Neptunes 125 Reef Diary.

[king_neptune]

Well, I got my rock swapped. He immediately started swinging when I told him how I felt...I didn't scream or fight. I opened with "I came hear because I want to try to preserve our relationship." .....

F me, he made a stink. "First off, I didnt tell you to buy that rock, you picked it out on your own" "Nobody told you to buy it"."You come in hear telling me you want to preserve our relationship. I did nothing wrong""Your the one who bought it, don't come to me telling me I did anything wrong"
Whatever dude. You let me walk out the door with a time bomb,and didn't say a word, knowing full well it was going in a reef tank. If it was in a bomb shop, I wouldn't cause a fuss. But I'm a novice in this world, and trust people around me to catch my mistakes.
I came to him as peacefully as possible, and did it as calmly as I could. And get reamed like that. I lost my interest in that place. I'm doubtful Ill be going back ever again. Really too bad. I thought that was a great store, and had hoped to do all my future business with them.
He traded me the lava for store credit, pound for pound I swapped it with base rock. I'm happy. Ill just have to find someplace else.

 

[king_neptune]

Also I got a half dozen pieces of slate, I was wanting to mix them in hear and there to kinda make some shelves along the back wall of the tank.

 

[posiden]

What store was this? You are not to far from me.

 

[king_neptune]

Originally Posted by Posiden
http:///forum/post/2945608
What store was this? You are not to far from me.

Aquarium paradise on brigport. Near Ft. Lewis.
Its really too bad because I thought I had found a great store. And I enjoyed any excuse I could to go there.
Where do you go? I am interested in checking out any other local stores.

 

[spanko]

Gonna sound kinda weird here but remember that he is there to sell stuff. You wanted to buy he wanted to sell. Take that for what it is worth. If he has good stuff, clean tanks, nice coral, good stock of dry goods, decent prices well.........just go in with your own knowledge of what you need and want and buy it. Don't ask for or expect any informtation from them. Maybe over time you can develop a relationship where you trust his opinions but for now what the heck.

 

[posiden]

Ha, Yea.
I used to like to go there my self. I have been burned by them the last few times I have gone in there on priceing. They tell me one thing over the phone and then it is more at the register cause of the new year price increase. WTF, you guys should know that stuff new year or not.
Who did you deal with? The sons or Lon##

 

[king_neptune]

Lonz is cool.
His boys are ok, some of them are too busy to spend much time with you, or flat out make it apparent they are in a hurry to get away from you.
Dom#### was the one who got upset with me.
After his speech 6 months ago when I first shook his hand, "Ya, I'll always be upfront with you. If I think something is a bad Idea I'll tell you upfront before you buy it, I don't want you finding out the hard way"
And that's damn near verbatim, it seared itself in my head. I was a customer from that point on. Guess he changed his mind.

 

[posiden]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2945626
Gonna sound kinda weird here but remember that he is there to sell stuff. You wanted to buy he wanted to sell. Take that for what it is worth. If he has good stuff, clean tanks, nice coral, good stock of dry goods, decent prices well.........just go in with your own knowledge of what you need and want and buy it. Don't ask for or expect any informtation from them. Maybe over time you can develop a relationship where you trust his opinions but for now what the heck.

You are right,
In his defense he does have fair tanks as of the last few times I have been in there but, I have seen it pretty bad in there too. I guess they all have ups and downs. This guy the owner knows better than to just sell to someone. He should know it is gonna bite him in the a*& if he does. This in our area is the only store that will trade, barter, or buy back, what you don't want or have been mis sold. So a bad rap is the last thing he wants. But then again he could be feeling the economic krunch.(Spelling)

 

[posiden]

Originally Posted by King_Neptune
http:///forum/post/2945637
Lonz is cool.
His boys are ok, some of them are too busy to spend much time with you, or flat out make it apparent they are in a hurry to get away from you.
Dom#### was the one who got upset with me.
After his speech 6 months ago when I first shook his hand, "Ya, I'll always be upfront with you. If I think something is a bad Idea I'll tell you upfront before you buy it, I don't want you finding out the hard way"
And that's damn near verbatim, it seared itself in my head. I was a customer from that point on. Guess he changed his mind.
Yep, Dom#### was the last person to burn me in person, and also the last person to burn my wife when I sent her there to buy a starfish for our Harlequins. Dom#### does really know his stuff but, it has been funny in there lately.
I haven't read your whole therad yet did you ever get the tank drilled? I just skimmed through the first page.

