chatfouz

we had them in my high school class. the teacher bought six, dumped them in her tank in the class room. although it had no heater, just a small sponge filter. it was just a thing of salt water and sand that sat there for 6 months. they lasted the entire semester from what i remember.

only worry about them being predatory when it looks big enough to take down a snail. But really most are scavengers. They are really col creatures and good for keeping tank clean. Nothing wrong with them. Personally i think they are really cool.

the worst really is seeing the urchins. There are 25 urchins in two 30 gal tanks. The professor thought ahead to get the urchins early, two weeks early. Ten days later he lost all but 4. Talked with the TA, Apparently the only filtration was a HOB simple filter and a bubbler. Potatoes for food, no skimmer and the tank was given 2 days to cycle. This is what happens when a plant professor and 3 cancer based grad students get into aquatic science.

In our biology lab today we are observing the fertilization of eggs in sea urchins. I just thought I would pass on this bit of information on how to induce spawining in sea urchins. Apparently if you inject an urchin with 0.5 ml of 0.5M KCL into the perioral tissue (soft bit around the mouth) or apply a mild 6v current the urchins will spawn. Releasing out thier eggs or sperm into the water.

I thought this was a neat trick for those who keep urchins and always wanted more. Also i wonder if this will work for other related critters like the seastars etc... thought it was cool, thought to share

Group buy?! What's that I hear?

heck yea! what kind of budget and when? Spring Break? Early Summer? Weekend Trip in april? i know flower gardens are a weekend type deal. ha ha ha.

if you have salt in your nose and a sunburned neck it counts. who wants to research some group rates on some trips and who is free when?

texas flower gardens? rather localish place that could be a fun group dive. it is a bit deep but i've heard its awesome.

details on that trip!

craigslist you can get really lucky. i found a guy who took the class, handed his credit card to his instructor and said, make me look like you... finished the class and 8 months later realized he would never touch his stuff again. but i second being careful. i've seen people trying to sell gear that looks like its gone years without servicing or any regard for how it is stored.

heck yea! if the group is planning a group trip I'm down.

always check craigslist for gear. two years ago i got a bcd, reg, suit, 2 tanks, computer and extras for 500$. SCUBALAND is where I am doing my divemaster training now. great people. If anyone is looking for a dive partner I am 100% ready to go.

Hello yall,

Im doing a project for school where we are comparing the growth rates of rotifers. I was wondering if anyone had a bubbler or two i could borrow for six weeks while i do this experiment? I was just hoping to cut down on some of the cost.

Appriciate it!

Madison

I ran a 10G reef tank with a jaubert plenum. No outside filtration.

I stand corrected. I obviously have much to learn about this. Where can i find more about this system of tanks?

With the exception of salt up front, the rest of the cost can be minimized and often eliminated. Lights are the last thing you need and in fact you don't even have to use lights if you go non-photosynthic. The biodiversity that would develope from an arogonite sandbed and one live rock to seed itis amazing. Look at the way the European startup there reef systems. They spend a year cultivating the bottom of the food chain in their large reef systems (1000G). No skimmer to remove nutriants. Use natural reefkeeping techniques to recycle nutriant into sandbed critters, micro inverts with numerous worm type feathers including gorgeous Christmas Tree worms. Use macro algae vegetable filters to remove nutriants by trimming, to recycle nutriants by feeding fish and to provide a habitat for micro inverts such as amphipods and copepods. The possobilities are endless. While I do have expensize kits, I seldome test, as observing the tank will talk to you. When I see red film, I add phosphate resin. If my water trys to get off color, I change carbon. Observe the corals polyp extension for more sudtle changes. For me it is less technology and nore biology. You don't even have to understand the biology, just do it.

Pat Castille

oh yes. i can agree with that. I love natural tanks. Those that run without massive amounts of chemicals or artificial uses. The problem isn't it that those are only possible with larger tanks? a 30 gal is not large enough to do such a set up is it?

wow and all this time i was putting so much work into my freshies, water changes, water testing, dosing.............much more than water and cleaning the filter

what kind of dosing are needed with a Fish only? it is much less than compared to daily maintenance of salt. While I admit its not a huge ordeal it is more work.

