Calc Reactor Set Up! Stoli is nice...

[dmorel]

Yesterday Stoi came by my place and helped (by helped I mean he pretty much did it all) me set up my calc reactor.
Been doing fine tuning every couple of hours.
I measured the ph this morning and it was a little high (~7.3) so I turned up the bubble count just a smidge, will check again when I get home from work.

So here is a public thank you to Stoli!!!

Once this thing is running smoothly it will be time to get a few new corals (the hard stuff this time!)

Any recommendations on what to get?

I am really looking forward to getting some montipora capricornus and a few assorted acros.

Other then trading frags amongst yourselves where do you guys purchase your corals?

I have not seen very many nice stony corals locally, but maybe I am just not looking?

Thanks again to Stoli, and to everyone for their advice.

-dm

[Stoli]

The pleasure was all mine. Got me out of the house and away from the parents, wife and kids for a much needed break.

As far as good sps frags, best ones appear to be among the members or online (take a look at drmaccorals.com). Todd and Dave are the experts though.

When you adjust your bubble rate up, keep an eye on gas buildup in the reactor chamber. Although, with your drip rate, I don't think you'll have too much of a problem. Give me a call if you need a hand.

Allen.

[ReeferMac]

Dave,

If you want to make some friends fast, just order any 5 off of Dr Mac's Prime Pick's... I'm sure the reefer's will come out of the woodwork looking for frags of those ;-)

That being said, you've seen a lot of our tanks now, and have an idea what people have in the area. I hesitate to say it, but most of the folks in the club I met will give you frags of anything sizeable in their tank. Keep in mind what comes around goes around. One might be able to take a few frags from a few of the folks in the club, but when you stop getting notifications of the next meeting, and aren't given directions to someone's house, you'll know wether it was worth it or not. :wavehand:

If you're trying to stock your tank with rare and exceptionally beautiful specimens... good luck! T'ain't easy, that's for sure. If it's pretty, it's expensive, and chances are there isn't a lot of it. What you can do however, is make lots of trades. Folks on this board from all over the country regularly ship things to each other. That's actually how I got a few of my prettier corals.

To be honest, I'd wait a while before spending a lot of money on any heads. You can get a whole boatload of frags from the folks here, and give those a shot for a few months before signing over a Carpayment to some online dealer so that you can get a choice specimen.

- Mac

[dmorel]

Stoli:

I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for the gas build-up.
everything was OK this morning when I left, just that the PH was still a little too high.
Being away all day is probably good so I won't futz with it until I get back home.
That will give me a chance to see how it really is running.

Mac: To your point (and stoli's) I will definitely be interested in trading frags with the locals. It's clear that for more then three reasons that is the thing to do.
1: cost
2: acclimated to tanks
3: no stress from shipping
4: better for the reefs

see 4 is more then three :) Hell I bet we could come up with more too...

Anyway, I hear what you're saying on the goes around comes around thing, and I would of course be into trading. I have mostly softies in the tank now, and not too much I could frag, but two or three things for sure. I might be inclined to maybe place a "starter" order for a few things from drMac's (provided this is the good place to order from, which it seems to be) assuming that I would be able to frag something shortly down the line so that I can do more trading. I certainly don't want to be coming to the meetings with nothing anyone wants to offer. (I am guessing my insane xenia crop is no longer interesting, having given some to the only three people who actually wanted it.)

Hey, I do have plenty of macro algae now, wonder how I got that...

If anyone is looking to order anything and wants to share shipping and maybe split up a package or something, get in touch and we can do it.

-david

[Stoli]

Dave:

If you decide to place an order, drop me a line. They have some really nice blue and red acros at Dr. Macs. The top pics ar also really nice.

Stoli

[ReeferMac]

(I am guessing my insane xenia crop is no longer interesting, having given some to the only three people who actually wanted it.)


LOL... you and every fish store within a 70 mile radius for the passed year and a half... That's the other problem with trading in groups. Once something goes around, there's no where else to go. With a lot of things you can sell back to the LFS (until they're choking on it - which is only one problem).


Hey, I do have plenty of macro algae now, wonder how I got that...


Hehe, Gee, can't imagine ;-)
Mine started as a tiny handful of strands from Chucker.. and see what's happened.


If anyone is looking to order anything and wants to share shipping and maybe split up a package or something, get in touch and we can do it.


If I were you, I'd start out with a couple frags from people's tank's first, to make sure they'll survive. I had ordered my first real batch of SPS from Atlantis Aquatics, and had half of them die on me... The second pack of corals I ordered from him (half of them were credits from the first order), did the same thing... The last one I got (at Dave's party...), dropped it right in w/o acclimating, and it's doing fine. To this day I've still no idea why the first group did so poorly, but have a few theories.
It's not that I'm trying to talk you out of spending money on your reef (especially if it means a new coral I can trade for down the road ;-), I just don't want to see you wasting your money. Hell, I can count about 4-5 SPS I've got I'll give you frags of outright if you're willing to make the drive out here (none of that Karma stuff I was talking about before attached). Give those a shot for a couple weeks and see how they make it. Besides, by then the weather will be warmer and the shipping will go better ;-). I've had to clean my knickers out after picking up a few packages in February before, it's not fun driving home from the Fed/Ex station wondering just how much of your $200 dollars is going to survive..

Gimme a call if you want to head out some night if you're anxious. I'm still waiting to get RudeBoy's phone number so I can get him over some night when I'm free, maybe have a mini-meet if I don't get tied up at work (and I owe someone a couple green mushroom's too I think.. :confused: :confused: )

- Mac

[dmorel]

Mac,
I will definately take you up on the offer for a few frags to "test with" I think that is a faboulous idea. I got a couple (three small frags mounted on a piece of LR) from Todd the night I got my MH's from Brad (they live in the same building) One bleached out big time, but seems to be coming back and the others are doing ok...
This was all pre-finishing set up for hard corals. Now that I have the lights all worked out properly, the top off going smooooooth, the fan and heaters on temp sensative control, and the calc reactor running I should be good to go!

I am impatient for sure, but I can wait a little while.
Hell if I mail order I would have shot for a saturday delivery, so I would have to wait anyhow.

Get in touch with RudeBoy and see what works, I would be glad to make the trip. I play tennis a few evenings during the week (any of you guys play?!?!?) and other then that I am pretty free. My wife is super cool that way :)

I am also hoping to hit up david playfair if he is interested in selling/trading a few frags (which in another thread he indicated he was), so that's another source of quality local stuff.

Thanks much,
-david