 

[king_neptune]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2945626
Gonna sound kinda weird here but remember that he is there to sell stuff. You wanted to buy he wanted to sell. Take that for what it is worth. If he has good stuff, clean tanks, nice coral, good stock of dry goods, decent prices well.........just go in with your own knowledge of what you need and want and buy it. Don't ask for or expect any informtation from them. Maybe over time you can develop a relationship where you trust his opinions but for now what the heck.
Not really good prices. Tanks are clean, stock looks healthy.
But most of his hardware is priced 20% or so higher than I can get it online. I was going to buy a skimmer from him, its made by advanced plastics. its a in or out skimmer with a wet/dry pump for $300. Its rated for up to a 500 gallon tank and they are made local by a small business owner. And its kicking the snot out of any other skimmer in the store.
Livestock he lets you watch it and feed it. Hell hold something for you up to 15 days just to make sure your trust it. They will evin call you and let you know they plan on feeding it and at what time. Ill look for another place. Any suggestions?

 

[posiden]

Originally Posted by King_Neptune
http:///forum/post/2945654
Not really good prices. Tanks are clean, stock looks healthy.
But most of his hardware is priced 20% or so higher than I can get it online. I was going to buy a skimmer from him, its made by advanced plastics. its a in or out skimmer with a wet/dry pump for $300. Its rated for up to a 500 gallon tank and they are made local by a small business owner. And its kicking the snot out of any other skimmer in the store.
Livestock he lets you watch it and feed it. Hell hold something for you up to 15 days just to make sure your trust it. They will evin call you and let you know they plan on feeding it and at what time. Ill look for another place. Any suggestions?
Not really, We are blessed or cursed I can't figure out which. The shops around us all kinda suck. We do have a few tho. Have you been to Indoor Reef, Wild Side Pets, or Tropical Fish World? If you want to drive a little there is a small shop called Barrier Reef. They are in Kirkland. I guess there are some more I don't know the names of farther north.

 

[king_neptune]

Originally Posted by Posiden
http:///forum/post/2945663
Not really, We are blessed or cursed I can't figure out which. The shops around us all kinda suck. We do have a few tho. Have you been to Indoor Reef, Wild Side Pets, or Tropical Fish World? If you want to drive a little there is a small shop called Barrier Reef. They are in Kirkland. I guess there are some more I don't know the names of farther north.
I been to wild side, excellent friendly service. Unfortunately the staff didn't impress me with knowledge...one of them told me I should use crushed coral for a reef tank.
Haven't been to the others.
There is a new one under construction in federal way. They are still setting up, and its by appointment only for now. But I have high hopes for them, they have a pretty nice website already. And good pricing.
By the way...where do you live? Mabee when I get up and running, we can do some frag trading ect.

 

[jpa0741]

Originally Posted by wattsupdoc
http:///forum/post/2945323
You want calcium carbonate rock...BASE ROCK. This is dead Live Rock. Live rock is rock that has been made on the reef it is calcium carbonate, coral skeletons, as well as Coraline algae. The Coraline is what gives the live rock color it grows and spreads. Live rock is teaming with life not only beneficial bacteria but cope-pods, bristle worms, tube worms spaghetti worms fisher worms, amphipods, mini starfish ....all kinds of beneficial life. These eat debris and coupled with the bacteria are the reason the live rock IS a filter. Additionally it looks like a reef does. It doesn't matter what nice shape the lava rock, or any other kind of rock has, it wont look the same as live rock does, thus it will stand out. I generally suggest when mixing live rock and base rock to use no more than 40% of it base rock, with AT LEAST 60% LIVE and from different sources as well. It would be good to get your rock from 3different sources. Though that's not by any means a requirement. It's just that some places might have rock that just doesn't have much life on it. Or there might not be much of a variety of life on it. Getting it from different sources can help guarantee a broader variety of life.
BASE ROCK will be white...bone whte....just like your calcium carbonate bones are....
Not all base rock has to be dried LR. There are many places to get good base rock that never came from an ocean. Although I agree lava rock makes poor base rock. Many people even make their own with cement and sand mix. Many people start with all base rock and just get a few pieces of LR to seed it.

