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Fwd: Sick hatchling YBslider won't eat (33 megs)
11/3/17 Identify Moray 3/3/16
OZONE IN REEF TANK 2/3/16 Re: Chromis iomelas - Half-and-half Chromis or Chromis
dimidiata 1/14/13 Oh yeah... 9/17/12 wwm answers - 8/17/12 A simple question about the letters; emboldening by RMF
7/11/12 Re Your recent query on BTA lighting 10/16/11 question response - 10/12/10 Very Quick Question About Measurements 5/4/10 Dailies 3/1/10 white sort of sponge growing on the stalk of my tourch
coral 2/18/10 Mail Highlighted Search Words 8/5/09 Re: black and white clownfish color loss 1/15/09 okay will do...im at work right now but when i get home I will do this. I just dida 5 gallon water change two days ago and cleaned the carbon and the phos pad. However ive heard that filters are nitrate factories??? should i stop using them?? Test when im home... THANK YOU SO MUCH Alyssa Are you a non-native speaker? A child? A person of diminished capacity? If not, please fix your English and re-send. Re: black and white clownfish color loss 1/15/09 Im <I'm> sorry but could you be any more rude? <Mmm, yes> I did not realize I was turning in an English essay. Lets just say I was mentally handicap or a child, how would you feel then? My English teacher once diagnosed me as being dyslexic so yeah maybe I am of a diminished capacity. <We all are. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/WWMAdminSubWebIndex/question_page.htm Which... you, all should read and comply with... We simply ask for folks seeking our help/assistance to try communicating in proper English... Can do?> Re: black and white clownfish color loss 1/15/09 Im sorry but could you be any more rude? I did not realize I was turning in an English essay. Lets just say I was mentally handicap or a child, how would you feel then? My English teacher once diagnosed me as being dyslexic so yeah maybe I am of a diminished capacity. <Alyssa, no offence was meant. The fact is wet get dozens of messages each day, and we're all volunteers, so anything you can do that makes your message clear and easy to read means we can help you faster. Speaking for myself, when I can tell the sender has the courtesy to write their message properly and check things like spelling, I'm more inclined to take extra time when writing my reply back to them. Think of spelling and grammar as the good manners of correspondence! I spend an hour a day helping out here, and what makes it fun for me is reading interesting messages from people, and then hearing back from them when they have some more news to share. From a more practical perspective, there's also an issue with how this website works. Not everyone who visits the site is a native English speaker. Abbreviations, poor spelling, and poor grammar makes the site less accessible to them. The same goes for those with learning difficulties, for whom clearly written English is precisely what they need to help them read more easily. Google is even more picky, and if we want our pages to get to people searching for information, they need to contain properly spelled words. This matters a great deal for us, because the more people who visit the site, the better our advertisement revenue, and that's what pays for having this web site online at all. Obviously if you genuinely have dyslexia, that's a personal challenge to deal with. But since you have a spell-checker built into your computer, that's not such an issue as it was. So please, help us to help you by taking a moment to read through your message before hitting the "Send" button. Cheers, Neale.> New 125 gallon African Cichlid tank - compatibility question - Receiving approval request 1/15/09 Dear Sara; Can I understand that my Email of Jan. 11 was received and it's going to get a reply? Kind Regards Hanoch <Greetings Hanoch. Your query was answered, and the reply was posted a few days ago. It's currently on the Freshwater FAQ archive page, and will eventually be moved to wherever Bob decides to archive it. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwdailyfaqs.htm Do please remember, we answer dozens of questions each day and simply don't have time to mess about with e-mail systems that require "response e-mails" and the like. We send a copy of the answer we post on the site to the e-mail address of the person who sent the question in the first place. If your e-mail system won't accept messages from unknown senders, then that's something to fix from your end. Cheers, Neale.> Just Saying Thanks 12/24/08 Hello Crew, <Jeff> I have been keeping marine aquariums ever since I discovered Bob's book in 2001. I started out with fish and live rock, and within two years I was keeping advanced fish and corals successfully. I have a beautiful Paracentropyge multifasciata, and two Macropharyngodon bipartitus. <Ahh! Both difficult species to keep> I also have a thriving pink Acropora hyacinthus, which is my favorite coral. Without this site, I wouldn't be the successful aquarist that I am today. I would love to be a part of something like this, but there is no way that I would have the time between my wife and children, house work, yard work, work work. <There will be time in future> Your dedication to the hobby is inspiring. It is understandable that some of your replies to questions are short and to the point. I worked at a pet store for a while and was turned off by irresponsible pet owners. So I can see where you are coming from. Rather than view your responses as disrespectful, I see it as constructive criticism. I think you all do a fine job, and if I were doing something wrong, I would want you to tell me. Thank you so much for all that you do. Jeff <Thank you for your kind, encouraging words Jeff. Much appreciated. Bob Fenner> Why? WWM use 12/23/08 I have viewed your website several times looking for information on marine fish, etc. You guys put out some great information. <Thank you.> You guys sound like jerks in your replies to people that are asking for help. <All of us, all the time!?> People are ALWAYS going to have too small of a tank, or tank mates that really shouldn't go together. <And should we not point this out?> They email to you asking for assistance with questions or problems. Why can't you answer them with respect? <I feel that we do, directions are given before writing: searching for common/archived answers yourself, proper grammar/capitalization/punctuation. If a query does not meet these requirements within reason we will send it back for correction. Respect works both ways here.> These animals could possibly be put in much worse situations, such as sitting in a 10 gallon tank at a fish store for months and months. <Yes, to a point. Buying, saving these animals only encourages such practices.> Many of these people are actually trying to keep these animals as pets, some are trying to protect them. <All the more reason to provide an environment for their long-term success.> I myself have a 50 gallon tank with about 100 pounds of liverock. I have a pair of True Perculas, a Yellow Tang, a pair of Black and White striped Damsels, a single Chromis, an Emerald Crab, and a Cleaner Shrimp. I also have MANY type of corals. ALL of these guys are thriving and I've had this tank set up for over a year. I NEVER perform water changes. <?.a good friend of mine has a saying that you never actually have to flush your toilet either!> There is a 30 gallon refugium underneath that has a Protein Skimmer as well as a triple filter. I'd like to hear your complaints on this tank. I receive nothing but compliments on the beauty of it. <Good for you!> I also have a tub with a baby Banded Cat Shark. There's about 30 gallons of water, with two pieces of live rock and about 2 inches of live sand. The shark hatched two days ago. He seems to be doing fine, although he hasn't eaten yet, but with my research, I believe he's going to be just fine. I purchased this guy because a group of teenagers were about to buy him (which he was sitting in a 10 gallon tank!) I swept in and had another employee grab him out of the tank before they get the employee over to get it for them. <I assure you now that the egg was purchased, there will soon be another for the next set of teenagers to buy, who by the way are as perfectly capable of keeping marine organisms as you or I are.> If this shark would have gone to these kids, I guarantee that he would have died. <We do differ on this here, I try to not judge people on appearance (not at all really).> I am at least giving him a chance at a better life. I may decide on keeping him in a 180 gallon tank, I may decide to build a much larger tank. I may even decide to just put him in the 50 gallon with the other fish. Whatever I decide, the decision is mine. <It is, just as any other person that visits our site. People write in for information that helps them better the situation for their livestock, and people receive this information.> When I come to a website such as yours, I'm looking for information to help my new guy out, not be disrespected. <As do we.> For your information, both my wife and I make very decent money, and cost is not an issue for us. I went out and purchased 300 bucks in stuff just to get this guy started. <Neither here nor there. Marine organisms can be kept on a budget.> More people than not will go out and purchase an animal in the moment and not think about what the animal actually needs! <Exactly, but it does not change the needs. We could lie and let the animal perish, but what service is that?> Well, once the purchase is made, the best they can do is try to keep the animal and take care of it. <Many times this involves stepping back, researching and rethinking. This also includes finding a more suitable environment for the livestock if need be.> On top of my saltwater venture, I also have a 1 year old Newfie pup as well as a mixed breed dog, a cat, and a cockatiel. There are probably many people that contact you that are in my situation. Please, sway from mocking these individuals and try to provide them with the help they need otherwise, what is the point of your site??? <To give the help. There are many thousands of people out there which we have solved problems for. The answer is there for each and every individual that writes us.> Regards, Martin A Tripp (Marty) Comment -05/07/08 Hello, I was browsing your site for info and after reading through some of the faq I just want to point out that certain crew members are very rude to some of the people who submit questions. <Oh?> I just felt like commenting about it because I feel bad for the folks who have come to this site looking for help and answers and get a response pertaining to their poor English or failure to capitalize certain letters in their message without even receiving any info on the question they asked. <If you look carefully, you'll see we rarely say anything negative about the quality of English from people for whom it is a second language. It's pretty easy for us to tell from the e-mail address or the sender's name if that might be the case. In which case, we'll make an effort to "fix" the e-mail before publishing it on the web site. Our gripe is typically with lazy native English speakers. Britons, Americans, Canadians... whoever. For these people, there's no excuse. Of course we don't care about the odd typo or abbreviation... what we don't like is sloppy English that demonstrates that the sender didn't read (or didn't care to observe) our House Rules. Let's be quite clear about this: these rules exist for a purpose, not bloody mindedness. Most of our visitors come to Wet Web Media via search engines like Google. They've decide to find out something about Black Mollies or Whitespot or whatever the heck they're having a problem with. Search engines are only as good as the quality of the English on the web page being indexed. If that page has good English, the search engine will index it effectively; if that page has poor English, then the search engine can't index it properly. Simple as that. So that's the deal: people who ask questions have to make their messages easy for us to put onto our web pages, and in return the sender gets replies from people at the very top of the hobby. Not 14 year old boys who've set up their first aquarium and happens to have a subscription to some two-bit online forum (no offence to 14 year old boys!) but from people who have kept fish for decades, write books about them, and contribute to every major English-language aquarium magazine on the planet. Is that really too much to ask? I think not.> I mean, really why is it so important for someone to capitalize all the I's and insert the ' in can't.. Its not like you wouldn't be able to understand what the person is asking without them using the proper marks or capitalization. <As said above, it's not really whether we can read the message, but whether other people can use those messages. If the message is opaque to a search engine or unclear to someone who doesn't have English as a first language, then that message is worthless to us.> It just seems like newbies who ask questions here get treated differently because they might not submit their question properly or they might not know some certain basic information that more experienced hobbyists would know, but they are visiting this website to become more knowledgeable and some of the crew members are just a bit rude to them. <On the contrary, there are plenty of "newbies" who routinely write back thanking us and telling us how things have improved with their hobby. Speaking as an Englishman, I understand that sometimes my directness comes across to Americans as a bit sharp. But then the flippancy of many Americans comes across as irresponsible to me. So we all put across impressions through our words that may not really reflect the real person behind the message. That said, I'm not sure everyone appreciates how much work goes on answering these messages each day. Many of us -- for no money -- devote hours each week to going through the mailboxes. Our dedication to the hobby is tangible in that sense, and we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't want to help. All we ask is that in return people make an effort to help us. Keep the messages clear and properly written. Avoid laziness. Don't write messages like "text" messages on a mobile telephone. Basically the "golden rule" -- do unto others and you'd have them do unto you. Thanks for writing, Neale.> Re: Why? WWM use response 12/25/08 Dearest Crew, <Jill> I read the FAQ's daily with great faithfulness and find the occasional complaint to be an interesting twist to the normal aquatic advice. <Me too> I was rather insulted by Martin's message today. I feel very close to each of the crew members and GREATLY respect their world class expertise, dedication, and most importantly, time. I wish that people would understand that this is group of volunteers that takes joy in sharing information. Yes, some crew members can be abrupt, to the point, and sticklers for spelling and grammar. So what? Those begging for help should not be critical of free service. If it bothers them, then don't write. Just remember that 99 percent of us out here are VERY appreciative of your service and sad will be the day when WWM ceases to exist. Thanks so much for your commitment to aquatic life! Jill <Thank you for coming "to our rescue" here Jill... As NealeM has pointed out, amongst other reasons we seek to have folks "write in plain English" is the need for such in search engine agreement. IF words (real and string-Boolean) are not recognized by crawlers, directories... folks seeking help will not be able to find it... there are tens of thousands of people that use the WWM resource daily (of which I am very glad to share)... My desire is to do what I can to make this tool more complete, easier/more friendly to use. At times it has seemed that such "urging" of participation from folks that write in has been taken as being overly-brusque... I ask that we all retain some sense of empathy... that we think and feel for "the other"... and if you have ideas on how to improve what we do, by all means, do share. As you have done so well here. Cheers, Bob Fenner> Cache version... Not! 1-22-08 I really appreciate your site. It has helped a lot over the past year. I just wanted to mention one thing. I find it funny that you suggest to choose the "cached version" of the result of a search as this is not available on your site in most cases. This is something that I normally do for every search on the net. The next best thing is to "control f" to open the find box and then copy-paste the key word(s) in there. Do you know why that is that I can't get cached versions of most of your site's pages? I have tried using internet explorer as well as Mozilla. Thanks <Thank you for this input. I am definitely not "high-tech" savvy... and am also very sorry that the "version(?)" of Google Adsense search tool that we're supplied with has no "cached view" option... the one place we do have this is posted on the "Read these instructions before writing us page": http://wetwebmedia.com/WWMAdminSubWebIndex/question_page.htm I do encourage you to send this note to Google... Bob Fenner> Your Brackish section 12/19/07 Hello, I was looking at the section of your website about Brackish water and converting freshwater to brackish and noticed something that was very rude. Someone had posted something about going to the pet store and being given some really dumb advice ( I agree with that part), however it also said to never trust people that work in the pet store, which is what I do. I thought that maybe they should be corrected that certain pet stores don't inform their employees on anything more than here is the fish, this is how you put them in a bag, but not all pet stores are this way. I have had very extensive training in all animals not just fish and have to learn new things everyday even though I have been there for nearly 2 years. Thank you, Serena <I am in agreement. I spent fourteen years on the floor in retail myself, and most of my life otherwise in the ornamental aquatics trade. The majority of folks I've met are honest, and to a degree competent. The individuals writing/responding are just that. Cheers, Bob Fenner> Capitalizations 4/30/07 Hello Robert, <Neale> I'm curious about what standards (if any) WWM uses for capitalizing proper nouns. Reading over the WWM pages, I come across all sorts of variations. For example, "scats" is lower case but "Monos" capitalized. <I try to capitalize, have folks capitalize all proper nouns, as well as common names, medicine names, acronyms... but don't/have not "caught all"... "The process of removal continues" (Frank Herbert's Dune)> At university and then as a scientist, the rules were simple: capitals for formal (Latin) names, lower case for anything else, even if based on a formal name. Hence: - Cichlidae but cichlid. - Crustacea but crustacean. - Homo sapiens but human beings - Monodactylus sebae but mono. I do notice that sometimes my articles/answers are edited to capitalize some of the proper nouns, but not all of them. <Correct... and though "consistency may be the hob-goblin of little minds", you may call me Bob HG> Incidentally, it isn't just WWM that does this, so too does Practical Fishkeeping magazine, though oddly not Tropical Fish Hobbyist. <Correct... it is T.F.H.'s stated policy to use lower case for common names... I ignore them> So I'm curious, is there a guideline I should be following? Is it just an in- house editorial style each publisher devises? Cheers, Neale <I'd like to see capitalized... My sense is that this helps common appellations "stand out"... aiding the reader in the realization that these are organisms... not merely "helper" descriptive terms. Bob Fenner> Finding Responses On WWM Website - 4/13/07 Oh, Chuck, thank you for such a quick response. Thank you. I realized the response would be on the site but where on the site would it be found? Thank you again. Dee < If the question and answer are worthy, they would be found on Today's Frequently Asked Questions link. Once there if not on the main page then it would be found on the Freshwater Link.