JamesL

I am in the outskirts of Buda (about 6 miles from the Salt Lick). I believe there are a few other Buda'ns here Welcome to the area!

I second (third?) this topic. This would be good information especially if done from the perspective of a SPS tank and non-SPS tank.

Great looking tank!

Hehe .. yes, it was a lot easier to set up If you put a quarter in, it looks like a silver dollar Depends on how you look at stuff in the tank, things get really magnified. My wife really likes the design of it ... I find it frustrating at times not being able to see everything at once. It is 16 gallons. Just the right size for the spot in the study where we have it. My wide has now asked me if we are going to have a fish tank in every room ... now I like the thought of that B)

A little off topic, but thought I would share two pictures of the tank I won at the last ARC meeting. I set it up as freshwater, and added the first residents this weekend. Currently there are 5 cardinal tetras, 3 panda cory cats, and 1 crowntail betta (wife named him Bruce). Here is the best FTS I could get (the curved tank is tricky to photograph!): Bruce: Thanks again for the awesome meeting!

While I am not a big proponent of the zoa naming, I will give a shot... the reds in the first picture look like fire and ice, and the second picture maybe eagle eyes?

It was green with lighter green stripes if my memory serves me right. The store used to be called Austin Aquariums. I think someone on here said they changed ownership recently. The "Austin Aquariums" banner was taken down off the building, but they were open (and I didn't think to ask what the new name was). They are located at: 7756 Northcross Dr Austin, TX 78757 The complex is at the corner of Northcross and Foster, with the entrance from Foster being right in front of the aquarium store.

Wow .. now that is a cool setup! You could always do something similar with a barrel and put the barrel on a dolly. I would built something like this if I had to change more than 5 gallons at a time

I want to say around $50, but don't quote me on that. I didn't really look at the price as it wouldn't fit in my tank It was probably about 4-6 inches in length.

While I don't have any of the frags you are looking for, you two might consider splitting a SeaCrop order. They have Fox corals and mushrooms, but no bubble or elegance. (I saw a real nice elegance at the formerly-Austin-Aquariums store Saturday before the ARC meeting).

Ooo... never thought of that. I would not have thought they would put out a good light range for plant growth, but a quick google search seems like some might. Will have to do more research .. might just have to put my Electrical Engineering degree to work Thanks for the suggestion!

So I won the "bubble gum" fish tank (which I found out is a Fantasy Bowl from Nature's Ocean) from the ARC meeting on Saturday (thanks ARC and Horizon! ). I have decided to set it up as a planted freshwater tank, as I have been itching to have some freshwater critters again besides the pond. Seahorses are going to have to wait... I am going to be adding gravel and water tonight, and was looking at the light that is included and I am a bit concerned about how exposed it is. So I am wondering if anyone knows of some small light fixtures I might be able to replace it with. You can see the hood on this page. The main criteria is that the light still fits inside the hood contraption thingy. My wife really likes the "all enclosed" look of the tanks. Thoughts? Thanks!

<!--quoteo(post=0:date=Jun 15 2007, 04:27 PM:name=dapettit)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dapettit @ Jun 15 2007, 04:27 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->nice photos. What kind of equipment are you using?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Thanks! Camera: Canon Digital Rebel SLR (the original one, so 5 MP I think). Close up lens is a 70-300mm Sigma, and the FTS was done with the standard 18-55mm Canon lens. Of course a tripod was involved <img src="http://www.austinreefclub.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> All pictures were taken with just the tank lights (Power Compacts with Actinics).

Holy smokes, that is one huge mantis! And what a nice looking one too!! Nice family addition It is funny that years ago mantis and pistol shrimps were the scourge of saltwater tanks. Now people are keeing them in reef and separate tanks (myself included ... but my pistol is a small one)!

Thanks for hosting the meeting. Your tank is just spectacular! Though I have to know .. how much coraline algae did you scrape off the glass prior to people coming over It was great meeting some of the fellow Austin reefers. Looking forward to setting up the "bubble gum" tank Though I have to admit, it might end up a planted freshwater to start off with. -James

Congrats Starfire! (I think it was the fancy shadow background that helped his image win )

Well don't say we didn't warn you Actually, I heard the air craft carrier tour is pretty cool. Though, I think it is not too pleasant on super hot days.

No prob (and sorry for the long reply .. was eating lunch, so had the time). Freshwater/ponds are so much more forgiving .... And I like the way you are thinking about the seahorses! Hmm ... corporate mascots ....

This is just payback for all those great pictures and stories you post of your seahorses and eels ... I sooo want a seahorse tank right now. Especially when seeing the baby seahorses a guy on nano-reef has been trying to rear. Let me preface all of my answers with: This pond was set up last November when we moved houses. We had a small 40 gallon pre-molded pond at the old house. We brought the fish and plants with us. We literally bought and setup the pond the week we moved, as I felt back for the fish (only 2 then) being stuck in a big rubbermaid container in the garage. Our dogs have pretty much left the pond alone, and so have all the deer. Raccoons do come and mess with the plants (I need to re-pot some), but the pond is deep enough and has enough hiding places they haven't nabbed any of the fish yet <fingers crossed>. There is no UV filter on it. I am using an old powerhead (I think the one that came in my aquapod 24!!) to to circulate water. Basically it is in one of those Bio-filter boxes you see at Home Depot/Lowes for ponds. It has bio-balls, and two filter pads in it. The output of the pump gets snaked out of the pond and into the back of the blue pot and overflows back to the pond. I probably could use a much stronger pump, but I don't want too much water turbulence. Water lilies like calm water. To tell you the truth, I probably should rinse the filter pads out every month ... but I think I have done it once in the past six months The pond is really low care. We feed the fish maybe once every couple of weeks ... they have algae and bugs to munch on. And with the semi-consistant rain we have been getting, I think I have "topped" off the pond once in the six months (I expect that to change as we push into the 90's). Ok all of this talk is motivating me to clean up the pond this weekend (clean the filters, re-pot some plants, fertilize the plants, and remove dying lily leaves).

I went there a few years back when I visited Corpus for the first time. It is a decent aquarium, but nothing spectacular (like Sheds in Chicago or Monterey Bay in California). They have your typical fresh and saltwater areas. There is a dolphin show also. Actually, just thinking about it, Moody Gardens in Galveston was really cool (and better than TSA). They have different "pyramids" which house a rain forest, an aquarium, and some other stuff.

Thanks for the pointer! It is good to know there is a pond club, though I doubt we would become members (we do own a pond). The reason is we really don't do much with our pond ... we built it, stocked it, and it takes care of itself (not like a reef tank ). It mainly is a "water feature" in the landscape ... even though we will probably add more (ponds/water features) down the road. So it seems at least a few people here have ponds ... post up some pictures! That is the best thing about these pond societies, the pond tours they do. We love seeing other people's ponds. Here is ours. It is a 100 gallon pre-molded pond. It sits on top of the ground, and all the rocks were collected from around our yard. There are 4 fish in there: 1 comet, 1 fan tail, and 2 butterfly koi. Click the pictures for a larger view.

Yeah! I need more to move me out of third place

I agree with Noodle. I use razor blades every week to get the algae near the sand bed and where the magnet scraper can't get to.

Nice looking eel! Sigh ... now I want one again (and a seahorse tank, and, and, and ... )

Hmm .. could be. Is there anything in the tank that could be nipping/fighting with the fish? I doubt the eel would do that. BTW, gorgeous trigger!