# Christmas Get-Together at April's Aquarium Wed. Dec. 14th, 7-9pm



## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

VAHS December meeting at Aprils aquarium

This years December meeting eill be a open house st April's Aquarium Wednesday December 14, 2016 From 7:00 To 9:00 Come by for coffee and cookies and check out the Fish.

4097 East Hastings Street Burnaby 604-336-3474

Merry Christmas and best wishes from the Vancouver Aquatic Hobbyist Society


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

April tells me there's lots of food, looking forward to the evening and hope to meet some BCA members there.


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## Dou (Dec 4, 2015)

Looking forward to meeting you all and finally connecting faces to names of BCA


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## aprilsaquarium (Aug 22, 2016)

Remember.. small shop.
So musical chairs! 
Membership sign up for next year can also be had ! Membership helps 
Bring in speakers, rentals for the big auctions etc.
And of course anyone wanting to help with meetings . Steering committee etc .
The committee needs help! 

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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

aprilsaquarium said:


> Remember.. small shop.
> So musical chairs!
> Membership sign up for next year can also be had ! Membership helps
> Bring in speakers, rentals for the big auctions etc.
> ...


 "Hey" all you folks that love the 2 big yearly monster auctions put on by VAHS, consider becoming part of the steering committee and keep the club going strong. The people that look after business at present have done a fantastic job over the years but now it's time for some new people to help out.
Hope to see you all at the meeting/social night at April's shop.


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## Gaia (Jun 20, 2016)

Sadly I can't come. We have a fundraiser to attend. Hope you all have fun! 

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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

My family of four are going to be there, at least for a while. So Irene, Felicia & Isabella will be joining me to say hi & Merry Christmas to everyone. 

Anthony


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## aprilsaquarium (Aug 22, 2016)

I have
Chairs for little
Girls. One may be
Too hard,
One may be
Too soft,,, I'm sure one will be
Just right! 


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## VElderton (Jun 3, 2015)

Sounds like a real good way to say hello and have a meeting. 

I will definitely pop in.


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

Reminder bump for everyone..................


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks April for setting this up. We had lots of fun. Great to have time catching up with everyone there and meeting new & old friends.

Actually glad Irene decided to run errands instead of coming cause then I could stay for the whole party. We would have had to leave much sooner if she had come, me thinks.

So proud of how well Felicia and Bella behaved. Didn't once complain or ask if "we could go home already". They kept themselves amused while Daddy talked fish talk with other fish geeks. Great night. 

Anthony


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

Yes it was a good night, got some great tips on aquascaping too.


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## aprilsaquarium (Aug 22, 2016)

Your welcome! Your girls are sweethearts and very well behaved girls! I'd
Gladly trade fish for them any day! 






























I did manage to sneak some photos! 
I enjoyed it !

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## VElderton (Jun 3, 2015)

*Thanks for Getting Together*

Nice way to have a meeting, more quality information, bought some nice spider wood and a gold fish. Thanks VAHS and April for hosting a nice event and some quality food too.

Best of the season everyone ...


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

*A big thanks to April for hosting the get together for everyone*



The Guy said:


> Yes it was a good night, got some great tips on aquascaping too.


And Anthony I agree with the others your girls were little angels and were very well behaved, I even got to see Bella's snowflake she made at school .
Great seeing and meeting some other new folks and friends as well. Karen you did a great aquascape job on the new 9 gallon Fluval flex tank shown in one of the pictures, cool top to bottom curved front glass panel.


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## Dou (Dec 4, 2015)

Thanks again for hosting April. Had a good time and learned quite a bit along with tips, tricks and adjustments that I'd like to test. All in all, it was good to match faces to usernames. Some highlights:

1) There are some serious fish enthusiasts, over 20+ tanks all with custom built stands and whatnot. Much respect hahaha. 

2) It would not be a bad idea to run multiple filters on tanks. This way you can clean one without worrying about any bioload issues - as well as take one off to start on new tanks immediately.

