renman303

Good meeting you today. Thanks for the fish, it's really nice. He'll like his new 225 to stretch out a bit! Let me know if you'd like any corals, I can make you a really good deal. Dave

Hey Gabriel, Great meeting you as well. I'm glad you enjoyed everything! If you feel inclined, I'm trying to build some customer comments on Yahoo.com reviews. Just search on "Nonna's Cucina". One day, I'll learn to start a blog!!! ha ha! ps: you can pick up a Nonna's "Club Sandwich" punch coupon in the latest edition of the Community Impact Newspaper from Georgetown or you can print the paper "Take and Bake plus Club Sandwich" that I posted. Feel free to give them to all of your friends! Dave

Thanx for the kind words Ryan. Great to have you and your wife in. To make things a bit better for those of you whom have not joined us yet. We offer everyone a 5% discount for cash payments! Here are some of the ideas that we offer like "Club Sandwich" where you buy any 5 sandwiches, have your card punched and the 6th, any size/type is on us! We also offer "Take and Bake" meals that you can drop in the oven after work and in 20 minutes of so, dinner is done! $19 for a family of 4, Tax Included!!! Lunch and Dinner Menus are attached at the opening of this thread as well as a "You Tube" Video showing the platings of some of our dishes. Things that people have been saying about us: “A place with immense potential that’s just about to cross the threshhold to bigger and better things.” -Dale Rice, Critic Austin American Statesman “Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, tonight’s meal was commensurate with the best California can offer. Keep it up!” - Sean & Sandy Althaus, guest testimonial Lunch_2008.pdf Nonna_s_Dinner_Menu_Winter_2008_v2.pdf Take_and_Bake_plus_Club_Sandwich.pdf

I thought this was a really cool idea. Using algae to "scrub" your system! Seems sound in principal but not sure if anyone has ever tried this? Algae Scrubber Now, I'm not condoning the dumping of your equipment but, what about suplimentation of your equipment with this? See, I just got rid of algae, and what do I want to do???? Grow more!!!! It seems like a very logical solution for phosphates and nitrates? After all, don't most of us use Chaetomorpha in our sump for that purpose? I'm not too keen about 86'ing the skimmer but I'm intrigued with the whole process ! It was just a few years ago when "Bio-Balls" were all the rage in Wet/Dry filters, then it was "86" the Bio-Ball's, use live rock. I'm just thinking, things change...people find new and innovative and sometimes inexpensive ways to get the same results. We are trying to create an "ocean" in a small enclosed box. I think it's a good learning experience...

Thanks all. BTW, I have a 6'x24" Metro Rack on casters that I'm selling for $100 if anyone needs some serious storage?

Posted One Week Ago... OK Kids, here's the poop... Brian from Kingfish was kind enough to stop by today and look at my tank. Here is what we agreed on: Salinity: 1.026 No Prob... Magnesium: 1450 No Prob... Calcium: 400 ppm No Prob... Phosphates: zero No Prob... dKH: 5 Ahhhh...Problem. Lots of Diatoms, Green Hair and some Cyano Bacteria. This was even effecting the mantle of my Derasa Clam. We hit him with a Fresh Water Dip. Found the culprit.... My RO/DI unit !!!!! "Replace the RO membrane and deionization resin. RO membranes should typically block 99% of incoming TDS. The TDS of a properly working membrane should be anywhere from 0 to 10. Anything over that and the membrane is not working properly. DI resin takes that water and polishes it to a reading of 0 TDS. While TDS of 0-5 is not harmful, the DI’s active life is over when the TDS begins to read anything greater then 0." -Brian The water coming out of the RO/DI was reading about 45! The water coming out of the RO alone was reading 21! So, because I did not own a TDS I did not know this? Not that if I did own a TDS I would have known this???? This is certainly a learning experience! We are going to replace these units and bring the Alkalinity (sp) back into the 10-12 range. That along with some help from the cleanup crew and a few major water changes after the new stuff arrives and we should be golden! See, all it took was a little knowledge...and not by me! Thanks Brian!!!! UPDATE: Except for the "Clumps" of algae that still remain, and there are only about 5 or so...All of the diatoms and cyano are gone as is about 95% of the hair algae. Here is where the water sits today: Salinity: 1.026 No Prob... Magnesium: 1450 No Prob... Calcium: 400 ppm No Prob... Phosphates: zero No Prob... dKH: 10!!!! Now I need to get rid of my Pulse start ballasts for electronic ones as these keep tripping my circuits. I was told by the maker that they draw up to 10 times the power on startup. Even staggered on time to start they still pop. Working on that issue... Other than that, everything looks much healthier, anemones are just expanding, LPS is huge and bursting with color!

Better late than never...

OK Kids, here's the poop... Brian from Kingfish was kind enough to stop by today and look at my tank. Here is what we agreed on: Salinity: 1.026 No Prob... Magnesium: 1450 No Prob... Calcium: 400 ppm No Prob... Phosphates: zero No Prob... dKH: 5 Ahhhh...Problem. Lots of Diatoms, Green Hair and some Cyano Bacteria. This was even effecting the mantle of my Derasa Clam. We hit him with a Fresh Water Dip. Found the culprit.... My RO/DI unit !!!!! "Replace the RO membrane and deionization resin. RO membranes should typically block 99% of incoming TDS. The TDS of a properly working membrane should be anywhere from 0 to 10. Anything over that and the membrane is not working properly. DI resin takes that water and polishes it to a reading of 0 TDS. While TDS of 0-5 is not harmful, the DI’s active life is over when the TDS begins to read anything greater then 0." -Brian The water coming out of the RO/DI was reading about 45! The water coming out of the RO alone was reading 21! So, because I did not own a TDS I did not know this? Not that if I did own a TDS I would have known this???? This is certainly a learning experience! We are going to replace these units and bring the Alkalinity (sp) back into the 10-12 range. That along with some help from the cleanup crew and a few major water changes after the new stuff arrives and we should be golden! See, all it took was a little knowledge...and not by me! Thanks Brian!!!!

