HELLO from a former

[Craig Lambert]

RAG member who has been on a two year hiatus. Don't know if any of you would remember me at this point but I recognize alot of names who are posting on this site. So hello Craig Manoukian, Travis, Boomer, and so many others that helped me launch my 75G in late 2002!!

On November 19th 2003, our family relocated from Northern California to Oregon, which required breaking down my reef, and swaping out my rock, corals, and livestock for dry goods at an LFS. We rented here for nearly a year before finding "the home" we wanted to buy, and moved in just over a year ago. I still have all of my equipment and plan to set-up my tank after the new year. It was so hard to tear it down, as it was just one year old and doing so well.:cry1:

Being part of a forum and working on my tank was such a great experience, but you would be surprized at the amount of information that you can forget during a 2 year period. (Perhaps age is taking its toll )

I will be taking an inventory of my gear in the next few weeks (Anyone know how long Slifert test kits, Kalk, B-Ionic and other additives last)??? I will also be taking a refresher corse by utilizing the "search feature".

Lastly, I don't know what happened at RAG, but it looked as though many of the old timers left, about the time I broke down my tank. I look forward to getting reaquainted with old friends, and making new ones here in the coming months.

Craig

 

[Woodstock]

Welcome Craig!! That's great that you're going to set up your aquarium again! :bigbounce

 

[Witfull]

welcome home Craig~

 

[tommyp]

Hey Welcome back Craig!

As per salifert testkits I have an old alk one that is doing okay but the calcium one has been updated by salifert. so I would get the new calcium test kit it works alot nicer than the old kit and is easier to read.

kalk I imagine as long as it is sealed it is okay but it is so cheap I might toss it any way.


Tom

 

[ReefLady]

Hey Craig, yeah, I remember you!

Glad to hear you're ready to get up and running again, and very glad to see you here.

We'll look forward to helping along the way- but you already knew that.

T

 

[Rougiem]

:welcomera back Craig!

Cheers!

 

[blue_eyes53813]

I remember you Craig. WHAT you waiting for , get that tank up!!!!!

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Wow, what a pleasant suprise, glad you found us and welcome Craiger. How are things in Oregon? Can't wait to see pictures of your reefing career restarting. Tests kits usually have a 12 - 18 month shelf life I believe!

 

[Craig Lambert]

Thanks for the warm welcome all! I have a few details to work out before setting up again, but can't wait to get started. First off, I'm going to have an electrician run a line off of a dedicated breaker, and install 3 double GFCI outlets in our den. I also have to remove a large chest/shelf unit to clear the wall I'll be using. Lastly, I'll be working out the details for a new sump. Looks like a "working vacation" over the holidays.

I found a very good LFS up here, and will add it to the database. Very knowledgable owner, and they had a nice collection of coral.

 

[cheeks69]

Welcome Craig I remember ya

 

[Witfull]

family reunion,,,group hug~~

 

[blue_eyes53813]

:swmfish:

 

[jimeluiz]

Welcome back Craig :hallo: :bigbounce

Glad to see you here.

 

[Craig Lambert]

jimiluiz, how are you?,

Your tank must be about 3 1/2 years old by now, and I bet it looks great! I see you are running 660 wats of vho! I had been giving some thought to metal halides since I'm setting up again, but have decided to stay with my old vho set-up of 630 watts vho. You must be running twin ballasts as I did right? I like the moving lines on the sand that halides provide, but running a 6 bulb vho set-up is pretty stunning from an asthetic standpoint. I see you are also keeping a clam, which I've been told is fine under that amount of vho.

The one thing I'm not thrilled with is having to get a new sump. I had one made in SF by ***** (the store we discussed long ago), and it bowed something terrible. I was re-measuring it today and noticed that it was made of 1/4" acrylic, which was too thin for its size.

We are really enjoying living up here! I enjoy it much better than the contra costa burbs, but will always hold fond memories of my 10 years on Russian Hill. (Mairrage and kids caused the move out of the city).

 

[jimeluiz]

Glad to hear the move is feeling right. Our tank is now about 2 1/2 years old. We still stare at it every day and it is definitely a facination when friends come to visit. Thanks for your support in the early days!

To tell you the truth I was thinking of MH lighting - maybe just because the light is always brighter in the other guy's tank. ;-) But I'm not really up for the reinvestment and DIY project. LOL Everything looks great and only Luiz and I would really notice the difference.

Our clam grows like a weed, continually laying down more shell.

After 94 years in business Nippon closed its doors about 6 months ago. They report 1,000 little price cuts inflicted by internet competition. I'm sure that is true, but I would include the attitude of some of their staff as a real turn off. And Eddy at Tropical Paradise closed his amazing storefront to go 100% online - AND the Aquarium in Concord just closed a couple of months ago. We're getting our water from 6th Avenue (although I refuse to buy anything else from them) and we have to travel to Fremont to Atlantis Aquarium for livestock when we get the itch, which is not that often at this point.

There is a growth shot after 18 months up in my gallery.

Keep us posted on your progress. There is a Reef Chronicles forum here for pics and discussion of your progress.

Again - welcome back!

 

[Craig Lambert]

Jimeluiz,

Hard to believe that Nippon closed after all these years! The bigger surprize to me is that "The Aquarium" closed. That's a shame! That store had lots of traffic too. When ever I was there, there were always customers in the store. Maybe there was more "looking at the tanks" vs. buying going on. They had such great tanks. Every now and then I would take my daughter over there just to look at them.

I bought my corals from two east bay stores. One in Hayward, and the other in Milpitas. If you make the run over to Fremont again, you might want to see if the store in Milpitas is still there. It was opened in '02 by a Doctor, and it was my favorite store for Corals. He had several great tanks set up also. The name of the place escapes me right now, but it was in a shopping center near City Hall. I know it's "an hour by phone" from SF, but if you're going to Fremont it would be worth a look.

Your 2 1/2 year old tank looks great. You obviously take regular care of it! I put a picture (the only one I have) of my old tank up in the "Full Tank Shot" forum, which was taken just before I had to tear it down, if you'd like to take a look.