Free Seeds & Free Clones Thread Vol. 5 (Part 5)

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3135

Two stories about fishing off the gulf coast in Florida:

  1. I it’s dawn and something takes my bait off shore making my rod full bend if I pull on it too hard. The thing fought like a shark, and considering where I was (mangroves) it quite possibly was. It took my 2 hours to get the thing to shore, all while I’m waist deep in murky water in a bathing suit and t-shirt. When it’s finally landed, my heart sank and so did my Father’s who was cheering me on the entire time. It was a fucking sting-ray…


about 2ft accross and due to it’s wings the fucker pancaked the ocean above itself adding to the power required to pull it in. I use metal leads due to teeth out there so there was no break. It was a hell time trying to get the hook out and release the thing; and in the end we just clipped off as much of the metal lead as possible cause this thing was dangerous and pissed off.

  1. Waist deep in murky water again near an inlet with more mangroves I see folks in a boat looking into the water nearby. I know they are looking at something, but there’s often big schools of shoaling bait fish that ripple and dance underwater like flocking birds in the sky so I didn’t take much mind of it… UNTIL suddenly something BIG bumps into me. I’m no coward but this triggers me into a fit of panic as I scream in a pitch higher than I would like to admit and I bolt out of the water; somehow not dropping my rod as I freaked out into full flight mode. Turning back panting I stare into the murkiness to see the assailant that I had escaped and low and behold…

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… a fucking SEA COW. Yes, a graceful, peaceful and vegetarian Manatee bumped into me and I fled like it was a shark. My dad was there this time as well and legit pee’d himself when we figured out what it was. He then went into the water to both see it up close and to wash off the urine.

I don’t even eat fish yet they keep making me feel like they are trying to eat me.
I’m sticking to this land mammal deal.

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HELP!!! Just got some seeds in from Tulsa, Ok, Orange Envelop, corrugated plastic, looks like THREE slots with beans. What do I have here? Whatever it is, want to say THANKS and get 'em into Flips. SS/BW…mister :honeybee: :100: :pray: :heart_eyes:

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I had the same reaction you described when I’d swim through a patch of seaweed at my grandparents lake house, don’t feel bad bud.

Edit: I guess there’s probably no “seaweed” in a lake. So like kelp maybe?

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fishingswimming
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I have that same fear. I can’t lake swim due to it, and if I HAVE TO i’m in the top 2 feet of water doing breathing exercises to keep from panicking.

I’ve been pull out from shore by rip tides, slammed into the oceans floor by 10-15 ft waves, pinned to coral shoals when being stupid… and none of this bothered me… but can’t see the bottom = NO DICE.

It all started when I was swimming as a child in the fountain of youth, aka Warm Mineral Springs in Sarasota Florida. The swimming area is the shallow area around a deep-as-fuck (205ft) sinkhole that’s filled with fossilized bones of animals that were desperate enough to drink the water and die from the mineral content.

So being a confident swimmer I didn’t notice that I accidentally went over the edge… so when my Mom yelled out of concern to get back into the shallower area I did the worst thing ever: I looked down.

All i saw was BLACK.

image

Similarly to the Manatee incident of many-many years later I panicked and got the fuck outa there as fast as possible; but the fear it put in me is still there some 33+ years later.

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A friend of mine was telling me about scuba training he did one time.

They boated out to a deep chasm and descended into the darkness.

I think it was an exercise in disorientation.

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Sadly, I share that same mentality… Until the electric bill comes and bitch-slaps me back to reality.

Unused lights here? Well, I used to propagate coral, so I had lots of tanks / lights. There’s 5 x 400w, 5 x 250w MH, 2 x 250w HQI (double ended bulbs), and 4 x 175w MV setups that just scream “Light me up!” until I see that electric bill. Plants ONLY have LEDs on em. But… I could… but I wont! Would love to sell em, but LED’s dropped the market on em. sigh… Thats A LOT of ballasts just wastin’ away…

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My folks did a 150ft dive on a trench somewhere and the only thing they could do is descend and hold on to a rope and drift. They saw a giant grouper so big it wasn’t effected by the current and could swallow at least 1/2 of the largest diver in the party.

They never did it again and stuck to wreck diving and night diving for coral photography.

Me. I don’t do that shit. :laughing:

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Old school HID ballasts aren’t a bad thing! I still run em in the winter as they provide both heat and light, still cheaper than plugging in a typical 1500 watt space heater

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Just enjoyed this, thought others might too :grinning:

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Haha my electrical bill has been about 260 this summer, last year before all the lights was 160 so only adding on about an extra 100 bucks a month isn’t terrible in my opinion, that’s running 10 led lights, 4 in both rooms and 2 in the living room corner. A mix of 2 philzon 600w, 1 philzon 1200, 2 viparspectra 1000w fanless, 2 600w bloomspect, 1 1000w bloomspect,1 bloom plus 1000w fanless and 1 viparspectra 1500watt

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Holy shit @anon92380848 that is quite the show!

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Off-Peak (Weekdays 7 p.m. – 7 a.m., all day weekends and holidays) 8.2 ¢/kWh
Mid-Peak (Weekdays 7 a.m. – 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.) 11.3 ¢/kWh
On-Peak (Weekdays 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.) 17.0 ¢/kWh

I do lights on during off peak hours and am saving a considerable amount also. Veg room dips into mid peak a bit but never on peak if i can help it.

