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FirstContact

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    Dry Fish Food for Free

    in New to the Hobby

    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.  

    3 Turbo Snails in Coral QT

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by FirstContact

    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? 

    digitate hydroids

    in General Discussion

    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.

    Anyone else notice the change to the BRS 2 part additives?

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by FirstContact

    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.

    A few aptasia... my options..

    in General Discussion

    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!

    TO DRILL OR NOT TO DRILL

    in General Discussion

    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.

    Buying Fish Online

    in General Discussion

    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.

    Fish in QT: Now What?

    in General Discussion

    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?

    CMAS's 2018 Frag Fest!

    in General Discussion

    Hi All,

     

    In response to the many questions we have received about the CMAS Frag Fest, here are the details of how it works.  The Frag Fest is a fundraiser for CMAS and the proceeds are used to fund our website, and other events we hold during the year.   A paid CMAS membership is required for reduced admission.  WAMAS members and the public pay the higher price.  Everyone in attendance receives the same great prices on the fragged colonies. 

     

    The club purchases some great looking colonies directly from the source about a month in advance.  There is a mixture of SPS, LPS, Zoas, Mushrooms and other softies.  This year’s selections came from Kupang, Indonesia and Vietnam.  The corals are held several weeks to allow them to acclimate. 

     

    The Day of:

     

    ·         Upon entrance to the Frag Fest, attendees are given a group letter and and a sequence number within that group.  For example, the first person in line will be group A - #1, then group A - #2, etc.  Further down the line Group B will start and the sequence within that group will start over.  This grouping allows the “first choice” group to be rotated through the day.

    ·         Everyone will be given a list of colonies to be fragged for the event, and prices.  Use this list to decide in advance which frags you are interested in.

    ·         Once it appears everyone has signed in, a poll is taken for a count of frags desired from each colony.  Initially ONE frag of each colony is an attempt to allow ALL attendees the opportunity to purchase a frag from that colony.

    ·         Frags size is dependent upon size of the colony, and demand. 

    ·         Attendees will be called up to select frags by group and order number with that group.

    ·         The order in which groups are called up with be rotated to allow each group to have the opportunity to make first choice.  For example, group A will be called up first for the first colony.  Group B will be called for the second colony, and so on in rotation throughout the day.

    ·         While groups are called to the table, members chat amongst themselves and enjoy refreshments. 

    ·         Payment can be made whenever you are done for the day.

     

    New for this year:

     

    ·         There will be a silent auction for some choice LPS corals that don’t take kindly to fragging, and some donated aquarium starter kits.

    ·         Paid CMAS members can choose from a selection of $1.00 frags, limit 5 per customer.  None of these are the corals that are being fragged at the event.

    ·         There WILL NOT be an end of the day “Fire Sale” to clear out the leftover corals.

    ·         The event will be at the John Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) as in the past, but the building is different.  Please check the map.

    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?

    Stepson Leaving the Hobby

    in General Discussion

    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

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