-Chuck> <<Mmm, actually, all are placed on the Dailies... Daily! RMF>> Brown hair algae and Dead Emerald Crab. One of teens of thousands of folks per day... but not using... WWM 3/31/07 Hi there, I have a quick one. I have a 125 gallon reef ready tank that I have 140 #'s live sand and 100 #'s of live rock. It's been cycled for about 4 months now. All I have in it is 1 tomato clown, a Haitian anemone, a diamond goby, a cleaner shrimp, and 2 emerald crabs. I am having an outbreak of brown hair algae. <Whoa... what re your filtration? Water quality tests? Source water?> It started out just as a light color change of the sand, (my goby takes care of the sand), and rocks. Now it is 2-3" of stringy algae, all over. My light is only a couple months old, on 6 hours a day, I'm not next to any windows. My levels are all ok, nitrates between 5-10 ppm, closer to 5. I do a water change about once a month, due to my levels being fine, and my light animal load. What can I do to control it, besides putting something in there that would eat it. Cause even when I physically remove it, it's back the next day. <You're joking? Have you heard of our site? How'd you get our address?> Also I came home today and saw one of my emerald crabs dead and on it's back. It was the bigger of the 2, (about an inch) and has been in for a few months always doing great, and picking away at the rocks. I thought maybe the other crab attacked it, but out of the 2 the bigger was the aggressor. They didn't really like each other, but they just minded their own business. Is there anything that crabs are sensitive to besides copper, that I don't have in my system. Please advise me. The algae is my biggest concern. My tank looks great but not covered in brown hair algae. Thanks, You guys are the best. Aaron <... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/ The Marine/Root web... the indices, search tool... on Algae, their control... Mithrax/Mithraculus... Bob Fenner> Proper Navigation of your site 3/28/07 Hello Bob, <Rich and Paula> I really appreciate your wonderful site! It has helped me in the past and I am hoping you can help me now. I seem to have trouble finding my posts. <?> I emailed a question on 3/26 and was aware that there would be a delay updating the Daily Q & A page due to a trip to Hawaii. <Yes... am out here now... but still quite bleary...> I did see tonight that the Daily Q & A page was updated, but I could not find my post. <... we respond directly back to all as well... Did you not receive a response to your outgoing email address?> This happened to me several months ago with my first post (different subject and I found follow-up posts) and I just wanted to make sure I am not doing something wrong. I am very anxious for the answer to my email as I have a very sick Oranda and hope for some advice soon. Thank you for your time, Paula Rich & Paula Busa <Am sorry to be so daft... still jet-lagged... but could you please send along the original query... along with the response if you received one directly? It may be that your response posted on WWM is "in transit", in the "area where we edit" before posting to the dailies... or perhaps it has been moved to another area altogether (I usually am the one who does this... and generally in daily "batches"... responding to all the previous calendar day's unanswered queries... moving all at the end of that time... typically AM PST... BobF> Response: Bob, This is the e-mail I sent on 3/26. I have never received an e-mail reply; I didn't know I was supposed to. <And I have never seen it either... not the first time something like this has happened however. Will place to be answered (am out the door just now). Cheers, BobF> I thought I would have to check the website for my answer. I thought, since there are also posts from today there that mine might have been missed. I do appreciate your help. I realize that you are probably beat! Just going through the airport is enough to exhaust a person! Thank you, Paula Angelfish ID - 3/27/07 I have caught an unusual angelfish. So far my searching has proved fruitless in determining the exact species. It is thriving in one of my quarantine tanks. I read somewhere on your site not to send video footage. If that is the case do I need to take stills to get you to identify it? thanks , Jason. <Yes sir, Jason.. Video's would simply be too big for our mail server, it'd fall like the lady from the Life Alert commercials ("I've fallen, and I can't get up!" *grin*) Snap some still frames, and size them down to a few hundred kilobytes, and we'll be glad to take a look! -JustinN> Graham on nonfunctional URLs... 3/9/07 Bob, <Big G> I noticed that there was a post on the dailies that alluded to a few nonfunctional URL links you copy/pasted. I have seen this before, and am not sure what exactly causes it, but the full URL *IS* printed on the dailies and the email sent to the poster. They will, however, need to highlight the entire link and paste into the address bar. For some reason, it seems that the link is only recognized as a link for maybe half of the total text. For example, I might copy/paste http://wetwebmedia.com/daily_faqs3.htm but the underline (The little identifying feature of a hyperlink) will only reach as far as the "i" in daily_faqs... <... I know naught...> I haven't observed any connection between all of the broken links, but do notice that when I set my links off by themselves; i.e.., make sure that I don't paste next to punctuation, etc., then my links are usually complete. HTH -GrahamT <Isn't actually of my doing I believe... I simply copy/paste what is "there"... but thank you for this input... B> Where do i find my answer 3/8/07 Help! I just discovered your site four days ago and three days ago i sent in an e-mail like this asking questions about lighting. Yesterday i logged on to see your replies but i couldn't find where my missive had been placed on the site and when i tried to search for some key words from it i was sent on a Google search whose results weren't even places on the sight. Can you send me a reply to this message that tells me where to find my original questions? David McElvain <Mmm, we post all directly and archive most all to the "Daily" FAQs, general and some specialized (e.g. freshwater)... at least once a day... then they are parsed to FAQs, subFAQs files... If you don't see your response there, or on WWM, please re-send it. Bob Fenner> Flame scallop diseased? 3/1/07 I received an e-mail in response to my inquisition about a flame scallop with whitish gray tufts growing on it but there was no actual response. The e-mail simply said: "Thank you for contacting us, your reply is below," however, all that was below was my initial e-mail. If you could resend an actual response I would greatly appreciate the information. <Hi I, Adam J, answered this query several days ago...I apologize sometimes we do have anomalous errors. I do recall pointing to the underlying cause being starving though I do not recall the entire post. As I am sure you are aware we here at WWM receive 100's upon hundreds of emails each weak, sometimes daily (In fact if I had not have happened to see and remember this we/I may have not even recalled this email). We do not save emails in our email system but all queries w/ corresponding answers are posted on the WWM FAQ's. I would search WWM re: flame scallops, either that or resend because we don't have the original. Thanks, AJ.> Response Time 12/20/06 Hello Crew, I am in no way trying to rush anything here. I asked my first question to the Crew a few days ago and I was wondering how long it usually takes to get a response? <All things going (good luck here!) we respond to all w/in 24 hours... there are instances where (here for instance) our webmail server, and or possibly my lack of computer-related competence leads to "trayless" queries... which thank goodness JustinN is able to route, make visible... or travels to distal areas forestalls my participation/"sweeping" of un-responded to queries for more than a day... but these days/events are rare. Better to do as you have here (thank you) and follow-up with a further query. Bob Fenner> Just for reference, my question was about a "Red Sea Biotope" on Dec 12. Once again I am not trying to rush things, just curious first time query. I have used your site for reference extensively and can't say enough about the knowledge you have imparted on our community. Thank You Todd L <Hey Todd, JustinN with you again. Sorry for the delay, usually we try to have a 24 hour turnaround at most on queries. Your emails came to us in a format that our web server doesn't like, and most members of the crew are unable to read them. Someone should see and respond to your original query shortly. Sorry again for the delays, happy holidays! -JustinN> <Ah yes... BobF> No FAQs Posted Lately! - 10/26/06 Hi all, <<Hello Brian>> I know Bob is on vacation which he deserves more then anyone but.... <<Deserved yes, but more than anyone? Hmm...<grin> He's currently in Thailand following a dive stint in Indonesia, and I'll be meeting up with him in a little more than a week for some more dive adventure in Hawaii...so don't feel "too" sorry for him <big grin> >> I was just wondering why there hasn't been any post's lately? <<Ah, I see...>> The last post I have is 10-22-06..Don't know if it's just my computer or if you're all just backed up with pile's and pile's of e-mail's. <<Mmm, some 149 responses sitting in the 'sent' folder at this moment>> I appreciate all of the work you all do. And look forward to reading your Q/A daily...I hope I'm not putting myself sounding like a butthead which I'm not trying to do. I was just wondering if all is well with Bob and Crew and this, your, our web site. <<No worries mate...appreciate your concern. The site is staffed by an "all volunteer force" and apparently those few with the magic combinations for getting the queries reviewed, formatted, and posted (a time-consuming task) have been busy with their paying jobs, family responsibilities, etc., etc. When he's out for a while, we really do get a sense for all Bob does here on a daily basis. We apologize for the delay in posting FAQs on the site, but be assured the individual responses have been sent>> I love this web site and I'm sure other's do also...We can't lose you guy's now... Happy reef keeping and with kind regards... Brian, Wisconsin <<Thank you for the kind words. Eric, South Carolina>> <Heeeee! BobF> Where To Find Your Reply - 10/22/2006 I just realized now that I have no idea where (if answered) my email will be posted. if you could tell me, I would greatly appreciate it. <You should get an email with your answer. It is then placed in the Daily FAQ, them moved to the appropriate archive. Don> Failed Emails Hi crew, <<Hi, Steve. Tom here.>> Could you please tell me if emails are reaching you at the moment as I've sent 2 different ones recently and had no reply. <<I can't attest to your previous two e-mails, Steve, but based on the volume that we've been getting of late, I can assure you that e-mails are coming through.>> I respect the fact that you all do this voluntarily and certainly don't EXPECT replies - just wish to know, so that I can hold off if there is a problem. <<No reason for you not to "expect" a reply, Steve. We strive to make every possible effort to respond to all of our readers' posts. Please post again and we'll do our best to correct any "internal" problems regarding the selection, sorting and routing of e-mails to the Crew members.>> Many thanks, Steve M. <<Any time, Steve. Tom>> E-mailing/posting of replies to queries; turn-around time? - 09/07/06 Hi again, <To you as well, Linda!> I did not receive a reply to my e-mail so am resending it again. Where exactly do I find the answer? Do you e-mail me and post it on your web site? <That is indeed what we do. Sorry for the delay in responding - here at WWM we are staffed with entirely volunteers (most of whom have full-time day jobs) who try their very best to answer queries as quickly and accurately as possible. This is a good reminder to all of us here at WWM to answer just one more query per day, possibly, to lighten the load...speed things along.> Thanks for your help. Linda <You're welcome, Linda. Thanks for your patience and hope all the fishies are doing well. Jorie> Where's my answer? 4/9/06 Hi, <Hi Kyle> I've written this question before but never received a response. I've sent in marine questions twice and never received a response either. <I'm sorry> So.... my question is how do I find the answers to my questions. <We email them back to you> I don't know if you guys answer every e-mail that is sent to you or not. <We sure as heck try...>I'm sure you are very busy because clearly there are thousands of questions answered. I keep searching using key words (on the WWM site) to see if I can find my questions but all to no avail. I am just wondering what the procedure is. <Well you're doing everything right. However, we are all volunteers here, not to mention we are dealing with technology. Sometimes we don't get to everything in a timely manner (even though we try really hard to!) and sometimes things just get lost in the scramble.? I do have several specific questions which I can't find answers to on the site. <Send them on over.> I get close but not actually what I am looking for. Before I ask any more questions though I want to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'd really appreciate it if you could e-mail me back to this e-mail rather then posting on the site explaining how to find my questions. <We do response to all emails personally> The WWM site is AWESOME and it has helped me in many areas. Hopefully I can figure out how to find my needle in that large haystack. <Send over questions again... if you didn't get a personal email back, we probably didn't get the email somehow. Sorry about this. Look forward to your questions. Jen S.> Thanks. Kyle Welcome to new crew member Jason N. - 2/15/2006 Hello, Jason Bob has given me the okay to acquaint you further so........ Let me the first to say welcome aboard! I'm quite excited that you decided to join. First off my apologies for not sending you this follow-up information sooner (new school semester, I'm sure you're familiar with the feeling). Onto the issue at hand, thank you for volunteering knowledge and time (in any amount) to the WetWebMedia crew. Here is the scoop: First off, the URL for our crew inbox is mail.wetwebmedia.com . Login: MMMM Password: FFFF I'll ask Bob (or those responsible) to create you a personal folder, as I'm not familiar with that procedure. <<Ah, simple enough... the upper left tab... "Folders"... will do>> I believe we already have a Jason, so your in folder should include the initial of you last name which is "N" correct. Basic conventions to follow: Anything in the inbox, fresh, marine, brackish, and pond folders that has not been answered is up for grabs. Move any questions you wish to answer into your folder before answering them; this helps to prevent sending multiple replies on one question. And of course there is no pressure, we only ask you attempt to answer those questions which you are comfortable with. When you reply, try to follow the same "style" that we use <your replies in carrots> Mmmm, carrots.... <Tasty carrots!> And remove blank spaces and such. Also, it might be worthwhile (especially in my case as I'm a typo king) case) to copy/paste into Microsoft Word so you can use spell-check. Once you have replied delete the query from your infolder, EXCEPT, if there is a photo attached to it n which cases you should move it to the "email with picture" folder. Feel free to also delete spam (THERE'S LOTS OF IT). no need to waste server place by placing it in the "probably trash folder" - 99.9% of the time if it looks like junk it is. Feel free to take any questions that you feel comfortable with, even answering just 2 or 3 queries a day is helpful but if you want to answer more that would be okay *smile*. Take a look at our Daily FAQs and other related sections to kinda "get a feel" for it all (links below) and feel free to ask any questions. Thank you for your assistance! http://www.wetwebmedia.com/daily_faqs.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/faqsonfaqs.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/faqstips.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/QueryCorrsRefPg.htm Feel free to email me any more questions you may have. Glad to have you with us, Adam Jackson P.S. If you would like email me or Bob a short bio of yourself, including but not limited to your hobby experience. <<Please do, and thank you for sharing. Bob Fenner>> Reading / searching posts - 1/6/06 Hello Crew, <Hello. Sabrina with you today. Let me first deeply apologize for the delay in reply - I've been unexpectedly away, and as it turns out, your email is one of the few that it seems only my system/configuration can view the "tray"/buttons that permit us to reply, so was routed to me. Please accept my apologies for this significant delay.