John Maloney

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!

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. 

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

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.

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!

With the purchase of any livestock order over $20. Just put in the notes what test kit you would prefer, please list 3 and we will fill them based on availability at the time of shipping. You can choose from:

Nitrate Test Kit
Ammonia Test Kit
Phosphate Test Kit
High Range pH Test Kit
Calcium Test Kit Box
KH Test Kit (Carbonate Hardness)
Copper Test Kit Box

All of these are API test kits.

ONE CATCH - Cannot be used with another discount, and cannot be used with rock because it has to ship separately. That is technically two catches, but I said "on any livestock" order, what I really meant was any order other then rock orders, so in reality I am freeing up the original limitation a bit, so that isn't technically a catch. It is in the rule book, you can check it out here.

I will post here when I think we are out of test kits. Thanks again!

We recently switched our Express Mail service to Fedex Overnight
service. This means that no matter where you are in the country, all
Express Mail packages will arrive overnight. In nearly all cases it will
arrive a few hours earlier. This is a good thing. Rock has switched to
Fedex Ground, and Florida UPS has become Florida Fedex shipping. For
those of you who need PO box service, we can still do USPS Express Mail,
just leave us a note, or a PO Box address and we will automatically
switch the service. We will also do this for our customers residing in
Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands. Priority Mail service remains unchanged.

We
also switched over to a new private dedicated server, it is much more
reliable then our old server had become, so you should have a faster
browsing experience with hardly any down time.

We
have also made our discount codes far more efficent to use. Now you can
just type in the code "R". just the letter R, it doesn't even matter
what case you use. That will save you some time as well. The code is
worth 12%, so that will save you some cash. It can be used on anything.
Even rock. You may see a obnoxious red lettered paragraph saying you
can't use discounts on rock, but try it, it will work. That will show us. This code will be good until Saturday July 13th at 5pm.

We
also will be featuring shorter turn around times, with most orders
shipping out the next day, and in some cases the same day for orders
placed early in the morning.

Thanks again!

John

www.ReefCleaners.org

Nice to see them in action! Thanks for the update.

We are running a sale today that will expire tonight at 11:59PM in your time zone. To take advantage of the sale simply use the code "sundaysale" during checkout. The discount can be applied toany product, except for rock.

Thanks! She is an Austin native too, so I think I did pretty well for myself.

Believe it or not I talked someone into marrying me. I am getting hitched this Friday, April 12th. Because of that I will not be able to answer emails Thursday from 3pm, to Saturday at 3pm. I made the mistake of inviting everyone who works with me here to the wedding and the rehearsal dinner, so there won't be anyone to manage the shop.

We apologize for any inconvenience this schedule may cause you, and look forward to being back up to speed this weekend. The honeymoon isn't until the end of May. Thanks again for all the years of support you have given me over the years, and for the support you will be giving my new family in the coming ones. I truly appreciate it. Sorry if I have been a bit absent from the forums lately, now you know why.

John

Take 10% off our https://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=95'>Quick Crew packages from now until Saturday December 13th at 11:59 PM EST using the code "quickcrew" during checkout. This code will work for any order containing one of our quick crew packages, so you can order additional items and still receive the discount.

Notes: No retroactive discounts unfortunately
Cannot be combined with other discounts.

https://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=95'>You can find our aquarium packages here. Free shipping delivery methods and the contents of the packages can be seen if you click the size tank you have.

Thanks again, and happy reefing!

(For those of you who can't take advantage of this promo, fear not! The Ugly Tank Contest begins taking entries next week, so subscribe to the forum to learn how to win that most prestigious event and the free clean up crew that comes with it.)

Easy part is putting them in, hard part is counting the dwarf ceriths. Happy to hear they made it fine. Thanks again!

Thank you!

ReefCleaners.org is having a Black Friday sale today, it is 15% off the entire store, with the exception of our rock. Rock is sale priced today though. Sale ends tonight at 11:59pm PST.

To take advantage of the sale, use the discount code "blackfriday" during checkout.

Unfortunately this discount cannot be retroactively applied to an order, you can add to a previously made order by checking the group buy option during checkout and leaving the note "combine with previous order" in the comments field found immediately before the confirm order button.

Thanks again! Hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Keep an eye out for the Ugly Tank Contest that resumes later this week.

(Just a quick note, our Monday shipment will book pretty early this week because of a holiday related backlog. I apologize for that).

Still no macroalgae to speak of, but cleaners are around. Take 10% off at ReefCleaners.org with the code "10percent" until Tuesday at 11:59pm EST. You can find our cleaner packages with free shipping here, the code works on them too. Everything but rock basically. Thanks again for the support over the years!

Many of you will be familiar with the two traps explained in these short articles, (soda bottle, tupperware ramp) but the questions come up often enough I felt I should add something to the website.

How to Trap a Fish

How to Trap a Crab

The sterilization article explains the process of cleaning something that doesn't have living things in it that you want to keep.

Sterilization for Aquariums

We also added a "comment" feature for the articles to the website, it doesn't require an account with us or facebook. Posting questions to us there helps us fill out the info we are missing.

Hope you like the new changes, and the articles are useful. Will roll out more articles next week.

Our reef safe clean up crew packages called "Quick Crews" are designed for every standard tank size and tackle all commonly encountered nuisance algae problems. They also come with free shipping. You can find them here.

