FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Ohh man that sucks...glad you still around to look back and laugh at it tho!
Patrick's 81G - the last dance
- Thread starter FinalPhaze987
- Start date
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Crazy that you mentioned this while I was ordering. I just went through a whole ordeal where FedEx delayed 2 priority overnight shipments. One being as long as 5 days.
POTO got that awesome 14 day guarantee and honored it the first time. Sent me out a whole new set of frags piggybacking with another reefnBid order. Then FedEx struck again.
I though all was lost because they don't replace replacements, but Jessica at POTO sent me a new pack with everything in it again, this time via UPS.
Ive ordered numerous frags from alot of big vendors, none would have done that, even if I showed it RTN'd in the bag.
Reefnbid / POTO's service is, by far, the best experience with a coral vendor online. Glad we got establishments that still put value in customer service...especially when things go wrong.
RandyC
Supporting Member
That's a buttload of frags! You're going to have to frag every other day soon to prevent them from attacking each other.
Mike Yasin
Supporting Member
That's gonna look great grown out!
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Yea mann...things got outta hand during POTOs anniversary sale...like irresponsibly, outta hand...2 frags turned into ten then became 20..I didn't realize it because they were all on separate invoices..when I got the shipment in I was the one saying WTF did I do??? LolThat's a buttload of frags! You're going to have to frag every other day soon to prevent them from attacking each other.
All good. It'll be more to share with the successful stick heads on here.
Thanks Mike. It's all the waiting game for me now..there's a couple eyesores I can't wait to grow out. My browned out Acroiris looks like it just gave someone a dirty sanchez..I keep having to tell myself that Graham started off the same way with that cora and to give it time. Good thing I'm in it for the long haul
Mike Yasin
Supporting Member
Graham does an amazing job- i think everything splices in his tank - I have several from him.
Since you’re this far in, I’d recommend you go to moonshiners website and get yourself an MS ICP test, and Organo test, and a biome test. That’s the most comprehensive testing methodology out there. Great baselines for everything you can think of that’s important to SPS health.
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Ive been using the ATI MS recently and plan on a quarterly cadence once I can nail down my flouride and zinc deficiency. Biome test will be performed soon, waiting for later in the year to see the difference from my initial one done a few months ago. I haven't looked in to the Organo test tho. Ill check it out. Thx for the recs!
That thing is a beast of a skimmer. Had to dial it down because I thing I grossly over sized it. With the AC pump it was quite noisy, but after the DC conversion its great. Did you end up picking up a down draft skimmer for yours?
No still in research phase for the bigger tank. Build quality on the Ultra Reef looks really nice on the videos I've seen.
Mike Yasin
Supporting Member
I used the ATI for a while, too. The Oceamo MS is so much more comprehensive and gets you all elements readings as opposed to the ATI “ND”. Super granular
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Build quality is on par with royal exclusiv, just a little heavier. The packaging isn't as nice, but that ends up as garbage anyway. Replacement pumps are way less, which was a big thing for me. The sicce DC pump would run me $300 vs. An easy $700 for a replacement Red Dragon.
I gotta try that out. How was the turn around in getting your results?
Mike Yasin
Supporting Member
I send it out on Saturday or Monday, so it's at the TX hub by Friday and on that night's flight to Austria. generally have results back on the following Thursday.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
From Sat or Monday until the following week Thursday? Meaning approx 11+ days? That is even longer than the Fauna results.
Mike Yasin
Supporting Member
Yeah. The sample goes to Texas and from there is sent to Austria. Have to wait if you want the best i guess
Maybe quicker if you catch a flight and drop it off yourself, let me know If you go I would be temtped to get one for you to drop off as well jk.
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The fastest I've find found for Oceamo is when I drop off in person at the post office Friday morning, I'll get results the following Thursday.
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
One of the ways I measure success in an SPS dominated tank is consistency and stability. Once a system is dialed in fairly well, results in 11 days shouldn't require any major knee-jerk adjustments to correct. The degree of correction for a 5 day variance in results should be negligible if done right.
ICP is fairly new and wasn't widely available to hobbyists until recently, we were able to grow acros just fine.
That turn around sounds in line with ATI, which i found more useful than trident due to more data being provided. If oceamo dives deeper, this sounds like it will be my go to for test moving forward.
Thank you for recommending. I'm going to give them a shot and see how it goes.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
That is actually very good to know, thank you. I do not believe MS is really needed or indeed the best method for all parameters, but Fauna has been offering MS as an upgrade for the past 2-3 months (+30 USD), and I tried it out to see how some of the less relevant parameters are doing. Definetly not something I am interested in to book for every monthly ICP or even more than every 6-12 months.
But it is a feasible alternative as I am currently deliberating switching for ICP testing due to the long shipping times (10 days until results) that Fauna cannot fix immediately, despite my multiple complaints. And Oceamo is really the only good alternative.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Consistent and stable out of sync parameters would still not be desirable though
? Some parameters are not as reliable anymore after 10 days, and I just do not like to pay for something which has diminished value. And, it delays the process of dialing in the tank specifically if you make changes and want to see their impact quickly, and make the adjustments. So the shipping concern is a bit broader for me. But I agree, the results are still useful and for the the most important parameters it does not make a difference.ICP was introduced by Triton in 2008 from what I read, and I wish I would agree that this is a fairly new
(since time flies too quickly at my age). The argument that you could run a tank without this does not resonate with me, since it limited the ability to run successful tanks to a few enthuiasts that love the challenge of trial and error. ICP, with all its disadvantages (rabbit hole issues etc) enabled a broader population to run nice tanks with more difficult corals quicker, in my opinion.
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
I started running out of space on my phone so started flipping through older pics to see what i could delete. Stumbling upon pics of the tank 6 months ago was pretty shocking.
April 2025
October 2025
April 2025
October 2025
April 2025 - my first tester acros
October 2025- hasn't got taller, but the base developed well and is branching
A few other coral shots. All in different stages. Some encrusting, some waiting to color up, others with new growth tips.
October 2025
April 2025
October 2025
April 2025
October 2025
April 2025 - my first tester acros
October 2025- hasn't got taller, but the base developed well and is branching
A few other coral shots. All in different stages. Some encrusting, some waiting to color up, others with new growth tips.
October 2025