FirstContact

Thanks, I sent zygote a pm!

Have too much dry fish food and don't want it to go to waste. Different types of PE mysis: larger freshwater bag and several sample size marine mysis. Also have samples of TDO Chroma clown fish food, and 2 Fauna Marin containers: soft shrimp and clown fish food. Just realizing I'll never get through all of this and wanted to share.

Looking for professional help to redesign my fish room in an unfinished basement and have a finished fish room and probably finish the basement too. Not sure where to look. I tried a couple companies and one didn't do that type of work and the other never called back. Any suggestions?

I have a conflict Saturday at 10:00 but going to try to make and schedule my conflict earlier.

I have 3 Turbo snails in my coral QT and the water turns green fast. Not sure if I should keep one or get rid of them all and not sure what to do with them if I want them out of the tank. They poop so much, I don't want them in my DT. Do people put a single fish in coral QT? What are some good options? It's a 30g tank. Any advice?

Not sure if I’m using the right screen name, but “ squishie” had hydroids in her 90g and reported they were extremely difficult to get rid of and basically over grew everything. She tore down the tank and sold it and started over with a new tank.

Thanks Origami! Everything's a long term budget decision especially if we're in it for life. I had good success in my 46g with kalk and 2 part. I plan on doing the same with my 120g but would like to try a lot more sticks. Wife won't approve a CaRx due to the CO2 tank. Happy Reefing Everyone!

I just purchased a 50lb bag of 100% magnesium chloride ice melt for around $17 from an agricultural website Mills Fleet Farm. Picked up some epsom salt - magnesium sulfate - from them too. I still have a 50lb bag of 100% calcium chloride ice melt when I bought 2 of them years ago from Ace Hardware. The brand name of ice melt is safestep. Mixes clean/clear. For kalk, I purchase directly from the Mrs Wages website for pickling lime. I buy it by the case and it's even cheaper. They come in individual 1lb bags. Never had a caking problem in my reactor. Never took the mixing pump apart and it needed to be cleaned. For sodium bicarbonate I buy Arm & Hammer baking soda in bulk from Costco or wherever.

I think once you have aiptasia you can never really get rid of it without removing the rock work. If it's not on the corals and you can separate the corals from the rock work, I would do exactly that. The problem is for me at least, it's really difficult to see and reach all areas of the rock. For me, fighting it with whatever was always a temporary fix. It always came back and spread. I bleached my rock and started over. Many people just recommend drying the rock out for a few days. I'd personally keep the rock out of the tank for 30 days to make sure nothing else is trying to grow in the tank. I didn't have a problem with aiptasia in the plumbing or my refugium. I caught one or two trying to grow in the sand bed/on the glass, before I put my rock back in, but I've never had a problem since. If your keeping the corals and have a QT tank, I'd QT them after taking out the rock. Good Luck!

Thanks for the great event!

No, I can’t submit a video directly from my phone. Are you using a third party software to compress the video?

Okay, thanks! I’m trying to do this directly and see if it works for me.

Hi Bendalat, Just wondering what phone app you use to get such a great video posted. How do you do that? Thanks, FirstContact

I put the rock I’m drilling in a container with the surface of the rock at or just below the waterline. I’ve drilled pukani, fiji, and tonga rock. I use a hammer drill with 1/4” and 1/2” diamond coated twist drill bits. I got the drill bits on line from Hong Kong/China. thk.hk is the website. Ten and fifteen dollars for a set of 5 1/4” and 3 1/2”. They also sell the diamond coated hole saws for drilling glass that everybody likes.

Yeah, I get that the snails would be a good snack. I was kinda hoping the spines might protect the urchins. But, I guess when you are a hungry wrasse there’s a will and a way... ;-)

Well, when I picked up my shipment from LA at the UPS Service Center I had to wait like 1.5 hours to get it because the box was leaking/wet and they wanted to open it up. Anyway, fish survived, but I lost 3 snails and an urchin. LA extended the 14 day guarantee and said that when I’m ready, whatever doesn’t make it will ship for free and I can add to the order. I think the free shipment is because the bags inside the box were leaking. I’m sure if they were going to charge me for shipping and I added another $99 to reach the free shipping threshold there would be no charge. But you’re right. If there’s a guarantee, you really shouldn’t have to pay for shipping twice if you paid for it the first time or if shipping was free. Kinda defeats the purpose especially if what you lost is less than the shipping charges. You could always take a credit and use that when you are ready to order again.

Live Aquaria here. I just got a copperband butterfly and a red coris wrasse from them.

Well I finally set up QT tanks for coral and fish last year. I have coral and snails in one and a copperband butterfly and red coris wrasse in the other. For the coral, I followed Michael Paletta's recommendations for treatment before putting in QT, and recently added some snails to the same tank. Is it bad to mix frags with other inverts? Do I want to treat the water in the fish QT or the fish food with chemicals? Tank transfer method? Or just observe and dump in 30-45 days?

I have a Jansen's Thalassoma in my DT, a Red Gaimard Coris in QT, and am planning on getting a Checkerboard Halichores. What are my chances that I can add some Turbo snails or urchins as a clean up crew? I was thinking the Turbo snails might be safe due to their size, and urchins due to their spines.

Kalk and aiptasia x just seem to be temporary fixes. Fought that battle for a couple of years in my 46g bowfront. They just grow back and spread and then you paste them again. Eventually, I just bleached my rock. Also tore down the 46g and put up a 120g.

Great success is participating in the hobby for a lifetime!

Great tank and video!

Thanks six-line! Time to renew our family's membership.

Is it reduced admission or free admission for CMAS members? The flyer indicates free. Your post writes reduced. What is the cost of the frags going to be?

My youngest stepson is leaving the hobby and has a few things he'd like to sell. JBJ Nano Cube 24g $75 75g tank with 3/4" drilled hole $50 CaribSea Arm coarse $10 Eshopps Curve Refugium Light $35 Eshopps Lotus frag rack $20 Sun Blaze 4' 8 lamp $50 Thanks, FirstContact