johnnybv

Thanks Martin it was a pleasure meeting you. john

Powder Blue tangs are 4-5" and cost $49.95. As far as a discount to WAMAS when you see my prices you will understand that I cant offer any other discount at this time. I have priced everything low, and right now WAMAS is the only people that know about me selling marine. I think that is a better approach then pricing higher then offering a discount. 200 gal instant ocean bulk box 36.95! Cant touch that locally. thanks for you support! john

Ok, now that the dust has settled, this is where you will see information from me. I will also monitor the ask a vendor section as well. Had a few WAMAS members stop by today for salt, and a beautiful Pink spotted goby. Hope to see more, and again I apoligize to the entire organization for the recent misunderstanding. No hard feelings. John

OK Guys, I received my first shipment of fish and a couple of corals today. Here is the list. Nothing rare and crazy yet. Coral Beautys Blue Tangs sm & LG Yellow tangs Flame angels Powder blues med/lg Tank raised Percula clowns (false) Bicolor blenny Watchman orange spot goby watchman yellow goby Rainford Goby Watchman Pink spot goby Royal doty back Green bulb anemone Scarlet red hermit crabs Cerith Snails Devils hand coral soft star green polyps Chromis Green Firrefish goby Margarita snails Visit the website for directions and hours Blue Ribbon Koi / Marine

Dave, We do offer consultation visits to your property they are $75. With that I would come out look at where you want the pond and make suggestions to location and size. I would then beable to give you more specifics as far as filtration requirments and actual pond construction guidlines. We build ponds as well as advise homeowners on building their own. The other option which is a free service, would be to bring pictures and drawings of your yard to me at the shop. From that I could advise as well. We stock everything your would need to build and support your pond, we are here to help you along the way. John

Ok the Cyclopeeze has arrived 3 oz freezer bar 11.95 www.blueribbonkoi.com

Martin, The answer to your question is not a quick one..... It is very important that a hole remains in the ice to allow gas exchenge, oxygen in and toxins out. Simply add a floating koi pond heater, or instal an airstone about 12" below the surface, the continuous moving water will not freeze. Not sure what the depth is, but in VA the shallowest we reccomend for Koi to winter over is 3', up north I would have to say 4'. SO if the pond is shallow, I would reccomend trying to bring them in for the winter. Bringing them in presents a few problems....Filtration for one, is a must! Koi are very dirty eat and crap alot. If the water temp is below 50 stop feeding and let them go dormant. If you heat the water or if the temp tank is in a heated area of the house, most likely the water temp will be above 50 and you will still need to feed, thus creating a much greater demand on the filter. If you do feed, you must use a low protien food, a wheat germ base like Dainichi all season. Any food with a protien content above 40% should not be fed unless the water temp is above 70 consistently. Ideally if the pond is deep enough, the best thing to do is leave them in the pond and make sure it doesnt freeze solid. That is the least stressful way for both the Koi and their owners. Hope that helps. John

Sounds like a plan, thanks.

I would be honored to have a WAMAS social event, I will let everyone know when the fish are in. What days do you reccomend, a weekend or weekday evening? Inventory WAMAS may be interested in that is here now. Frozen Cyclopeeze 3 oz 11.95 Hikari Frozen Mysis cubes 3.5 oz 2.95 Instant Ocean bulk 200 g salt 39.95 and a small amount of misc stuff, power heads, salinity meters, power strips... check the website for full details of hours and inventory which will continue to build over time. Blue Ribbon Koi & Marine! Thanks, John

New shop near Manassas carrying marine fish and supplies, with VERY reasonable prices. Check website Blue Ribbon Koi for directions, hours of operation, and inventory. Click catalog, then marine. john :2thumbsup:

Brand new shop opening soon in the Manassas area. Small, family owned, great quality and prices. www.blueribbonkoi.com