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I was thinking of doing the same thing for my winter run. The plants don’t care when they get their light period.

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it used to, when we actually GOT a winter. When I was a kid we got nice snowstorms. Last 15-20 years have been meh… Honestly, an AWD or 4WD vehicle and you’re good to go here. Helps having a little practice with hilly and winding roads, but for me its fun in 4WD in the snow, I kinda enjoy it :smiley:

Been shark fishing years ago outta Barnegat Light… Cousin used to own a charter boat, and we’d go for Mako once in a while. Since I started diving though I find it hard to, we see so few sharks while diving, and YES, we DO wanna see sharks!

And trust me, the Atlantic can produce some fish that would make all those ake fisherman jealous :smiley: I did catch a 98lb Tuna in Cabo once, and plenty of big tuna run up here as well. 2.5 hr fight was insane, but the Sashimi we made was the best I ever had!

Hah, don’t forget those cold showers help with the itch by closing pores! I did fiberglass work on boats on Cozumel, and cold showers (I hate em personally, LOVE a hot shower) were a blessing and the only thing that stopped the itch. (hot showers open your pores, letting the glass dust get in your skin and making you itch). Crazy how you can work in pants and a long sleeve shirt in 110 degree weather because you dont wanna itch all night…

Unless they were military, no certification program tries to disorient you, from Open Water Diver all the way up to Open Water Scuba Instructor. Probably Deep certification. You can get Nitrogen Narcosis (think laughing gas at the dentist), if you overexert at depth, which would be disorienting, but its not the goal. Its actually a bit fuckin scary getting “Narc’d” at depth, you get dizzy, room (or reef) spinning, feel drunk and everything slows down. The solution is literally to ascend a few feet, 10ft maybe, and the narcosis will disappear as quick as it overcame you. But if you got confused / were in a down current, thats a recipe for disaster.

I’ve been narc’d twice. Once in my Deep certification course at ~ 140ft, and the second time was right after I exited “The Devil’s Throat” in Cozumel, at ~135ft. You go thru a coral tunnel, and exit on a wall, dropping down to 3000 ft, obviously you need to be properly oriented. The return to the surface you go thru another coral tunnel. Damn it if that wasn’t the hardest part for me because of the narcosis. Did it, but it was definitely one of those nerve-wracking moments.

It’s really crazy what doesn’t seem to be affected by the current. In February Coz would get the big adult spotted eagle rays, and I’m talking these monsters were 12’ wing tip to wing tip, these are the breeders. They will hold position in the current, seemingly doing nothing at all, while scooters struggle to maintain position, or I empty half my tank in 5 mins trying to maintain position. Yet there they are, graceful as can be, just floating there effortlessly… Some of those big groupers (Jewfish and Nassau) can get as big as a VW bug, no shit! When you see fish that are longer than you are tall, its definitely pucker moments…

Some of my favorite encounters were with Whale Sharks though. Thats totally over open water / 3000 ft depth, and only snorkel, not scuba. Still AWESOME as hell to have a shark, as big as a school bus, a mouth big enough to lay down sideways in, but has no interest in us as it eats tiny krill… I got to jump in with 12 different whale sharks in my time there, and EVERY time was as awesome as the first…

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I spent a few months on eBay sniping the auction ones from the companies NIB, gave me a good way to see what each company had to offer and if it sucked I wasn’t out much. Now I got a better understanding what units are better and why and most importantly what to be looking for. That last viparspectra 1500 watt is a power hog being 330w at the wall but sniped it for $49 NIB, was 140 at the time everywhere else but still currently 80 on eBay, can’t pass deals like that up lol, last bloom plus 1000w I got for 27, so my living room corner was born haha

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Heat? did you say heat? ROFLMAO. I had them when I was married, 1400 gallons of saltwater tanks. All in the basement. We didn’t realize how much radiant heat they provided until I got a divorce. The first winter I didn’t live at the house, and my ex did, the oil bill TRIPLED. Not from cost, but from consumption. Yeah, those lights / ballasts sure did heat up the house. (and in the summer, between the lights 2 AC units and even a 1/2 hp chiller my electric topped $700 a few months)…

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My old electric company broke it down to peak / non peak, and my tanks were dark from 9am - 5pm. Took advantage of the non peak hours, as long as they got their 12-14 hrs of light a day, didn’t matter when.

Current electric co doesn’t offer peak / non peak unfortunately :frowning: But I still light overnight because its cooler then…

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That’s crazy, here In az we’re just on a tier, the more power the higher the cost per kWh but even then it’s pretty reasonable

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That’s freaking awesome bud. For now due to time and budget reasons; i’m just happy to sit after a bong session with my 40 gallon sans turtle tank, which now has 2x comet goldfish that survived a summer outdoors eating the bug larvae that pops up in my clawfoot tub water lilly pond. They graduated before winter to indoors and have been living happily for 2 years since. This year I decided to get a single shubunkin goldfish for the tub and it’s doing fabulously. I’m looking forward to moving it into the tank in fall and being able to actually see it in all it’s glory.

The tank itself is made up of items from my lake ontario beach walks; including some of the water and sand so my tank is a miniature representation of the lake. I need a few more snails once the shubunkin goes in and my hope is that the two that are motoring around in there already do their thing and reproduce already :laughing: .

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