The UTMAS tank of the month for August 2010 belongs to Levi Bradley (Lurkerz).

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Our next Meeting is this coming Thursday, August 19th and begins at 7:00 P.M. Sharp at the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy.

This months meeting agenda:

Tank of the Month presented by Nick Cardona

Coral of the Month
Terence Fugazzi will give a short presentation on the fungia coral. This unique coral is a mystery for many people and can really light up the sand bed. Terence will discuss the different varieties, the husbandry requirements, and other tips on keeping fungia corals.

Coral Fragging Demonstration
See how to glue animals to rocks!   Meet some of Utah’s elite coral propagators and ‘home growers’. Learn their tricks and ask them questions. We will have demonstrations on how to fragment, cut, glue and propagate corals.

UTMAS sponsors will also be there offering great deals on all sorts of amazing corals, inverts, and fish.

Raffle

Set your calendar, and show up early, there will be a special door prize raffle with each person getting a FREE TICKET and having an equal chance. The door prize will be drawn at 7pm sharp.

As many of us know, keeping a non-profit organization like the Living Planet Aquarium alive and well and out of the red is a tough business. It is hard enough to make it day to day but when an organization wants to continue to expand and provide for the community and for preservation efforts, well it often takes that much more. This is why every year The Living Planet Aquarium hosts a huge fundraising gala called Scales and Tails where corporations and individuals have a great night out enjoying great food and entertainment and also participate in a charity auction. This year the theme is 007 – as in James Bond and will be held at the La Caille restaurant in Sandy at 6pm on September 18, 2010.

The living planet aquarium has been a wonderful and gracious sponsor of UTMAS since our launch earlier this year. We are extremely grateful that they donate their space for our meetings once a month. We don’t yet have a lot of cash in the bank, but we thought of one way we could give back to them. UTMAS members collectively will be donating livestock for a complete home saltwater aquarium system that they will be auctioning off in the charity auction. We are soliciting donation pledges from members for corals, fish, inverts, cleanup crew, you name it. Once the winner of the auction has their tank set up and cycled, UTMAS leadership will collect all the pledges and deliver them to the auction winner.

Once again we wish to thank the Living Planet Aquarium for their support. Please get the word out and if you or anyone you know would like to attend this fundraising gala and support TLPA, the link is below.  Also below is a link to the forum thread where you can make your pledge of livestock to the charity auction.

Scales and Tails Charity Gala

Pledge Livestock to donate to TLPA for their auction on behalf of UTMAS

No, it is not a line up of Utah’s Most wanted.  It’s the sweet UTMAS t-shirts.  Pick yours up ASAP.  Wear it with pride and remember….. Reefkeeping is the only hobby where it is cool to glue small animals to rocks!

To call Dave Anderson’s setup “Tank of the Month”, is comical.  In this case we will be calling it “Ocean of the month”.

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Written by Joe Richardson (Omedman)

In the Computer gaming world the really dedicated players sometimes resort to a tactic called “Overclocking”. This is when the software running the computers processor is adjusted to increase the speed beyond the manufacturer’s settings. Even though I was a network administrator in college, I was leery of even trying such a risky tactic. The increased speed causes increased heat which could cause the computer to crash. So, when I found out about a new method of filtration using sulfur that in essence “overclocks” my fish tank, I wondered what could possibly be the benefits that would outweigh the risks?

I now live my life on the computer, but am still not as concerned about my computer crashing as I am about my saltwater reef crashing. Yet, with very little information available and less experience, I “Overclocked” my saltwater fish tank!

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As some of you may know, back in April a few of us went down to the Marine Aquarium Expo (MAX) in Orange County, CA to put on a booth for UTMAS. Part of that booth was dedicated to a small display of an Auto-Top-Off (ATO) on a nano that was controlled by float switches and a Neptune Apex Aquacontroller. While there, Mark (Melev) from ReefAddicts.com came by and interviewed me and had me demo the ATO. Below is the video or here is a link to the article and video on reefaddicts.com

Here in Utah, just about every year, a guy named “Joe” calls out to the fish-community that he has to move a ton (literally) of fish food. You see, he buys fish food from a major supplier in bulk and sometimes accrues too much. He then puts the word out, and the hordes start coming…for $11/case food! Some people that waited til the end of the day even got it for free!

Now, in case you don’t know, a case of food like brine shrimp is 36 blister packs or at least 9 pounds of food! What can the average hobbyist do with all that before it goes bad? Some of this food will get freezer burned in a matter of months – especially the bulk packs (like krill) that do not have the cubes. Additionally, some of this food was huge…the krill were at least 1″ each, some almost 2″!

Anyways, I had a half case of “Super-Shrimp” (brine with HUFA additive), and a half case of bulk packed krill. I decided that in order to more easily feed my fish, to prevent freezer burn, and to set me up with a years supply of fish/coral food that I had to finally take the plunge (literally) and make my own food.

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UTMAS Meetings are held every third Thursday of the month at The Living Planet Aquarium. Meetings are FREE to everyone.

Our next Meeting is Thursday, May 20th

7:00 P.M. Sharp at

The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, UT!

Here is what will be discussed/presented:

- As always there will be a free door prize given away.

- UTMAS member Dave Anderson (dca22anderson) will be doing the Fish/Coral Spotlight presentation.

- THE MAIN EVENT: AQUARIUM PHOTOGRAPHY – TIPS AND TRICKS :: UTMAS member Nick (CardNick) will give us a presentation on how to get great shots of your prized fish and corals. Learn the little things that can make a big difference between a washed out blurry image and a tack-sharp colorful representation of your livestock. And, this is not just for those with deep pockets and heavy DSLR cameras. Most of the tricks can be done with many of the point and shoot cameras out on the market today! If you don’t have a camera yet, Nick will also tell you what features are key to getting great aquarium shots.

- Open Q&A – Tell us what you want to see UTMAS do. Ask a question about your aquarium problem. Every question is welcome. Come prepared and help us make UTMAS the best it can be!

- We will have a great raffle as always – We will have stuff donated from Marine Aquatics, ReefKingdom, Cerameco, Corals4Reefs, and much more…and still this month, 2 for 1 raffle tickets for UTMAS members – so get your membership!

- There will be great coral deals available from our sponsors http://www.ReefKingdom.com and http://www.Corals4Reefs.com

Set your calendar, and show up early, there will be a special door prize raffle with each person getting a FREE TICKET and having an equal chance. The door prize will be drawn at 7pm sharp.

Come to the meeting and to see what all this UTMAS buzz is about!

The Living Planet Aquarium
725 East 10600 South
Sandy, UT 84094-4409

We all know we should test our aquarium water regularly. Yet many of us fall into the “well, the tank looks good… so there probably aren’t any problems” school of thought. Unfortunately this mentality often leads to major headaches down the road.

Algae blooms seem to pop up out of nowhere. Corals once vibrant and growing like weeds suddenly stop growing, exhibit less polyp extension and brown out. Fish color becomes drab and their behavior changes. These sorts of problems are often linked to water quality issues and can be avoided by simply testing your water parameters on a regular basis to make sure levels are being properly maintained.

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