This weekend you can save 15% off the purchase of one of these packages with the code "summersolstice"

Thank you all for your continued support! This sale ends Sat. June 23rd at midnight.

Many new tank owners ask us about coralline algae, so we added an article to the website about it, you can find it here:

How do you Grow Coralline?

We recently added 3 new articles to cover some of the more general questions we get asked. They cover basic topics and you can find them here:

Saltwater Aquarium Parameter Chart

What is Berlin Filtration, or what is a Berlin Filtration System?

How to Start a Siphon, tips and tricks.

A few tips can be found in the siphon article if you are still doing it the "old fashioned way" you might find helpful. I will add some pictures to help illustrate the concepts by the end of the week, when we publish the next set of articles. If there are topics you would like to see in the future, (even if just for handy reference), let us know and we will make sure to get and article on the website soon.

ReefCleaners.org is having a 30% off sale on selected macroalgae and saltwater plants, including easier to keep calcified greens. (Shaving brushes, caps, fans etc..). Our most popular inverts are also sale priced, and the code "memorialday" will be in effect throughout the weekend, and is worth 10% off The discount is good for every item we sell. Rock included despite restrictions on the website.

Thank you for the continued support, enjoy your holiday weekend!

As you may have noticed we have a new website. Along with the new website we have some new deals. Soon all the old discount codes that used to work for the ReefCleaners.org website will be replaced with the coupon code: "reefclub", and the code for military members will remain the same. This code will work on all products except rock and those clearly marked in the description,(none right now), and be worth 10%. Additionally, there will be a discount code on the front page, right now it is a $5 off code, "5off". Only one discount code can be used per order though.

Complicated Limited Time Sale - We recently added a "Google +1" and a "Recommend on Facebook" that can be found near the bottom right of every page on the site. While we have been in business for 4 years now, the buttons are new and have very few responses so it looks like we opened up yesterday. For the next week, we will add a 1% discount to the "reefclub" code mentioned above for every 10 clicks on those links by our previous customers, website users etc.. So for example, if there are 15 "+1" clicks, and 20 Facebook Recommendations then we will raise the value of the code by 3% The code value will be updated twice delay, and will go back to 10% on Monday the 14th at 5pm EST. The box area looks like this:

The discount will rise on a rolling basis, nothing special on your end just use the code "reefclub" during checkout to obtain the discount.

Some New Features-

Quick Order Page - The most popular items in our custom crews condensed into a single page order form to help you save time.

Newsletter Management - We will have monthly newsletters again that you can sign up for, you will find it on the right hand side of the website on most pages with the exception of the homepage.

Shipping Made Easier - We added some rules to take some of the guesswork out of shipping.

Mobile Website - We now have a mobile version of our website. If you are viewing it with a mobile device and want to see the full version just click the mobile off switch at the bottom.

New Logo - which is better than the old one.

Twitter Account - we will now be sending Twitter updates to followers interested in odd ball items. We will limit this to bi-monthly.

Credit Card Payment within the website - saves time over the old redirect way.

Some things had to go -

Ajax shopping cart - now you get redirected to the checkout screen and have to click to go back. People with older browsers/sensitive browser pop up security were having trouble with the faster pop up ajax cart, and we switched.

The Support Forum is now closed. We will come out with a version that is better suited for support questions, than the forum format. It was hard to search and information wasn't condensed. We feel an article layout would be better and more comprehensive, and will be adding new articles weekly to our website. We are probably going with a knowledge base format to replace that system.

Many users will have to create new accounts. The new database didn't work well with old accounts, so we removed many of them that had format trouble with the new database. Creating an account is pretty quick, and it is usually easier just to create a new one rather than to try to revive the old account. If you need any previous order information, we can look that up for you promptly.

Thanks again for all your support over the years! We hope you like the new website. If there are features you would like to see please email them to me, or if you have any issues. Hopefully the new website will allow us to quickly publish new tips and tricks articles like the How to Start a Siphon article we published yesterday, and spend some more time looking at fish tanks on forums, which is what this hobby is all about.

THanks for the info, please send the claims via email so I can keep track of who is who and all that.

Sorry to hear about all the losses. For one reason or another ARC group buys tend to fare poorly, loss rates are usually less than 1% for us, I realize not all will be claimed, but for ARC group buys losses are usually several times higher. I think the local Fedex hub may have a problem with large boxes, and they are getting tumbled in a machine, instead of manually processed. I can see if some porcelain crabs, chitons, limpets, shrimp, sea hares etc..an other delicate items are lost if they don't make it in the tank by noon because someone got caught up in traffic or something, but the ceriths should have made it even with a delay. It is a shame, and I feel horrible about it. Please email all claims to me when you can, i will promptly issue a refund. For larger losses we can send replacements that are Priority Mail safe directly to you. Unfortunately we cannot overnight direct shipments because of the expense involved to cover all group buy members.

Just for our information purposes only, can you please leave in the claim what time the animals were added to the tank, (approx), if there was any physical damage to the bags, and what acclimation procedure you used? No matter any "restrictions or rules" on our website we will honor the claim and issue the refund, the information will be solely used for improving our services, and is voluntary you can just claim a regular refund if you prefer.

Also, and just for information purposes only, if you had losses among snails, were any percentage alive, and if so, how long have they been in the tank? (Reason I ask is some take 72 hours to come about).

If you are unsure of whether a snail is dead or just slow just send us a picture, I can tell usually right away. Sorry again about the trouble, please send an email if you had any problems.