Reeftopia Order, and general update

[Fliger]

I'm amazed, I ordered 100 astraes, 50 ceriths, 6 nerites and two lettuce nudis. EVERY one of them is alive and my tank looks awesome in just a couple days. The lettuce nudis are really cool. My older snails actually had hair algae growing on the shells, the nudis will crawl over their back and wipe em clean. They are large, and just supercool to watch. Oh, they also poo green poo! Looks like rabbit food. :eek1:

Hopefully everyone's order was equally as healthy. That "dry" shipping rules. I'm used to about 10-20% of the snails dying from reeftopia when they used to ship wet.

I also got four emeralds who are going to town.

And the two tangs are not only BEAUTIFUL, but they get along great. They cruise together. They are a sailfin from ATR and doree's chevron.

[Austan]

your chevron is beautiful! i am for sure getting one for my tank when its ready

[azreefer]

Everything lived in my order as well. Thank you David.

[chinobling]

All snails doing fine, LR also worked out really well, very nice pieces. Thnks again David

[vanmle]

It is interesting that it is shipped dry. Anyway, I think all of mine are alive but I am not sure. Not all of the snails have moved away from the container that I put them in.

How did you acclimate snail shipped dry?

[sir_dudeguy]

how do you ship "dry"? i'm guessing they're not really completely dry when shipped?

[Austan]

they were damp. it was kinda wierd but it worked all mine are alive

[Fliger]

Yeah, just damp. I think when wet - if one dies it starts a chain reaction, so this is better. I just temp acclimated them and dumped em. My nerites were also "dry", everything else was wet though (ceriths, nudis and crabs).

Reeftopia rocks!

[sir_dudeguy]

so do they have like some moist paper or something in there? that just seems weird lol. and here i was worried about my snails that climbed out of the stinkin tank for 5 minutes before i saw them haha.

[vanmle]

When 75% of my snails have moved away from the container that I put them in. The other 25% seems to be alive but they have not moved out of the container. On a positive note, I got one free cerith. It finally got up and move away from the container.

I am so surprised all of yours moved away so quickly. Why do my snails take so long?

[grenaria]

Damp shipping is superior in every way to wet shipping for all but a small selection of corals, sponges, echinoderms and of course fish.

The humidity in the bag keeps the animals moist and maintains osmotic balance and oxygen saturation but does not build up toxic levels of chemicals. Also contact with the plastic of the bags causes tissue damage to corals which is prevented by a paper towel.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-11/eb/index.php

[bnlimit10]

well mine all arrived well, most have already moved from their drop off locations, a few havent moved but I would say at least 90-95 of them are up and cleaning. thanks guys.

[Fliger]

Its amazing, my tank is sparkling. I had an ENTIRE back wall covered in algae and it looks like I just took a razor to it. Every strand of briopsis is gone. I dunno what eat what though since I probably went overboard. I should probably get rid of the lettuce nudis, they are constantly working - I don't want them to starve.

I still have bubble algae, I might get more emeralds. They are definitely eating it.

I haven't really seen my berghias but I believe they are working. I have seen several coils of eggs hatch but not sure how many are surviving. If these fail I will take a chance with peppermints. I'll have to move my Yumas to my sump!

[vanmle]

I can verify that I lost two snails. That is an amazing survival rate. For what I paid for the snails, I lost $0.56.

[vanmle]

What snails will do a really good job with the front glass?

[joeyf]

Dry shipping is definately the way to go. When I ordered from reeftopia (back in Feb) I didn't lose anything either.

For acclimating, there really isn't anything you have to do other than dump them in. There is no water to acclimate them from and temp really isn't that big of an issue, because their body temp is somewhat controlled, so again there's no water to acclimate temp from.

David, be careful with peps, I think that the mystery wrasse may eat them. I suspected him of eating one of my smaller ones a few days before you took him.

[Pyrrhus]

Last time I checked only mammals are capable of regulating body temperature, Oh and Tuna. Or did I miss a cool reefing fact?

You should probably be floating the bag for a few minutes, just in case.

[grenaria]

I always assumed "dry acclimation" went with "damp shipping" :). For dry acclimation you begin to dessiccate the snail, basically leave it exposed to dry air for 5-10 minutes. Then you hold it against the aquarium wall with just a small part of it's shell below the water line. The dessiccation followed by a small amount of water will make the snail quickly grab hold and then begin acclimation at it's own rate.

[Pyrrhus]

Good tip, I'm gonna have to remember that.

[Rekonn]

If anyone thinks they ordered too many, I'll happily take 15 or so snails off your hands at the original price. I would have gotten in on this deal, but I doubt my tank could support 100.