[Smitty91]

Hey gang.

Well, I had to throw this together real quick like due to limited time. But, HERE are the new pics of my skimmerless 90 gallon. I'm not the world's greatest photographer, so I apologize ahead of time for the quality.

You can check out more details about this 90 gallon skimmerless tank HERE.

Smitty

TO ALL

I first want to apologize ahead of time for the logos on this web page as I was recently in a heated discussion (naw, not Smitty ) on Dr. Ron's forum about skimmerless and skimming tanks. Nothing new eh? The top logo is in mockery that unskimmed tanks were referred to as "UNPHOTOWORTHY". (not by Dr. Ron himself, but another self-professed expert)

The bottom logo? To make a long story short, Dr. Ron referred to hobbyists as wanna be's, especially those that write non-profit articles. I am quite upset with some of the remarks Dr. Ron made towards hobbyists, perching himself way high up on a pedastle. Unfortunately, these replies no longer exist for anyone else to see.

No offense intended from me for these logos towards us average hobbyists.

Smitty

[golfish]

Hey Mike,
Nice looking tank buddy.... I'm a little suprised in what you said about Dr Ron, I have always found him to be a pretty nice guy. Maybe he just feels the same as I do about you_ low life_ Lazy_ I'm to cheap to buy a skimmer_ wanna be_ reefers You must have really ticked him off. I bet Monty was in on that too


Hey, That Torch coral you have is from my tank. I thought you got one of the other Torch frags I had but that's the one I have had for over 2 years. That sucker will grow like there's no tomorrow....



Nice tank and nice pictures, what camera did you use?

Mark

[chromis]

Lookin good! God I want a hippo tang

[Reefland]

How often are you exporting macros and what qty? Obviously different amounts yield different results per tank but it is a very common question. Personally, I remove about half the total amount bi-weekly.

Later,
Scott

[scubadude]

That was my first thought Love the moonstone in the actinic pic, as far as apologizing for your logo's...forget it about it man! Its a free world. And my opinion on the Dr. Shimek statement is clearly like this:

He is a Great Man! and has commited much of his time and effort to our hobby ......he deserves a little "leeway" and let him state his opinions and take everything with a grain of salt.....I realize you arent trying to come down on the good Doc. I agree he has come off a bit strong on some occassions that I have seen.....but I think he gets a little stressed at times....I know I would if I had his position

[Smitty91]

Mark

Yep, there's actually two frags of your torch in my tank. Both are doing great! Again, much thanks for the frags!!

I personally didn't tick him off. The comments he made were in his thread to welcome Eric. Something about another final authority to the board. I guess you just had to read it. I personally thought it was a slap in the face to the members of the board, trying to put them in their place, to bow down to their holiness'. They've done many a great things for the hobby. Don't get me wrong. But I feel a certain mentality should be maintained and that we the hobbyists deserve a little more credit. The one thing a hobbyist will offer that an expert won't, is a pin pointed answer. The majority of answers I see from the experts are rather vague and general.

The camera was a digital Sony, one of their older models. (not even a gigapixel camera) The pics really do take away from the real coloration of the tank. Maybe a different (new toy) camera is in call for here!

Chromis

I did write some of my experiences on Hippo Tangs HERE. I am by no means an expert or the Final Authority, but, you may find this page of some use.

Scott

Believe it or not, their hasn't been any macros in my tank for some time. I may be playing with fire, but everything is holding up pretty nicely thus far. I believe it was February that I removed the last of the halimeda out of the tank. So, my only nutrient export is Xenia and water changes. The reason I mention Xenia is, I've personally witnessed growth spurts from the Xenia with heavier feedings. Water changes, I do 5 gallon water changes every 2 weeks.

I do have a refugium in my plans. Just have to find the time to implement these plans!

scubadude

The moonrock was a last addition. I actually missed that I think on the first pass through with the MH's on. What better time to snap a pic with just Actinics on, eh?

Smitty

[golfish]

Mike,
I did do a little reading and I see now that Monty did have a little something to do with it.....OK, a BIG something to do with it.......

[Smitty91]

Mark, just to make a little clarification, the post I'm referring to was Ron's welcome to Eric.

Smitty

[golfish]

Hey Mike,
Yeah, I think that's the one I read How's Monty's tank coming along? you guys need another road trip, maybe come down for a little golf....

[Canadian]

Smitty,

I don't know whether or not you privately emailed Ron to discuss your objection to his comments but if you haven't then I think it would be a good idea to do so. I don't see anywhere on the board (RC) where you've expressed your displeasure in an attempt to get your point across to Ron. And it's not like Ron is gonna read this on this board.

FWIW, while I also find Ron to be a little dogmatic from time to time I tend to agree with him about his observations regarding "amateur articles". While many of the articles do indeed provide some useful insight, a large majority of them are misleading, lack sufficient references, and operate under the guise of being "informative" while they are clearly "speculative" and many times merely "opinions". This can be very dangerous because a lot of inexperienced hobbyists gravitate towards these "pseudo-authorities" and recieve a lot of incorrect information. Of course it can be equally dangerous to gravitate towards a well reknowned authorty such as Ron when he strays away from his "area of expertise" and makes wide sweeping comments.
You gotta commend Eric Borneman for establishing his limitations and basically refusing to answer questions he doesn't feel comfortable answering without absolute certainty