High Tide Aquatics

Bigfish's swim into the sea - a tank journal

dangalang said:
Snails should take care of the smaller stuff like diatoms and film algaes. The tangs should take care of the bigger stuff.

Snails can absolutely harbor bad stuff (ich, aptasia, unwanted algaes, etc.), but most people don't QT their inverts. Support your local LFS if you can and QT if you can/want just to be safe.

https://invertedreef.com/ sells QT'd inverts online, kinda pricey, but time is money and proper QT takes time.
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Just wanted to say that the only thing they do at inverted reef is to put their inverts into 80.6F warm water for 6 weeks. It is not a service that justifies their margins. I find their QT protocol rather amusing:

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I went ahead and checked my parameters again this morning

Phosphate - .38 ppm
Nitrate - 13.8 ppm
ALK - 9.06 dKH

However when checked my Calcium it was super low, like maybe 80 ppm. I never dosed but when I checked last week it was solid around 455 ppm. I am really thinking I must have made a mistake and will check again later today. I did make a mistake and dosed some calcium as a knee jerk reaction, but I stopped and just thought I will check later when I come home to confirm. I wish the they made accurate hanna checkers for these, the salifert tests aren't too bad but its just so easy to check with automatic ones

My Magnesium was solid

What range would you guys typically start actively making changes? I know this is a sensitive subject and theres so many opinions, people can be really successful with different strategies (high nitrate or phosphates) but I just wanted to get a pulse of peoples thoughts. And what actions they might do specifically for Nitrates of Phosphates (others you can just dose to increase). I know a common thought would be to feed less or increase filtration a bit and see if that helps.
 
Bigfish said:
I went ahead and checked my parameters again this morning

Phosphate - .38 ppm
Nitrate - 13.8 ppm
ALK - 9.06 dKH

However when checked my Calcium it was super low, like maybe 80 ppm. I never dosed but when I checked last week it was solid around 455 ppm. I am really thinking I must have made a mistake and will check again later today. I did make a mistake and dosed some calcium as a knee jerk reaction, but I stopped and just thought I will check later when I come home to confirm. I wish the they made accurate hanna checkers for these, the salifert tests aren't too bad but its just so easy to check with automatic ones

My Magnesium was solid

What range would you guys typically start actively making changes? I know this is a sensitive subject and theres so many opinions, people can be really successful with different strategies (high nitrate or phosphates) but I just wanted to get a pulse of peoples thoughts. And what actions they might do specifically for Nitrates of Phosphates (others you can just dose to increase). I know a common thought would be to feed less or increase filtration a bit and see if that helps.
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I would focus on getting the CA on track and not worry about the N & P right now. Use the Salifert test. It does not get much easier for CA. My recent measurements were only 8 mg/L off from ICP. Super accurate and cheap test.

What was you Mg when you tested it?
 
Alexander1312 said:
I would focus on getting the CA on track and not worry about the N & P right now. Use the Salifert test. It does not get much easier for CA. My recent measurements were only 8 mg/L off from ICP. Super accurate and cheap test.

What was you Mg when you tested it?
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My Magnesium I think was pretty good. I will have to see if I am checking right but it took the whole syringe before it really turned blue (which I think indicates it's high).
 
Alexander1312 said:
Just wanted to say that the only thing they do at inverted reef is to put their inverts into 80.6F warm water for 6 weeks. It is not a service that justifies their margins. I find their QT protocol rather amusing:
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What else could they do? I thought you just have to go fallow for x amount of days. Raising the temp speeds up the pest lifecycle, is how I understand it. Do you want lower margins or a different protocol?
 
Alexander1312 said:
I would focus on getting the CA on track and not worry about the N & P right now. Use the Salifert test. It does not get much easier for CA. My recent measurements were only 8 mg/L off from ICP. Super accurate and cheap test.

What was you Mg when you tested it?
Click to expand...
And yes I definitely need to check my calcium again, what's weird is last time I checked it, it was really good I can't imagine it would drop so quick especially because I don't have wall to wall SPS or really any
 
Patio said:
What else could they do? I thought you just have to go fallow for x amount of days. Raising the temp speeds up the pest lifecycle, is how I understand it. Do you want lower margins or a different protocol?
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Put them in copper. Whatever survives is free of any disease.

My point that I made at another post is that this is something anyone here can do on behalf of all of us if we feel this is needed. An Inkbird-based heating protocol does not sound like something I want to pay more for.

P.S.: First sentence was not a serious statement.
 
Bigfish said:
My Magnesium I think was pretty good. I will have to see if I am checking right but it took the whole syringe before it really turned blue (which I think indicates it's high).
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I am not a fan of high magnesium. Try to become proficient in these tests. Actual values are more precise :). You are welcome to come by and I can share how I test.
 
Alexander1312 said:
Put them in copper. Whatever survives is free of any disease.

My point that I made at another post is that this is something anyone here can do on behalf of all of us if we feel this is needed. An Inkbird-based heating protocol does not sound like something I want to pay more for.

P.S.: First sentence was not a serious statement.
Click to expand...

