[Bojinx]

Hello Reefland.

It's been along time. In fact, the top of my pages says " Welcome, Bojinx. You last visited: 03-02-2002 at 04:52 PM ." WOW.... has it really been over four years. This post is going to turn rather bloggy, but I'm hoping there are a few members left who might remember my name.

It's been a crazy four years, and I have no excuses for not being around, other than to say that it would be murderous to hang out on a Reef board while I did not have a tank up and running. Around the time I left the boards, my 2 year old son dumped a cup of apple juice into the sump of my FOWLR tank. I don't think my large BTA (home to my mated Maroon Clowns) took this very well. Between the BTA dying and polluting the tank, and the apple juice causing a huge swing in the pH (my guesses) the rest of the tank pretty much imploded. I did not have the heart, or the money to restock the tank, so I tore it down and have not thought about keeping a saltwater ecosystem since.

Until today that is. I happened to be shopping for my youngest son's birthday (he'll be 3 on the 22nd) and some unseen force directed me to drive to a small LFS. I walked in and found the typical scenario. Lots of tanks full of barely-compatable fish. Most of which seemed to be distressed, lacking in color, and in generally subpar conditions. And then I saw it. The tank where this particular store keeps it's Live Rock. It was a thing of beauty. The rocks were not the best pieces I have ever laid eyes on, but they were teeming with life. Little critters were running everywhere and this was like a huge slap in the face for me.

I was escorted back in time. I could see my old tank and all the life that it contained. The fish and the corals, but mostly, the little inverts. The copepods and amphipods. The peanut worms and feather dusters. The blue-legged hermits and the different snails. These little critters ended up being my favorite parts about keeping my FOWLR tank and I'm thinking about starting up another tank to bring these guys back into my life.

So, I'll probably be floating around, mostly lurking, as I plan out a new nanoreef (proabably 20-30gal.) I'm also curious to see how many of the old 'regulars' are still hanging around and to see how their tanks are doing.

I was surprised that I still remembered my password. I thought for sure that I was going to have to start up a new account.

[Reefland]

Hey Jimmy, welcome back my friend! There are still lots of old names around, and a lot of new ones too. Glad to see you back in the mix.

[Bojinx]

WOOHOO... IT'S SCOTT. How've you been bro?

Oh yeah, I didn't mean that I only want to hang out with all the 'OLD' people I'm looking forward to meeting everyone.

[Ninong]

Hey, Jimmy! Welcome back!

Did you see this?

[Bojinx]

NINONG

How have you been? I was hoping you were still around. You were always such a well of knowledge, and by the look of your post count, nothing has changed. I'm sure I'll be asking for some advice in the near future. Last I remember, you had just received a Starfire tank from Canada... how is it doing?

Thanks for that Paz link... I have no clue how, but that completely slipped through my radar.

[Ninong]

I'm OK. I kept the Starphire tank up for exactly three years but I had to sell it back in June because of a move.

[Bojinx]

I would love to see any pics you may have of the Starfire tank. Feel free to post, PM, or mail them to me.

So, are you tankless again? Planning one for the future? I'm sorry to hear that the tank was with you for such a short time, but I hope it gave you much pleasure while it was around.

[Ninong]

Jimmy,

Your PM and email functions are set to "do not contact" right now. Here is a link to a few pics of the tank. About 15 months after it was set up, I had an overheating accident while I was away from home for the day. That caused all of the SPS to die within a week or so. I decided to run with just fish, live rock, clams and a few soft corals until I could install a chiller. I actually bought the chiller but never installed it. It was impossible to work out an acceptable installation.

Then, when Hurricane Katrina hit and we lost power for several days, I lost all of the clams and two fairy wrasses. We had a generator to power the pumps, etc., but it wasn't powerful enough to power the house central air-conditioning. Two days after the storm, the temperature hit 98 degrees (probably 104 degrees inside the house). My water temperature got up to about 90 degrees.

I moved three months ago and sold off the tank. I may set up another tank at some point in the future but I have no immediate plans. I have had a couple of new health issues that have slowed me down a little.

[Bojinx]

Sorry to hear about what Katrina did to your tank, but I'm glad to know that you made it through. It sounds like you were prepared for anything but a complete natural disaster, and that's exactly what nature delivered to the gulf coast at that time. Still, the important thing is that you're still around to enlighten the world (and reefland.com) with your extensive knowledge and wisdom.

I'm not sure why it says I'm in 'do not contact' status. The checkbox for 'receive email from members' is checked. I also seem to have lost my signature.. and I don't see the signature option on any of my option pages either. I've been gone for a while, and the interface is different than the one I remember.

[Reefland]

Jimmy,

Go here and make sure your e-mail address is correct.
http://www.reefland.com/forum/profil...o=editpassword

If it is just reply to me. If it is not change it and follow the steps you get in your e-mail.

[Bojinx]

Hiya Scott.

My listed email is correct, and that is the first thing I changed when I showed back up. I tried to send you a PM and this is the response I got in reply.

Bojinx, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

Thanks for looking into this for me.

[Reefland]

or it may be awaiting activation.

That was the key. When you changed your e-mail address you were sent an e-mail to confirm your changes. I have updated your account and your good to go now.

[Bojinx]

bah... thanks Scott. I blew the notification email off as one just to let me know that my addy had been changed. I didn't realize I would have to 're-activate' myself. That explains the problems I was having though

My return to saltwater is having a bumpy start. Here's hoping I can get the bumps smoothed out before I set a tank back up. Time to reread and relearn everything.