Now is as good a time as any to introduce myself (Jporter). My name is Jeff and I live in east Mesa. I have a smaller saltwater aquarium that is mixed with all kinds of SPS, LPS and softies. Many in the valley have seen it as I sell frags on occasion and have held a FRAG meeting here many years ago when Tony Vargas was in town. He took many pictures of my old tank and I provided him a lengthy write up to use in his book that never happened. I'm currently semi-retired and spend most of my time doing what I really enjoy - Philanthropy. Here is a picture that some weird guy took of me at the last FRAG meeting after he stuck a sticker on my shirt.
Some of you may remember seeing me drive my homemade motorcycle I built from the ground up, and designed to run on old saltwater saved from my tanks' water changes.
I've always been interested in aquariums since early grade school when I had a 10 gallon tank full of blood guppies. For those not familiar with this breed, they were a hybrid I bred using sperm from Piranhas injected into adult female guppies. The adults would only eat each other after spawning so there was a never ending supply of fish. The fascination with the hobby really came to life after I studied marine biology at Boston College. I later moved on to a double Masters at MIT in the fields of Biology and Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics. This knowledge has allowed me to both prove and disprove many of the snake oil additives sold in the hobby. Before I add anything to my tank I do a full forensic chemical breakdown and analysis of the additive and plot out all possible scenarios and reactions that may occur. If I have any conflicting results, I forward to my friend Rod so he can try them in his tank. Please feel free to run questions by me regarding the hobby, I'm always happy to help.
Make sure to introduce yourself to me at upcoming meetings, I'm the guy usually being harassed by all the know it alls and having my raffle winnings ripped from my hands. I still enjoy the meetings even though this type of debauchery is still allowed by the board. I guess it makes the meetings interesting and fun, especially having to listen to Jason and Hunter try and guess what the corals are being auctioned, and then trying to pronounce them in Latin. Out for now. JP
Some of you may remember seeing me drive my homemade motorcycle I built from the ground up, and designed to run on old saltwater saved from my tanks' water changes.
I've always been interested in aquariums since early grade school when I had a 10 gallon tank full of blood guppies. For those not familiar with this breed, they were a hybrid I bred using sperm from Piranhas injected into adult female guppies. The adults would only eat each other after spawning so there was a never ending supply of fish. The fascination with the hobby really came to life after I studied marine biology at Boston College. I later moved on to a double Masters at MIT in the fields of Biology and Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics. This knowledge has allowed me to both prove and disprove many of the snake oil additives sold in the hobby. Before I add anything to my tank I do a full forensic chemical breakdown and analysis of the additive and plot out all possible scenarios and reactions that may occur. If I have any conflicting results, I forward to my friend Rod so he can try them in his tank. Please feel free to run questions by me regarding the hobby, I'm always happy to help.
Make sure to introduce yourself to me at upcoming meetings, I'm the guy usually being harassed by all the know it alls and having my raffle winnings ripped from my hands. I still enjoy the meetings even though this type of debauchery is still allowed by the board. I guess it makes the meetings interesting and fun, especially having to listen to Jason and Hunter try and guess what the corals are being auctioned, and then trying to pronounce them in Latin. Out for now. JP
