Omg Awesome Deal @ Lfs!

lorene

lorene

Member
Originally Posted by loopy101
http:///forum/post/3154124
Hi there, it looks like your getting alot of great adivice from other members!
but i just wanted to see where abouts in the state you are located? some of the prices you listed are decent but some of them are very high priced! just wanted to give you a heads up and look around alittle there are a couple pretty decent lfs in the state if you look around a bit. and dont mind a hour or so drive. pending on where your located!
Ah if it were only possible.....You see, I am in a wheelchair so "travel" is not a reality for me.
I live in south central Wisconsin. As far as I know there are only 2 major lfs stores in my area. One is a chain store (where I got the good sales on Sunday) and the other is a locally owned lfs owned by a friend of a friend.
Alas I finally was able to catch the little buggers in my tank and the 3 damsels are now history.
I had to tear down the ENTIRE tank to catch them though! I had to take out every last stinking piece of rock to get a hold of them! But it worked in my favor as I was able to rebuild it a bit better and nicer looking. Its now more "shelf" based rather than "hodgepodge, willy nilly".
I traded the 3 Damsels in for 6 bucks (alot less than what I paid, but its ok, I still got to get what I needed more).
I got alot of NICE frags, a real nice big hunk of Candy Cane, a pantload of nice bright green/brown Zoas, and some nice mushrooms including a "Superman" Mushroom (Purple with blue spots) and a blue leg hermit crab and a nice big pink/purple hunk of LR with some teensy tiny little greenish starfish on them. I even got an oyster that hitchhiked on one of my frags!
BTW, NO I did not get ALL that for the trade- I spent $55 of my own $$$!
Oh why didnt anyone warn me how ADDICTING this hobby is!!!
Gots me eye on some brain coral next..........
 
loopy101

loopy101

Member
Ha Ha you think your addicted already? wait till you run out of room in this tank!!! start planning your next tank now
 
chaseter

chaseter

Member
I only have 1 lfs store here so their prices are not really that good. However, I traveled about 2 hours to the big city near me, where they have a few, and found some great deals. I got a 2 inch rose bubble anemone for $40! I was so excited. This guy also had a huge royal blue tang, I mean it was at least 2 feet long in a huge tank and he lets people hand feed it! It was awesome!
He frags his own corals, he has a hatchery, it was cool. I will definitely go back there. But, there are some good deals on here from time to time. $1.99 royal gammas the other day! I was mad that my tank is already full:(
 
trouble93

trouble93

Member
Looks like you have a little algae growth on your sand. And I could be wrong but it looks like from your pic of the tank you may have the start of cyno(red in color on sand bed). What do you have in the tank for flow? Also I see you said you have a frag of candy cane and wanted a brain coral these corals are LPS'(large polyp stony) you may want to get a Calcium test to know where your calcium level is. These corals need calcium for there growth. And with stock lights you might want to stay with some lower light soft corals that don't have high light demands.
 
trouble93

trouble93

Member
Originally Posted by Lorene
http:///forum/post/3154043
Here is a pic of my tank. Suggestions requested!
Looks like you have a little algae growth on your sand. And I could be wrong but it looks like from your pic of the tank you may have the start of cyno(red in color on sand bed). What do you have in the tank for flow? Also I see you said you have a frag of candy cane and wanted a brain coral these corals are LPS'(large polyp stony) you may want to get a Calcium test to know where your calcium level is. These corals need calcium for there growth. And with stock lights you might want to stay with some lower light soft corals that don't have high light demands.
 
reice05

reice05

Member
WOW $7.99 for 3 Emerald Crabs... I paid 50cent each...*** Out of respect for SWF please do not post links to other sites -Sep
 
chaseter

chaseter

Member
Originally Posted by Reice05
http:///forum/post/3154573
WOW $7.99 for 3 Emerald Crabs... I paid 50cent each...***
Yes, but you paid for shipping as well I assume. Unless you buy a lot of stuff at once online, that $19.99-$24.99 shipping is quite a bit.
 
L

lnknprkpl

Guest
Welcome to the addiction Lorene! I'm new to saltwater as well...I'll be honest, I had a 29 gallon tank to start.............and that lasted for two months before I upgraded to a 55! LOL :) Your tank looks great!! I know the feeling about the damsel...my first fish was a yellow tail...then I learned that they can be pretty aggressive. I still have my yellow tail (along with 2 Clarkii clowns and a sailfin tang), but I've really been keeping a close eye just in case. I don't know anyone that has saltwater by me, or else I'd try to rehome him. :D
 
reice05

reice05

Member
Originally Posted by chaseter
http:///forum/post/3154762
Yes, but you paid for shipping as well I assume. Unless you buy a lot of stuff at once online, that $19.99-$24.99 shipping is quite a bit.
Nah no shipping they're located where i live so all i paid for was gas.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Post some new pics of the new layout! I love your original so I'm intrigued to see what you've done now.

