So I am going to Orlando in a couple of weeks for the week. I am pretty sure we are staying at Renaissance Orlando at sea world. I am trying to find some LFS there found a couple I might check out. World wide corals and Sea in the city. Anyone else have good idea’s for down there?
What would be the best way to bring corals back up here if I do buy some? We will be driving down got 4 people so we are taking turns driving so should only be a day drive.
I checked world wide corals and I would have to say those prices are a bit steep but there are some things I would like to pick up if I could. Just scared the drive might be a bit much for them.
BTW wish my tank luck during the week we go I am trusting a friend to fish sit haha and he still has no clue how to do water changes and I like 2 done a week at minimum So I will prob do it before I leave and have him do 1 after I make another bucket ready for him to do… Oh how I am so worried about him doing a waterchange it makes me so nervous to trust him to it ::hitsthefan::
Well if you think about it, when you order on line they get shipped out by 6pm and delivered by between 10 am and 3 pm the next day, so they are in transit for up to 21 hrs. Just have a cooler or styro foam container to store them in and it should be no problem. Inform the store you will be making the trip by car.
And your tank will be fine without the water change while you are gone. Make sure your “sitter” doesn’t over feed the fish. Enjoy your trip and good luck with the shipping.
Just have to make sure it works out timing wise that you can pick stuff up on your way home. I wouldn’t recommend, for example, buying them Tuesday and then driving back on Wednesday and having them sit in your car.
You are likely to find a crazy mixture of prices down there. A lot of things will be more and some things will be much cheaper. Sometimes locals with over grown reef tanks have flooded the local market with a coral over and over so much that they are forced to practically give away there corals to LFS and the LFS has to keep them dirt cheap or they sit on them to.
Do not let someone who has never done a water change do one on your tank. Your tank would survive for a long time with out water changes. If your not feeding much the conditions likely won’t be going down hill that much either. I would highly recommend not having a novice do a water change.
Yeah I’m with John and Jon - don’t let a non-hobbiest do a water change on your tank. even a 20g tank will be fine for a week or 2 without one. Just have your sitter top off as necessary and feed once or twice while you’re gone.
Do any fish or coral shopping on your way home. You might want to consider a battery operated airstone just in case you get stuck taking longer to get home than you planned - just to reoxigenate the water periodically.
Good luck on the trip -I spent last week driving to Ga. and back and even broken up over 11 days it was a pain in the a$s.
So I think I am just going to do a water change before I leave and leave it at that and I am going to buy a auto top off unit so I don’t have to worry about showing him what to do. So he would just be my fish feeder.
I am trying to figure out how we are going to do bringing the corals back. I might buy and have them ship the corals or find a way I can buy them the night before we leave Florida since we will prob be leaving on Sunday morning at 4:30am. I think it was World Wide Corals ships for free on orders over $300. I am going to try and pick up some things I do not typically see in our LFS’s. Don’t know where we will draw the line on cost haha. I am still looking for 2 MP40w es powerheads.
Often people try to make the trip during the day and leave that early. Keeping the corals over night and all during the day is completely possible, but it also depends on the species. Shipping from world wide and just not purchasing elsewhere may be the best option.
As far as the MP40w es you won’t find a cheaper price. Ask DPA how much then look online and it should be the same price. EcoTech Marine uses Map pricing. Most stores don’t carry a large quantity of Vortech models in stock however there is a lot more money in that area so they may.
Do you know what corals you are looking for specifically and what corals you and your tank are ready for?
I am looking for a pink sand dollar venosa Monti and some other randoms that I like that would be fine in my setup.
As for mp40’s I am looking for used models To me $800 is not worth me bothering with them as much as I want them. If I can’t find them then I will prob go with Hydor Magnums since there 12v (wavemaker version) only goes to 1400gph I would like to be around 1800-2200gph I think. I have a 1050,1400, an older one i think is around 800 and it just does not move enough.
not trying to push stuff thru the open forum… BUT terry at the fish bowl has a couple of those hydor magnums that she got accidentally quite awhile ago, and was trying to sell them pretty cheap iirc. (like, her cost!) give the store a call if interested. (i havent really been in for a few months…)
Nothing Hydor makes could compare. There should be YouTube videos made of the same tank with different power heads, but in my opinion your getting like 1/3 the amount of power out of a 1400 vs MP40 or less. Major difference. In my 75g I have an MP40 and a MP10 (w ES on both) and I have them surge around 3 seconds up to 100% and it isn’t enough.
That is the reason as to why I want to change them out to mp40w es. The magnums don’t offer the wavemaker its offered on the 12v evolution models (correct me if I am wrong) I really like the wide span of them to. Trust me I am sold on mp40’s just not on the brand new retail price Maybe wholesale price but I don’t work at a fish store to get that
look on reefcentral, but be prepared to pay immediately. they go in a minute sometimes. used between 300-400. but maybe for the price of 2 used mp40’s you might consider 1 mp60
Tonight is the big night my tank gets handed over to someone else to watch… Did my water change tonight, got my fuge marked for water levels everything is out and can’t be mistaken. Now to only pray nothing happens. Lost 1 fish due to a leap of faith out of the tank and someone not knowing for sure if it was dead before they grabbed it and threw it out(Knew I should have put a do not touch fish or tank notify owner if problem is seen). Atleast it was not my fish sitter that would have kept me from leaving. Hope I find some good items in Florida for the tank.
Just got here not long ago we are staying in Daytona for a day or 2 then head to Orlando. We are supposed to have free wifi and I still had to connect using my phone as a hotspot.
Hopefully I can check out some fish stores down here.
i was just down in florida this past week(cape coral, marco island and key west). i agree its so nice being out of season. thats when i usually try to go, enjoy daytona and orlando!
