Canadian Highlander deck online, it does require a little bit of an investment, but it's far and away cheaper than buying some paper stock. I play EDH on paper too and there are def cards in my online decks I'd never get to use on paper. 

Also, sorry for my absence from this thread recently. I was released from my job unexpectedly about a week and a half ago, my dad is preparing for cancer surgery on Monday, and I've been getting my frag tank together. 

--

In terms of Aquaria, I really enjoyed the talk at RCA a few Sunday's ago. It was very informative. Is anyone hitting  up their first Friday sale this coming Friday?

I plan on being there to kind of hang out and to get a good fish for my frag tank, which is a 10 gallon short tank with filtration in the back. First compartment is the regular floss and charcoal, the second chamber is a Reef Octopus NS80 Protein Skimmer, and then a pump in the third. I also have a Hydor power head flowing in there. 

Jon.Hanna and I are working on getting frag racks build from black egg crate. After I get either a six line wrasse or a lawnmower bellini, and a blue stunner strip for my metal metal halide light (running blue and purple right now) it should be good to go. 

As far as my display tank I'm hoping to get a Ghost Skimmer desktop for the Nuvo 10, but we'll see. My water parameters are good from just changing water, but I want them to be the best they can be. 

Not much else going on, just catching up on my reading, and job hunting. 

I hope everyone else is well. 

 

-z out

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Oh yeah, I'm also planning on building the ATO System shown here for my Display Tank:
 


I've always been pretty good at wiring stuff up and I plan to build this inside of something water proof, so it should be good. I'm excited for some DIY action. It will be a precursor to my fuge light for the chaeto i plan i eventually putting in both of my tanks. 

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11 minutes ago, z4ck38 said:

Oh yeah, I'm also planning on building the ATO System shown here for my Display Tank:
 


I've always been pretty good at wiring stuff up and I plan to build this inside of something water proof, so it should be good. I'm excited for some DIY action. It will be a precursor to my fuge light for the chaeto i plan i eventually putting in both of my tanks. 

I use these relays for a variety of things.  have backups, they burn out.  they are cheap enough to have many many backups :)   the one that burned out the most for me was on a heater.. i went w/ an industrial relay vs this type...  so just be aware of the ratings... and split it in half about... if you want some sort of reliability.

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1 minute ago, Isaac said:

I use these relays for a variety of things.  have backups, they burn out.  they are cheap enough to have many many backups :)   the one that burned out the most for me was on a heater.. i went w/ an industrial relay vs this type...  so just be aware of the ratings... and split it in half about... if you want some sort of reliability.

This is the pump i purchased: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZW6OHHY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the relay I purchased: 12V DC Coil General Purpose Power Relay MY2NJ HH52P-L 8PIN 5A w PYF08A Socket

I know I said I'm good at wiring things up, I'm not always so good at knowing exactly what I'm wiring up. Hopefully the above relay and pump wont blow each other up and burn down my apt, because if we're being quite honest here, I'm a little afraid of that happening

 

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you will probably need a valve too, or you might end up with a siphon between the ATO and the sump (depending on diff things obviously).  My Ro/DI tank is above my sump, i use a pump to start the flow, i use a valve to stop it :)

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That's a super good call on the valve, I hadn't considered that. 

The way I had planned on doing this was to have my water container on on the shelf with doors, below the tank and have my float in the third chamber. I want to get some sort of fitting that will let me put a little hose on the 1/2 inch fitting of the pump i linked with something to slow how much water is coming from the end of the tube into the third chamber of my tank. I was also going to affix the drip at a position where it never actually gets under water. 

I hope that makes sense. Do you think that will work? I'm trying to go for as minimalist as I can with this, just so things don't get too complicated. I want to be able to get it all going Thursday or Friday before I'm going to be gone for the days i'm going to spend with my dad before surgery. Eventually when i get a job again i can get they hydor ATO system, which looks really cool!

BTW thanks for your input on this Isaac, I'm def a beginner and want to learn from anyone who is willing to teach me!

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https://goo.gl/photos/GqKH5DL7fZiF8dSX8

white barrel has ro/di, its got an osmolator pump in it.  on the other end:

https://goo.gl/photos/nuDdf2H7u1pgFcnYA

I use a sprinkler valve, then dump the RO/DI into a small box that drips into the tank (in case i need to add buffer).  The tube is not under water, just in case it needs a siphon break.   I have a timer which runs for 15mins, twice a day.  its turns on the pump regardless, it also energizes a circuit for the valve,  and float switch.  when the float switch is low, it opens, etc.

I use no relays on the ATO.  The valve is 24v, the float can handle 24v... no need.

 

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Since the beginnings of my frag tank, my water has been a little milky in color and I was told this was micro bubbles from the protein skimmer breaking. 

After about a week, it still hasn't cleared up. I tested all of my water parameters are good, which is a relief. I figured that the discoloration would eventually go away as the skimmer broke in. Since everything seemed good, I moved some frags over to see how they did. 

So fast forward toward the end of week two. All of the frags look fairly decent, but you can barely see them from the milky water

I decided it was time to go to the LFS (River City) to ask for some help . They told me that I should do a water change, which was already in the plan, and let the tank run for a bit with out the skimmer while I'm with my dad for a few days. 

My question is if I come back and the water is clear as, well something clear. do i turn the skimmer back on and deal with the milkiness until it's fully broken in.

Anyone have any ideas or heard of this before. 

The skimmer i have is a octopus n80

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Sounds like a bacterial bloom to me.  You ought to be able to see micro bubbles, but bacterial bloom just looks milky.  I've always just done a water change and then let it run its course.  

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Sounds like a bacterial bloom to me.  You ought to be able to see micro bubbles, but bacterial bloom just looks milky.  I've always just done a water change and then let it run its course.  


I read that might be a possibility too.
I did a water change already, should I do another?
I also read something about leaving the light and heater off. should I move my corals back to the DT and do that? My fear would be bringing the bacterial bloom to my DT.

also thank you everyone for all the awesome advice!


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I've never tried leaving the light and heater off, so don't know about that.  I would not leave corals in there if I did that tho.  It can take several days to clear up when it has happened to me before, but I've only done a single water change so don't know if multiple helps or not.

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