New here and relatively new to the hobby. Been researching it on/off for the past few years and finally jumped in about a month and a half ago. Met some folks over at Premium Aquatics (Nicest LFS I’ve found) which turned me onto here. I’m an avid scuba diver which really is what turned me onto trying to recreate what I see in the wild in my home.
Anyway I’ve got my 55 gallon up and running, fish were in the tank 8/20/08.
Current fish:
(1) Tomato Clown
(2) 3-Striped Damsels (gf named them Frederick and Hollywood)
(1) Zebra goby (gf named her Stella)
(1) Brittle Star
(1) Emerald Crab
(1) Fighting conch
(mix) hermits, turbos, nassariuses, star snails
Recently purchased:
(1) yellow tail damsel (Roger, hey I got to name one!)
(1) Pink pseudo (gf named Cleopatra)
(1) Peppermint shrimp
Also I have a bully that I’ve moved to a spare 30 gallon tank hes a ~3.5" damsel.
Tank measurements as of last night:
Ammonia (0-0.025)
Nitrites (0)
Nitrates (0-10)
pH (8.0-8.2)
P.S. I can probably get as much food grade calcium hydroxide as I want (kalkwasser). Not sure what ratios you use for kalkwasser but this is about 85-95% pure calcium hydroxide with the remaining % being either moisture or calcium carbonate (CaCO3, reacted calcium hydroxide, chalk). So if anyone is interested I may have some available for the super low price of ???, just contact me
Welcome to DRC. Sounds like you have a nice tank going there. Are you planning on keeping it fish only or are you planning on getting into corals in the future? Either way sounds like you’ll enjoy it. Where do you have you been diving… anywhere fun?
@tat2tillidie: I’ll let you know as soon as I can. I should find out by the end of the week. How much powder do you want? (that didn’t sound right…)
@a1amap: I’ll try and get some pics soon! I need to since the giant turbo has been polishing the glass well
@icy1155: Right now its a FOWLR…My original plans were to keep it that way, but those pretty corals are tugging at me so I’m looking at a t5 setup right now anyone have a cheap setup for sale? Most recently the best place I’ve been diving has been the Cayman Islands. So many beautiful reefs and walls. I just came back from Barbados a few weeks ago and the water there is niiice. We had a 200ft or so reef right off of the beach in front of our hotel.
I’ve been to Cabo San Lucas, Catalina Island, Cozumel, Florida Keys, Ft. Lauderdale, Outerbanks, Cayman Island, Barbados, Bahamas, Atlantic (out of Indian River Inlet/Jersey Shore), Dutch Springs (a cold damn dark evil rock quarry in PA) le-frog
Yes, the Caymans were amazing. Its a toss up for me between Cozumel and the Caymans. I tried to take some pictures but they didn’t turn out as well as I had liked! My tank looks better than the pictures are showing…
Nice. Sounds like the coral bug bit you too. My first tank was just going to be fish only too… then I saw a full blown reef tank and decided I had to have it. lOl Sounds like you have been some pretty nice places. I have done some diving in maine as well as some in the carribean. In the carribean we have dove in Ambergris Caye, Belize and all around the island of Tobago. Here are some pics of our trip to Tobago 2 years ago http://delreefclub.org/home/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=28&topic=111.0 and one of these days I’ll get around to putting up our pictures of our other trip to tobago and our 2 trips to Ambergris Caye. Hope you find some inspiration
Yea, my work enables me to do some traveling between scuba rebreather training and showing our face in the scuba industry I get around sometimes. One of the perks that makes you want to stay at a job .
Heres a vid I took I think it worked out better than the pics. I’ve got the blue light on which takes away from the red/pink fish. I’m using a digital camera with a broken LCD so all of the video is taken by a guess of what the camera is doing, so I apologize. The video is on my home based server so I apologize for the slow upload speed. I would suggest downloading the video and then viewing.
Also a little video legend.
