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July 2012 meeting

I apologize that it took me so long to reply. I had a smattering of work travel that kept me away from the forums for a bit - but i'm back now!

Here's a little info about me :)

I'm a a principal IT architect in the Denville area for large pharmas in the area (I service gonzapa's business unit if you know where he works)

I started doing marine aquaria as a teenager in the 80s back when under gravel filters were popular.

Bought a house 5 years ago and decided to build a living room around it to make the tank to focal point. Latest tank pic: http://www.weckstrom.com/~karl/tank.jpg

It's a mixed reef with softies near the bottom, some lps in the form of acans and euph's, and lots of sps frags (I didn't want to start with colonies as I like watching stuff grow).

I believe in the progression of technology in this hobby, so I use LED lights almost exclusively. I run a calcium reactor, ozone, bio pellets, GFO and the like. My apex is indispensable!

My wife Michele does all the aquascaping and coral placement. She's very much into the hobby too, though not as technically as I am. But she has a far better eye for aesthetics. She spends lots of time staring at the tanks. It is probably the only thing we have in common :)

My kids are sick of us talking about the fish tanks all the time, particularly my 10 year old daughter who just rolls her eyes now. My younger boys are 2 and 6.

I still make lots of mistakes, case In point, my tank was fallow until recently (just passed the 6 week mark).

I also have a 37gal anemone tank in my home office, and it houses a mated pair of true percs. I love inverts secondary to corals, but I guess the percs can stay :)

For the meeting I'd like to know what everyone wants to eat :) pizza is always easy, but I can grill on my weber like the best of them! And of course, there will be beer! (wine too for those who swing that way).

No real capacity restrictions. I have a large backyard, 16x30 foot pool for the kids and adults who want to swim, screened in porch, central air indoors, wifi everywhere, yadda yadda. If the weather stinks we still have lots of room (20+ comfortably in the screened in porch alone, plenty more indoors.)

Kids, non-fishnerd spouses and the like are a-ok at my place. Bring it on :) we love making new friends.
 
Frags for Swap

I have frags of the following if anyone is interested PM me for details

Acropora valida
Garf Bonsai
Green Acropora
Green Birds nest
Green Slimer
Lepastrea
Montipora confusa
Montipora Samarensis
Rainbow Montipora
Red Planet
Sky blue Stag
Supreman Montipora
Green pocillopora
Rasta zoos
Fruit Loop Zoos
Cespitularia
Green Blasto
Blueberry Tort
Teal Digitata
Blue/ green Montipora

Link to Pic of some of the frags https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gykv4jh3170/UAB1tEUKwUI/AAAAAAAA2aQ/9opW1zb2uL8/s800/IMG_9351.JPG
 
In case anyone gets lost: 201-483-3555 or 201-870-3140

Quick directions:

Parkway North to exit 165 (Ridgewood/Oradell).

Take the Oradell ramp (1st one after toll)

At the first light go straight. (This is Oradell Ave)

Go up the hill to the next light and make a left (Forest Ave)

Go through the first light. You'll see a large cemetery on your left.

Just before the next light, exit on the right and make a right at the stop sign. (This is 4th ave)

Make your first right onto Ackerman Ave. Go up the hill, then back down again.

The last left before the intersection is Hasbrouck Avenue, make a left. We're on the right. You'll see my white maxima parked on the street and my wife's red minivan in the driveway.

Rather than knock on the front door, just go to the left of the house and open the gate to the backyard. We'll be out there if the weather is nice. If the weather's bad, front door is fine :)

-k
 

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Thanks for hosting Karl. The tank looks great. It was another intimate relaxing meeting. Nice to see everybody who showed. My kids had a blast and informed me they have a new BFF forever on the ride home. If you were only closer:upset:.
 
Thanks for hosting Karl. The tank looks great. It was another intimate relaxing meeting. Nice to see everybody who showed. My kids had a blast and informed me they have a new BFF forever on the ride home. If you were only closer:upset:.

My kids said the same thing!

Joey gave us a lot of grief for making him go to Anna's birthday party. He was so bummed when he got back and everyone had left.

Keep me posted on your weekends - we'll come down! If I can drive to Moorestown, I can hit up your place!

-k
 

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Thanks for hosting the meeting Karl. You and your wife (sorry I didn't catch her name) were very gracious and as Taz said it was another relaxing meeting. I felt very at home and really enjoyed watching your tank for a few hours. :) Awesome selection of fish and corals you have. I took a few pics with my phone so I'll try to get them up here sometime today.

I'd like to thank Don for letting me hitch a ride. That was a far one!

I'd also like to thank Mike (motortrendz) from Mainland Aquatics for supplying some really nice SPS frags for our raffle. I ended up winning 2 of them and they're looking great on my frag rack. I really need to find some room on my rocks, lol.

Also, was great chatting with Phil (Hawkeye), Bob (radiata) and Tristian (asonitez). All around great reefing conversation.

Hope to see everyone at the next one.
 
michelle is her name.

Thanks to both karl and michelle. Also have to thank the kids. Happy kids means possible future meetings. Unhappy kids means no way we're ever meeting there again! lol.

I also want to thank Karl for extending the invite to allow those under 16 to attend. My girls were very unhappy having to leave, especially when they really wanted some pool time!

I had to give in and make a run to the Garden State Plaza so they could get on that carousel!
 
I'm sorry I couldn't be there but I sent some of my best pieces in my place. Hope you all enjoyed the frags and hope to be at the next one.

Please also whoever won the frags please post pics in my forum and let's keep some progress pics on them. These were all original frags from colonies I imported from Jakarta and honestly this was one of my nicest shipments yet.



Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
michelle is her name.

Thanks to both karl and michelle. Also have to thank the kids. Happy kids means possible future meetings. Unhappy kids means no way we're ever meeting there again! lol.

I also want to thank Karl for extending the invite to allow those under 16 to attend. My girls were very unhappy having to leave, especially when they really wanted some pool time!

I had to give in and make a run to the Garden State Plaza so they could get on that carousel!

Yeah, we have to get the kids together again - they had a great time. Your daughter is quite a character! She's like a little ringleader :)
 

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Here's a few pics I took of Karl's tank... keep in mind, these are just quickies taken with my cell phone.

2012-07-28_13-58-23_267.jpg


2012-07-28_13-58-38_913.jpg


2012-07-28_13-58-54_790.jpg


2012-07-28_13-59-13_791.jpg


2012-07-28_13-59-22_703.jpg


2012-07-28_13-59-32_822.jpg


*EDIT* Sorry, moved the pics to a different folder and broke the links... fixed now.
 
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Awesome meeting. Thanks for the constructive discussion on what else.. LED's lol. Thanks To HerbieK for giving a honest no b/s opinion about his experience with LED's so far. Also thanks for the frags.

Mainland - thanks for the frags I ended up winning 2 on 9 tickets. Not a bad investment! - The 2 I won look very nice and are doing great in my frag tank. I can't wait for them to show some signs of encrusting before I move them into the main tank under the halides. These are my first Jakartian corals I think lol. I will also have to make a trip and checkout your operation.

I was happy to hear that there has been some positive movement in the FragSwap 2012. 4 Months away will go pretty fast.
 
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