I think this sums is all up, cut from Facebook this fine Sunday morning. Now I know there are adults with some high degree of culture here in Hoboken, but they must not be on Facebook!! Hey don’t get me wrong, I like all of these moves (well not The Notebook) but to assert them as my favorite, hmmmm….

Top Movies in the Hoboken / Jersey City, NJ network.

1. Scarface
2. Old School
3. Fight Club
4. The Notebook
5. Wedding Crashers

The never ending saga of a tank lost in specific gravity! A 50gal Oceanic saltwater fish tank is located in my living room.

This camera is pointing into the tank from the side into the center of the live rock pile. It is an older Axis network webcam. I chose this spot because the fish and shrimp seem to move through there frequently. For the time being I have set the camera up to be one all the time. However, the image may not be viewable because of the tank’s lighting schedule which is set to start sunrise at 11:30am with full sun at 11:45am then sunset at 11:15pm with dusk at 11:30 with moonlight from 11:30pm until 9am. Also, to allow the tank to have a proper dark cycle, I frequently cover it with black cover. When it is in this state it is know as Special Project F.

I have had this tank setup for over 3 years and it is my third tank - each one increasing in size. You will read people suggesting to “go big” when you start. I can agree with this from personal experience, I wasted a lot of time and money trying to keep it small. Now I am eyeing the ability of a 150 gallong tank to fit into my home! It is simple chemisty: larger water volumes are more stable. Corals like stability!

The tank is a 50 gallon Oceanic with an upgraded lighting system consisting of a 400 watt 20,000K MH, 2 PC actinics, and LED moon lights on 3 separate timers for dawn/dusk simulation and separate moonlight cycle. Water quality is maintained by a RemoraPRO skimmer, CPR Sump, PolyFilter, Algone, and an Aqua UV sterilizer. Circulation is though a Blueline 800 pump circulating water through an Arctica chiller and a separate Mag 9 for the sump.

Livestock: various snails, hermits, urchin, blue maxima and gold teardrop clams, coco tube worm, tiger stripe starfish and tamaria starfish, tiger pistol shrimp, red fire shrimp and skunk cleaner shrimp, various zoanthus polyps, mushrooms, green waving coral, SPS colonies (most with Acro. Crab), Cyloseris tenuis, pair clown fish in a LTA, Centropyge potteri, Plectranthias inermis, Amblyeleotris spp. prawn goby, Macropharyngodon meleagris, Labout’s fairy wrasse, Flame Wrasse

My normal maintenance activities: change about 5 gallons of salt water every 5 days, this is done by keeping the main pump running, siphoning out the water and pouring back in pH, temp and salinity adjusted replacement water. “Top off” water is regulated into the sump by a float switch connected to a small pump in a freshwater reservoir slightly laced with kalk. I find this is a great way to keep pH and calcium up. Every other water change, I replace or wash the various filters to keep the sump flowing properly and remove waste products. About every other day I put in 5 ml of a two part alkalinity/calcium product and about every 10 days dose in a few drops of trace elements. These doses maybe unnecessary, but I have always done it, so I continue to!

View not so complete album of aquaDRAMA!