> I recently went to the WWM site to do some research (as I have frequently for the past year or so). The results of my hours of reading have brought me to write this email. I realize that a lot of questions are answered by reading previous posts. However, when I search on some subjects, what I see in most of the responses I read is "already posted" or "read the FAQs, that question has already been answered". Well, I have read the posts and done searches on the site which have led to hours of reading, but have not had my question answered. Yet, I am hesitant to ask it because I really do not want to be answered with the response of "Read the FAQs" or "search the WWM site" after I have already done so. Now, please do not misunderstand me. I know that all of you put a lot of time and effort into this site. It is greatly appreciated by all of us amateurs. But if you have an opinion or an answer to a question we ask, we would much appreciate the answer or a reasonable way to find it. <We'd love some suggestions as to what would constitute a reasonable way to find what you're looking for.... I for one am interested in making improvements to the site. As it is, many of the questions that are asked are "repeats" - My tang has ich, There's slimy algae in my tank, etc. - we simply don't have the man-hours (all volunteered, mind you) to answer these, time after time, when the information is readily available, already answered, just waiting for eager eyes to read it. At least I'm hoping it's readily available. Perhaps we need some suggestions on how to make the site more easily searched.> Maybe it would help to delete the posts that do not have any responses but suggestions to read more posts. If 95% of the search return results simply contain 1) a vague reference to the fact that the answer exists somewhere on the site; and /or 2) remarks to remind the amateurs of how little knowledge we actually have; <We all - amateurs, experts, beginners....> then I submit that you are doing yourselves a disservice. Please try to remember that those of us who do not have the knowledge that you possess are often just as dedicated to the welfare of our livestock and our systems as you are, we just lack the experience. <Mm, by the third "How did my fish get ich" question a day, it can become very apparent that some people are lacking the drive to care about their systems by taking the initiative to research, and instead want information hand-fed.... it gets almost painful, at times. I know most of us do make an effort not to simply dismiss questions that someone has obviously researched.> That is why we turn to you. You're the experts. Providing the type of service as you do is truly a donation of service and demonstrates a tremendous amount of self sacrifice. But this perception is tainted when you speak down to us and scold us, whether intentionally or not. <Not intentional, I do hope.> I work in a very technical field myself and often have a hard time keeping my perspective when people ask me questions that I think have very obvious answers. But when I put myself in the position of trying to understand every aspect of their "non technical" jobs, I realize that I am just as ignorant about things that they find very simple. One thing I try never to do is respond to a request for help with arrogance or a belittling and disrespectful attitude, because this usually results in a lack of respect and a feeling that the expert is full of himself or herself. <I do agree with you completely.> BTW: the search I was doing was on hypo salinity. <Did you try "hyposalinity" as well? We do have much information archived under Marine Articles, then under the Diseases:.... section, then under Diseases: Treatments.> The result I found after an hour or so is that Bob doesn't like hypo salinity. Thanks, I'm glad to know that, but I what I really wanted to know was what you recommend to the issues that people were asking about. <.... for instance? Like for treating ich (as most of the hypo FAQs are about)? I can't even begin to fathom the scads of information we do have about treating ich. Or....?> The only answer to those questions that I found was that the answer exist somewhere else out there on WWM and with that, the implication that if we weren't all so lazy, we would be able to find them by reading the posts. Go figure. To sum it up, thanks, sincerely, for everything. But realize that sometimes your responses, while likely well intended, can be somewhat demeaning to the person asking the questions. <And please also understand that we simply do not have the man-power to re-answer information that really is already out there. I hope that is understandable. All the best to you, -Sabrina> Query Malfunction 1/4/06 Bob, I placed the "Baby Jellies" query in your box this morning. It seems to shut my internet down when ever I try a reply. I thought it was a problem on my end, but have been able to answer a different one with no error. Gave it one last shot and it did the same again. Didn't want to just delete it but it may be unanswerable. - Josh <I likewise had a problem as you describe. I "got around" it by making the query a "New Message", copying the address, text, subject sans the pix into a new msg. entirely. Cheers. BobF> Can I offer some assistance 12/28/05 Good day to you! <And to you> I have asked question here and there if I could not find exactly what I was looking for. And sometimes I get a quick response and sometimes I resend after a week or so. (I did that today:) I am not complaining you folks are wonderful and very comforting to us who are still learning the basics. <As I am. Our email sometimes seems to "act up"... Sabrina is seeking out an alternative service... and sometimes we "fall behind"> I don't know what I could do to help you folks out but I would love to be assistance in any way at all. (please don't say stop asking questions, LOL) <Heee! If you have time, expertise, a capacity with written English... you obviously have a/the proper charitable/positive outlook/mentality... we could use help in responding to queries> Bob I received your book (Conscientious Marine Aquarist) for Christmas I am thrilled thanks for doing all that you do. Joanne <A pleasure to share, expand my life with others. Bob Fenner> Contacting persons on threads 12/14/05 I was just wondering if it is at all possible to get in contact with a person that i saw on one of the discussion boards, i think his name was Steve Wilson and he was from sunshine coast in Australia. His thread was to do with propagation in Australia, I actually live in cairns and am also interested in propagation of Australian species. I was hoping to get in contact with fellow Australians interested in this hobby as i am a beginner myself. If it is not possible for you to pass his details on to me please pass mine on to him and he may contact me. Regards Nicole Senior Cairns Australia <I do wish there was a (simple, well, simple enough for me) way to save/disclose such addresses, contact info. twixt interested parties. Thus far I/we have been very guarded re sharing folks personal data... We don't save this or post unless expressly requested. Bob Fenner> Re: Missing e-mail 12/2/05 Hi crew, <Hi Leif> I'm really sorry about this but I just want to make sure that it isn't something to do with the attachments causing you to not receive my mail. I recently enquired about algae identification and attached 3 JPEG picture files to the e-mail. (they were approx 30KB each in size, titled algae1, algae2 + algae3). I have had no reply though and having read through many of you FAQ's I have noticed that there does seem to be issues sometimes receiving e-mails with picture attachments. <<Email period - whether or not there are photos attached does not seem to affect the rate of "rejection" by our mailserver. There are other issues with photos. Marina>> The mail was initially sent from XXXX but I tried sending it from this e-mail address after I received no reply. By no means am I "having a go" - you guys provide an invaluable service for people in the hobby who want to do things properly and humanely for their captive subjects. I just suspect that my mail was lost somehow. Best regards, Leif Hinks <I believe I replied to that query. Without you replying with the original query I cannot comment as I'm not sure of the original content. I do remember not being able to open the photos though. James (Salty Dog)> WWM Etiquette - Questions About Questions - 11/25/2005 Greetings from Colorado to the WWM Crew: <And salutations from the Crew to you!> I am nearly two months into my fist marine aquarium, <An exciting time, to be sure.> and have read many books and FAQs before putting the first drop of salt water into my tank. I am trying to be a very conscientious aquarist on all fronts. <Your (future) livestock will thank you.> My last e-mail was sent to you several weeks ago, and did not get a response. <I beg your forgiveness on this.... Our email system has been "acting up", and we actually had some big-ish issues a few weeks back of lost/dropped emails or ones that didn't have the "tray" that includes our ability to reply....> I am fearful that I broke some rule, or failed to observe proper etiquette. If so, please forgive me. <Oh, no; not in the least. We tend to answer very nearly any legitimate question sent to us.> My question this time is simple. Do you have a list of do's and don'ts for WWM readers? <Mm, just this: http://wetwebmedia.com/faqstips.htm and a few other, similar pages.> I am aware that 1) pictures should be as small as possible, 2) people should first search for information before asking questions, and 3) attempts should be made to use proper English, grammar and spelling. <All correct.> I wonder if you would prefer one e-mail with several questions, or several e-mails with one question each. <My preference, and I believe Bob's preference as well (and likely all the rest of us), is that all your questions be sent in one larger email.... it is easier to get a "feel" for your system, and be thorough about answering your questions, if all are "lumped" together.... Furthermore, in replies or future questions concerning similar or the same questions you asked before, it is GREATLY helpful if you can copy any previous correspondences to better help us help you. You can also put Attn: and the Crewmember's name who helped you in the subject line to make it easier for us to route your question to the right person.> Do you prefer that a person give details of tank volume, depth, chemistry, lighting and maintenance with each question? <Mm, if possible/pertinent, yes. Usually we're flying on a lack of information - giving "too much" info is nearly impossible.> Should questions be limited to one per week, month, or year? <Just as necessary. We're here for ya.> I wonder if it would benefit both your team and your faithful audience to have a spot on the "Website Index" for a comprehensive set of ground rules? <Maybe.... The link for asking the Crew a question takes folks to what I feel is a pretty blatant chunk of information/suggestions, but seems that it must be lacking as we do still get questions in all caps, no capitalization, or written in "webbish". Argh!> As always, thanks for the help, <And thank you for your kind consideration in this issue.> Brad in Basalt <Sabrina in Silicon Valley> P.S. I would like to let your great sponsors know that I use an AquaC skimmer, Seachem products and other recommended items. Is there a proper way to do that? <Sure! Just drop 'em an email or give 'em a call. I'm sure they'd be glad to know their advertising is worthwhile. Wishing you well, -Sabrina> SUCCESS !!!! <Getting "it"> 11/24/05 Dear Crew at WWM, I would like to thank you for all your help over the past couple of months.. I recently converted a 180 g FO tank to a FOWLR. My existing fish were all greater than 7 yrs old and I was ready for a change. I bought a gorgeous emperor angel that I QT'd for 6 weeks but it then developed crypt. <Rats!> Same for a majestic. Through QT and treatment as well as maintaining excellent water quality the fish survived and are currently thriving. <Yay!> Yes, I went through 2 mo.s of quarantine and letting the display be fallow. Yes I went through the stress of copper treatment. Yes I went through the torture of capturing a mantis shrimp. After all was said and done I had to take my powder blue, and Naso from the display because the powder blue was beating up the majestic and the emperor was beating up the Naso. It has now been three months since my display system has reached its new equilibrium. The angels are getting along well ( plenty of places to hide ) with a Heniochus and Foxface, damsel, two Perculas, and a maroon. I have added cleaner shrimp, snails and hermits, a small refugium, some ozone, better skimmer, better lighting with realistic photoperiod, Kalkwasser top off with iodine supplementation. For $75 at home depot I devised a system using sprinkler timer and valves to do a 15 gallon water change from my garage ( tank is in living room 90 feet away ) <Neat> I am seeing colonies of purple pink and red coralline algae covering the rock. Yes there is some Cyano as well as some nuisance algae but overall what great success. I wish to thank the WWM crew for all their help! Yes, it has been much work, but well worth it for me. Frustrating, yes sometimes, that too. At this phase 5-10 min per day and then 1 hour per week is what maintenance requires. Consistency and small amounts of work often is what really pays off in this hobby : <Ah, yes> This is what has been so well reinforced by WWM. Yes, it is true that 5% water changes twice weekly work much better than 30 % once monthly. Yes, it is true that QT works for illness and that illnesses can be cured. Yes, it is almost always true that drastic changes are not good. <You said it, oh and we did/do too> In closing I would like to say that the statement "please read the posts on WWM re: this" used to be a source of some frustration as I would read replies to some of my questions. It seemed like I would ask one question but would get many answers. But as I took the advice, I began to see that the beauty of this hobby is the various different methods that we have at our disposal to deal with problems as they may arise. <Ahhh!> So, I kinda look at it this way : the multiple factors that may contribute to problems as they arise in captive marine ecosystems also promote incredible stability in the system when the system is in proper balance. Thanks crew and happy holidays: Jimmy <And to you and yours> PS Just one last dilemma : What do I do with my Naso and powder blue ? Who knows, but they seem happy in the 55 gallon tank in my garage ! <I'd trade them in. Cheers, Bob Fenner> Signing Off 11/24/05 <<Who are you, you who answered this query? Marina>> <<<Very, very sorry. I always remember to sign them but forgot this time (I promise it was just this one). I'm kneeling on dry beans as we speak:) - Josh >>> <Heeeee! BobF> No Questions, Well Maybe One or Two - 11/09/2005 Bob: I just wanted to chime in about some questions you are asked like "Please e-mail me with a list of things..." and "I have a book report due, please tell me..." Give everyone who read this site a break, folks! Oh, before I forget, can you tell me everything there is to know about keeping salt water fish? Keep in mind I am not even sure how you get the salt into the water! And since you're not real busy, the meaning of life would be most helpful! Seriously though, thanks for everything. Regards, Rich <Hee hee heee hee heeeee! Thank you Rich... you're making my day. Bob F> Re: The great Nitrate - Bio Ball controversy 11/10/05 Thank you for taking the time to respond, quite rapidly I might add. The service you provide is invaluable at progressing the state of the aquatic arts and you have probably saved countless delicate, rare little creatures lives with your advice. Something to be very proud of for sure. Regards John <Thank you for your kind, encouraging words. Bob Fenner> Kind Questions, Rude Remarks, High pH, still ignorant 11/10/05 What would have been better than sounding pompous would have been a suggestion to a better source than you did. I am not trying to be a chemist, just trying to fix my water. Also the critique of my spelling, to make yourself feel good? <<No, we actually have valid reasons, not the least of which might be thought of as an effort to reverse the "dumbing down" of America. Search our site and you'll learn for yourself. Marina>> Get your jollies elsewhere, not at my expense. Bet you won't post this. <<You just lost that bet. You're battin' a thousand here, care to try for more? I'm in a winning mood today! Marina>> Sincerely, Dan North. <Don't remain ignorant your whole life. Bob Fenner> Can You Hear Me Now..? 11/8/05 Good Morning WWM crew. Please can you confirm if you receive this e-mail? <We have...> I have e-mailed you a question along with attached photographs about 6 times in the last 5 weeks,( please accept my apologies if you have received these e-mails and as yet have had no time to answer them), but have received no reply to them. <Mmm, no worries. We respond to all we receive... and I don't recall seeing something six times...> I have continued to send as your reply speed is usually very prompt, (within 48 hours), so I suspect there is a problem at one end of the process. <Me too... and this isn't the first such incidence> <<Can you hear me groan? MH>> I am still receiving e-mails at this end, and similar e-mails sent elsewhere have been received. I am hoping that this attachment free e-mail will get through to prove that you're not just ignoring me! Thank you, Bob Mehen, Cornwall, UK. <Please do send your message to my personal email if you'd like: fennerrobert@hotmail.com Bob Fenner> Trying to Help Marina Deal With html and Posting Easily 11/1/05 Dear Marina and Crew, I hope I can be of some help with your HTML letter frustrations. You folks have done so much for my fish and I that I hope this helps make things a little easier for you. I shudder to think of what it's like having to delete all those html tags out of even one email! <<We appreciate the sentiments. I don't, however, mess about with deleting the tags, as I don't often answer queries, my work is more "behind the scenes". The specific problem I have is that the message that I am to place, what I retrieve from our "Sent" folder, will leave the response OUT (sometimes entirely, other times in bits and pieces), and often shows only the question. I have resorted to simply ctrl+a, ctrl+c, ctrl+v. This gets me the query in its entirety. The problem lies in what happens to the query-response sequence. The response is quite often left out entirely. It's difficult to explain the problem fully, but it is a case of working with the software as it's set up. I don't know what program specifically is being used, but from what I understand, the server/software often "truncates" the messages. There is also a problem in that information gets dropped or corrupted more often in messages sent in html, and this can often make saving photos sent to us problematic, with the last solution being taking a screenshot - *very* easy for me in Linux, but working in Windows is a pain.>> While I can't eliminate the problem, perhaps these few simple steps can make your life easier? <<Ah, if only, but again, thank you for the consideration. No, seriously, I will be trying this as soon as possible.