I'm in!

I agree Cool Breeze. "If God did not intend for man to eat animals, then, why did He make them from meat?!"

Thanks Mike, Easy to make most of our dishes Veg. We can always "86" the meat if you prefer. Dave

Just trying to nail down a date. Brian Carlisle is in FL. for the week of the 24th so it may be either Sat 31st or Sun, 1 Feb. Watch This Space.... Dave

New critter arrivals: I made a purchase from Reeftopia. Critters were a bit tiny but I bought some extras so we'll see just how good they do. I probably needed more for my tank anyway other than the 30 or so Astrea's, Certh's and 20 odd hermits. Here is what I got: Total Reef Care Special #2 75 Turbo Snail [astrae],, -36 Cerith Snail, 12 Tegula Snails, 18 Nassarius Snails, 4 Emerald Crabs, 75 Small Blueleg Hermits and 12 Nerite (tesselatta) Snails. Free Shipping & Box via FedEx Priority Overnight. You may purchase additional items along with this special and get free shipping & box for those items as well. Only $149.00 I also purchased in addition: 2 dozen additional Turbo Snails for $20. Seems like a nice price. I could have gotten an additional 100 Turbo's for $48 but that seemed like a bit too many considering I was already getting 75 of them with the initial pack. Watch This Space, to see just how well they perform on Hair Algae. Dave

I thought I'd post this for all of you locals that like to eat really good food that you just can't find anywhere else! For those of you whom don't know, I own, "Nonna's" in Georgetown. We are the only Multi-Star restaurant in the city. We have had great reviews from Dale Rice of the Statesman, hosted "Mollydooker Winery" from South Australia and have the most unique "Fusion Nites" for any restaurant, anywhere! We are a BYOB establishment with a $3/person setup fee. There is also a 5% discount for cash payments! “A place with immense potential that’s just about to cross the threshhold to bigger and better things.” -Dale Rice, Austin American Statesman “Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, tonight’s meal was commensurate with the best California can offer. Keep it up!” - Sean & Sandy Althaus, guest testimonial Please come see what we are all about! Just be sure to have a reservation for dinner as we often turn 20+ people away that are "walk-ins". I'm attaching Lunch and Dinner Menus for your convenience as well as a You Tube Video Link that "Community Impact Newspapaer" did on us. Lunch_2008.pdf Nonna_s_Dinner_Menu_Winter_2008_v2.pdf

I'll be glad to host the next meeting if anyone is interested in having one. Perhaps we can get Kingfish to chime in on this since they built my 225 gallon with external overflow. I'm open to specific topics to discuss since I'm more of a novice and would be grateful to anyone wishing to speak? We could start at 12:00 but on Saturdays, I have to be at work by 3:00 pm. Sunday's I'm a bit more open as my restaurant is closed. Thoughts? Bueller.... Anyone....

Sounds great! I did the same sort of thing by buying a "feeding troth" from the local feed store (100 gallon) for $10! You can see my pics on my blog. Renman

If you are still interested in a cheap tank that you can have for a QT, I have a 55 gallon for $50? Dave

I have two chambers for phosphate and carbon from Two Little Fishes. I'm not too sure how well these tiny little items work to tell the truth? I actually have a huge amount of "Phosban" in a mesh bag right at the overflow in my sump just before the return to the tank. Great thought though! My Critters will be here tomorrow by 10:30 am so I'll have about 150 various snails including 100 Turbo's and 75 hermits. Dave

pm sent.

I actually ordered Total Reef Care #2. Didn't think about the large vs small snails. I have about 20 Nessarus now so, that should give me enough of those. I also ordered another two-dozen turbos to add to the 75 coming to ensure that there are enough to clean this algae. Funny how my sump is totally clear and it's lighted as well????? Things that make you go hmmmmm????

Thanks everyone. I'm going to try a bit of everything. First thing tomorrow I'm ordering a Cleanup Crew. Dena, your Tang is better than my Tang. My Sailfin follows me around the tank like a puppy when I scrape the sides, he's there to eat it up. But you think he'd get a fork and feed himself?????? No way! I even have two Urchin's, one of them is a green algae urchin and it only eats the very short algae. The clumps of long hair algae are unreachable in some spots...at the back on the bottom rocks...go figure? Dave

I'm not sure if Astrea Turbo Snails are the same as Mexican but here is what I'm considering from Reeftopia: Total Reef Care Special #2 75 Turbo Snail [astrae],, -36 Cerith Snail, 12 Tegula Snails, 18 Nassarius Snails, 4 Emerald Crabs, 75 Small Blueleg Hermits and 12 Nerite (tesselatta) Snails. Free Shipping & Box via FedEx Priority Overnight. You may purchase additional items along with this special and get free shipping & box for those items as well. Only $149.00

Thanks for the reply. I'm sure I need to invest in a cleanup crew. What do you think of these: John at Kingfish said this was a great deal. Reeftopia Cleanup Crews

Capt. Obvious, Come and see me, I can donate a frag of Birdsnest, Xenia, Green Star Polyp, Gold Polyps and other stuff. Dave