I'm just curious, are you running a protein skimmer, or planning on running one since you're adding fish?
Anyways, I have a BioCube. Your lighting will be fine as long as you stay away from SPS. I have no luck with SPS in mine and I've read that many other people have issues with SPS unless they upgrade the lighting. I'm a LPS girl anyways, much to my husbands disapproval. Get some acan frags, sometimes they're a little pricey, BUT, they grow fast if you feed them. Also, I'd recommend Torch, Hammer or Frogspawn. You can normally get small frags for decent prices and again, they grow quickly if fed. Also, bubble coral is very easy and fairly inexpensive as well as fox coral. I hated bubble coral until my husband brought one home. It's so neat! It looks one way during dawn and dusk, one way during daylight, and yet another at night. It's like having three corals for the price of one. I always suggest getting cheap polyp frags, they'll become fillers in no time. I got some daisy polyps and they've taken over my tank, but they're pretty so it's okay.
Glad to hear that you got rid of the damsels.
I can't believe Meowzer didn't come in and share her awful damsel saga with you. Trust me, you did the right thing in getting rid of them. I loved my yellow tails and dominoes in the beginning, but quickly realized (within a week) that they're little monsters.
Do you have any snails in this tank? If not, I highly recommend some Nassarius, they'll eat left over food that you feed the fish/corals and stir your sand bed. I also recommend Ceriths which will eat detritus off your sand. A few Astreas for the glass and you're good to go.
A word of caution about your emerald since your tank is new. Every time I add emeralds to a new tank (less than 6 months old) the little buggers eat my coraline algae (the purple stuff on your rock). I've given up on them.
I don't recommend the flame scallop. They're more hassle than it's really worth. They almost always die in the home aquarium. I really wanted one, but the one LFS I deal with all the time would not even sell me one because he knew it would be a waste of money for me.
As for your hitchhiker crab. It really sounds like a juvenile Gorilla. For your sake, I hope it's not, but it certainly sounds like it is. They grow quickly and are close to impossible to get out. They will kill your fish and inverts so you need to get rid of it. As a general rule, hitchhiker crabs are ALWAYS bad. I had a hitchhiker crab who was only the size of a quarter kill 4-6" fish that swam quite fast. I ended up smashing a piece of LR to get him out. I've since learned that you can soak the rock in extremely high or low salinity in a bucket to get the hitchhiker to come out. I highly suggest you do this before you find out that it's a bad crab on your own.
to be continued in the next post since SWF says my post is too long......
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
part two:
As for your list (which I know you've thrown out the door, but you don't have to and some info is always useful):
The Royal Gramma and the Black Cap Basslet are both basslets and I suggest you choose one or the other, or you may end up with fish wars in your tank. I love the purple firefish, and definitely will be adding it to my tank in the near future. You can do a mandarin in a 29, but only after 6+ months and you're going to have to seed the tank with fresh copepods (a bottle of tiggerpods should run you about $20 at a LFS) every other week or so. The Fridmani (aka Purple Pseudochromi) is beautiful, BUT, they tend to have a taste for shrimp, so say bye bye to your skunk cleaner if you get this guy. Again, PJ cardinals are schooling fish and really like groups of 2 or more. I don't suggest any other crabs since you have the emeralds. Arrows tend to eat Cleaner shrimp, there's actually a thread on here today about someones arrow that just ate his shrimp. If you really want another crab, take a look at the Porcelain Anemone crab, but again, I'd stick with just the emeralds.
Urchins are fun, but stick with a small one if you get one.
Have you considered clownfish? They are so much fun to watch, even if you don't give them an anemone.
I get the impression that you like the pretty purple fish! So if you come across a dotty back that you like, and there are some pretty purple varieties, keep in mind that you can only have on in your tank. Here's some suggestions that will fit in your tank:
1 Purple Firefish (unless they're a mated pair, you can only have one or they will fight)
1 Royal Gramma (same as the firefish, you can only have one)
1 Blenny (the Midas or the Lawnmower would be my pick) Blennies have so much personality. Look up Midas Blenny on Youtube.com
2 PJ Cardinals
1 Clown Goby (Yellow or Green would be my suggestion) The yellow will add some color to your tank, but the green is so pretty IMO
Maybe 2 clownfish, Ocellaris or Perculas. I just love watching mine, they're not necessary....
And yes, this hobby is a worse addiction that drugs, LOL. I agree, start planning your "next/bigger" tank now. I had a 14G for 3 months, bought a 40G, had that up for about 9 months, and now I have a 155. I'm getting ready to start the 14G again, we've been using it to quarantine lately.
Good luck and welcome to the addiction (because it's not a hobby, lol)
 