>> As long as you select and copy all the text from the first to the last tag - this will be just a few clicks for you. Open the Notepad program and paste that nasty html stuff into a blank document. <<Ok, have done this, do this, to some extent, so I'm with you this far. However, I would have to do this with the reply, in order to get both the question and response, yes?>> Select 'file>save as'. Next step VERY important - In the 'Save as type' box select 'All files'. <<Ok, I am usually given that option.>> For the filename type "Letter1.html" and save it somewhere convenient like your desktop. <<Does it really matter what I name it? Or is that a "for instance"?>> Then you can double click on it, which will show that letter in your web browser without ANY html tags! <<It won't simply open in MS Word, or notepad, or WordPad, or even Open Office? It will open up in my browser (Mozilla)?>> From there you can copy/paste that pure text into your reply email. <<Mm.. very similar to our current technique of simply copying the text that shows up in the browser. Of course, that technique doesn't solve the problem of including the response as/where it was written, this may solve that. I will experiment on a day I have the time to futz around and see if I can do this with the entire question w/reply.>> I know that looks like a complicated process but I bet if you try it a few times you will find that it only takes a few seconds to remove all those tags. I hope this helps, -Sam <<Me, too, and I'll be holding onto this set of instructions, and may have some questions for YOU (how's that for a switch?)! Now, all I have to do is find a response that is kludged up with html to use as my electronic guinea pig. Thank you, again, Sam. Marina>> An Offer of Help Re: Hypertext Markup Language in Emails (And a Lost Reply Because the Server Logged me Out Automatically - Grr) 11/3/05 Hey there. No need to post this message.. just some (hopefully) helpful advice / comments. <<This will likely be posted anyway, unless you specifically prefer it not be.>> I see you guys have issues with receiving messages in HTML format. <<An understatement that covers the problem well enough.>> Unfortunately, I think you will never be able to prevent people from sending you messages that way. In fact, I suspect you are seeing more and more of them. Many e-mail clients format the message that way automatically and many (if not most) users have no idea how to change the settings for their e-mail clients. <<I had no idea this was the case, and no, I would expect most folks to let their machines do the thinking for them, not to mention the fact that the Windows OS makes it exceedingly difficult to do otherwise (even worse with the new XP OS).>> That being said, do you need any technical assistance with your e-mail handling routines? <<This is an offer to be proffered to the Bobster, as this is his ship and he is the captain, we are merely the crew (a loquacious lot, to be sure).>> I'm afraid if you don't accommodate HTML messages, you are simply setting yourselves up for more and more headaches. <<I have enough headaches as it is, thank you very much.>> So, the obvious solution is to find some way to handle the messages so you can reply to them easily. <<Indeed! Also, the specific problem I am having, which is in posting these messages for the dailies. There are additional issues regarding corruption or loss of data in any photos sent with queries. Often I am unable to save an image, and instead receive a dialog box telling me the web site has been changed or removed, and/or that the photo cannot be saved because there are errors. While I can easily take screenshots in my other OS, it's a pain in Windows (I am still using Win2K, do NOT care at all for XP, though I know I may be dragged into it), and having to take a screenshot is another step, making the process even more laborious.>> I would be more than willing to help out. <<Bob, what say you?>> <The Crew should just copy/paste text messages as such... leave off with responding to, including HTML tags... RMF> I have years of experience with Web stuff and read your site regularly. You are an incredible asset and have made my first three years of reef tank keeping much more pleasurable and rewarding than it might have been. (Don't get me started on the ongoing plumbing odyssey with my new 95 gallon tank, however <grin>). Rich <<What plumbing odyssey..? :wink: Thank you for this offer, Rich. It is up to the Cap'n himself, as I only try to fly this bird as far as the dailies page. Anything that would help to educate me I would embrace (though I do have my learning hands a little full, starting on Spanish and some war history, and reading up on brain research of late.. not to mention needing to learn about wells, pumps and pumping, and complicated septic systems) as best I can. When it comes to help, I'll take it where I can get it. Marina>> Re: Trying to Help Marina Deal With html and Posting Easily 11/3/05 Marina, I am grateful that I can be of some assistance to you and the Crew. Feel free to email me with any questions! I've been into computers for the past 20+ years, getting paid for it for the last 9 years. <<Ah, like my fianc? got his CompSci degree over 20 years ago, been working the industry ever since. However, he's a hardware & networking/wireless engineer, now running a local Telco service center.>> I've been working with the windows OS ever since the bad old days of 3.1 and DOS 5. I have yet to even really look at Linux, right now I'm focused on finishing up my cert for Exchange Server. <<I was brought to Linux out of sheer desperation, and extreme frustration with the dearth of readily available knowledge on the system (Win2K OS for me, thank you). Open source is very different, but obviously requires much more dedication on the user's part.>> Well enough about me, to answer some of your questions... ><<...There is also a problem in that information gets dropped or corrupted more often in messages sent in html, and this can often make saving photos sent to us problematic, with the last solution being taking a screenshot - *very* easy for me in Linux, but working in Windows is a pain.>>< Taking a screenshot in XP is just a matter of hitting the "PrintScreen" button. Then to get the pic just open the windows paint program and paste it in there. <<Indeed, three steps to get one dingdang photo. In the meantime there's a sweet pup bored to death who needs her exercise out there! <giggle> Seriously, I actually used to have this written down, as I used it very infrequently. There is, unfortunately, a good deal of loss of data using this method, which makes the photos look really terrible in my opinion.>> You can do some basic edit functions on it, then remember to 'save as' in .jpg or .gif format instead of .bmp (big difference in the size of the file). <<Quite a difference. I use Irfanview to resize/resample, crop, etc.>> ><<Ok, have done this, do this, to some extent, so I'm with you this far. However, I would have to do this with the reply, in order to get both the question and response, yes?>>< I'm not sure I totally understand what is happening, but it would not hurt to paste everything into Notepad. Notepad is a very simple program, but this simplicity makes it one of the most powerful and underrated tools in Windows. <<I couldn't agree with you more! Love Notepad, but am looking to eliminate steps if possible, as this would force me to "touch" each piece of "paperwork" a minimum of three times - inefficient to be sure. A work-around that can be well-utilized in a pinch.>> It takes away ANY formatting from text that is pasted into it (the stuff you can't see), say from another word processor or from the web. <<And I still have your first message in my inbox, just waiting for another message that needs this, so I may practice on it.. <rubs hands gleefully>>> ><<Does it really matter what I name it? Or is that a "for instance"?>>< Windows filenames consist of two parts. The last is the most important, the ".html", or the 'file extension'. Windows has a list of file associations. These tell windows which program the file runs in. You can name the file "for instance.html". The .html tells windows that it is supposed to open your default web browser and place that file in it. <<Alright, it's the tag that matters, not the name.>> ><<It won't simply open in MS Word, or notepad, or WordPad, or even Open Office? It will open up in my browser (Mozilla)?>>< I tried doing this in Word the first time. Word can create web pages and does recognize .html, however there were a few more steps involved when using Word. <<You ain't kiddin'!>> You can however use basically the same steps, as Word can save the document in .html format. Also under the 'File' menu there is a 'Web Page Preview' option, but for me it doesn't seem to work right. <<'Tis problematic, indeed. Open Office is more user-friendly, more intuitive for me, but if possible I'd like to eliminate futzing with even more programs. If only one extra step is required I'd like to go that route, keep it as efficient, simple, and clean as possible. So, once the html is removed, all I have to do is paste it into F/P (FrontPage), bold my titles and so on, do I understand you correctly?>> I hope that cleared up a few things? <<Yes, it has.>> I'm not sure I totally understand the process you use for answering/organizing your emails but I'm glad to be of some small help to you and the Crew. -Sam <<While I understand our process, I don't understand how the software works, and couldn't tell you what software we're using (couldn't post publicly in any event). We've received another offer of help, and these I am forwarding to Bob for his consideration. The goal, of course, is to make the work of our volunteers as easy and simple as possible. When the software works well, we have no problems, but when information becomes corrupted, lost, or whatever (packets dropped, mayhaps?), then we have to futz and muck about. In any event, your information should help, and I'll be using your technique at the first opportunity.. which, hopefully, won't be too soon. Marina>> Photos For FAQs - Do We Post Unclear Photos? 10/25/05 Hi Bob, We've got some photos that came in with emails, but the quality is... atrocious. They're out of focus, don't stop motion, and so are very unclear. One set is from a querior regarding Gouramis, another is the usual sick Betta. <Did see these...> I will attach a couple of them, I've gone ahead and downloaded/saved them, but they're so bad I'm not sure they would add anything to the exchange (the Gourami shot I'm attaching is the best of the bunch). What do you do when the pic is so bad? Marina <You've gots to do what you believe is "right"... sometimes I post these (nonetheless), other times... Cheers, B> WetWeb Name Posting, Protocol and Practice - 10/24/05 Hello folks; <Howdy> Please don't misunderstand here. I greatly appreciate your aid and responses. I know you post comments to WetWeb - but would you at all mind removing my last name from my emails you've posted please? <... please don't send along anything to us... or if you want my input, post anything on the Net you don't want re-posted...> There are 2 that I could find through a Google Search of my name (Scott XXXX). As I said, I know you post; but assumed you'd practice the removal of last names or other personal revealing information before doing so. <Umm, why would we do this... why would you/people send us information they didn't expect to be posted? I/we do try to remove email and physical addresses... don't retain... never post unless expressly requested that we do so.> In any case I would greatly appreciate it if you'd do so for me please. Sorry for any inconveniences. <... am very glad more folks don't send in these requests> Please accept my apologies for my error in attaching my full name to my letters. From here on I'll simply attach my name with thanks as "Scott" - or not at all. <Good> (perhaps posting my name in this mail is not a good idea too??) -- <Am going to post, archive... sans your family name. Cheers, Bob/AbdulF> Thank You; Scott Truncated response 10/20/05 Bob, <James> I did post seven links when I answered this. I then went to the "sent" folder to insure they were indeed posted. I didn't see them. Contacted Marina as to why they aren't on. (Did go through proper procedures, browse, select, and attach on all seven links.) She was @#^&%$( about the server and said she had a hard time logging on etc etc. She had no explanation as to why they weren't on there. <Likely just not copied/pasted... she has a technique (I'd like to mention here) of consolidating links and making up a label, just linking it... I like to give the original URL just in case folks find the link itself does not work... So the can copy/paste the URL in their browsers/search tools> Funny thing though when I sent it, it didn't appear in the sent folder for about 25 minutes. This is good... <Ooohh, this could be the mail server truncating your work then> Not seeing the links attached I thought I'd move the query back to the "marine" folder". I'd go to the "marine" folder" and it wouldn't be there. Kept going back automatically to my folder. Tried this about six times with same results. Marina must have did something because later, I couldn't find it anywhere. I'm hoping the young lad writes back so I can try this again. James <Me too. Cheers, BobF> More ghosts in the WWM mail machine 10/21/05 Bob, James, <Marina> James and I emailed each other on this matter the morning that it happened. I found an answered message in the "marine" folder, and just before James emailed me asking about his troubles, I found the reply (that wasn't a reply until you hit 'reply') in the sent folder. I saw no links, but there was also a great deal of html, and I *was* in a hurry to get all up as best/soon as possible. I could be wrong, but it seems that messages sent with html contained can be problematic. Then again, I've become accustomed to problems like this with this very server (photos not coming through because info's dropped, can't "save as", messages that show as replied to, but you have to hit reply to SEE the reply, etc., etc.) I honestly don't know if the boy in question received the links, with the state this particular email was in, there was no way for anyone but James to know whether or not the full copy was present. I copied the boy's question in full, then hit reply and copied James' reply in full, trying to chunk out the code, as it were (hope that makes sense). Links are as important for readers as they are for queriors, so I have never deliberately left one out. As far as the hotlinking, I do that to save space (a long url will explode the page sideways, *very* annoying to have to scroll side-to-side) with particularly long urls, otherwise I generally leave as is. I believe Jason used to do that, he taught me how way back when and I've used it when I think it's warranted. If you want me to stop, just let me know and I will leave all linkage as it appears. And James is right, I was more than a little annoyed with the troubles I was having, between the mail and site servers I'd hit a wall and was very frustrated. It all had to happen on a day with a LOT of replies, go figure. I'm sorry, I don't know what else anyone could have done, but James did email me about the problem immediately. Marina <All we can do... BobF> WWM Slacking Off Again? - 10/19/2005 Hi - love your website. <Glad to hear this! Thank you for these words.> My question is regarding the sections about Freshwater Maintenance and Freshwater Water Quality. Although it lists articles on these subjects, no articles are showing up on the website... only FAQ's. Are there articles somewhere that I just can't see? <Nope, not yet. These are currently just "place holders", as Bob says.... A spot to sort of bookmark something yet to be written.... Maybe we will squeeze another article out of me this week, or another crewmember....?> Thanks, Karen <Stay tuned, -Sabrina> The reason I'm sending you this is because I couldn't get a response at WWM. Teddy <... there may well be something wrong twixt our email systems... We get a few "blank" messages per week, and some with no "tray" to respond to with the general note from our server that there is/are "errors on page"... If all would include their email addresses in the text... we could at least respond to them. Your system is still "settling in"... with time, the improved operation of your skimmer, you should see improvement in lessened algal growth... however, if you want "real help", it would behoove you to read re marine filtration on WWM, consider switching some gear, adding a live sump/refugium... Bob Fenner> Response Time 9/9/05 Thank you so much for responding so quickly <Unfortunately we at the crew are not always able to respond as quickly as we would like, but in any case we try as best as we can. Glad we were able to help.-Chuck> Lost In Space Question 8/18/05 Dear Bob and Crew, I have sent three emails concerning a problem I am having with a recent purchase of a Sarcophyton elegans. I also attached a picture. Can you please tell me if it is in someone's mailbox or has it been lost in space. Thanks and happy reefing, Dean <This is the first time I recall seeing your name, this issue... We have had some troubles with email... Please resend here or to my personal email addy: fennerrobert@hotmail.com Cheers, Bob Fenner> Getting replies from WWM, Wha' Happen? Hi backatcha! I received your link, but couldn't find a reply to my question. < Blundell here today. You should receive a reply emailed back to you. In fact you should be reading this as an email sent back to you. > Sorry, but I suck on the computer: I actually was able to send you my question because my son was home from university and did it for me. < Always nice to helpful kids. No worries, hopefully we can help. > Where do I look to find the reply? < Well you could search for a couple words that you included in your email to us. That will help. > I checked the daily answers, but it wasn't there. I will check daily, as I read WWM every day to learn more about my new "hobby", which has now become my new life! < We know the feeling. > Thanks again, Rita < Best of luck, Blundell. > - Hard to Read - Awesome website, but so painful on the eyes to read. <Interesting.> Hard to tell when question ends and answer begins. Can you change fonts between questions and answers, or something? <Well... given the fact that we have 1,000's of pages that would really require a lot of work and more than we can ask of our current batch of volunteers who are busy answering questions. Already takes several hours a day just to handle what we do... what you request would only add time for folks who don't get paid. Perhaps you want to volunteer to handle this monumental task?