I lost an entire reef switching salts!!! The smell of death was brutal for weeks. The main thing you need to watch is the ETDA. That is a clarifying agent that is in most of the synthetic salts, and also binds most of the heavy metals. Corals not used to the metals will have a very hard time adjusting to the new metal content. I did exactly what you are talking about doing, and I am still regretting it. If you decide to go ahead, DO NOT change any more than 5% at a time. Trust me. I switched from Reef Crystals to I think it was Scientific Marine, natural salt. I did a 20% change in my 200 gal, and my corals basically turned inside out in 12 hours! Lost all coral, snails, shrimp, crabs, and the bio activity in the rock. It took 6-8 weeks for the filtration to come back to keep the ammonia and nitrite in check. be careful!

Anyone have some live sand to help get my bio back? Somewhere near manassas. thanks john

Great Info! Where can I get all three of these items?

Tank is looking better, I did move most corals to a foster tank, but at last visit they didnt' look so good, only time will tell. To answer a few questions....the sand bed is about 4-5". I live in Bristow, near manassas. I did pour the sand in slowly from a 1 gal container that was submerged, so the sand blasting was at a minimum. Of all the posts I have got lots of suggestions, but as of yet no one has been able to tell me what went wrong. Was it the salt, the sand, the water change, the new frags from the WAMAS meeting (just kidding) or a combination of all. I have an ORP meter running and it has gone from negative to 181 and continues to rise. I have cut back on the water changes, and am using amquel to help bind the ammonia. The fish are back and eating, after I add the amquel...ammonia is tested twice a day, and has been as high as 4 ppm.Somesone mentioned poly filters, is that just a piece of fine filter material or a whole cartridge type filter? Thank you all for your help! and support. Everything is replacable. I just wish I had a couple pictures of the entire reef before I lost it. john

AS expected ammonia is going through the roof.

Make up water is RO and have been using it for many years. It seems that the sand is the problem from what I have read in the posts. I did add it all at one time, can anyone explain what happened? Whats IMHO?

Thanks guys, the smell of death is rank! Water changes are in order, anyone used potasium perganate to improve water quality? We use it in koi ponds, but my thoughts are it would finish off the corals. ORP reading settled out at 148

the sand was added all at one time. It was designed for marine use, and I thouroghly washed it, and did not notice any smell. It appeared to be very clean, and white, and is intended for aquarium use. The manufacturer is Estes, I have contacted them, but they have not returned my call. Any thoughts on the ORP reading of 150? I keep koi as well, and when ORP readings drop we add a little potasium permaganate, can I do that in the marine enviornment?

I ran my 200 gal tank with fish and corals sucessfully for 3 years. Corals & fish were both thriving. Simple filtration, sump with drip plate going through very dense stoney material, Accu C skimmer, and Aqua 57w UV. Saturday I decided to add about 150# of sand. I used a dry marine sand, my rock was plenty cultured so my thoughts were it would seed the sand and things could only improve on the nitrate side. I also changed 25% water with a new salt. I had been using Reef Crystals, but found a great source for another brand from Marine enterprises that supposedly was the best salt you could buy. It boasts that it does not contain any EDTA. It also says when transitioning from another salt to only do 5% changes for a while. The lack of EDTA changes the chemisty of the water dramaticlly. I did not read this until after the water change.... About 2 hours after the sand and water change, I started to get that wonderfull pile of Zenia smell. And all the corals and other inverts basically turned inside out. I have removed what I can, but left some corals to use as monitors to imporvments. As of now my test corals have continued to deteriorate, and the smell persists throughout the house. I spoke with the manufacturer of the salt, and they said everthing should straigten out in a few weeks, I just stressed out the corals. They are beyond stressed, and I belive the sand has something to do with this also. I added and ORP meter tonight, preliminary readings are around 155, very low. All other tests are fine, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, KH, phosphate... Anyone have any ideasn what the H-E-double hocky sticks happened?? What can I do to bring the ORP readings up?