AlexReef

Sales Everywhere for Labor Day Weekend!

Alex — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:40:14 +0000

Labor Day is usually a good time to find some good deals at your LFS (local fish store). The summer time is usually a slow period of the year, for these store, so Labor day is a good jump start for the fall season.

The best retailer around, Premium Aquatics, is offering 10% off everything this labor day weekend. Use promo code ‘LABOR’ at checkout. Premium Aquatics.

Oceans Gallery II, in NJ, is having a big Labor Day weekend sale. 25% off Fish & Coral and buckets of reef crystals can be had for $40. Great deal for locals. Deals.

Champion Lighting & Supply is having a sale until 9/8, 10% off everything. They’re located in Ambler, PA, so I usually just pickup my order there. Link.

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Massive Coral Reef Die-Off in Indonesia

Alex — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:42:08 +0000

Here’s a recent article on a major coral reef bleaching event occurring off the coast of Indonesia. We humans need to own up and do something about this. Very sad indeed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38741347/ns/us_news-environment/

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Avast Marine Works

Alex — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:30:58 +0000

I just found out about Avast Marine Works, formerly Grey Seas Aquatics. Looking at their website, it looks like they’re a US company building some pretty sweet acrylic items for our tanks. What stands out for me is the value in some of their products, such as their kalk reactor, ‘swabbie’ and some of their DIY kits. Their $189 kalk reactor looks and works like a Deltec kalk reactor, the km500, that sells for $500. Gee, let me see what I can do w/ the $310 I just saved! The swabbie is similar to a skim clean, but cost only$135 vs. $600(only lazy,’ don’t clean my collection cup once a week’ people need apply!). Finally, their DIY all acrylic media reactor sells for $49. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather use some elbow grease and spend a few bucks more to get a solid reactor over a flimsy tlf phosban reactor. I might just have to try out one of these reactors. I’ll update this post if I do.

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ORA Spotted Mandarin Update

Alex — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:19:47 +0000

Although ORA claims that their mandarins eat frozen, pellet, etc…I haven’t seen mine eat any of these foods yet. So far, I’ve tried feeding cyclopeeze, frozen PE mysis (chopped up), blackworms, & Spectrum small pellets. I’ve noticed that my fish hangs out in the lowest flow area of my frag tank, where the most pods seem to be. Since I haven’t witnessed it eating anything I’ve given it; and it’s been 3 weeks; and it’s not dead yet; I can only guess that it’s eating my pods. On ReefCentral, there’s a thread were people have lost their fish due to starvation. It’s sad, but I think ORA may have over promised and under delivered on this one. My official stance is that when buying an ORA Mandarin, you’re getting a Captive Raised Fish period and it will be just as difficult to raise as a wild caught one.

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ORA Canary Blenny

Alex — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:08:09 +0000

I recently picked up a ORA Canary Yellow Blenny. I wanted a yellow fish and a yellow tang was out of the question (my Sohal would eat it alive!). This fish is very lively and likes to swim all over the place. I haven’t seen it eat anything yet, but hopefully it will soon.

ORA Description below:

Canary Blenny – Meiacanthus ovalaunensis

The Canary Blenny’s striking yellow color makes it an excellent addition to a reef aquarium. This exotic fish is found in the currents of lagoons and reefs off Fiji and Tonga where it feeds on zooplankton.

The Canary Blenny is a natural choice for a reef tank because it mixes well with other fish, the only exception being similarly shaped blennies, and it will not disturb corals. This fish should be kept in a tank of at least 20 gallons with ample places to hide. It may act aggressively toward other fish if provoked but is generally peaceful in a large aquarium. The Canary Blenny reaches a maximum size of 4″-5″ (10 – 12 cm).

Picture below is my blenny getting acclimated in the overflow box.

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ORA Spotted Mandarin Goby- Captive raised!