> Thanks. Bob B. Richland, WA <Cheers, J -- > Awesome website, but soo painful on the eyes to read - Bob's Thoughts I'm not saying go back and redo what's been done. That would be dumb. I'm suggesting how it can be improved. <A worthy suggestion... and we've had occasion to make such "light year" improvements... e.g. adding a date (sometimes) for incept.... And... there are folks here who could likely write a program to "go back", change to a different font... AND the issue of font types and sizes has been bantered back and around a few times... e.g. we've settled on Times New Roman for most of our online mag... The real, maybe REAL tough choice here is actually the process itself... that is to say, how and who is to decide what is better/best in the way of formatting (and I guess contenting too)... And as Jas points out... no one here is paid... and I'm up to my limit in number of hours daily, weekly, any consideration of time-wise... So, not a smarty comment, but really, how would you go about deciding such issues? And REALLY, how would you like to actually effect them? Bob Fenner> More - Awesome website, but soo painful on the eyes to read. Would it be possible for you to respond to questions in a different font (maybe a larger darker font), so that your answers would stand out more? <Don't know... for me, the present format has been proven to work out fine for the vast majority... the Webmail program we use doesn't have the option of changing to bold... italics... this would have to be done on the Web authoring program... more work/time... Am reminded of a few times in self-employment in the trade, doing service work on fountains in settings where folks (obviously) worked and slept on different schedules, of the madness of soliciting opinions of when on/off timers should be set... there is/was no consensus... In looking at the FAQs for 2, 3, sometimes 4 hours per day, the font type, size (in afternoons, evenings often have to put on glasses) seems fine. Some folks here place responses on continuous lines, some use other carating... for the most part this is about what it is... Am curious: May I ask, on your path do you see the way, or just yourself? Bob Fenner> - We Won't get GoogleWacked Again... or will We? - It must feel good knowing that you are a 1 in 3 billion chance. I'm not! The 2 words I was looking for were:- Indestructible Stonefishes I tell you what. Could you find me a googlewhack or 2 or 3? <Hmm... I don't recall exactly but I know WetWebMedia has been a source of GoogleWhacks before. Search for that phrase using the search tool on our pages and you will likely find it.> I've found 2, I'm looking for a third. This could be interesting. <Already is.> All the best, Ben. <Cheers, J -- > WWM crew: Please read - mail answering habits Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2005 09:53:37 -0800 (PST) [I'm replying originally to a new crew member here but have CC'd it to y'all... WWM Crew/friends... please take note of my advice below when answering your queries. It would be an enormous help(!!!) to Bob if we all tidied up our mail answering habits and answered in a standardized fashion. I got yet another polite comment/complaint yesterday from a hobbyist that says she doesn't read the dailies sometimes because it hurts her eyes trying to read through different crew answering styles and a sometimes "sloppy"/confusing layout. I frankly agree (slight as the problem is)] Please note the following suggested template for answering a query: TITLE and date query content with spaces and extra/blank lines deleted from their original message to save Bobs eyes! <your reply in single carrots on its own line> their sign off <your acknowledgement in return (please do so if they have taken the time to thank you), and please sign your name so that we can know whose mailbox to send follow-up replies to> * also note: delete all extraneous matter above and below your finished query like their sigs, mail routing info, etc. Before you hit the send button, the ONLY thing that should be in that window is a clean reply that follows the above template. sincerely... the Marine Nazi (occasionally a Soup Nazi) :) Ant- seriously... if anyone has any questions or wants to walk through some query answering, please feel welcome to call me at 412795XXXX --------- ah, good. No worries either about Bob. He really gets fatigued at times from the extraordinary amount of work he has to do on the site each day. Literally several hours without fail. Thus, when one crew member is forming habits that are bad... it literally translates to extra work for him. What I mean by helping you by phone too is to verify/clarify that you know to clear all extraneous matter above and below your finished reply before you hit send... title and date all queries... always sign your name so that follow-ups can get to you (we need to know who's box to send them to)... chew up all blank lines, extra spaces in the original piece of mail... make your replies are on their own line and encased by carrots <>...even correct some spelling (a huge help to Bob). All of this to have a final FAQ before sending that looks polished, tight and tidy. It takes mere seconds for us each to do with our mail, but adds up to hours if the 100 or so e-mails daily lack this by crew :p Christmas Vacation? Dear Crew, Have not seen an update now since 12/20. Is this a glitch or a holiday break? Well whatever hope you all have happy holidays. <just short-handed and overwhelmed from the administrative side. Have posted an update today (12/24). Happy Holidays :) Anthony> How long should I expect to wait for a response from WWM? I submitted a question yesterday about mantis shrimp and was wondering, if you do answer, and if it is posted, etc, will I receive notice of the posting/answering? << You should get an email back from us. I know you did, because I answered that question about an hour ago. Sorry for the delay, sometimes it takes us a couple days to get to the emails. They come in spurts. (it is daunting to log in here and find I have 20 emails to respond to) >> Or should I keep checking one of the web sites? << For future reference if it goes a week without being answered, write us again. Otherwise you should it come to your inbox as well as being posted on the site. >> Thanks! << Thanks and good luck in Salt Lake City (check out www.utahreefs.com) >> Tom << Blundell >> http://www.wetwebmedia.com/corlfeeding.htm (page missing?) Is there supposed to be an article under the header on this page? <Mmm, yes... as in there is no article written and placed as yet... AnthonyC and I are not up to this area in a series of books yet... In the meanwhile there are pertinent FAQs to be placed...> Appreciate all your advice to folks! John <Thank you. Bob Fenner> Learning to search the site 11/6/04 How big do black Ghost Knifefish get? <please do take the time to help yourself here my friend. You will learn the answer fast and learn so much more in the process. Simply navigate to www.wetwebmedia.com and/or fishbase.org and do a keyword search for "Knifefish" with the search tools on these pages> For my marine tank how deep should the sand bed be for a 65-gallon? <it depends on what you are trying to accomplish with it. Deep (over 4" of sugar-fine grade) for nitrate reduction... shallow (less than 1/2") for ease of maintenance... coarse for larger microcrustaceans, etc.> can you recommend a type of sand? thank you. <as per above needs> Jahner <and here too... please take the time to do a keyword search for "live sand" or navigate to our coverage of the subject in the archives. Kindly, Anthony> Missing questions Hey guys...I had sent a question in about 1 month or so ago and didn't get a chance to see the response on the Daily FAQ's and when I do a Google search for it, I can see the page that it's on, but when I click on the link to view that FAQ page, it isn't on the page...like it was scrolled off or something. << Hmmm, send it again. We usually answer all emails pretty quick. If it goes a couple days without being answered then I'm not sure what happened. >> Would you happen to have it logged or saved somewhere, or possible have the link to the complete FAQ page that it resides on? << Not sure what your question was, but if you send it again we can find it from before, or just answer it again. Sorry for the trouble. >> Thanks for the help again. << Blundell >> WWM Mac help Hey guys, <Howdy Fellow Mac user> I am running a Mac g4 and using Safari to browse. I can get to the WWM mail page, but can't open my Rich folder. <Yeah, it's something that confuses Safari.... Drives me nuts as well.> I can in IE, but switching browsers is a pain, and the WWM page on IE is kinda buggy. <You can simply have the IE browser sitting in your dock. that is how I manage to get to WWM mail. I only use IE for WWM things. So, you don't have to switch anything aside from use IE only for these emails.> Any ideas on how to make Safari work? <I have asked lots of people and even dealt with Mac developers and they can't seem to figure why it's doing that. They all seem to say "It should work". I tried other settings, re doing some of the code to see what to do... Nada. I did recently try using Mozilla, which did allow me to use WWM mail. Though, it gave me a bit of difficulty at first. had to reload the page a few times in order to get into the personal email folder. Mac apps just don't seem to like the site. If I learn of anything to make Safari work I'll let you know. but as it stands now, I keep an old version of IE just for WWM. Try out Mozilla and see if you like it.> Thanks! Rich <Hope that helps a little. -Magnus (aka John)> Lost Question? Sorry to be a pest <You are not> but could you please answer what I have asked as it is important I am doing the right thing for the sake of the fish involved, Thank you once again. <I'm sorry but I thought I did. Please re send your concerns. Don> WWM crew Hi, Just got a PM at reefs.org from JimM saying there was interest in folks volunteering for the WWM staff. I'd like to get some more information about what the position would entail. Thanks! Matt Wandell <Fielding queries... responding to folks who write in... in a kindly, timely manner. Takes about a half hour any given day... pays zip. Bob Fenner> Specialized FAQs Logs: Freshwater, Brackish Hi Crew I see you have specialized FAQs for others why not for saltwater? <As these are the most prevalent types, they're treated in the "original" FAQs folder. Will consider separating the others out day of, but am up to my 2-3 hour per day limit just moving the FAQs about, making new files, folders. Bob Fenner> I need more Info. on the pond liners, etc. I can be reached at 605-358-XXXX Tom <Mmm, I/we don't provide phone call service. If you can formulate what you're seeking I may be able to direct you to someone who can. Bob Fenner> FAQs on FAQs Bob, I wrote a question on 10/2/04, I don't know if you respond directly to the email via a return email or posted the response on the website. I tried searching your sight for a response, (for over an hour), but couldn't find it. Could you respond to my questions and if the response is posted to the sight please advise on how to find it. << Frank, emails are sent directly back to the inquisitor. I'm unsure of why you didn't receive a reply, but I will do so. Please send your question again. >> Thanks, Frank << Blundell >> Re: past question's response where would I look to see a response for email sent on 10/2/04? <If it has been responded to already, the response would go to the querior and next day likely to the "Daily FAQs", and if Freshwater or Brackish in nature, to those separate "Daily FAQs" the next day, or if marine, to the folder/s of the subject/s it relates to. If you have the original query, you may well be able to locate the archived response by using the Google search tool on WWM employing some of the key terms. Bob Fenner> Query lost in space? I sent an email about my planted tanks about a week ago or so, and I was wondering if there's a problem, because I haven't seen a response and then my account on the forums was no longer there and that was weird, I mean I only had it a couple of weeks and hadn't even used it I don't think. I was wondering if I did something or if you never got them? thank you Ian <I do recall a query as you describe, but don't see it right off in anyone's in-box. Please do send it along again. Bob Fenner> Answers (WWM "tude" and incomplete transmissions?) Hi your site is absolutely fantastic and has mostly proved very helpful if a little high and mighty at times (attitude which comes across in the replies) <Well, I never... Heeee!> but I wanted to comment when replies are sent to email addresses they only arrive in part and to get the rest of the reply one must go to the site <What? Really? Can, will you send me an example? All should go back to the original querior... The "saved" versions (which I principally post) should be identical...> which is fine if you check your emails every day for those of us who cant by the time we do (sometimes as soon as the second day) those questions have been moved on to the relevant areas which unfortunately aren't always obvious to us mere mortals and regularly extremely difficult to find if not impossible. In conclusion after receiving many half replies to which I am unable to find the full responses I would ask you to consider either replying in full to questions or providing links somehow to the original questions. Regards Nicole <This is news to me... and disturbing. We have used this mail server for years now... and when I cc my Hotmail account... all the response "comes over". Bob Fenner> Navigating WWM archives 9/20/04 Hi there guys and gals........... <howdy> I am trying to hunt down a particular write up that had been suggested in a previous question and answer... I was praying you'd be able to help me out here, as I've searched for days and hours on end to try and find this response you guys were mentioning......here is a part of it......which suggested it was pasted below...... _______________________________________________________________ From where the polyps are budding, there are swollen little "bubbles" in the tissue (looks as if an air bubble were under the tissue). Earlier in the year (2/16, removed 3/10), I had an anemone (Condylactis gigantea) in my tank which caused a similar reaction. Other creatures in tank: Aiptasia, about 6 Blue Legged Hermit Crabs, 5 Turbo Snails (Astrea), Spaghetti worms (several attached to coral itself recently...could this be a cause??), several copepods, and isopods. <I just replied to a similar question at length to be posted on the dailies tomorrow... is has been pasted below this message for your convenience... several possibilities for trapped air bubbles> _________________________________________________________________ I do hope that this lends a hand in helping this previous response out of the files...many thanks. A Keeper <sigh> alas I do not recall it either, my friend. I'm not sure which crew remember replied to it. I don't remember it myself. Its about all we can handle as it is answering and archiving hundreds of queries weekly with a crew of volunteers at a free website. I can only say/suggest more specific/strategic keyword searches. And we will post this message with the hopes that another crew member or daily WWM reader recalls the same. We will post that message in kind if they do (look for it in the next 2 days if so as this/all messages are moved on and off the daily page in 24 hours or less usually). best regards, Anthony> Are you getting my emails? I emailed Mr. Calfo about fragging a Fungia coral but didn't hear back. So I emailed twice to see if you guys were even getting my emails but didn't hear back. I guess it was my hotmail account because I signed up for yahoo and now you are getting my emails. JJ <Well, Anthony has been out for a few days (back Tues.), oh, and I do see two messages for you in his in-box (there are 25 of us here)... so he'll likely respond tomorrow... unless you'd like the mail re-routed to someone else here... We have had interminable problems with our mail. Be chatting, Bob Fenner> Just a quick question Sent in a question last week, and no answer, not even a scolding for not looking first, ( which I always do). Am I black listed or something? Quinn. <Mmm, we reply to all... sometimes takes a few days... Please re-send your message. Bob Fenner> Archive of Daily Questions 7/23/04 I hate to be a bother, but I have one last question... I was wondering if you guys and gals will post this my "dilemma" and questioning on the website? Call me a dork but I just think it would be cool, plus I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world with a 50 gallon tank wondering if a Yellow tang would fit the bill. If so, could you please respond back whenever convenient and send me the link the page it is posted in. (I have actually tried searching myself already, but no such luck :/ ) Lots of THANKS from Arizona <No bother and no dorkiness perceived! Many of the daily questions are archived. If they are very recent, they can be found here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/daily_faqs.htm After a day or few they are moved to the appropriate section of WWM, so in the case of yellow tang dialog, you would navigate to the marine section, then the section that pertains to tangs and then perhaps a section on the genus Zebrasoma, but it will be in there somewhere! We definitely know that many folks have questions that have been previously asked and answered, so we try to keep them all and put them where the curious will find them. Best Regards! Adam> WWM Repeat Questions Dear Bob and all; Perhaps this is a dumb question, but I keep getting repeat questions in my box, such as the one currently in the in box "Feeding Flatfishes". The first time I answered it, hit send and then deleted the original question, rather than moving it to the "send" folder as I had been. duh.. sorry. The second time, I repeated the whole process just in case the original had not gone through perchance, but I just saw it again. Same question, same person, already answered twice. <Bizarre> Is anyone else experiencing this or am I doing something wrong that's causing it? <This has happened before... shades of Rod Serling... I've thought that folks might be sending their questions repeatedly, not receiving an original reply...> Thanks in advance, MikeD <BTW, what do you feed flatfishes? Argggghhhh, Bob F> Curious About Specialized FAQs Logs - 6/28/2004 To the person handling Daily FAQ's parsing: <Hi there... mainly me. Glad to find someone realizes (sniff) that this is a human task (I'm not sophisticated enough to utilize a database routine... yet. And am hopeful that "tricking" folks into crossing over, reading related materials is instructive.