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ScooterTDI

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Posts posted by ScooterTDI

    Anyone here have only captive bred?

    in General Discussion

    I only keep captive-bred fish. With the exception of some clownfish I got locally, I have purchased from LA Diver's Den, Dr. Mac, Algae Barn, and Seahorse Savvy. I'm not sure about LA, but the rest seem to be dedicated CB systems. I haven't had any problems with disease at all.

     

    I could be wrong, but I am extremely skeptical that there are CB fairy wrasses available anywhere. According to the 2019 Coral magazine list of CB species, none of the Cirrhilabrus genus have been captive-bred to date.

    Looking for a Reef Mentor/'Sensei'

    in General Discussion

    Although I can appreciate wanting a mentor to avoid misguided efforts, I've found that most things in this hobby you have to figure out for yourself at some point.  There is a long list of husbandry fads that this hobby has gone through over the years and my personal experience has been that following others' methods often doesn't work at all for me. There is no "right" way to reef, so all you can really do is look at the full range of successful approaches (rather than a single one) and try some things out until you find a system that works for you.

     

    That being said, I definitely think having a friend (rather than mentor) in the hobby can fill the same role and be mutually beneficial. Although I've been in the hobby for awhile (far longer than my join date on WAMAS), I still don't feel qualified to mentor anyone, but I'd be happy to be your friend and pass on anything that has worked for me (obviously, taken with a grain of salt).

    New video of our 180!

    in General Discussion

    16 hours ago, GOSKN5 said:

    Thanks! No anemones tho

    Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
     

    Oh, I was looking at it on my phone and the left pillar looked like it was covered in RBTA. I didn't realize it was a huge gorgonian! Love it even more!

    ScooterTDI's 12g Long Peninsula

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    I don't scrape the bottom, the urchins just do a good job of removing all of the accessible coralline.

     

    The lights are two Current Orbit IC fixtures. Not the best lights, but I wanted something thin that I could mount close to the tank to minimize light spill and have good spread. Plus, the tank depth is shallow, so the lights don't need to be very bright.

    Why it’s time to put an end to the cult of the aquarium.

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by ScooterTDI

    We can pretend that our fish have a much nicer life in our aquariums, but most wild-collected fish don't live to their natural lifespan in our aquariums. This is not intentional, but it is how things often end up. A perfect example occured when the GFCI my aquarium recently died for no apparent reason while I was at work. I lost a kamohara blenny and an orchid dottyback. My only consolation was that they were captive-bred, so that incident didn't directly contribute to the consumption of our reefs (even in small measure).

     

    I do understand the desire to keep wild-collected fish because the captive-bred selection is so limited, but I often hear complaints about the expense of captive-bred fish relative to wild-caught fish. Meanwhile, the same people often spend absurd amounts of money on various tiny frags of trendy corals. Why spend >$100 on a tiny frag of some named coral, but not $90 on a mandarin dragonet every bit as beautiful and interesting? The reality is that our purchasing choices will drive the industry. If the hobby as a community starts paying the premium to preferentially purchase captive-bred fish, more captive-bred fish will become available.

     

    Rather than appreciating the truly mind-numbing variety of corals that are already in the hobby, I've seen many focus on how we can't currently take more from the wild in places like Indonesia. Although I'm sure there are plenty of really interesting and beautiful corals that are not yet widely available in the hobby, I don't think anyone truly needs to buy wild-collected corals to have a beautiful aquarium that is fulfilling to maintain.  I would advocate for a system in which only licensed aquaculture facilities can import corals for propagation with some mechanism to prevent resale of the wild coral.

     

    It isn't sufficient to simply assert that the aquarium industry isn't the greatest threat to the reefs, so we shouldn't do anything to mitigate its impact.  Traffic accidents aren't the leading cause of death in the US, but we still enact legislation to improve traffic safety. 

     

    Finally, I think the gripes about coral importation bans speak to the "collector mentality" of many hobbyists. Unlike Pokemon, the sea creatures we keep are real animals and we don't need to "Catch them all!". I often see people treat corals and fish as consumables or decorations rather than living things. This is the aspect of the hobby I dislike the most. 

    ScooterTDI's 12g Long Peninsula

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    Well, almost everything is complete now. I moved and plumbed in the display, did lots of cable management, and set up the dosers. I bought a second light for a larger diy algae scrubber that I'll make sometime in the next several weeks and I have a moderate skimmer upgrade on it's way. I also need to set up the mixing station on the top shelf. Here it is now though:

     

    IMG_20190521_205202.jpg

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    ScooterTDI's 12g Long Peninsula

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    It's PVC trim board, so it's fine with water exposure. The light rack is mostly aluminum, powder coated steel, and stainless screws, so I'm hopeful that it won't rust to quickly. My main display has the lights resting directly on top and I haven't had any issues with the lights themselves yet.  I'm not sure yet, but I may end up using a glass top to keep in fish, protect the lights, and reduce evaporation as well.

    ScooterTDI's 12g Long Peninsula

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    Making progress.... I got the frag tank and sump plumbed and I ran plumbing through the wall to where I will eventually move the display. I also made a mount for the frag tank light that flips up out of the way. Although they are too long for the frag tank, I chose those lights because they are the same as the display. It should make it easier to transition between frag and display and also gives the system interchangeability. I'm going to mount the Aquael LED strip that I won in the club raffle between the other two light strips. Things left to do:

    1) mount shelf for dosers

    2) mount Aqualel light strip

    3) make a panel for various equipment controllers and route wires

    4) run RO line into closet

    5) move and finishing plumbing display

    IMG_20190513_212222.jpg

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    IMG_20190513_212157.jpg

    IMG_20190513_212210.jpg

    ScooterTDI's 12g Long Peninsula

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    Well, I abandoned the shelving unit. It seemed strong enough and I could stabilize it by mounting to the walls, but I couldn't get the shelves to lay flat enough. I ditched it and made my own shelves. Still need to do the finish work on the shelf frame, make the raised decking for the floor, and install the vent fan.

    IMG_20190407_203613.jpg

    Local Seapora Aquarium Dealer?

    in General Discussion

    It would be nice, but that won't fit in the area I already started building out in the closet. If it's not too expensive (and if the bottom isn't tempered, then I might use a standard 30 breeder (same dimensions as the Seapora tank). Worst case is that I just use the 20L I already bought.

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