High Tide Aquatics

Bumbling newbie's 65g mixed reef

denzil said:
Heather's not there, she couldn't make it. The Heather that was there was Frankie's girlfriend.

What do you mean most of the "vendors" weren't actually selling anything? I'm fairly certain most were selling either fish or coral with a select few selling equipment. How are you going to Exotic Reef Imports? The last I checked, only those who have established a vendor relationship with them can go there.
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Yeah, unfortunately I didn't know ERI is a wholesaler. We found out when we arrived. Oh well.

No, really. Most of the booths had representatives there to promote their product only. They couldn't sell anything. The only people selling stuff where hobbyists (selling frags) and retailers who already had licenses in Orange County (also mostly frags). I think I saw 1 or 2 booths selling fish, and 1 or 2 selling equipment. It was really disappointing. I went with a list of items that I wanted to pick up, and nobody would sell them to me!
 
DeeAnnMG said:
Yeah, unfortunately I didn't know ERI is a wholesaler. We found out when we arrived. Oh well.

No, really. Most of the booths had representatives there to promote their product only. They couldn't sell anything. The only people selling stuff where hobbyists (selling frags) and retailers who already had licenses in Orange County (also mostly frags). I think I saw 1 or 2 booths selling fish, and 1 or 2 selling equipment. It was really disappointing. I went with a list of items that I wanted to pick up, and nobody would sell them to me!
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Have you been to these types of events before? All events are like this and manufacturers generally don't sell direct but rather through their retailers. Companies are generally there to promote their brand and through their retailers, sell their products. Every event that I've been to, including non saltwater aquarium events, have this similar setup/operation.
 
It has been forever since my last journal entry, and SO much has happened in that time. Let's see if I can remember it all...

So, before I wet to RAP I started seeing some green hair algae growth. After getting back, I went down my LFS with a short video of the stuff (because a picture just wasn't doing it justice) and came home with the below.

Meet Click & Clack. Yeah, I know they aren't going to do a thing for my green hair algae problem, but they were too cute for words. They were on my list, and SO tiny! They needed to be in a safe place. they were Less than a an inch from tip to tip. They spent 2 weeks in quarantine, started eating and grew a bit before going into the DT.





I also brought home a sea hare. I named him Bugz, but he didn't stay for very long. Why? He was WAY too good at his job. I brought him home, and after acclimation he stuck his head between 2 rocks until after lights out. After a couple hours he started climbing all over my rock. By morning my algea issues were all but gone! I gave him one more day (48 hours total) then brought him back to the LFS. I just didn't have enough algea to feed him. I got a partial refund, ended up paying about 9 buck to "rent" this guy to clean my algea issues up. He was a bit freaky looking at first, but I fell in love. I was sorry to see him go, but he was better off back at the LFS. Here he is, head down, practically hanging off the rock to reach some yummy (to him) stuff. I know he looks a bit like a wet mouse but he was super soft, let me pick him up and took care of my algea issues in the blink of an eye.

 
Last month I picked up a few corals at RAP, then a few more at BAP. And over the past few weeks I've picked up even more here and there at LFS. Here are a few pictures of things in my tank.

I got the acan at RAP. The picture doesn't do this coral justice. It's a very vibrant green and blue, my favorite colors. The clove polyps I picked up at a LFS (Valencia Pets) on my way home from RAP. They had a booth at RAP, and were giving out flyers for 3 free frags, in-store. I paid for the clove polyps, but did get my 3 free frags, which was cool. And the green flower pot I got from Diablo Corals at BAP.


I picked up this sympodium coral and red flower pot from Aquatic Collection. They're two of my favorites!



I also got a couple of torch corals at RAP. Here's one of them.


Another one of my favorites is this gorgeous pulsing xenia. In low flow it pulses a ton.


I got this little beauty at BAP as well. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called.


Yesterday I decided to rearrange my corals, because I found out last weekend that all my softies would completely take over the tank if they weren't separated. So, I made a polyp island, and a zoa island. I also moved my torches away from the spot where I hope to place SPS. While doing so I took an inventory of my corals, and I realize that I have quite a few. But since they're all frags, it doesn't look like a lot. I just need to be patient, and let them grow out some. So, I have:
Green Star Poly (on separate rock)
2 flower pots (green and red) LOVE!
Pink flowing (name unknown) from BAP
One "test" stick of SPS, to see if I can keep SPS alive, also from BAP
Sympodium LOVE!
Acan
5X different types of button polyps
Green and white pipe organ
3X different torch corals
Hammer coral
Clove polyps
Toadstool
4x different zoas, or they could be colony polyps since I can't tell the difference.
Kenya tree coral
Purple people eater

I think that's 25. Somebody stop me!
 