> I was glad when I noticed you created specialized Daily FAQ's for the 3 water types. However, while I read only the Saltwater section, I still see many FAQ's about Goldfish and Mollies and Puffers that seem to belong in Fresh or Brackish sections. At first I figured you were slowly migrating over to this new system, but it doesn't seem like you are finished. What gives? Rich <I do place all initially in the root/marine directory... and re-parse next day to the freshwater and brackish (et al.) subwebs... Am hopeful that one of the next "big leaps forward" (not to be confused with Mao) will be some of us "doing" just freshwater, brackish... These areas really need "spiffing up", and will be much easier for people better versed to organize and read areas of their specialty. Cheers, Bob Fenner, not too lazy appearing hopefully... but 2-3 hours a day is about all I have to put in here.> Re: Curious About Specialized FAQs Logs - 6/28/2004 Bob: Wow, I did not think you were the one who mainly handles FAQ parsing. Hey, that makes sense now; the other two sections being a day behind. Sorry to take your time away from more essential email. Rich <Hee heeee! You know the axiom about not assigning work to others you wouldn't do yourself? Call it my daily penance... actually, I enjoy and learn a great deal through the process. Be chatting, Bob F> Opinions, input on WWM Michael (we're building up the Michael factor here, too!), I think it would be most helpful for you if I pointed out that, at one point or another we ALL have contradicted one another. We're here to write of our experiences, and yours is different from hers is different from his is different from mine. If you have a method that works, and you can speak to it clearly and understandably, then PLEASE, simply do so. Your experience simply cannot be negated because it flies in the face of conventional wisdom, especially if you've met with good success. The one, whole, and entire point to the entire site is to help ensure the success of hobbyists and trades people so fewer specimens die, and ultimately, it is my belief, more can be provided by us, for us, negating the need to harvest from the wild in an unsustainable manner. This goes for African cichlids as well as reef fauna. Please, keep this in mind, and if possible, try to take it to heart. No one will be offended if you can speak to a different methodology that *works* (and apparently, in more than a few instances, works quite well) for you. It very well may work for others, and that knowledge you have up there is what everyone's after. Quite pleased to welcome you to the crew, and when I can I'll be watching for your replies. (Look for me to be back in full force in September.) Marina Emails G'day, I've sent 2 emails in the past couple of days and I haven't had a response yet. I'm sure your busy, but did you get the emails (one was about filtration and the other was about my banded coral shrimp). <Found them... in Ryan's in-box... just backed-up. Moved to others> As you normally response so quickly, I was just wondering whether you did receive my emails or not. Please let me know.. Cheers Chris <Sometimes> PS. Thanks for putting my email about 'Coral Warfare' on the website. <We answer, post all. Bob Fenner> Bouncing E-Mails (6/17/04) FYI: I just wanted to make you aware of email problems you seem to be experiencing. For the last few weeks, email I send to crew@wetwebmedia.com has been returned. I was able to get one email through after approximately 4-5 attempts but all other emails return an error similar to that is pasted below. --Greg <Greg, I see from your longer e-mail that you were attempting to attach pix. Like many e-mail servers these days, ours bounce large attachments. If you send anything larger than a few hundred KB, we cannot receive it. My personal (Comcast) e-mail server rejects anything larger than a meg or two. If you use your imaging software to optimize your images for e-mail (most have a wizard for this task) and keep it well under 500KB, it should get through. Steve Allen. PS, I will answer your query in a separate reply.> Concern re format of responses on/of WWM I have debated to send this for several weeks. I have asked questions before and have always received an answer. Thank You! I appreciate your service. Now my concern. Many times you correct people for the lack of punctuation, that is fine. It is expressed that all questions get posted and you want them to legible and I assume you try and keep the sight as professional as possible. Why then is it necessary for the frequent use of profanity in some of the responses. This is becoming more common. <!, I share your concern here... and do see most all, post all queries/responses when I am in the States. Might you be able to give me an example or two of such swearing? As the "common progenitor" of this service it is indeed my desire to keep the content "civil"... I have an abiding concern that we not offend children, folks of diminished capacity... or adults!> I have recommended your site to many people, many children that are 12 - 16 years of age. I hesitate to do that anymore. If you do not want to post this message that is fine. Please do not let a great site go to the dumps. Thank You Tracy Doherty <Thank you for this input. I will share with all our crew of volunteers. Be assured that we are aware that "the medium is the message", and are concerned as well. Bob Fenner> Re: Profanity Concern Bob, Hello, I am the one that sent the comment in about profanity. I can not find the one that happened a few days ago. I know the profanity typically shows up in responses from Marina. The last occurrence, one of the sentences in the response started with Jesus, and then it went on to respond to the question. I feel terrible complaining, but I feel it is best to get it stopped before it becomes a real problem. Thank You for your quick response and concern. Tracy Doherty <Ahh... you have spawned a debate of sorts amongst us here (in the void that's the Net) re "what constitutes" profanity... Perhaps we are discussing finer lines than I'd imagined. I will BCC Marina here re. Thank you. Bob Fenner> Re: Profanity Concern Sorry to have caused a problem. Yes, I am sure everyone's definition of profanity is different. That is why I hesitated to say anything. I have been following WetWebMedia for almost two years. For the first year plus, I did not see an offensive word. The last six months that seems to be changing. Perhaps minor, but if it does not add to the value of the response and it can be offensive to others, why use it? <Always a good question... I can only imagine "for emphasis" as a response... that's reasonable. I find that the vast majority of language, indeed actual negative experiences are a matter of "acting out", or non-thinking on peoples' parts> Please accept my apology if I am out of line. You have an overall excellent website. Thank You Tracy Doherty <Again, thank you for your input. Bob Fenner> Lost query Dear gang, I sent a email message over a week ago with three pics attached for assistance concerning identification of three sponges. I have not seen it posted or gotten a response. Just a question to see if you did receive it or if I need to resend. Thanks Dean <Dean, I am the one generally moving FAQs and graphics about... I don't have three images of sponges to place, or your query. Please do re-send all. Bob Fenner> Endorsements Dear Bob, Hope all is going well. I am having great fun participating on the site. Seems like people really have problems and need some good advice. <Yes. Thank you again. Your cichlid input has been excellent> Anyway I had a couple of questions. 1) Do you think it is appropriate if we make recommendations for certain kinds of foods or makes of equipment? I have been tempted but have refrained because of possible conflicts with advertisers. I would be interested in your thoughts. <No problem at all in speaking well or ill of products, lines you feel/think/know are exemplary or deleterious. We/WWM have a long-standing "policy" in speaking our minds/hearts... are not under any obligation, sensibility otherwise> 2) I will be speaking at numerous aquarium societies this year (9) so far and was wondering if it was worthwhile posting these on the events on the website. Thanks for your time. CR <Yes, please do send along announcements of where you will be, any other gathering of ornamental aquatic interest. We do post these... and if you have sites to list, please send these along as well. Bob Fenner> - WWM Googlewhack - hi crew ^_^ you are a googlewhack! "shoehorn Rabbitfish" (thought you might like to know) Katie <Neat... thanks for the info. For those of you don't know what this is, typical Internet searches on Google yield many pages of potential links. A Googlewhack is when a particular search yields only one result. Give it a go... Thanks, Katie. Cheers, J -- > - Missing Articles? - Hi, I have noticed that in several areas that your pages have just the title and no following text. The Carbon Dioxide, and the Silicates as well. I am not sure how many others are like this. Thank You Randy <Am well aware of this, and in fact there are many others - we do this to create place markers for articles we would like to, but have yet to write. Thanks for noticing. Cheers, J -- > Looking for more online WWM help 10/30/03 I sent you an e-mail yesterday with my personal email address with a question about a problem I am having. I also would like to know if you can go into the website here and chat with somebody when I am on line. <hmmm... sort of... we have our chat forum... reach it from the main page where there is a small link> If so how do I get there? <follow this link http://wetwebfotos.com/talk/> Sorry I am all ??????"s <no worries... its all good, and how we learn> Thanks, Teri <best of luck, Anthony> Jeni and Lulu on WWM! Cheers, Jeni Very glad to hear of your interest in volunteering! Is especially nice to discover your shared admiration for FW and Brackish denizens. Pasted below are a couple of messages from Jas and myself (with links to follow) sent to recent volunteers and summarizing our habits/preferences in answering mail to keep all on the same page so to speak :) Please do regard. I'll look forward to meeting you in person, my friend. Thanks again! Anthony Please take note of the crew addies included in this message if you haven't already (bookmark as WWM crew) Pasted below is some advice Jas C shared with another member for guidance. Do look over and regard. Also, you might find it useful to read the FAQs on FAQs at: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/faqsonfaqs.htm about half way down there in particular you'll notice an entry titled "WWM mail answering" and the next one below ("more on...") that also summarizes our habits/duties when answering mail. Do focus on timely and truthful answers (ideally within 24 hours or simply move it out of your mailbox for another to take care of). Research when you can/are interested... always/often direct queries to the archives or other resources when appropriate ("help them to help themselves")... do let Bob/us know when you will be away or need a break... and above all, enjoy yourself and learn as you teach/share. Best regards, Anthony Calfo --------------- Good evening, Ian. Bob asked me to send you the skinny, so here it is... Point your browser to XXXX - log in with the username: XXXX and the password: XXXX, look on the left hand side of the browser window, you will see a list of folders and in particular an IanB folder. Chances are good that the folder will be empty at the moment, but that won't last for long. Anthony, Bob, and I are generally the people who move mail around and if we know you have a particular specialty, we will tend to put those types of messages in your box. Fear not, as we don't dump all the mail in one folder but try to share the misery equally including among the three of us. While I'm on that subject, if there's something in particular you want to handle, do let us know... So, in the interim, while you are waiting for your first mails to arrive, do check out the daily FAQs at http://www.wetwebmedia.com/daily_faqs.htm where you will get an idea of the response style we'd like you to use. You might notice that Marina is the one hold out for the moment, but that most of the other respondents all use a format of <this is my reply> to break their responses apart from the original email. Likewise, the emails that you respond to will invariably be moved onto this page and then into the other FAQs within Wet Web Media so you need to keep in mind that your audience is not just the person you are responding to. Once it's time to manage and answer the various emails in your folder, you can use your own method for doing this, but please try and keep to the following guidelines. Anyway, the web browser window is broken into four parts, a "toolbar" on the top, the folders on the left, a the list of available emails to the right of the folders and under the toolbar, and then the larger white text area where the various emails appear; test this by clicking on an email and the body of the message will appear in the white text area. Once you are prepared to reply, and with the particular email highlighted, either click the reply button in the toolbar or in the message window and a new window will pop-up; this is your reply window. From this point, and most importantly, make sure the box "Save message in Sent folder" is checked. Then, from either the original text window, or from the new pop-up window, you will need to copy and paste the body of the message so that it appears above the auto-signature. Once that is done you can delete everything else below the signature. Then, and quite importantly, create a title for the question/reply and put that at the beginning of the message. Also, please try and eliminate as many oddball line breaks you can... you will notice by reading the dallies that not everyone does this, but when you don't it leads to really ragged right hand margins. Then, and as you've probably seen in other replies, give it your best shot. If the question is completely out of your league, move it to someone else's email box, or email them directly for assistance. Many people who answer questions for us are hardly experts, and I would include myself in that batch, but we know how to look things up either within the site or on fishbase.org and beyond. What you really need to do as often as possible is refer people back to other articles/FAQs within Wet Web Media. As you might well imagine, original questions are few and far between and instead we answer the same questions over and over again. Do avoid burning yourself out by answering a question with a question, forcing the sender to write back to you. Similarly, try to avoid book-length answers if you can... it will only hurt your hands. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but still... you will find in time that brevity and directness is the key to sanity, and unless the question is completely unique, you can avoid re-entering War and Peace by simply referring the person to an article or two within Wet Web Media. Really good examples of this are the articles on quarantine and parasitic disease treatment. Anyway, once your reply is complete, click the send button and move on to the next email. There are some other small items to contend with, but by and large these are only housekeeping. For me, I like to sort the emails in my box according to date, so that I answer the oldest emails first. Likewise, once you are done, click on your folder icon again to refresh the list view of your folder - you may find that you have some new messages or you may just see the email icons have changed from a regular email to a "replied to" icon. Once you've completed the questions you're going to do for the day, click on the checkbox for each individual message and then click the delete icon in the toolbar. This will move your messages to the trash where someone else will clean them up. As long as you've checked the "Save message in Sent folder" box in your replies, all your replies will be in a place other people are expecting to find them and they will be moved to the website at least once a day. Try to avoid clicking the "Delete All" button. If there's something you're not comfortable with, or if you have problems with the web interface, don't hesitate to contact me and I'll do what I can to help out. I've CC'd this message to Anthony Calfo in case there's something I forgot, which wouldn't surprise me. I'll also be sending out another message in a little while to introduce you to the "Crew" and also hook you with all the emails of the various members, some of whom I'm sure will contact you to say welcome aboard. If you could, please send along a photo and a brief bio so we can add this information to the Wet Web Media Crew pages. Let me know if you have any questions/issues and welcome aboard. Cheers, J- Brackish water plants page Hi Guys, Just to let you's know, the page 'Plants for brackish water systems' - all bar one image is missing, none of the subject links can be found, hoping to be of help Mark <Thank you for this notice. Fixed the page... don't know what went wrong. Bob Fenner> Missing Inquiry - 9/26/03 Hi, I asked a question yesterday and didn't get an answer. <Sorry to hear. We try to respond within 24hours. I looked throughout the mailboxes and sent items folders but did not see your email. Would you mind resending it?> Will the answer be e-mailed back to me or will I have to check the web site periodically. <Nope, we should respond directly to the email address from which it originated. The response is also sent for addition to our "Today's Frequently Asked Questions" section and later moved to the appropriate FAQ section. Again, sorry for the delay> Yuell Lost email - 9/26/03 FYI, Did you get this? <Yes we did. Thanks for the second chance. We will get to this in the order that it came in. Thanks again.> Yuell - Tips on Search Highlighting - Crew: Here's an easier way for people to find specific entries on a long page: First, use the search tool to find and go to the page. Next, click on "edit" in the menu bar Then, from the drop down choices choose "Find (on this page)" From there, one just enters the word or phrase and it will take directly to each occurrence of that word/phrase one at a time. Steve <Thanks, Steve for this suggestion, will post in as many obvious places as possible and hopefully the word will get out. Cheers, J -- > WWM highlight tool? Gentlemen... or Jas/Zo if you prefer What would it take for us to have a search tool on WWM that highlights the keyword for searchers like we see on other big message boards? As you know, this has come up somewhat regularly in queries from folks. Not everyone is savvy enough (myself included 'til recently) to have the presence of mind to cut/paste/windows-find a keyword from the found page(s). Seems like a very helpful tool for folks that otherwise get frustrated and quit looking for what they know is there somewhere. I realize it will take work to make it so from our/your end... but what say ye to the notion, and what would it take? Antoine <Mmm, good idea... and has come up before. The folks at MS and Google have to "make this so". What we've told people before is that they can copy, paste the "pages" they're sent to by Google, then run the "Word" et al. software to search for terms there... Bob... Or folks can add a/the "Google Search Bar" to their desktop/our site... and use the highlight tool on it...