 

[posiden]

I don't know about the one in Fed. Way. What is the name? I wasn't very impressed by Wild Side either. You won't find any corals at Tropical Fish World but I have had good luck with thier fish. They are stuck in the past and don't keep up on any of the current advancement of the hobbie but, like I say I have had good luck on thier fish. Prices aren't bad either they beat Aquarium Paradise.
There is another in Midway just past Fed Way. I can't remember the name right now.
I would love to say where I live, but I guess I can't PM now due to a post count or membership length?? Not far tho maybe 15-20 mins. Def. close enough.
What about the drilling?

 

[eric b 125]

i wouldnt sign the place off yet, i just wouldnt really listen to that dude. i've had bad advice from one employee and good advice from another employee, both from the same LFS. no matter what, i always ask questions on here before i go to make a purchase. any idea how you're going to figure out the whole cross-brace problem? it's wierd cause i've noticed that most people who have 125's have 2 braces, my tank only has 1. it's whatever, i guess.
does adding base rock start another cycle?

 

[king_neptune]

Originally Posted by Posiden
http:///forum/post/2945694
I don't know about the one in Fed. Way. What is the name? I wasn't very impressed by Wild Side either. You won't find any corals at Tropical Fish World but I have had good luck with thier fish. They are stuck in the past and don't keep up on any of the current advancement of the hobbie but, like I say I have had good luck on thier fish. Prices aren't bad either they beat Aquarium Paradise.
There is another in Midway just past Fed Way. I can't remember the name right now.
I would love to say where I live, but I guess I can't PM now due to a post count or membership length?? Not far tho maybe 15-20 mins. Def. close enough.
What about the drilling?

i saved you on my friends list. When the time comes youlle be able to shoot me PM's. I treid to send you my contact info but it didnt go through.
As for the store in federal way...I am looking for it now. I lsot the info and have to search my history over the last week to find it...thats alot of stuff....im on the net all day.
As for drilling....WOW its hard to do. I am going to head to my dads place and use his drillpress.
or do you mean my glass? I havent done it yet. I will do it later. I got th ebit, just havent gotten around to driling the glass.

 

[posiden]

I was in reference to the glass. I have read the last page (2) and just saw that you had planned on drilling the tank. No sweat on that just take your time.
Same here on the friends list. I look forward to the new shop info.
Also are you using a masonry bit? One for concrete.

 

[jpa0741]

Originally Posted by Eric B 125
http:///forum/post/2945713
i wouldnt sign the place off yet, i just wouldnt really listen to that dude. i've had bad advice from one employee and good advice from another employee, both from the same LFS. no matter what, i always ask questions on here before i go to make a purchase. any idea how you're going to figure out the whole cross-brace problem? it's wierd cause i've noticed that most people who have 125's have 2 braces, my tank only has 1. it's whatever, i guess.
does adding base rock start another cycle?
It really depends. If it is clean and has nothing at all to die off on it. It won't. I would still add anything like that in small quanities until you get to where you want. IMO.

 

[king_neptune]

Originally Posted by Posiden
http:///forum/post/2945735
I was in reference to the glass. I have read the last page (2) and just saw that you had planned on drilling the tank. No sweat on that just take your time.
Same here on the friends list. I look forward to the new shop info.
Also are you using a masonry bit? One for concrete.
tile bit. so yes, its masonry/concrete.

 

[posiden]

How big are your holes? Must be about an 1/8".
There are drill bits that have the funny shapped end on them for drilling concrete.