Inland Reef

Welcome to the group.

As I've recently discovered myself, this is a very friendly, active, and knowledgeable group of enthusiasts.

You won't be disappointed by being a part of this community.

Welcome to the club...

-Jason

The clowns and Anemone are beautiful. The GBTA is huge and it still retains it's nice green color.

The clowns are very active, and the couple times I've been there, they had fresh eggs.

You won't be disappointed in them.

This was one of the rare times someone breaks down a pristine tank. I've got several pieces from him. The rock is super purple, no pests, & everything made it back to my house happy and healthy.

Good luck runamukus.

Just an FYI.

RCA 15% discount can not be used in conjunction with other offers or store credit, according to their flyer.

PM sent.

I'm not advocating it's use, but back in the day, a "poor mans chiller" was made out of a cooler of ice or mini fridge, tubing, and a pump.

Coil the tubing up in the cooler or fridge & pump the water through it. If you have a controller, depending on how it works, you may be able to have it control the pump going to the cooler. Or, just run it manually with oversight.

Not something that I've experimented with myself, but could be handy in an extreme situation.

Good luck with the tank and the AC.

Boiling it will just ensure that Everything is dead.

The only times I've left rock out, it was out for a few months; so I can't tell you with 100% certainty that 2 weeks would kill everything. Although, I would think all nasty critters would be dead after 2 weeks in the TX sun/heat.

Personally, I'm willing to assume some risks; so if your only "problem" is aptasia, I wouldn't worry about cleaning it off with RO water and dropping it back into the tank.

If you still have the proven aptasia eating Pep shrimp in there, then I wouldn't be too worried about it coming back. I think it would be dead after being dry for a couple weeks, but even if it were to come back, your shrimp should be able to handle it.

If it were me, I'd rinse it thoroughly with RO water and throw it back in the tank. If you want complete peace of mind, then boil it.

Just my 2 cents.

The guys at RiverCity are great. I've had nothing be good experiences with them over the years.

Glad to hear they went above and beyond to take care of ya.

I'll join in for a few things.

My lights aren't quite as bright, and are a bit bluer (PC lights), so my pics won't pop quite as nicely as AAF's eBay photo's.

I have to say, the Fire & Ice Acan in the first pic, look a little better under my lights as the colors are a bit darker, a bit more contrast between the two.

A couple of the acan's had their feeding tentacles out right after placing them in the tank. They were quite happy.

I'll try to get some pics of them in their new home later tonight.

The last Acan (Rembrands pallet) looks a bit rough, but I'm sure it'll be fine after settling in.

If anyone has blue, neon green, or some other unique color clove polyp, I'd love to buy a piece from ya.

Frag or small colony would be great.

Thanks

I was lucky enough to win a few acan's, & ricordia's.

I met up with Matt yesterday to pick everything up, and they are now settling into their new home. I'll try to post some pics tonight.

With the touch response, I'm thinking a nem as well.

Perhaps a seabae anem? I was given one that was not doing well & was completely white. After a couple weeks in my tank it got happy; stayed bone white, but got purple tips. I've seen them quite small (quarter to half dollar, all the way up to small plate), so size isn't a big factor.

Hi Kim

I've been meaning to post asking for the same thing (Xenia or clove). I'm looking for blue or neon green.

If we can't find anyone in the club, I'd be willing to go in on an order of some choice color from somewhere.

This is all sage advice, for sure.

On the flip side; waiting 6-8 weeks with a bare tank can be tough for a lot of people. Especially people new to the hobby that have been doing a bit of research and looking around at all these wonderful tanks. Even though you may "know" it takes a long long time to have a wonderfully build out tank, it doesn't stop people from wanting some instant gratification.

I've gone both the dead rock & live rock route and as with most things in life, there are pro's and con's. It all depends on what you're willing to deal with.

One of the benefits of purchasing live rock & sand is that the cycle time is usually cut down dramatically. One of the down sides is that a lot of people that are getting out of the hobby & selling complete systems or parting out and selling their livestock and LR is that they've really been out of the hobby for a while and not taking care of their tank. Or worse yet, getting out of the hobby because they've had problems (algea, aptasia, flatworms, or some other issue) and no longer want to deal with it. Of course, there are exceptions, but people don't usually just break down pristine tanks. So.... the up side is that you can begin acquiring livestock much quicker. The down side is that you may have to deal with some problems like aptasia, flatworms. Those can be tough issues to deal with.