> No Answer? - 8/19/03 HI all, <cheers> I had sent an email on 8/17 and again on 8/18 but have not received a reply. <hmm... I see your 8/18 query in a box yet/soon to be answered> It was regarding setting up an Eheim canister filter. The email address that I sent it from was XXX. How long is the turn around time for answering questions? <we attempt to get to all within 24 hours... some mere hours/minutes. Yet we/you are at the mercy of a free content website and the kind efforts of an all-volunteer staff. Please have patience my friend> Thanks, Ken <regards, Anthony> No Subject, No Background, No Answer... Hi Cody, <Howdy!> Thanks for the response, but where do I find it? <Err, find what? I read too many emails a day and can't remember the one I just answered 5 minutes ago, so you will have to refresh my memory on this. Cody> Pictures Displayed in FAQs Hey, Crew, Get Off of My Cloud: How come when I (as well as others) send a picture, it does not get displayed in the FAQs, but others do? Is it the way they send it, simply space considerations, or only pictures with significant meaning get some play? Thanks, Rich <Mainly a matter of who responds... whether they place the response (with graphic) in our "emails with images" folder OR the person who sorts the incoming query saves the graphic and places it later... and some graphics don't "come through"... we/I place all I get my keys on, and assure you that we appreciate pix, drawings. Bob F., in Hawai'i right now> Mystery sender Hey guys and gals, I sent out a reply and it bounced. Now what? Vertical file? Try again? Thoughts/ideas/policies appreciated. It's the one from the "Postmaster" in my inbox. Thanks all, PF <I'll just post on the dailies and hope the folk/s see it... send their real addr. next time. Bob> - Technical Problem for Webmaster - Howdy! <Good day to you as well.> I tried to load the following page, and I got the header, and a picture next to it, but no articles: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/corlfeeding.htm Supposed to be about feeding corals? <It is 'supposed' to be, but the article hasn't been written yet - is a form of WWM Post-It (tm) note.> Thanks! -Cathy in Texas <>< <Cheers, J -- > Re: Aiptasia pests (Nudi predators) and WWM Search help Hey Gang, how ya doin'? Here's a link for the Berghia Nudi's that eat them unwanted Aiptasia Anemones. http://www.seaslugs.com/ As I hear they are hard to come by, (not the Aiptasia !) , I thought I'd throw this link your way. Thanks for all the help the WWM crew has been to me in the past. Scott in Denver PS. If folks flooding y'all with questions would simply type, in the search engine, the key word they are asking about, then hit the "cached" under the FAQs the search pulled up, they could get to the answers they're looking for without asking the question thru a emailed question, (if that made any sense!), maybe lighten the load on the crew!. <Thanks much for both these inputs. Bob Fenner> A snap shot of the future, DO look at this! some guidelines/suggestions for how to make inquiries& Yup, but I'd bet few people read it. How about instead of the "Ask the WWM Crew a Question" being a direct link to an open email composer, have it go instead to a page with the following:- prominent Google search bar with "See if your question has been asked and answered before!"- list of Things We Would Like To Know About Your Tank- links to the most popular/most need-to-be-read FAQs: the "Best of Skimmer FAQs", the ich FAQs, etc.- link to the WetWebFotos forum Then, at the *bottom* of that page, something like "Still can't find an answer to your question? Email us here" with the email link.< I like this idea and think it would probably work the best. If we start replying slower I think people are going to get discouraged and will then not write in when they do have a serious problem.& I've got a start on a freshwater setup article. Right now it's basically a bulleted list of supplies. But I'd be happy to put that up.--Ananda < LOL! Ananda, we think too much alike. I noticed the lack of an article at http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwset-up.htm and decided to go ahead and try writing one. It's pretty much finished, just needs a little polishing that I'm hoping to get to this week. I tried to cover everything from tanks and stands to filtration to livestock and plants but I still need to go over it to make sure I didn't miss any important points. If anyone wants to proofread it and make suggestions just LMK. I can either copy and paste or attach it as a MS Word file. Ronni <Please make it known if/how I may be of assistance here. Pix, editing, helping send along/sell these works if you'd like. Bob F> Re: FAQ Overload Bob; <Steve> I read with interest the posts from other WWM Crew about the overload of FAQs. The concept of the Ask A Question link going to a brief page of instructions/navigation guide with the option to e-mail if unable to find the answer is a very good idea. <Yes. Miguel/Michael has drafted some ideas... folks here (in cyberspace) are checking same over before we post... to... areas where we encourage others to write in> I had written you before about how people can use a word processor to better hone in on the answer they're looking for. <Ah, yes> As it stands now, it is a bit difficult for people to find specific info in the FAQs. Google is a great search engine, but clicking on the highlighted term in a search result just sends people to the top of that particular FAQ page. If there were some way for the link to take the person directly to each occurrence of that word, they would not have to read the entire FAQ page to find what they're looking for. <Yes, and as I see from below, you are likely aware that FrontPage doesn't have this capability (as yet)> I love reading the FAQs and will often read through the whole page. However, there are lots of times when people need (or want) to get directly to the info they're searching on. They might search more & ask less if they could get to where they want to be a little quicker. <Yes... I believe you are right here... I do see some incremental improvements (division of FAQs, incoming and posting to the Subweb level for instance) in the near future> While I am no computer expert, they are my #2 hobby (now that marine aquaria are #1). I have some experience creating a family website with FrontPage and creating PowerPoint web presentations (teaching pediatrics to residents and students). (If interested, you can see what I have done at www.allenhome.com) If I happen to think of some suggestions that might help you out, I'll pass them along. <Thank you> Your site is such a fantastic resource. My fish and I are so much better off for having read & mostly heeded your crew's advice. It would be a loss to the hobby if you become so overwhelmed that you can't keep up. It would be sad for this wonderful site to become a burden to any of you. Thank you for your service to this great hobby. Steve Allen <Not "too much" of a burden at this juncture... and some help on the way with Craig.W coming to visit, get indoctrinated in moving FAQs around (so Jas and I can get out dive traveling at the same time!). Thank you for your kind words, conscious and conscientious help. Bob Fenner> Re: Noisy Red Sea Prizm Skimmer on a 50G tank You have a forum too!?!? Excellent I will take a look thanks. <Yes, hope you find it as much a help as I have. Don> Re: DSB Crash Oh man! I been waiting for days to a response about DSB crashes (if they happen and why) so I finally do a search and it links me toe daily Q&A page (from which your reply had been removed of course - and I can't find it in the FAQs anywhere! Oh No! <S/b here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/dsbfaqs.htm or the next FAQs file. Bob Fenner> Misc. marine questions Hi, Do you have any info on breeding cleaner shrimp? I have a 40 gallon with bioballs in a power filter, live rock, and a protein skimmer. I will probably also use a regular clean up crew including hermit crabs and turbo or Astrea snails. Can you give me some help? Also, do you know of anything that would eat Aiptasia anemones, but not coral polyps or feather dusters? I tried injecting it with calcium supplements, because it is supposed to create a very high ph, but it was ineffective, because they were probably too small to hit accurately.( I used a syringe) <You can investigate these topics on WWM by going here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ and inserting the terms: breeding cleaner shrimp, aiptasia control in the Google search tool. Bob Fenner> WWM crew recruiting... growing, but still not too gassy [A plea for help!] 53,000 unique ISP sessions in one week viewing our humble site... We're growing ever larger! Helping more people... saving fishies and squishies. But... there's just not enough time in the day or drugs in the house to stay awake long enough and work (unpaid... did we mention no moolah? Ha!) to handle the flow of traffic from fellow hobbyists in need. Are you endeared to our website and vision? Do you have the passion, desire, empathy and time (!) to help fellow aquarists in need? Wanna get away once in while to a delightful tropical island with the crew and go diving? Maybe sitting with the WWM gang in front of a hotel room TV with a bag of multi-colored mini-marshmallows and seeing who can spit the most onto the screen and make 'em stick? How 'bout just honest fellowship and feeling good about giving a little back to the hobby & trade that we all admire so well? Don't be shy... you don't need to be an expert... just a sincere apprentice to life and willing to help and learn. We have a big-ole position wide open to help Bob place and file the daily FAQs... answering mail in time if you feel frisky too. interested? E-mail us at crew@wetwebmedia.com and tell us about yourself! Re: Answering email protocol Good Afternoon. I sent this in yesterday. I was just curious if you reply back via e-mail or if you just post the reply on your site? <Both. Send back to source, post a few times a day to WWM dailies, then on to separate FAQs files> Also how long does it usually take. <Sometimes a few hours, at times more than a day. See your original in Gage's inbox> I see that questions are posted continuously and I have tried to keep my eye out for mine online but haven't seen it in the Daily questions or moved to the Nitrate FAQ. <Oh, it will be sent to you first> If I just haven't been patient enough let me know. If something happened I have included it just in case. Thanks. Bill <Okay. Be chatting/reading. Bob Fenner> Today's Frequently Asked Questions To Bob Fenner could you tell me on Today's Frequently Asked Questions how come you can see to different ones in NC on two different computers at the same time. RGibson <Mmm, maybe one was "logged on" at a different time in which the Daily FAQs were updated. I change the date (near the first FAQ) to X.5 at midday, X.75 toward the evening PST if the dailies are updated (moved on/off to the FAQs files) more than once a day. Bob Fenner> Navigating WetWebMedia.com Re: Live rock curing Are there actual directions outlined on WetWeb or just the hundreds of questions and answers? If actual directions where are they? Many thanks again. <the site actually has a good and interconnected order to it. Answers you seek may be found in articles, overviews or FAQs. There are two ways to begin your search for a topic on our site and both begin with you starting at the home page (www.wetwebmedia.com). You may 1) simply type in the word, phrase or topic of interest in the Google search tool at the bottom of that page. It will search the site for you. You get a lot of hits fast this way but in no organized fashion. Better IMO is 2) to navigate your way systematically through the root web... begin by clicking on "marines aquarium articles", then "non-vertebrate life", then you see a section at the top of the page on "Marine Microbiology, Live Rock, Sand". In this particular case, you are correct... there is no formal article on the subject... just a lot of FAQs! We write articles based in part from the FAQs when time allows, we are grateful to receive articles from others that want to share/help fellow aquarists and we have also covered these topics at length in our books. Seek whichever source you feel most comfortable with. Best regards, Anthony> Ailing Lemnalia coral I had emailed a question re an ailing Lemnalia. I don't know if you had a chance to answer back, but if you did where would I find your answer on your website. <I see your question is in Anthony's mailbox to answer. I am sure he will get to it soon. We always reply, so no need to search for your Q&A on the website. You will receive an answer via email.> Thank you, Jim L <You are welcome. -Steven Pro> Thanks! I just want to thank you for the great site on fish. I have spent the last 3 hours reading and have taken in more info than I have ever gotten from a store. Thanks again, Daryl. <Excellent! I'm glad you are finding things of substance on the site. If you haven't discovered our daily facts, take a look. It really is one of the best features on the site...questions and answers change every day! Thanks for the kind words. David D.> Blenny identification Hi Steve, Thanks! I appreciate it! I missed the "flair up" on the email page, but you have my curiosity peeked now ;-), so I will have to go and take a look. <Not really that big of a deal. We get one upset individual about once every six months. On the low end, we get 30 emails per day. Thirty emails per day over six months is 5400 emails. One every 5400 is 0.00185%, not a bad average.> Hmmmm 30 to 75 emails per day. I would have guessed much more. <Some days it feels like many more.> I guess I won't feel too sorry for you ;). It is very obvious that this is a labor of love for you all. You are all very kind and generous with your time and sharing of your knowledge. I am very appreciative and grateful to have such a valuable resource, especially one based on genuine love and concern. There are quite a few BB/sites out there where annoyance and "high and mighty" attitudes prevail with "flaming" a common and frequent occurrence. <Yes, I cannot stand them. Now, banning individuals with opinions that differ from the mentors/authors, seems to be a occurring.> I know I have never felt comfortable around that sort of behavior and it is certainly not an environment that is welcoming or conducive to learning. <I wholeheartedly agree. The internet is a free forum for an exchange of ideas and experiences. Arguing, censorship, and rude behavior should not be tolerated.> I find the site as well as your interactions comfortable and inviting, infused with levity, fun, humor, genuine concern and a wealth of collective knowledge. <Well, thank you kindly.> What better environment for learning to occur, IME/O. My "concern" comes from, I guess, being able to relate, in a way, as well as having a healthy respect for how busy we all are in this very hectic world. I am an administrator/moderator for seahorse.org and so although I do not get near as many personal emails daily I am responsible for reviewing all the posts. <I am sure that is quite a chore.> I answer what I can. I share my responsibilities with several other moderators. In addition to frequenting your site and taking advantage of your generous email assistance personally, I refer to, reference, and recommend your site, services and books frequently. <And we appreciate it.> You guys are great and I just don't want to take advantage of a good thing. <No worries, my friend.> That's all that was meant by my "concern" as you put it, it wasn't really motivated or prompted by anything in particular. <Ok> I never sent the additional photos. As I reviewed them they did not have any more to offer in terms of IDing the adorable critter. <You do not happen to know the collection locale, do you?