
cdw79
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Everything posted by cdw79
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Looking to move on a few colonies to make some room, but not kept up wit prices recently / locally. Could anyone help me out with what reasonable pricing would be locally for some of these? Got a Duncan and a rainbow acan colony, a few Acro and torch colonies, plus a trachy that I've decided I'll move on. Can send pics and more specifics in pm's if that helps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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I've gone ahead and done a WC as a precaution, but even if 11.7 is within range, as I understood the rapid increase could nonetheless be an issue?
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It's definitely fully on me, I'm working on how I'll mitigate a similar cocktail of issues in the future. Growing pains from a fish keeper to a proper reefer. Ultimately I know 11.7 is within an acceptable range, I'm more so concerned at the speed at which it got there. The 4 dkh spike in a matter of hours makes me anxious, but so far the corals look unaffected. Probably too early to tell but we'll see...
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I refilled my Alk reservoir last night after running out on Saturday. What I believed happened was that a few weeks ago before I realized it was low, my Alk kept dropping from the 7.5 range I normally keep it to about 6.8, presumably because it was sucking out the very last drops of fluid. Like an idiot, I then increased the default output to try and mitigate that issue. Well sure enough, once primed with new fluid, the Alk exploded- 6.9 to 11.7 in a matter of hours. Just ran a second Alk test and got 11.0 this morning, so at least I know it's hit its peak (was worried it would come back even worse since the last test was at 1 am). The tank has been set up for a year and a half and I have SPS, LPS, Clams, etc. I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do, if anything. I cut off the default Alk to 1 ml per day (lowest it would go on the apex) to try and not double down on the issue, at the very least. But is this even a good idea, then? I know the Alk levels won't lurch down as quickly as they went up but idk if I should still have some calc coming in Looking over the tank today I don't see any signs of any kind of necrosis, which I guess is good, but we're still only 8 or so hours into the alk overdose so I assume the worst is yet to come. Both clams are open and seemingly doing ok for now. No shrimp or anything and only crabs are a few hermits. Is there anything I should do? I'd fear a huge WC might get the DKH down to some degree, but would a potential lurch back be a good outcome as opposed to just trying to stabilize things? I dealt with these a bit a year ago or so, but I didn't have such a packed tank at the time, much less one with a decent amount of higher end stuff either. Just baffled at how I've managed to do this, any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated.
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I can personally vouch for Dr. Reef- bought a blue spotted jawfish from them after struggling to source one QTed locally. Great communication throughout and pretty reasonable price-wise in my opinion. The fish has eaten everything presented to it and has been healthy and disease-free for a good 6 months or so now since I received it. I ended up ordering several other fish from them recently with another WAMAS friend after we saw they had a holiday discount and also has increased the number of species they offered. They're set to arrive the second week of January so TBD on that order but otherwise my experience was great. The only thing I'd point out is that sometimes there is a waiting time between your order and when they can ship, because if they don't have a fish you have ordered pre-QTed, sometimes you have to wait for QT to finish and/or for sourcing. But all in all, great experience and am excited to work with them again
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Has no one had negative experience w Emerald crabs? I haven't experienced this myself but have heard stories / seen pictures of them chowing down on some (sometimes very expense) LPS, which has made me swear them off purely out of an abundance of caution
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Trying to understand the pros and cons of Rowa Phos vs GFO (only learned today that there is a difference). Also looking to try and choose a compact reactor for whichever I go with- space is at a huge premium in my sump but my .27 phosphate is simple too high to deal with any longer as is. Any guidance of how to approach this would be incredibly helpful, thanks so much!
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Power Outage backup ideas? How long (usually) are outages in Arlington?
cdw79 replied to cdw79's topic in General Discussion
I took a look, found him on YouTube but the only related video I saw was one where he compared lead acid batteries to lithium iron phosphate batteries. Any idea where you may have seen other discussions of the topic? -
Power Outage backup ideas? How long (usually) are outages in Arlington?