Hey Foutz,

Why do you think that a beginner tank has to be freash water? I can assist you with a "bullet proof" reef tank that is as easy as any community freash water fish tank. Try it, you'll like it.

Pat

oh heavens salt can be very easy. Its just i dont have the money to get lights, substrate, rock, or salt, or the time to mess with daily salt checks and top offs. Cichlids are very easy, keep water in the tank and the filter clean...

I've got an empty 30 gal tank that is cycling. anyone have some over populated ciclid tanks? Just thought to ask. s

So yesterday I picked up a sump, return pump, and skimmer. I was putting everything together last night, and realized if I put the sump inside my stand I wouldn't be able to service any of the contents without draining and moving the tank.. the sump fits in the stand, but just barely. So now I'm thinking of putting the sump outside of the stand, out of sight behind a sofa (about 3ft from the tank). Would running the line from the HOB overflow diagonally (I didn't measure the angle, but I'm thinking as steep as I can manage) from the bottom of the overflow to the top of the sump make a huge difference in the amount of water that can flow through the line? Would it be worth adding a second overflow? Would it be better to run the line vertically to the height of the sump, then elbow and run horizontally? Is there a better way to do what I'm trying to do that I'm not thinking of?

in my experience no. I had a big sump a few feet from a tank a year ago and i didnt have problems with flow. You do lose some energy but i never noticed it being anything to gripe about. Just be sure its done well because I made the mistake of half-a#@ it and a pipe came loose and water everywhere.

Should be fine for cichlids, though I liked the taller 29g. I had yellow labs, a red empress, and a socolofi (meanie). I would definitely avoid the jewels, they're mean and not a community fish.

i had 3 jewels in there before and a bala shark. but they ate the shark and i wasnt sure if they were kept in too small a tank. i wanted to besure i didnt make a stocking mistake.

thanks for the advice.

Welcome back chatfouz! I vote seahorse tank.

ahh! don't tempt me! i must keep money aside for rent! arrg. mabye if i can find a job in san marcos

I have i think its about 30 gal. Its 12 tall, 18 deep and 36or so long. i know its pretty shallow but it does have some depth and length. Is that in yall opinion suitable for some cichlids? I'm looking to set up a tank now that im back in the usa (and finally have my own place!!). I was looking at cichlids because they are (in my experience) hard to kill and ,most importantly, can be seen from across the room. I would love to set it up for some seahorses again but i just dont have the money or time to deal with salt water.

i should probably specify cichlids. I was directing that toward africans, such as jewel cichlids. If such fish won't work i am open to suggestions.

I have an HP laptop that is currently running ubuntu linux. However I can't get the wireless to work (apparently a common problem with hp laptops)

so i want to put xp back on my laptop however i have no resource discs. Does anyone have some disc i could borrow for an evening? That or who have experience with linux and might could help fix the wireless? anything is appriciated

Comming! sign me up

Most of them really look nice. I love the one of the lanterns along the water at dusk! You have some great action shots too. My advice on those would be to use a faster shutter speed if possible to avoid some of the blur. I definitely think you should keep going and be more confident in your work.

I thought I would play around with the crop a little on your diver photo since you weren't happy with it.

I can not tell you how much I appriciate your comments. And I really appriciate your playing with the photos. It means a lot to me that you would not only read but attempt to help a stranger. The only thing I can say for most of those actions shots is that with the equipment I was working with that WAS the highest shutterspeed available he he... But all the same THANK YOU!!!

I have not been here for a while. However I do remember many of the members are interested if not professional Photographers. I have just made my first attempt at a portfolio. I personally doubt my skill however under the encouragement of my GF I posted this anyway. Please any review and advice, comment, critism would be greatly appriciated.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sweetseahorse/Portfolio#

I am still trying to work on uploading these photos to DeviantART. However this Chinese Firewall is Difficult to deal with.

Thank you in advance to anyone who reviews and especially to anyone who comments.