> Thanks so much as always, Leslie <You are welcome. -Steven Pro> Stump the WWM crew Hidy Ho Bob, It's Craig's stump the WWM crew time! <It is your time> 1. Look at the pic you sent....how do Seriatopora Hystrix branches not collide? <They decide not to> 2. If God is omnipotent, can he make a piece of Fiji live rock so large that he himself and Walt Smith cannot lift it? A marine twist on an old favorite. <Yes> Did you have problems with hot mail today? I was trying to answer mail and couldn't send messages. Figure it was heavy traffic time and would wait. <I have no such difficulties, or their perception... it's only pet-fish> I want to know if Anthony can answer question #2. I'm just a curious guy. Craig <He can answer for himself... can you? Bob F> WWM mail answering <Thanks Antoine. Bob> Gang, Just a friendly reminder/nag for all answering queries for WWM to be consistent and considerate of those (Barb/Bob) stuck with pasting FAQs and especially of our readership regarding our style in responses. Specifically, please... * hard return your carated replies " <> " so that each begins on a new line and is not suspended in the midst of the body of content (else harder for readers to skim for answers/links). * delete all other wasted space throughout the body of the message (big help to Barb/Zo here). No half length sentences for continuous thoughts/sentences. * give your reply an appropriate and specific title (copy subject line or rename... whatever is appropriate) I'd also like to suggest that Jas and Craig adopt the single carrot "<>" response... OR... all of us adopt Jas and Craig's double carat " << >> ". I know that Bob cares less/little on this point but a friend of WWM and daily reader commented on the lack of uniformity... and I agree. I suspect many would appreciate more uniformity as our crew grows. I think it is a bit easier for all if we have some elemental standardization. Even if that means that I have to give up <G>, and " :) " and even the occasional "heehee..." Ha! Last of all... let me express a hope/concern for all that we are giving the best possible advice as the site grows. To the new folks in particular... we are so grateful for your assistance and shared passion/dreams/intent. We must be careful though to not let the quality and accuracy of our advice wane like some of the very LFS outlets that we hear about from our WWM queries/friends as we grow. Craig, Gage, Scott... please never hesitate to stop and ask for a shared opinion from anyone else on the crew if you are unsure of an answer. We all learn in the process of discovery and revisiting that which is known/believed. We are all just an e-mail or phone call away. There certainly is no honor lost in saying "I don't know... let's find out...". Quite the contrary. To that end... let me suggest that each of us go into the WetWebMedia address book and update any/all contact information that you are willing to provide. This way... anyone else on the crew in need only has to look to the hotmail address book for support and contact information. Best regards to all. Its a pleasure to call you all friends. Kindly, Anthony more reminders for the WWM crew Gang, a few more reminders/thoughts... <Good ideas Antony... Bob> To mail answering crew: * be sure to spell out WetWebMedia.com when referring to it in replies. You may not know it, but many folks are directed to Bob's e-mail by other sites... and they have no idea what WWM is. They just followed a link for e-mail to Bob * also, do correct some spelling/grammar in the e-mailed question when you notice it to save Barb/Bob some time. They spend literally 3-5 hours daily tweaking our replies and posting/moving the FAQs around. Every little bit helps. You'll notice that many folks won't capitalize "I" (I), etc. If you have the time... run the spell checker in Hotmail before sending it off (I am VERY guilty of forgetting this! Arghhh) To our Advertising/Marketing folks... I'm thinking it may be worth while at the end of this year to run some test searches for names/products of our sponsors and present them at year end in an informal report. A big Holiday thank you for their support and the reassurance that their advertising dollars are well spent (Seachem products mentioned X times on a Google WWM search, Aqua C mentioned X times...etc). An appropriate show of appreciation for their advertising and a hopefully well invested testimony to their need to continue to run ads/re-invest with us first quarter next year :) Volunteers?... Mike/Pattie... Bueller...Bueller... Bueller... :) Good night to all. With kind regards, Anthony Hi Bob, FrontPage search said the *dailyq&a* page could not be found and heaven knows I tried locating it on my own as well. Barb-- <Ooops. I must've given it the heave ho... will bring back from yesterday's back-up. Sorry re. Bob F> <Help! Due to mistakes on my part, I've lost yesterday's daily FAQs... If you have a copy of 7/26 Daily FAQs, pls send me (Bob, Doh!) a note re... and a copy!> Re: Steve.P, WWM, FAQs files... Bob, If I can find the time I'd like to set up a form to autocategorize question submissions. We should also look into a Content Management System to make the publishing/organizing much simpler - there are some fairly inexpensive ones that are ColdFusion driven - and that can exploit the ColdFusion feature set and stability. Will discuss this with you but it is a task I would like to take up and know that will significantly enhance WWM. -Dave <Dave, you're way ahead of me here. Let's e-discuss... does sound like a magical improvement. Bob F> Reef Set-Up trials and tribulations Hay There; <<Hello.>> Found the site, nicely laid out, however sometimes "too much" information to go through on the FAQs, but more is better in most cases :-) <<Some progress coming on this front. Steve.P is picking up the gauntlet to produce "the best of" FAQs by topic/category... will be selling to hobby mag.s as articles/series... and posting at the head of WWM articles. Bob F>> Hopefully you can shed some light & info on my situation: I inherited via a friend a 125G pseudo-reef tank, I call it that because it is a converted tropical tank to salt. Probably about 80% converted. Wet-sump, etc, but still a conversion. I plan on upgrading to a nice true reef tank 180G from Tenecor soon, but unfortunately, I have had an unfortunate problem on the original tank. About a month+ ago, while I was traveling out of the country for work, a power outage hit, and one of the pumps froze on restart, causing almost 80% circulation/filtration loss. Fortunately, it happened 2 days prior to my return, however on my return, I found a terrible problem, in where I lost 2 Tangs, and 3 other (forget the species) of fish, etc. It appeared they just started to croak that morning… Obviously, I immediately took care of the situation, (remove the dead ones, etc) and did a massive water change of probably between 60 to 70% volume because of the ammonia/nitrate levels, etc. Well, the tank recovered "ok", with 3 lonely fish left, and tons of live rock. And it's stabilized out fairly well. Now for the problem, since I didn't immediately replace the predator fish, while waiting for the tank to re-synch, now I'm overrun with Bristle Worms. And I mean overrun. Everyone says it needs to be dark? HA not in my tank!!! I can pull them out in daylight by hand, I just don't have that much time!! Also the majority of the Live Rock is not "live" any longer, some still have the feather dusters, not all… <<I wouldn't call that a problem and for certain not all bristle worms are bad. The population of bristle worms will level itself off when they run out of food or you introduce a predator. The worms and feather dusters do qualify as the live part of live rock, and your rock will make a comeback.>> SO, this is what I've done, I obtained a bunch of snails, Hermits and Emerald Crabs and 3 Arrow Crabs. Well, the snails are working overtime, glass is clean and now they are focusing on the live rocks. The Arrow Crabs, I have seen eat a few of the Bristle Worms, but not that many. So far so good. So, last weekend during a partial water change, I decided to try some of the "things" I read on the net (oh no!) about getting rid of those pesky worms out of the rocks. I choose a rock that I didn't see any feather dusters on (nothing to loose!), and put it in a bucket of 1.004 salt water for a long time. That got a TON of the pups out, but there were still more. Being impatient (almost an hour now..) I went with straight water (no chorine, etc..) and got a bunch more out. Then I took an old tooth brush and cleaned up the rock and put it back in the tank, but now obviously, other tank worms are now calling this "clean rock" a home. Obviously this will be an "all or nothing" adventure with this infestation… <<Well, that and any other useful fauna on the rock was just wiped out by this exercise. Unless these worms are destroying something in your tank, I really wouldn't be concerned and would just leave them to their own devices.>> Any Hints for these bristles??? Yes I'm looking for a "Lined Wrasse" but can 't find any here in my area. <<I've got one I'll sell you ;-) >> Probably gotta order one.. Any other's that are reef safe? I want to get my Clown a nice Anemone but don't want it to get ate by the worms… or the predator fish… <<And it probably won't. Most predatory fish don't eat anemones, and likewise, bristle worms typically eat necrotic flesh, not live material. I really, really wouldn't be concerned about the worms.>> Also, once live rock "dies" (no feather dusters, etc), how do you get it "live" again? <<Keep it in close proximity to other live rock.>> Lastly, one thing that I've not seen advertised/etc is "UPS Systems" for tanks. When I'm home I've got a generator, but I don't turn it on unless it' s the outage is greater than an hour. Any ideas on that topic? <<Well, a UPS that would make it through an hour with all the typical aquarium equipment is going to run about $3,500... if the outage is longer than an hour, you may find yourself in the same situation.>> I am sure that this would have prevented the pump-freeze-up that started this mess!! <<Perhaps.>> Ok, last of last's - Since I work in the electronics industry, we normally have redundant fail over in systems. None of the systems I have ever seen has this capacity, in where if a pump fails, the pump fails. No pumping. Fish Floating. Any Ideas on this? Yes it doubles the cost & size, but is it worth it? <<Does it work? Sure it does. Should you take advantage? That's your call and your wallet. I have extra pumps in my house, but they are not plumbed in.>> It would be nice from a simple cleaning standpoint to. Think of it this way, if you have redundant pumps / filters that do 60% of the capacity (total 120% capacity filtration), you could easily take off "one set" of filters for cleaning for an hour or so, and then return it online without loosing complete water movement, etc.. Just a though, of course, it's 12:36 AM!!! I'll see what Tenecor says about this one… <<Well... as we say at work, "It's only money.">> Ok, I've gone on way too long; <<See how this happens? Bob F>> Thanks for any advise you can provide!! Robert Molenda <<Cheers, J -- >> Skimmer FAQ's I am going to attempt to do some serious sorting of the skimmer FAQ's in the next few days. When I do finally have a plan of attack worked out, I will notify all of the categories and planned changes. -Steven Pro <Real good Steven. As we talked about, I will gladly aid your efforts in making a "best of" category for the burgeoning FAQs files per topic... and do what I can if you'd like to aid you in selling such as an ongoing serial in the hobby 'zines (maybe pix or just one pic per submission?). This will prove to be a great boon to WWM, and a steady influx of income and prestige (!) to you. Bob F> Alkalinity... getting around WWM Good Morning, My husband and myself have a difference of opinion on feeding, alkalinity and what should be done if anything when the alkalinity goes up. We would appreciate any information or a link that is reliable. There are several different answers to this question, so we came to you all for the right one. Thanks, Autumn Blair <Not sure what the difference of opinion is in reference to, but please feel free to use the Google search engine at the bottom on the WWM main page for assistance and direction. -Steven Pro> Just an idea/question Hello WWM crew! I have mailed in the past asking for help with my tank. Thankfully I have no questions or need any help at the moment. The reason I am mailing you today is to ask a question about WWM. I recently took a trip and was away from the computer for four days. No laptop :( I would like to read what was in the daily Q&A from the days I was away. On your expansive web site, is there a way to read past daily Q&A? <Mmm, don't know if a search can be made for re-located FAQs... we move them a few times a day usually... Will ask Zo and Jas though (they know inestimably more re such matters than moi> I know you break them apart by subject for the frequently asked Q&A. I just wondered if you had a feature I was missing that would allow me to catch up on past days. I learn so much by reading them daily and miss when I can't read a follow up or just the normal daily questions. Talk to soon! <Mmm, maybe there's a way to? Jas, Zo? Bob F> Josie No way currently, but secretly working on one in the underground laboratory... J -- <Boohahhhaaahhhaaa. How do you write out a blood-curdling laugh anyway? Bob F> More FAQ's on the barb-e? Bob... I forwarded an e-mail that I received at home to WWM and filed it in the sent folder. Minor but good question about coral bleaching/stress. <Great> I was wondering... some of the pertinent/interesting queries that I receive in my personal mail could be interesting to WWM browsers. Would you care to have me send some along and drop them in the Bob Sent folder for posting on WWM? Or do we already have way too much content...hehe (no such thing!!! damn the torpedoes!). <No such thing as too much content... How to put this more clearly... It is my desire, thought that we would serve our intended audience better by having more, "complete", interesting and informative content... including definite, expository-statement type "articles" (from any/everywhere), image work, example systems... Anthony, don't be "shy" (will be posting pix of you in the shower in Deutschland), send it on! Bob F> Antoine Idea for Q&A Page Bob, I just had an idea for the Q&A page which will make it accessible for editing to everyone, even those with slow modem connections, from anywhere in the world. After using and being able to edit the new subwebs from my crappy modem connection here at work, I now see some more possibilities for the improvement of the WWM. What we can do is make the Q&A page it's own Subweb with a few folders in it such as -Questions received but not answered -Questions answered but not placed on the WWM yet -Bob's Folder -Lorenzo's Folder -Jason's folder -Etc... I will also place all of the advertisers on this new Subweb. This new Subweb should be kept at a small size for easy access anywhere through a slow modem. Everyone can cut and paste the e-mails they receive into the proper folder and deal with them from there. We can also put a variety of images in there for the Q&A page, which anyone can change by cutting and pasting. What do you think. <Geez, great ideas... We'll get to them... hopefully sooner rather than later... With more revenue, more people hours putting content tog., on the sites... and more and better looks, navigation tools/improvements. Bob F> Mike <Oh, btw am working furiously on all three machines here (all going with the latest site...) moving to NOW! Bob F> HELP! Personnel search for WWMX Gang, on second thought (maybe third), Steve is going to be absolutely buried by the time May rolls about... Any ideas of who we can recruit (positive, aquatics-knowledgeable, energetic, people oriented...) to "come into our fold" (I feel like being a choir boy just thinking about it) for laughs, giggles and plenty o' strokes? Has to have some computer skills, time, usage of the linqua franca... You know the drill. Bob F Whoa! Missing FAQs... Bob-a-roni, <Antoine> Whoa! guess what I found in my folder of WWM pics from e-mail that we were saving when you were away (and we didn't know where to stick them)... a page of pasted answered posts! Early days when I/we were thoroughly confused and not just mildly so as we are at present. <I see> I have attached them to this e-mail for you to place...unless you would like to tell Steve and I where to stick them.. hehe. <Don't tempt me, I haven't had my coffee as yet> Please remind me again where it is that you would like e-mailed pics saved to on the site? <Along with the messages they pertain to... those sent with them... Will go over how to "make a table" to contain, frame all... if you'd like. Bob F> Ciao, bub Antoine Re: Went to a superbowl party I have not had a lot of time this weekend, but every time I looked Jason had answered most of the questions. I do look in just about everyday to see if I can be of assistance. <Thank you Steve. Yes, Jason was here (San Diego) and was kind to help... and luckily the mesomorphs running into each other sport greatly slowed down the load. Please do continue as you see fit. Bob F> Steven Pro WWM mail Bob... are you answering the viewed questions in the Inbox today or can we tackle them? <Please do continue as much as you can, would like to. Am scanning from time to time... lest you send them to me otherwise... and dealing with ones directed to me. Bob F, who will gladly keep moving you twoze answered queries, posting daily pix...> Re: Daily FAQs help Always interested... <Ah, good... will gladly share or hand off for the five (?) days coming up... On your mark... Bob Fenner> Re: Hotmail help: How to auto-respond: Off the planet currently... > I took a look at Hotmail and I couldn't find an auto respond feature. > <Me neither, sigh... Oh, Newsflash! Di says that the Outlook program does have such a feature> Unfortunately, Outlook doesn't have anything to do with Hotmail, and cannot setup a vacation auto-reply with the Hotmail server. (Auto-reply is a function of the server, and Outlook is just a client) <Oh? Oh...> I think Jason and I can do some tag-teaming on the emails, with Mike handling the site - we'll be okay. <YAYYYYY! Am looking forward to this "grand experiment"... Only question, what are we going to do when we're all on holiday simultaneously? Really looking forward to that! Bob F> -Zo New Site: thesea.org (in progress but outline looks very nice!) and engine ??? Rob: I have a question for you. I'm not sure if you made this site or not but I'm sure you can help point me in the right direction. <Hmm> I have a site I am building thesea.org I had recently written and article that was published in tropical fish hobbyist. <Okay> When I do a search on Google under my name, your link comes up referencing me in the bibliography. <Your work might be cited there... in the various "Bibliography/Further Reading" sections after articles...> That article ran in Aug, my sites been up for a year now and the search engine did not pick it up. any hints. <You mean, do I have any hints as to why search engines and directories don't "pick up" your work (or anyone's)? "Things take time"... Mmm, we're not "big players"? It's whoever's notion that pet-fish is too small, esoteric to merit listing? I don't know the reasons, really, but do have advice (what I endeavor to do), "keep writing, adding content... apply individually to the major engines, directories... hone your meta tags and descriptions on your home page. Be chatting my fellow content provider. Bob Fenner> Subject: Re: WWM formatting, pasting protocol help! Zo'ster, would you please just insert your response to the queries you do <{[- OkieDokie, Bobster... will do. -]}> into the queriors message? ... Bob F, cutting and pasting crazily <{[- I always knew kindergarten wasn't just for social skills... -]}> :-P <-- (anti-social knee-jerk response) :-) <-- (pseudo-social que that I am still happy...) -Zo <Again, good to great work my friend. Will deed gift this site to you! Bob Fenner> Full e-mail box? Hi Bob.. It appears I have caught your mailbag at a bad time.. It seems to be full, and can't take the document file I am sending to you.. <Yikes, must be a honker size-wise> Is this a temporary problem? And when do you think I should give it another try? <Most any day, moment... do delete after reading, answering all... generally a few times daily... unless "out of town", not about a connection to the Net... Do resize what you can... can send to another addr... Bob Fenner> --thanks again --chane FAQ Page Bob--the yellow-tailed surgeon has to be one of the most beautiful fish you've posted yet! (I guess if I was willing to go up to a 600 gallon system, I might be able to have one!) James A. Deets <Thanks for this. Much more to come... Got a new scanner (the Nikon ED 4000 yesterday! Bob Fenner> |
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