not bad for limited knowledge

[thefatman]

i wont go into full details but the other night i received an interesting email. informing me that i have limited knowledge, and i spend so much time posting, that i dont have time to read peoples advice. i posted a thread about this, but it was too confrontational, and was (understandably) deleted by admins who me

anyway, tonight i was doing some water tests, and doing the basic overall maintenance that ido everynight, and decided to post a tank update.

ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - less than 10
copper - 0
ph - 8.3
alkalinity - 5.0
calcium - 375
slicates - 0
temp - 80 (thinking of adding a fan to lower to 78)

the only algae i have is my macros in the fuge, and some rapidly growing corraline. all the corals and doing great, opening and closing each day. sponge is doing great. all the fish are doing great and getting fat. macro algaes in the sump are doing great.

i'm feeding blender mush once every 3 days. and target feeding the green brittle every other day, alternating between chunks of scallop, shrimp, and blender mush. half sheet of nori is added, and devoured each day. grape calurpa and some leafy caleurpa is added once a week to the display, from the fuge, for export, and is subsequently devoured within an hour!

running a light cycle of 16 hours for blue actinics and 10k daylight, and 8 hours of super actinic whites.

running no heaters. jsut hte heat from lights and pumps, which is proving to be more than enough. as mentioned before, i'm now considering adding a fan, to lower temp to around 78. but its stable at 80, and only drops to about 79 in the middle of the night. so 1 degree should not make a differance over the course of an evening.

so, overall, i guess i'm not doing too bad for someone who "has limited knowledge" or for someone who "sends the reputation of consciencious reefers to the dumpster" or for someone who "knows nothing about the purchases i make"

interesting in that all my tank parameters are optimal, all my inhabitants are doing quite well. i guess its because i researched before i built, and researched before i bought. something i was accused of not doing oh well, the proof is in the pudding.. and every night i lay in bed and stare at the proof.

anyway, here are some photos. the first was taken the day after water went in the tank.

[thefatman]

and here is a pic taken tonight.

[salt creepette]

jay i think youre doin great!

[yardboy]

And looking at your tank, I think you're practicing more restraint than I am! Frags are my downfall, since you can put so many in before it gets crowded. And its crowded in mine now!

[SouthernReefer]

its hard not noticing 3000+posts, title of senior member, all before you even had a functional reeftank
but personally, post count means squat, as well as titles to me, except for those labeled as mods and admins. all one needs to do is look at a member's reeftank, cuz, proof is in the reeftank.

[thefatman]

thanks

btw: forgot to mention, in case some of the other threads were missed...

the pincushion leather, has a bud growing at the base, that now has about 15-20 tentacles growing on it.

my blastomussa has 3 new polyps, and all the originals are almost twice the size as when purchased.

each of my zoo colonies has new polyps spreading..already.

my pulsing xenia that i jsut got last week, we apparantly attched a bit too tight with the rubebr band. it cut through the base. the xenia attached to the rock, but left a piece of itslef on the other side of the rubberband. i removed the rubebrband on monday night. tonight it has a polyp growing on it

oh, and all of my snails are doing great, and line up nightly for thier evening massages.

and finally, i count roughly 3.6 billion pods crawling aorund on the rocks, glass, and substrate i have contained myself on the purchase of a mandarin for at least another 9 months

[tkjeffrey]

hey Jay , you are doin great man, dont let the extreme treehuggers bring ya down. Your tank is awesome and I wish mine could look that good!! GO ARMY!! ummmm...well...thought I would never say that Bring it people.......Semper Fi

[thefatman]

lol OMG.. a marine jsut said go army!!!! never thought i'd see the day, now i can die a happy man

btw: my psot count really isnt tooo high, if you do the math, since i joined in february, it's only about .......... 11 posts a day

[rockstar]

jay,

tanks out to a great looking start man.
the longer a person takes to gain information about reefing before actually attempting it is far better off then the person who goes and starts a tank before even picking up a book, asking questions, or going to any other resource for knowledge. You definantly have the right idea when it comes to this hobby and i for one commend you on such a good entrance to this addiction=)

[thefatman]

thanks rockstar.. but i'm no angel...

i did dive in, back in february, i bought a 20g long and a hang on filter, and went to town THEN i found trt and started asking questions.

since february i've been through the 20g, a 55g, and now the 75g. i'm HOPING the 75 will last me at least a little while. seeings how i am already planning a 350+
but i have done plenty of research...here, multiple lfs, and other sites. it's annoying at times to get so much conflicting points of view on so many things.

but i've decided on a lot of points, to ignor both extremes and walk in the middle of the road...though i may get run over sooner or later

[Joel]

keep up the good work. Your tank looks pretty good for someone who doesn't know the first thing about fish, corals, rock, pods, inverts (snails mostly), water params, lighting, stand and canopy building or wiring. Hope one day I can know as much about nothing as you.

[tdwyatt]

heh heh heh!!!

why Jay, I wouldn't let what anyone else saysbother YOU!

...there are always folks that think they are experts that step into areas with stuff they are really not qualified to give advice nor even suggestions about those areas. I think most folks go to the internet with the idea that whatever advice they get should be taken with a grain of salt.

If folks give you criticisms, consider the source, then see if any of it will make your presence on the board better. Take the good from that and discard the rest.

There will be two types of criticisn, that from folks that are actually more informed than you are, and those that think they are more informed, the trick is in knowing which is which, and remembering, we all should come away from our study of this incredible group of biotopes with something new every day, every hour, every time we open a book, article, website about the subject: 'cuz none of us are so good that we can even scratch the surface of the total BIG PICTURE of what we have come to call The Reefs.

The day I say that I know it all is the day I will step away from the persuit of reef ecology interrelationships. I learn a huge amount every time I delve into some followup on a reef-related topic. Those that think they have it down, just need to look a little deeper to realize that there is quite a distance to go to find out all there is to know on The Reef...


Shake it off, guy ...it goes with the territory.




Now where did I put that margarhita salt???

[Doug1]

JAy tanks looking good, don't sweat it, just keep on keepin on. Plan, replan, research and then do what you think, looks good

[cath]

Lookin' good, Jay!

Love your typing, Tom.

[icebear]

ya sure the jerk wasn't trying to email me?

i feel like i'm the one always mucking something up!



Ya Jay, you do pretty good for someone who that dude calls incompetant.... tank looks great, keep it up!