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John Maloney

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  1. This Black Friday we decided to show you something new- Coquina and worm rock reefs make up significant saltwater environments, but are rarely found in aquaria. Coquina reefs are usually hardbottom habitats, but exposed rocks can create structures resembling plateaus. Coquina rock is made of crushed shells and sand bound together by calcite. The rock itself comes in a variety of colors, usually matching the color of the sand where it is found. The rock is dense, and is a poor choice for filtration purposes. Coquina reefs are dominated by macroalgae, but also feature gorgonians and porites corals. In aquaria the flat pieces can be used to create hard bottom substrate bases, or as ledges for ricordea to hang out on. When Hurricane Dorian broke up portions of the coquina hardbottom reefs and carried them ashore we received permission from FWC to collect the stranded and sun bleached pieces. (Live rock collection in FL is illegal). Worm rock reefs are made of the remains of Serpulidae worms that create calcified tubes. They are similar to feather dusters, (Sabellidae) but create calcified tubes that form colonies. They are not related to Vermetid "worms", which are actually sessile snails. Off the coast of Florida they form huge colonies, covering hundreds of square miles. This particular substrate is not ideal for growing coral. It isn't a matter of composition, there simply isn't enough flat space for it to attach to. For filtration purposes though you would be hard pressed to find a better natural substrate by the pound or volume. These pieces are much lighter and porous than the rock we normally use in our aquariums. The worm holes create intricate pathways for water, and the cluster itself is mostly empty. The surface area available for aerobic bacteria is even greater than that of bioballs of similar size. You can find them both here: https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/rock Supply is limited. Coquina can be added to any rock order, and would substitute the weight of rock we would otherwise use to fill the order. You can request up to two pieces of coquina. Let us know what size pieces you are looking for and we can try to accommodate. The worm rock cannot ship with rock, there is a potential it could be crushed. It is light enough to ship with live orders. Very limited supply, these are also victims of hurricane Dorian which we received permission from FWC to collect. Aquaculture Netting should have been popular in this hobby years ago, but I don't see it in much use. This material can be manipulated, cut, and zip tied into just about any shape, and placed into the aquarium to use as filtration media holders, additional strainers, small cages for newly acclimated animals, coral guards to protect from wandering tentacles etc.. The sky is the limit really. Inserts that are baskets placed into quarantine tanks can be very useful later to simply lift the fish out rather than chase them down with a net. We will offer 3 sizes, sold in specific increments. The sizes refer to the size of the mesh, 1/8"inch, 1/4" inch and 1/16th inch mesh. Unfortunately due to size constraints with Priority Mail and Express Mail, it will have to ship separately from live orders for a flat rate of $12.50. It will be available on the website by Cyber Monday. The last thing I wanted to share with you isn't our product at all. It is from Tractor Supply Company, and from now on the hobby has access to $.25 a pound premium substrate. It is this chicken feed supplement: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/manna-pro-oyster-shell-50-lb It is crushed coral and shells, perfectly suitable for aquaria. I have used it for two years now, it works great. It is very clean, and it has passed every magnet test for metals I have used it on so far. (Can't say that about some of the bags sold for aquaria). It is also heat treated after washing, only very large companies can afford to do this efficiently and most of the companies who supply our trade are not very large. At least not when it comes to comparison with the agriculture market. You can see it here being cleaned by our hermits: [MEDIA=youtube]YN7ijTW2cGE[/MEDIA] We grew the algae purposefully, there isn't anything particular about why it was so dirty before the hermits got to it. $11 for a 50 pound bag isn't too bad if you have a Tractor Supply nearby. Just remember who decided to share this knowledge later on when everyone in the hobby knows about it. I want my credit. Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
  2. Halloween Hermits are members of the Ciliopagurus genus, all the species of which are picky about what snail shells they will move into. They like the shape of cone shells, and are nearly always found in them, with olive shells and mitre shells a distant second. These homes are particularly suited for their wide, short and flat bodies. We now have these shells in stock, so you don't have to hunt them down on your own. It took months of marketing research to realize this was a good idea that would save you time, and we are kicking it all off with a free cone shell assortment today with every Halloween Hermit purchase, our treat. You can find our Halloween Hermits Here.
