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Nov 5, 2009 (copied from our original entries at http://livingroomreef.blogspot.com/) So with my habit firmly in check, I convinced Laura that we needed a bigger aquarium and that it would be the perfect opportunity to finish the aquarium stand that I started building almost six years ago. In my last house I had a 29g freshwater aquarium much like our current setup but had decided to upgrade it to a 75g tank. Live got in the way, though, and after cutting out most of the pieces for the new stand I ended up shelving all the pieces without assembling them. Apartment life and fish aquariums don't make good partners so the pieces languished away in three garages before finally seeing the light of day again this past June. Ah, the clash of hobbies. If I'd know when we bought are new larger aqaurium that it would take me almost five months to finish the stand I probably would have just bought one at the same time. Instead, I'm now happy to unveil our new 100% Michael Frame, hand-made, cherry and oak aquarium stand.

April 23, 2009 (copied from our original entries at http://livingroomreef.blogspot.com/) After diving the Great Barrier Reef on our honeymoon last month, we've decided to get back into aquariums. Stephen is handling the tropical fish side and beginning his experiment with breeding Blue Rams. Meanwhile we've been working on setting up a 29g (30x12x18) reef aquarium in our living room. We got a great deal on it used from craigslist, and it came with a stand and Emperor 400 filter. So far we have painted the back blue (outside of course), installed a Tunze powerhead, and added 15 lbs of live sand and 15 lbs of live rock. We hope to add more rock this weekend to the tank and some rubble into the Emperor (it's acting as our fuge). After allowing the aquarium to cycle, next on the list is lighting, a battery backup to deal with power outages, and introducing our cleaning crew. Follow along as we try to establish our own little section of the great reefs of the world.

Like many of us I had my first aquarium as a kid. Fish from Walmart or local fish stores were the norm, but usually fell away due to neglect. I got back in the hobby around 1998 running an African cichlid tank. That lasted for about four years, and I miss the days of hitting all the fish stores in Austin to pick up new fish and exotic plecos (one of my favorites). I was always too nervous about running marine tanks due to the perceived complexity. That all changed several years later when I dated a woman who was running two small saltwater tanks in her apartment. I saw the tanks and loved them. Conversations with her, and a subsequent MAAST meeting held in South Austin that we attended together, convinced me to give it a go. I bought a 6g eclipse and was sure I would run it as saltwater. Uncontrolled temps lead to failure, but I now wasn't intimidated to try again. Jump ahead to 2009. I had gotten married in 2008, and we went to New Zealand and Australia on our honeymoon the following Spring. We scuba dove for the first time on the Great Barrier reef, and I knew when we got back that I had to have a piece of the reef at home. My wife agreed, and we bought a 29g tank that occupied one corner of our living room. I spent every night up to my elbows in the tank, moving things, adding corals, and generally disturbing everything. The little tank quickly became crowded, and I think within about 6 months we planned the upgrade to our 90g tank. The obsession grew, and in the meantime I took over running the Austin Reef Club. As I met more members and saw more tanks I felt an upgrade was in order. I convinced my wife that if she let me upgrade the big tank that I would get rid of several smaller ones around the house. She agreed, and we ordered the 230. In the next few posts I'll replay the various tanks I had to get me up to the current day, and hopefully I'll keep this maintained from this point on. Hope you enjoy the ride (and learn from some of the various mistakes I've made).

Thanks for saying so, and welcome back!

LOL, you don't know how many times bald guys hear that. Especially from kids, it just makes me grin.

In the past few days we've seen posts by members new and old that have demonstrated some changes to what we consider the "norm" of our club. While we encourage discussion and debate of topics here, we've always strongly discouraged overt or passive aggression toward people and businesses in an effort to make this a welcoming alternative to other no-holds-barred forums. We've started to lose our way. These recent threads have made me sad. Due to some major events going on in my life I haven't spent as much time here recently. I don't always immediately see every post, but as the guy who runs things here I should have. I've obviously missed some things, but I'm working to correct that. Many of you haven't been around long enough to know that in addition to me we used to have three very active moderators. Two of them have moved, leaving us a bit shorthanded, and it's obvious now that some things slipped by that previously wouldn't have. This has started to give ARC a bit of a different feel. We're working to correct this by doing the following: We've added more moderators and we'll all be reviewing more content more frequently. Part of that means that we will be vigorously enforcing the forum rules. Rules violations will be moderated and the posters will be contacted. Repeat violators will be warned, culminating in bans for members that continue to violate them. Dan has taken over as meeting coordinator and will be working with me to try to make sure that all members feel welcomed and acknowledged at our events. We'll also be watching for members that exemplify positive behaviors and rewarding them in various ways. It might be a gift certificate to a sponsor or a free Premium Membership, but will recognize members and their actions that build and maintain the community that originally attracted us. I'm sorry to those on the receiving end of those negative behaviors and appreciate the restraint shown in their attempts to defend themselves. Those behaviors don't reflect the type of community and forum that we want this to be. I've reached out to several members and hope they'll see that they were heard. I'd love to have them continue on in the club, but either way the staff and I will continue to try to make ARC a better place. As members here you can help. First by being positive and supportive of each other. This means that if you're new, speak up. I know it can be intimidating to be the new voice, but I also know that the vast majority of our members are great, friendly people who love the hobby and love to help new members in discovering it. Our staff are all volunteers, demonstrating their commitment to keeping this thing going for everyone else's benefit and enjoyment. Secondly though, you can help us in making this the type of place you want it to be by notifying me or the moderators when you feel that we've missed something. There is a "Report" button at the bottom of each post that should be used to flag content that deviates from our vision. Using it is anonymous to all but the staff. We all have stresses and bad days, but when posting keep in mind that most of us were attracted to this hobby for beauty and relaxation it can provide. We come to ARC to add a social aspect to that enjoyment, so please help us keep ARC as a place where that hobby can be shared. Mike & the ARC staff

The same as putting netting or anything else, use it the way you have it unraveled. Put the coral on top of the plug or rubble piece with a rubber band, then put that inside netting and close it off. If the coral manages to escape the rubber band, you'll be able to easily find it and try again.

Good luck! Watching this with interest...