But who on average normally QT inverts? It is actually a not a simple undertaking for a large facility to QT inverts for six weeks as I imagine it ties up resources limiting their sales volume. And let's be real, as it is, you can't get most hobbyists to QT for 1 day let alone six weeks. It's really about if you have the time and the resources and patience to do it for that long of a period. Some people may not find the markup of fish QT worth it with your line of thinking either because that's something someone can do at home too for a lower cost than what a QT fish sells for. I'm not saying I'd pay the premium for the inverts, but at least they're transparent about what they're doing.

Just a FYI, the life cycle period for ich at increased temperatures is well cited (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0044848617317544). So what they're doing isn't something crazy.
 
RandyC said:
But who on average normally QT inverts? It is actually a not a simple undertaking for a large facility to QT inverts for six weeks as I imagine it ties up resources limiting their sales volume. And let's be real, as it is, you can't get most hobbyists to QT for 1 day let alone six weeks. It's really about if you have the time and the resources and patience to do it for that long of a period. Some people may not find the markup of fish QT worth it with your line of thinking either because that's something someone can do at home too for a lower cost than what a QT fish sells for. I'm not saying I'd pay the premium for the inverts, but at least they're transparent about what they're doing.

Just a FYI, the life cycle period for ich at increased temperatures is well cited (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0044848617317544). So what they're doing isn't something crazy.
Click to expand...

I am aware of the temp protocol and I am not disputing its merit for most inverts (except urchins). Also, I am generally interested in QTd inverts, but less passionate about this than Qtd fish (probably for the wrong reasons). It is well worth the additional cost for QTed fish since the difference in effort to Qtd inverts is material in my opinion, if done properly. Letting a bunch of snails or shrimps cook in 80.6+F water does not seem to be a massive logistical operation to me.
 
Alexander1312 said:
I am aware of the temp protocol and I am not disputing its merit for most inverts (except urchins). Also, I am generally interested in QTd inverts, but less passionate about this than Qtd fish (probably for the wrong reasons). It is well worth the additional cost for QTed fish since the difference in effort to Qtd inverts is material in my opinion, if done properly. Letting a bunch of snails or shrimps cook in 80.6+F water does not seem to be a massive logistical operation to me.
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It's not necessarily technically difficult, but maintaining multiple sets of tanks and sitting on livestock for six weeks not being able to sell them affects cash flow and the volume you can sell quite bit.

You're not interested in QT'ed inverts, but let's not knock the people that want them, but may not have the time, the space, the second setup or the patience to do so.

If what they're doing to technically wrong or hogwash snake oil, have at them, but they're not doing anything that's false advertising or "amusing."
 
dangalang said:
Snails should take care of the smaller stuff like diatoms and film algaes. The tangs should take care of the bigger stuff.

Snails can absolutely harbor bad stuff (ich, aptasia, unwanted algaes, etc.), but most people don't QT their inverts. Support your local LFS if you can and QT if you can/want just to be safe.

https://invertedreef.com/ sells QT'd inverts online, kinda pricey, but time is money and proper QT takes time.
Click to expand...
I was looking at invert reef site, where do they ship from?
 
RandyC said:
It's not necessarily technically difficult, but maintaining multiple sets of tanks and sitting on livestock for six weeks not being able to sell them affects cash flow and the volume you can sell quite bit.

You're not interested in QT'ed inverts, but let's not knock the people that want them, but may not have the time, the space, the second setup or the patience to do so.

If what they're doing to technically wrong or hogwash snake oil, have at them, but they're not doing anything that's false advertising or "amusing."
Click to expand...

You are not quoting me correctly. I said I am interested in Qtd inverts.

To you, it is not, to me it is amusing to heat saltwater to 80.6F and maintain this temp with an inkbird, and sell this as a business proposition. Also, it is borderline snake oil to me from an inexperienced reefer perspective who believes there is more behind this. We have to agree to disagree on this but I take your point on the efforts this still requires.

My bigger point got lost here that our local LFS should offer this if feasible, or those of us who are interested can set up a tank and share the related costs. That would be preferable over an online order from them.
 
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Alexander1312 said:
You are not quoting me correctly. I said I am interested in Qtd inverts.

To you, it is not, to me it is amusing to heat saltwater to 80.6F and maintain this temp with an inkbird, and sell this as a business proposition. Also, it is borderline snake oil to me from an inexperienced reefer perspective who believes there is more behind this. We have to agree to disagree on this but I take your point on the efforts this still requires.

My bigger point got lost here that our local LFS should offer this if feasible, or those of us who are interested can set up a tank and share the related costs. That would be preferable over an online order from them.
Click to expand...

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames IMPORTANT UPDATE: Raising aquarium temperature to 27C/80.6F can shorten the coral/invert isolation period to 6 weeks: New Ich Fallow Period Preface: The purpose of this article is to outline time periods required to properly quarantine (QT) marine corals &...
humble.fish humble.fish
 
rechecked my calcium and it was a little high (475ppm) probably due to my stupid decision to dose. Still learning but this is a good reminder to never be hasty! Always take a step away and retest.
 
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