  3. Save 12% off with the code "EarlyLaborDay". You can use it on everything, it will even work on rock. Macroalgae season is ending soon, this is a good time to stock up before the fall, when high winds create rough and murky water. Was another fun summer, thanks for supporting us!You can find us here:http://www.reefcleaners.org
  4. We finally have a good selection of macroalgae back in stock! Use the code "MACRO2018" to receive 20% off all our macroalgae here.If you use the code we will also automatically bump up your penny macroalgae to a full size free macroalgae.Sale ends June 11th or when supplies run out.
  5. Summer starts next week, so it was probably about time I got around to our annual spring cleaning sale. 🙂 Save 15% this week with the code "spring" on everything in the store except rock. We are out of most algae at the moment, but all of our clean up crew packages are in stock, and we have a good amount of tank cleaners as well. Happy Reefing!
  6. Voting for the winners goes on throughout the weekend here: http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=c...mp;id=1169#1169
  7. that is very true! (Shameless plug alert....) won't be long before another "ugly tank contest", or the second annual "great snail race".
  8. thanks guys, I am going to have a contest update soon,. been rounding up the names from all over the net. will probably have to do 3 round polling/nominating/voting or something.
  9. We need a trade name for Heterosiphona gibbesii, seen here: http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?page=sho...t&Itemid=34 Winner gets a $10 gift certificate to the store and credit for the name. The common names we have come up for some of the species we sell are likely to stick as there is no other reason for this algae to have a common name, and we are the only place to get it. Most of our others ones stick, so start throwing out some names people!
  10. Hi guys listened to the emails and changed the pack to just 15 assorted algae, instead of 5 of each. Mostly to include more reds. We also have a picture of a tank with the some of the algae available in the packages, it can be found here: http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?page=sho...t&Itemid=34
  11. For $50 we are offering a large sampler of our macro algae for those of you who want to try your hand at a macro tank, or are already in the process. The pack will have a random selection of the following: 5 random red algae, full and of the highest quality. (Sorry no pink galaxy or Halymenia right now though). 5 Green algae, let us know if you don't want caulerpa. 5 Brown Algae, including some really bright yellow pieces. All are full size, although we reserve the right to throw in extra frags with it. No one usually argues with that. All will be random. Can't make any requests unfortunately, you are just going to have to trust us on this one. You may tell us no caulerpa though, we won't put anything like chaeto in this one, just the nice decorative algae. Tank sizes 30 gallons and up are best on this one, unless it is pretty bare. Some of the algae in this pack will be species we don't normally sell, but nothing we don't keep in our tank. Everything sold will have a low risk of going sexual as long as you tell us not to send caulerpa, (otherwise you will get some of our nice aquacultured specimens).
  12. Okay so here are the contest rules: You submit a link to a picture here, or on our website to some kind of cool coralline or successful encrusting sponge, or feather duster colony that you got on a rock, etc.... I narrow it down to the top 10 or so, and then the whole of the Internet gets to vote on it at www.reefcleaners.org the weekend after next. Top 3 get $50 gift certificates. If they would like to participate in our rock seeding program, (explained below) I will pay all costs. Why we are doing the contest, ideas we are looking for: We took your advice on the base rock, and have gotten great reviews and it is starting to really move, we appreciate it, and Sallie Mae does too. So we are thinking of taking the next logical step and grow seed for the base rock. We will use smaller rubble fragments to make up the package. 100% aquaculture, and pest free, We are coming up with a list on what to seed the rock with. So far we got: stomatellas dwarf ceriths colonistas mini stars asterinas microfauna from established tank feather dusters purple, pink, and green coralline some corals - or is this a bad idea because it limits other coral selections people can make? Let me know.... maybe some sponges tunicates? not sure on that one possibly some plating coralline spread throughout the mix what would you like to see? Any particular species one of the ones we listed?
  13. nice setup you got going. I like the gray PVC, I don't know why I never thought of using a color other than white.
  14. A friend of mine has one, it does okay in his 500 gallon, but there is hardly any rock touching the sand at all. They like to swim around the sand and hang out there. They also like to eat snails and hermits, so getting a clean up crew for the tank is hard to do.
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