A few weeks ago I saw something on the glass of my tank that literally gave me nightmares. A couple days later I saw one of my clowns eating them, so I assume whatever they are won't cause a tank crash?



 
And, for my last update of the day, last week I picked up 2 new fishy residents. This is Tommy Two Tone.


And this is Casper. I think I may be feeding him too much. :p


They're both in quarantine, 5 days now. It's hard, but I'm trying to restrain myself from moving them to the DT. They're both eating well, and look healthy, but 5 days isn't long enough, right?
 
DeeAnnMG said:
A few weeks ago I saw something on the glass of my tank that literally gave me nightmares. A couple days later I saw one of my clowns eating them, so I assume whatever they are won't cause a tank crash?
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They look like the white flatworms which are harmless. I think your tank is new, so you'll probably have a small explosion and then they'll probably disappear or at least go back down to a normal population after a few weeks. Siphon them out using a piece of airline tubing during your next water change.
 
DeeAnnMG said:
A few weeks ago I saw something on the glass of my tank that literally gave me nightmares. A couple days later I saw one of my clowns eating them, so I assume whatever they are won't cause a tank crash?

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Looks a lot like mysid shrimp, hard to tell though without a clearer shot, they're harmless as far as your tank crashing but I believe they are pretty high up on the food chain in the pod world... that said they are the food for any fish :D
 
nice stuff. The last coral you didn't know what its called looks like Anthella...its like xenia but grows in a mat, not stalks.

I hope your rock work is stable...meaning that its on the bottom of the tank and not just on the sand. Casper is a sand shifter and may dig under the rocks and could cause them to come crashing down.

25 corals? that is fine....did you remember how many I have in my tank : ) FYI sometimes I use my LPS to be the barrier to my softies ( xenia and such) They usually keep them from spreading to much. FYI you need to becareful if you try that...some softies/zoos will spread toxins out if they too much stings from LPS.
 
Apon said:
nice stuff. The last coral you didn't know what its called looks like Anthella...its like xenia but grows in a mat, not stalks.

I hope your rock work is stable...meaning that its on the bottom of the tank and not just on the sand. Casper is a sand shifter and may dig under the rocks and could cause them to come crashing down.

25 corals? that is fine....did you remember how many I have in my tank : ) FYI sometimes I use my LPS to be the barrier to my softies ( xenia and such) They usually keep them from spreading to much. FYI you need to becareful if you try that...some softies/zoos will spread toxins out if they too much stings from LPS.
Click to expand...

I think my rock work is pretty stable. Most of it is zip-tied to a sort of PVC scaffold, and the rest is epoxied to other rock. I do remember your tank. And I'm torn between going out and getting a bunch more corals, and just waiting for some of my stuff to grow out. Who am I kidding? I'm sure I'll add more. :)

Granted, I am having an issue with pH. I've never been able to get it above 8. Never actually even reached 8. Right now it's 7.96, and in the am it's more like 7.6. I've been dripping kalk over night, but that doesn't seem to have had any effect at all. I want to add more SPS, but reluctant to do so until all water parameters are good.
 
I'm using the pH meter that came with my Reef Angel. I assume that's pretty accurate. Side note, I'm a scientist and have calibrated pH meters quite a bit. I used the proper solutions to calibrate, and followed RA directions. I could try calibrating again.

I've been using the B-Ionic Seawater system for a few weeks now.

I am running a skimmer, and my tank is about 12-18 inches away from a sliding glass door, which is kept open duing the day so dogs have outdoor access.
 
Since I'm not sure how often people visit the "Buy/Sell/Trade" forum, I will share this here. Please forgive the annoying double post.

Hi all,
I have the following containers up for grabs (free to BAR supporting members). They could potentially be used as saltwater mixing containers, or just to get relatively accurate water measurements, as they have both gallon and liter graduation marks. They're not fitted with bulkheads, but if you could add one, these containers would be a great addition to your mixing station. First come first served, but would prefer to hand them over at the frag swap this weekend.

I have 3 of these 10 gallon containers.



And I have one 12 gallon container.

 
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