Going with dead rock and curing/cycling the tank yourself will take a while & you'll have to look at a bare tank for several weeks. But, you'll know that you have a perfect tank right from the begining. But... you have to keep it that way. i.e. make sure that after being patient and putting in all that work to have a clean slate, that you don't introduce problems when acquiring corals attached to rock. You'll need to be methodical about being choosey what you bring in and dipping all rock/corals to remove any pests.

When I recently got back into saltwater, I was fortunate to get some LR, water, & frags from a friend that had a pristine tank. Everything was just fine from the day I set up the tank.

No matter what route you go, try to do your best to be patient & do your research before you act. Your tank will tell you what it likes and doesn't like, you just have to observe.

This is just my bit of experience, so take it as you will. I'm certainly no guru & there are many different experiences and opinions.

Good luck.

-Jason

Great link.

Thanks Rob.

I had nearly the same set up running for a few years.

I'm assuming those are emperor 400 filters? I had 4 T5 bulbs, the 2 Emperor's, nearly 100lbs of LR, 1.5" sand bed. I mention those because the LR & LS are integral parts of the tanks ecosystem (filtration). Water changes varied from weekly to monthly, but my water parameters were almost always good.

I kept mostly softies, but some LPS (Blasto's, frog spawn, & goniapora for about a year before it decided to die), anemonies, & a clam. Eventually I added a protein skimmer, but can't say I really noticed a big difference before or after adding it.

I had good success with that setup, although I always wondered if the grass was greener with a sump type setup.

I took a fews years off, and am now going the BioCube route. There are some things that have changed quite a bit, but filters, sumps, & such still seem about the same.

I don't think it would hurt to go the sump route, but you may want to stick with what you've got, learn the hobby, and upgrade as you go along. I think your current setup will sustain you for a while. You may want to add a couple more T-5's before you invest the time & $ in a sump.

Hey Tim.

The Superman is perfectly happy and looking great.

Thanks

Pretty tough to choose a single pic. They are all outstanding.

I ended up choosing based on the subject as much as the composition of the shot.

I'd say everyone one of those photographers is a winner, not only for taking a great pic, but for having beautiful coral in their tank.

Congrats.

I pretty much did the same thing. I tried the least invasive methods first, but eventually ended up with the kalkwasser after everything else failed. Some people have luck with the other methods, but I didn't.

My only additional advice would be to go slow with it. Mix some solution up, hit a few pieces of aptasia and observe the results (other livestock and your water parameters).

I wouldn't be too concerned with the kalkwasser effecting the water if you use it in small doses and spread the dosing out. Plenty of people use it as a supplement for their hard corals. I would be more concerned with killing a bunch of the aptasia and the dead organic material changing the water parameters.

When I was battling the aptasia scourge, I killed 2 or 4 pieces in the late evening, just before the lights turned off. I did this about 3 times a week. With that schedule, in a 55gal, I didn't have any issues.

Good luck.

Hi C Lo.

At one time I had a big problem with Aptasia. Mostly exasperated by me being lazy and not killing it right away, so they spread like wild fire.

I tried the peppermint shrimp route. I got 6 of them and they never really seemed interested in eating the aptasia.

In my experience, the aptasia can out wait and out last the starving method more so than any livestock you wish to keep.

The only thing I found that effectively killed aptasia was directly injecting them with kalkwasser (pickling lime) via a syringe. I hit a couple of them per day while leaving all the pumps on to distribute any loose solution. The solution itself was easy and non specific. I just mixed the kalk (lime) powder with a lil bit of rodi or salt water until it was a milky liquid, not paste.

When I used this method, I didn't have any problems with anything but the aptasia dying. Each piece of aptasia would be cooked after one small dose.

As with any "internet advice" please take this with a grain of salt, and simply add it to your arsenal of knowledge. Do your research, evaluate the advice you get, do some experimenting and figure out what works best for you and your tank.

I hope this helped a little bit.

Good luck, I know aptasia can be a serious PITA.

-Jason

I'll give ya a call as soon as this production deployment wraps up. I'm hoping for 8-9pm.

C Lo; if for whatever reason you can't make it up to RR tonight, let me know and I can probably get it closer to you. I live at I-35 & Slaughter.

I'm again very sorry for the confusion.

Matt

No worries man. It's pretty much outside of your control. Thanks for coordinating and keeping us updated.

I work pretty close, so can pick it up before I make the long trek S.

-Jason

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