cdw79 replied to cdw79's topic in General Discussion
Luckily for me, I hope, I'm just inside Glebe in Ballston, in an apartment building at that. So hopefully that might lean in my favor. But regardless, that does not negate the necessity of having a proper plan in place for a significant power outage. While it would be nice to have the backup come on automatically, I suppose I'm not completely married to that idea. Ultimately I just want something I can depend on to get me through a ;power outage- whether a few hours or a few days. How exactly do you go about choosing what kind of backup to get? I looked at UPS united and "power banks" that I saw mentioned in some other threads but I don't really know how to size one or how long I could expect a Nero 5 to run on one. I've attached my Apex's readout for power consumption, for what it's worth -
I've lived in the area for about a year and a half now, and I can't say I have a great plan for what happens if the power goes out. So far this thankfully hasn't happened in Arlington, and I do have a bubbler that comes on whenever power is cut, but that feels like tempting fate. One thing I'm trying to get a sense of is how often power cuts tend to happen in the area, and generally for how long. I'm from down near the Gulf where hurricanes can knock out power for days or weeks, but I'm trying to get a sense of what my backup is realistically going to need to handle. What should I expect for outage frequency / length? As a balcony-less apartment dweller, any kind of gas dweller generators are out of the question, and because I use NERO 5's and not MP40s, from what I can tell all the reef-specific battery backups aren't an option either. Would also really appreciate any recommendations for UPS systems or something equivalent, especially if anyone has experience hooking them up to an Apex. Thanks so much!
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Might be worth making a separate post in the for sale section, I'm sure more people would see them there!
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I have two Nero's on my tank (same model, XL300) on either side and they do a good job. Plenty powerful for SPS, in my limited experience at least. I've had them for a year and they've held up fine, though the con is they don't work with the battery backup like (I think) the MP40's do? So that's less than ideal. But I really like the low profile look, they're easy to clean, and they suit my needs. If you have AI lights the integration in the same app is nice too.
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I can't figure it out, and I can't find a video either. I have a pink diamond zoa colony multiplying faster than I can handle, to a point where they're choking out the other zoas, but I'd prefer fragging them rather than selling. Problem is I can't get the rock out of the tank and it's Caribsea aritificial rock, so the technique of cutting through the rock to cut off the sliver of rock the zoas are attached to hasn't worked. That's been the only technique I've seen. Any advice from you experiences fraggers out there?
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I've got a pair of clowns that are laying eggs at least once a month now, but they only ever lay their eggs on the piece of rocks that's part of the glued scape. I've tried buying some smaller clay pots and adding a half into the tank near their usual nesting site, but no luck. I even tried using it to cover their favored spot, but they both literally bit the pot and slowly pushed it off. Ultimately it doesn't matter a bunch to me- I suppose the occasional live food for the tank isn't bad. But I'd ideally like to be able to remove the eggs to give to some local breeders with more space than me to hopefully make the hobby just that little more accessible for locals. Does anyone have any ideas about how to convince them to lay their eggs on something removable? Would anyone want the eggs if I could successfully remove them from the tank?
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https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2022/02/04/federal-legislation-threatens-pets-zoos-aquariums-and-biomedical-research/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q-38aJM24Q Apparently there is a new bill that just made it through the House restricting the importing of fish, including ornamental fish. I've spoken to two importers this morning and both seem pretty concerned about how this will affect their businesses and the availability of fish generally. Personally can't tell if this is more of a boogey man that's being blown out of proportion and won't actually make much of a difference, or an actual significant issue for the hobby going forward. Any thoughts?
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I'm planning on making a trip from Arlington to Glen Burnie to pick up a pulsing leather coral frag (only ever seen one other colony like it and it was super cool, so for me it's worth the drive). That said, I figured while I'm out there it might be worth looking into what other LFS or individual sellers to get in touch with. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks
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Running out of salt and considering trying a new brand. I've been using Fritz blue box since I started this current tank up, but its MG content seems to be a little on the lower side and the boxes are pretty pricey. Was curious if anyone has strong opinions about what salt to use / what would be the best bang for the buck. Thanks!
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Does anyone have experience with Supreme Reefs' fish, or just generally? I visited for the first time this weekend and the owner said they have a significant QT period, but said they QT somewhere else before arriving at the store. The place has great reviews online, but that setup struck me as odd if actually true. I'm looking to only be adding fish that have already been QT'ed as I don't have space for a QT myself in my tiny Arlington apartment, so if anyone can speak to the quality of their livestock that would be awesome. Thanks!