3) A dirty filter can cause more than just flow issues - from a VAHS member's (I think Dave) past observation of BBA due to a clogged up filter at a LFS. A potential supplement/improvement over ceramic balls for biomedia is hydroton (from Anthony) - which is porous enough for beneficial bacteria to grow while dense enough to foster anaerobic bacteria to take care of the dirtier parts in the filter. Please correct me if I'm wrong here but definitely interested to adjust my canister filter with some hydroton. My 60P does have some BBA despite all parameters being quite stable. I've been meaning to do this but I have just been delaying...

4) Plants melt for various reasons - one might be that of shock. Karen was explaining that sometimes plants that are known to be a bit more sensitive don't melt at all - but due to potentially extreme temperature changes during the shipment it could affect the plant cells in different ways. My mass DHG mini melt could've been due to the fact that the shipment was re-routed to Manitboa (where it is frigging cold) and then back to Vancouver.

5) And of course I couldn't leave without buying some plants - all of which were looking quite healthy!


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## aprilsaquarium (Aug 22, 2016)

I have hydrocoton in my sump. It's cheap
Also I got a half garbage bag for 10.00 at the hydroponic store down the street.
Glad everyone enjoyed it! May have
To do it again. Karen and I have discussed a plant scaping workshop. 


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## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

aprilsaquarium said:


> I have hydrocoton in my sump. It's cheap
> Also I got a half garbage bag for 10.00 at the hydroponic store down the street.
> Glad everyone enjoyed it! May have
> To do it again. Karen and I have discussed a plant scaping workshop.
> ...


I heard good things! Would totes be interested for the next meeting.


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## Haven (Dec 26, 2012)

aprilsaquarium said:


> I have hydrocoton in my sump. It's cheap
> Also I got a half garbage bag for 10.00 at the hydroponic store down the street.
> Glad everyone enjoyed it! May have
> To do it again. Karen and I have discussed a plant scaping workshop.
> ...


what is hydrocoton?


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## aprilsaquarium (Aug 22, 2016)

It's clay balls for hydroponics


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

aprilsaquarium said:


> It's clay balls for hydroponics
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 Very good filtration media for fresh or saltwater systems.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Its called Hydroton.

Have it in the filtration systems of all my tanks.


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## Plumberboy (Jun 2, 2014)

I love that hydroton stuff. I have it in my sump, and use it in my Aquaclears HOB's. It does take awhile to become saturated and sink though. AND, I happen to have about 15-20 gallons of it brand new in the bag in my garage, if anyone needs some. For a very small donation.....:bigsmile:


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## Jcmalouie (Apr 2, 2015)

Since it is clay, will it breakdown over time and end up in the tank?


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## Plumberboy (Jun 2, 2014)

Been using for about 6 months now. Haven't noticed any breakdown. Pretty dusty to start, and needs a good rinse.


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

Jcmalouie said:


> Since it is clay, will it breakdown over time and end up in the tank?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I've been using it for years in fresh and saltwater and it's never broken down on me yet, even if it did so what it's clay and aquarium safe.


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## aprilsaquarium (Aug 22, 2016)

I had lots in my sump. Maybe shrank a bit smaller. Not sure. No notice of clay water


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## troutsniffer (Dec 10, 2015)

I've used it a bunch, no idea it was this popular. &#55357;&#56397;


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Paul who used to own the coral/sw boutique petshop in Aldergrove was the one who introduced it to Laurie and I years ago. I've been telling everyone how great it is ever since. Best part is that since its not manufactured specifically for the ornamental fish or reefkeeping industry, it does NOT come with the huge markup that seems to be standard for any fish related products. Lots of other filter makers have their own version of hydroton (probably just repackaged and NOT specifically made for them), but those name brand bio media clay balls are bleeping expensive (like $30-40 for a small box of it).

In four decades of fish-keeping, this is probably my favourite hobby-related product. I always keep some on hand as well in case fish-friends need some. 

Anthony


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