Alex — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:15:24 +0000

Just picked up a newly introduced ORA Spotted Mandarin Goby from one of my favorite LFS, The Frazer Zoo. ORA has a very limited supply and is only providing 2 fish per store. I’ve seem prices vary greatly on this fish, but expect to pay around $50-60 per fish. Anything higher is too much. (I got a nice little deal on mine!)The fish I brought was very small, around an inch & a half. Unlike wild caught mandarins, these aren’t very active. They don’t appear to search for food constantly. I’ve put this fish in my frag tank, which has a lot of pods, and it doesn’t really seem to be grazing like I’d expect. From what I’ve read on Reefbuilders, these fish have been raised on Hikari Blood Worms, Nutramar Ova (prawn eggs), fish roe, baby brine shrimp, and New Life SPECTRUM Small Fish Formula pellets. I think I’m going to place this fish in an isolation basket to manually feed it and figure out what food it likes. Here’s some pictures of it getting acclimated.

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Zeovit.com’s Third Dream Tank of the Quarter 2010

Alex — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:11:29 +0000

Check out the Third Dream Tank of the Quarter 2010 on Zeovit.com website. Although there are still skeptics out there, who think Zeovit is worthless, how can anyone argue these results?

http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20690

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Revive Coral Cleaner, Tropic Marin Pro-Coral Cure- Dipping corals?

Alex — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:12:17 +0000

When I get new corals in, I always try to dip them first, to remove any unwanted hitchhikers. These include the dreaded AEFW (Acro Eating FlatWorms), regular flatworms, red bugs, etc…In general, I’ll used Revive for about a minute or two and TMPCC for another minute or two. If I suspect flatworms, I’ll also dip the coral in Salifert Flatworm Exit.

Here’s my routine: 1. Drop bagged coral into the sump to get the water temps the same. 2. Open the bag up and add a couple of ounces of tank water into the bag. Wait a few minutes and add more. 3. Add a few drops of Revive into bag, while continuing to add tank water and removing some bag water(discard). 4. Add a few drops of TMPCC. Add tank water and removing some bag water(discard). 5. Add Flatworm exit, add tank water and removing some bag water(discard). Make sure to shake the coral, in the bag, to remove anything attached to it. Also visual inspect for eggs, etc. 6. This routine should last for a total of an hour and then place the coral in my frag tank to observe.

Note: Certain SPS are very sensitive to coral dips. These include most deepwater ‘smooth’ skin SPS, such as the ORA Hawkins Blue Enchinata. I try getting them from reliable sources and observe them in my frag tank without dipping. Yes, it’s a risk, but these corals don’t like getting dipped.

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Warner Marine- EcoBAK biopellets (solid vodka dosing)

Alex — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:32:37 +0000

Just picked up some EcoBAK pellets from Jon (president of WM) direct from Warner Marine. This product is currently available direct from WM only. From what I’m hearing, the delay is due to packaging issues. I order 1 liter and it came in a plain zip lock bag. Directions from Jon was to soak the pellets in RO water for a day or so to get them to sink. Then to be safe, use half (in a reactor) and then add the other half after a week. Some ‘clouding’ of your water may happen if you have high nitrate levels, but will go away. The usage recommendation is 500ml per 100g of tank water. Based on all the other similar products out there, this seems about right. Why did I choose EcoBAK over similar products like NP Biopellets, NPX Bio Beads, and Vertex Pro-Bio Pellets? Price, plain and simple. I got 1000ml for the price of some competitor’s 500ml.

So is all the hype about solid vodka dosing legit? Some people have reported a reduction in their nitrate levels. Others have seen some cyano bacteria as a result of using biopellets. My gut feeling is that this product will help in the fight against elevated nitrate levels. I’ll report back in a month w/ my findings.

Here’s some links to what others are saying:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1847060

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1694529

Update 7-16-2010. So far, so good. I’ve noticed my water looking extra clean and I believe the biopellets may be helping. I haven’t tested my nitrate levels (I don’t believe my test kits are reliable), but I have noticed increase color in my corals. Biopellets are being used in my PM reactor (does not tumble).

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Marine Traffic Tracking Website

Alex — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:47:02 +0000

Check out the live marine tracking website showing ship traffic around the world. Pretty cool site. Lots of traffic in the Gulf of Mexico (to be expected!).

http://marinetraffic.com/ais/

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