truperc

truperc

Member
Just for some clarification.
A fridmani (Pseudochromis fridmani aka Orchid Dottyback) is a different species than a Purple Pseudochromis (Pseudochromis porphyreus aka Purple Dottyback)
They look similar, but purple dottybacks tend to be more aggressive.
Orchid dottyback is the better fish IMO. Distinguished by the black band over the eye, which you will not see in the Purple Dottyback.
My own experience with an Orchid Dottyback, is they leave other fish and inverts alone including shrimp.
Emerald crabs do not typically eat coralline algae, but are great consumers of nuisance algae. There are crabs out there that are confused as emerald crabs, and can cause problems in your tank.
Urchins on the other hand do eat coralline algae, so that should be considered before purchase.
 
lorene

lorene

Member
Ok, I have had it with this &)&*% Cyanobacteria!
It grows faster than I can keep up with! I stirred/vacuumed it this morning and when I came back from the lfs with the w/c water IT HAD ALL GROWN BACK AND THEN SOME!!!
PLEASE tell me how to get rid of this safely! It has started growing up my rocks and glass and now twice completely covered my green star polyps!
I am worried that it will kill my corals! I am going out of my head trying to keep up with it!
I am heating the water up now for the w/c. I had to mix some Dehumidifier water with the water I bought because the salinity was WAY higher than mine and I figured I wanted it to be as close as possible. Did I do right?
I bought the most expensive stuff because I thought it would be better for my tank (Tropical Marine or something like that@$1.75gal).
I have to wait for the water to heat up to the closest temp to my tank temp (right?) so I will probably be up ALL night!
LOTS of suggestions requested!
P.S. I am SOOO proud of myself being able to go into the lfs and not come out with anything live today!

However, I have plans brewing!
1. Fats will most likely be rehomed to the lfs due to the fact he IS an aggressive little #$%$#. He now flies at my face when I put my face up to the tank and will bite my fingers while feeding!
2. Will most likely keep this tank as a reef tank (mostly) but may put in a Fridmani OR a Coral Beauty OR a black and white clownfish but ONLY 1 FISH!
3. I got my eye on a NEW obsession now, a Decorator Crab. (But only IF recommended!) I kind of like the little invertabrates the best besides my corals.
I will DEFINATELY be getting more frags as money allows!
So thats my fancy for today and hopefully I wont see something else to change my mind AGAIN!
 
contraband629

contraband629

Member
I'm confused. You paid 1.75 per gallon of saltwater? If so that is outrageous. All my LFS sell them for a buck a gallon. Also, you can mix your own water which will be cheaper.
 
lorene

lorene

Member
Yeah, I know. They told me this had ALL the nutrients/calcium and the best of the best stuff in it. They also sell the cheap saltwater @ $1.25gal but I figured that after all the #$!! I put my poor babies through, they deserved the best that money could buy.
I do kind of feel gypped as I had to re-mix the water since the salinity was so gosh darned high, but if it saves the lives of all my little creatures its worth it.
I have a bag of the cheap marine salt (purple/white bag-its not in front of me and so I forget the name of it) but I was worried about the water quality and didnt want my tank to suffer another minute!
 
truperc

truperc

Member
Ok, I think you need to take a step back for a moment, because I can sense a level of concern/frustration.
First, all the mistakes you have made, have been made by many others before you. So you are in good company, and it is ok.
Second, having an outbreak of cyano in a new tank is not a surprising event.
I do not consider this a failure.
Third, I am not sure what water you were using in the past, but you should check the phosphate levels of your tank and make up water.
You should try to avoid overfeeding your tank, as this will often contribute to high phosphate levels.
You may want to consider shortening the light cycle you currently have on the tank.
To help remove phosphates from a tank there are several products on the market. They include various media products like phosban and Chemi-pure Elite, and also various poly filter media pads.
Once your tank can support more inhabitants, a Strombus sp. conch will consume cyano.
It is likely that they sold you pre-mixed Tropic-Marin. While this salt is generally considered the "best of breed" for reef tanks, it is not what I would say most use. It is certainly not what you require given you are just starting out and do not have a lot of corals. (many with a lot of corals still do not use it and are very successful)
A lot of people mix their own water, purchasing large buckets of salt, and buying a home water filtration unit i.e. ro/di or kati ani unit. This may not work for you, but it is something to explore.
I would suggest you post about your system as it is today, including all of your parameters including phospate and temp, light cycle length, current inhabitants, how frequently are you changing your filter media...etc..
A better understanding of your set up will help others give better input.
 
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