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Yes, Rod's! Sorry, I was actually making some RODI water as I was typing and clearly was caught in two minds there. Update, I went to Petco and snagged some Mysis, and immediately he started eating like nothing had ever happened. Looked happy as can be. Thank you both so much! I feel so much better knowing I'm not starving the poor guy, and he should have plenty of pods to pick at between feedings by midweek. Thank you both again, have a great rest of your Labor Day Weekend!
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Thanks so much for your replies. I've never used RODI and had mostly used miss / brine in the past, so I'll definitely go back to those asap. Any idea where I could get some that might still be open today? I work long hours during the week so I'm not sure if I could manage to get out to an LFS on a weekday before closing. I'm tempted to go to Petco just to see what happens, as I've seen that apparently they occasionally have saltwater out here, but I'm not sure.
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I've just about finished cycling my tank as of yesterday (0 ppm ammonia, .1 ppm Nitrite, 25 ppm Nitrate, 1.026 sg) and went to Reef eScape to pick up a fish to keep the cycle going. I specifically wanted to go there as I learned they strictly QT all their livestock, so I figured something from there would be particularly resilient. I was hoping to snag a Bangaii Cardinal, Chromis, or something else that would be especially hardy, but they literally had either a $150 1" platinum clown or a long nose hawkfish. Since the latter has been on my stock list for some time now, I went with him. I know he has been through quarantine and had been for sale for at least a further week and a half, so I was comfortable he would be a decent candidate given my options. I also made sure the person working there fed him, and he ate pretty voraciously. Fastforward to now, and I've still not gotten him to eat much at all. I tried pellets with no luck, and also tried a good chunk of thawed RODI's. He ate one, after watching it a long time, but otherwise let the rest swirl around him. He seems to see it, and he'll sometimes swim out to have a closer look, but will turn right back around to perch on his rock or two that he's picked out as his territory. I tried again just now to feed him (bought him at 5:30 last night, tried feeding at 10, now tried again today) and nothing. He will sometimes show a little interest, but didn't go for any of the pieces. Besides feeding, his overall behavior is fine- normal breathing, perches high and seems alert (compared to past forums I've read where the fish would end up sitting on the substrate). My only concern is he doesn't move much. He stays on one or two different spots and will sit there for 5 minutes on end before adjusting, moving a few inches, etc. I know this is pretty standard hawkfish behavior, but just trying to give the full context here. Overall I'm hoping things will turn around. He's the first fish in there and might still be adjusting to his surroundings. I'm just concerned that because I haven't been able to seed my tank with pods yet (hopefully will be here Thursday / Friday from AlgaeBarn) that he has no microfauna to snack on if it's just a matter of not liking the food I have available at the moment. If anyone has any ideas, advice, or similar experiences, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks so much.
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Hi All, Thanks so much for your replies. I've just realized this may technically be in the wrong subsection, but oh well. Thanks for the recommendations so far too! I just went to Reef Escape yesterday and was incredibly impressed that they actually QT their livestock, something I'd never seen in any LFS up until this point. I'll definitely check out Supreme Reefs next weekend, it doesn't seem too far away. I went to Blue Ribbon Koi on a whim last weekend, but man was it a hike! In terms of coral, I've been keeping up with news in the hobby for the past 6 months or so and have seen the impact of import bans on prices. It's really heartening to see aquaculture so much ahead of where it was back when I had my tank too. Overall though, with my kind of budget, I don't think may designer sticks are in my future anytime soon, and would more than happily take more "basic" pieces to help get a good foundation of pieces going. Pardon my ignorance, but when you guys say the Classifieds, what / where is that on here? Are there any sellers well known around here who are reliable and honest? Any tips on that would be great, thanks so much for sharing!
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Hi everyone, I'm a recent college grad and have moved to the area for work. I kept a reef aquarium from about 5 years old to my junior year of high school, and now that I finally have a reasonable income from something besides my childhood lawn mowing business, I'm incredibly excited to be back in the hobby. So much has changed! My new Reefer XL300 is currently mid-cycle, and I can't wait to explore the LFS in the area. I'm living in Arlington, and it seems like the closest options are all 30+ minutes away, so I'd love to meet any local individual sellers / reefers around here. If anyone has any LFS recommendations, or (in a few weeks) any extra coral lying around that they're looking to get rid of, definitely let me know. I'm excited to meet you all, and thanks for having me in WAMAS. Have a great weekend! -Champ