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My last trip to Steinhart... for now :D

S

sfsuphysics

Supporting Member
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My membership ran out on October 31st, I went on Friday though to meet up with my lady who's volunteering there giving Matt time to do his other work, and I decided to take a few pictures. It's not like I'm never going back, but there really is no reason to renew my membership now, if I go back in a couple months I'll renew it then :D

Having gone quite a few times over the past year I've had a good chance to see how things have grown/evolved. The rain forest I think is the most obvious growth that I could remember, trees got taller, many of them sporting fruit/nuts. The big tank has had lots of growth too, although the side window seems more coral saturated than the main window, and of course the "tide pool" area on top is a favorite place of mine, tons of clams that would make Arnold jealous :D The little tanks have gone from "lets get something in them because we're opening" to some seriously nice displays, probably can thank Rich for a lot of that! Only one tank was completely shut down, most likely due to the enormous algae problem that just couldn't get under control (or maybe it sprung a leak :D)... I still want a tank that's like that horseshoe touch pool too (however full on reef tank not coldwater!)

Thumbnails for the larger photos, just click, then click, and CLICK if you want to see full sized. (only a click or two to see screen sized.

Here's the main window, I had to stitch together 4 photos, looks like a fairly good job at it too! Those lines you see on the acrylic aren't an artifact from photoshop that's where the acrylic slabs were bonded together. (If you haven't gone you really should).


Here's another stitch from the top... PS couldn't quite warp one picture enough to fit though... but this was really just a small part of the tidal area on top of the big tank


While it wasn't Halloween, Spiderman came by to clean the acrylic!
spidermang.jpg


This one is Matt's display tank, deep water tank, very dimly lit and a royal PITA to even get this grainy photo, FYI you shouldn't have these anthias in your tank :D
mattstank.jpg


I managed to catch these cuttlefish right as they were being fed, no action shots however
cuttlebe.jpg


After they got a shrimp, they all changed color... maybe they were showing their pleasure *shrug*
cuttleae.jpg


And this little gem is Rich's display tank, very neat and tidy, something about it that makes it look cool
richv.jpg
 
Thanks for the pics Mike! We wanted to go this past weekend, but the Bay bridge was out. How were the crowds?

And thanks for getting a picture of the corals I gave Rich. He said he put them in the filefish tank. :) We will definitely need to go take a look in peson; especially since my membership expires at the end of this month.
 
Hey Mike, you know I volunteer on Sat with Matt? I get to clean some of those tanks and skimmers. Were you their on Sat? I saw that spiderman diver on sat, but I guess he can wear that custome more than once. ...never mind I read that you were there on friday.
 
Nice Mike!

The Filefish tank is a BAR tank with corals from Sheri, Richard, Robin, me and Charles. :D

There are two tanks down right now. Stonefish is getting redone - the fish are in holding. Day/Night is being converted to Nautilus.

Anyone else want to help out? Lots of regular maintenance punctuated by super cool stuff. :D

Gotta go catch the train!
 
Thanks people.

Lyn, I was there Friday, and the crowds were very tolerable, I won't say non-existent but lets just say I was able to go into rain forest dome without waiting in line at all (other than waiting for the containment door to cycle). Weekdays really are a nice time to go (as long as it's not the 3rd Wednesday).

Tony, nah, that was Photoshop CS2, I used the photomerge with it before but for whatever reason it kind of looked all half arsed, then I realized there was a perspective button which rotates/stretches them and it came out flawless which is why the top looks all angled and what not. Free is good, but I already have PS, so might as well use that :D

Arnold, yeah the girlfriend works on Friday mornings chopping food up and rinsing food etc, she feeds a bunch of tanks after wards too including the big tank before the dive show and the cuttlefish tank (which is why I was at that one taking pictures) it's cool to watch them little sucker arms shoot out :D

Rich, wow I didn't know that was a BAR inspired tank, all the corals I donated were way back when at the old place and well... I don't have terribly much hope they're alive anywhere :D I'd volunteer myself, but something about relaxing on my days off that just is so nice :D
 
I am surprised to say that Saturdays are pretty empty now too, not sure why...not too crowded at all the last 3 of them. I had to chopped shrimp like 2 twice, but they have decided not to do a heavy feeding on sat so I don't have to do that anymore.
 
Cool pictures! I was just down there yesterday with my girlfriend for the very first time and it was pretty cool. I have to say, the Philippine Reef was very cool! There was so much fishes in there, it was nuts! Will they be introducing more corals in there to recreate a real reef? I noticed some littered here and there, but not much. However, the clams and brains they have in the tidepool area is just insane! Clams look like they're enjoying the natural sunlight and MH. I'll have to post some of the pictures I took once I get them from my camera. My favorite exhibit was the rainforest. Besides the wedgie-inducing humidity in there, the environment was fun. There were butterflies everywhere in there and the huge pond in the center was amazing... I was tripping out when we walked UNDER the pond, which was neat-o!

Hey Thales, what's the requirement for helping out? I wouldn't mind helping out on a weekend or two.

-Thai
 
Yeah, the goal of the Philippine reef is to make it a reef, however the masses like fish, so they toss them in there :D

Also the powers that be decided they had to have stuff in there and running on opening day even though the hard workers who are the pros who make it go didn't exactly want to go. It cycles just like any other tank, and went through it's ups and downs, but yeah its' on its up swing now. It takes time for corals to grow, and the fact that tank is so large means it'll take even longer to fill in, but when it does and you start to see a lot more corals than rock man that thing is going to be so sick, like going scuba diving by staying dry.
 
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