00:03 tomato clown
00:06 urchin
00:14 brittle star
00:25 big ass turbo snail, hes the one man algae wiper
00:36 cownie? not sure the gf got those guys
00:44 underneath the rock on the bottom is where the goby has made its home and tunnels
00:49 pink pseudo, except it looks blue because of the light
00:55 yellow tail damsel, this poor fellow is getting beat up by the 3 stripes, i dont know what todo
00:58 one of the 3 stripes
01:00 tried to get the shrimp on there but i dont think i got him.
Also some other pictures from diving/around… Sorry these pics are huge (too lazy to resize) and are also hosted locally.
Me getting into Dutch, full gear
The gf and I in Barbados in front of the hotel
A cool shot of me standing on a pedestal that once held a statue with the family around me. I’m not making bubbles because I’m on the rebreather.
Making bubbles in Dutch
Some cuddlefish that would follow us around in a night dive in Cozumel
And a picture I’ve very proud of a golden spotted moray eel in Cozumel. This guy is about the size of your pinky finger.
Thanks, the rebreather is acctually lighter for the amount of bottom time/gas you get out of it. Depending on the setup its about the same or heavier than a single 80 cubic foot tank (what you normally dive in the Caribbean), but it is MUCH lighter than a set of doubles (2 100-120 cubic foot tanks hooked together) and you still get more time out of it. It can be cumbersome as its big with bags and extra hoses floating around. Most of the time in Caribbean diving I’m plenty fine going with a minimalistic setup of a single 80, but sometimes its nice to take the rebreather (RB) and not worry about how much gas you have. Also you’d be surprised by how much more wildlife you can see when your not making all the racket that bubbles make.
Well very cool. The reefs off Grand Cayman really made me want to get scuba certified, figure it’s got to be nicer to dive down and stay down instead of having to come up for a breath. I’ve been to Jamaica a few times and the reefs really aren’t what they were 10 years ago, so I neer followed through with the certification idea - and it’s just too damn expensive to try to go back to the Caymans.
Having a job that allows you to do that is awesome. :BEER
Actually any interested PM and we can set something up. I’ve got a 50 lb sack and have verified that it is only calcium hydroxide any impurities are calcium carbonate or moisture.
To make things easier here is a single consolidated thread.
The following items I have in stock and special pricing is good until 111/21. For pickup at the NJ or MR frag swaps only.
Astrea Snails - 55 cents each
Cerith - 80 cents
Emerald Crab - $4 each (limited stock remains)
Small Blue Leg Hermits - 30 cents each (limited stock remains)
Lettuce Nudibranch - $8 each
Serpent Stars - $8 each
Nassarius Snails Small - 70 cents each
Bumble Snails - $1.50
Peppermint Shrimp - $5
Yellow Gorgonian - $15
Scarlet Hermits - $2.50
If enough people are interested I can bring the following in before the swap. I reserve the right to cancel the order if I cannot meet my supplier minimum (I have a lot of tanks, but not enough to house them long term to order extra). These are premium inverts. The best I can get. You will not be disappointed. The critters from the group buy are nice, but these are bigger and some are cool enough for a tank of their own. If you have a fish or other marine animal you are looking for and don’t see it on the list, private message me and I’ll see if I can get one for you.
Large Fire Shrimp $32 each
Large cleaner shrimp $32 each
Electric blue hermits $5 each
Black turbos $1.60 each
Strombos conch $2.75 each
Orange chestnut turbos $2.99 each
Large nassarius (my favorite sand sifting snail) $1.99 each
Large turbos $1.99 each
Sea Cucumbers $10 each
Red Porcelain crab $12 each
Blue linkia Star $15 each
Red fromia star $13
Choco chip star $6
3 inch green lip deresa clam $39 each
Gold Teardrop Maxima $39 2-3"
2-3" Crocea $39.
Please PM me with what your are interested in ordering. Orders must be placed by 10/21 at midnight.
IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE ALREADY, PLEASE SEND ME YOUR PAYPAL EMAIL.
SOLD OUT OF EMERALDS @ $4 For those who did not get Emeralds, I can get them for $6.50 from the supplier with the extra items. Let me know if you would like them at that price.
Here are the items available
In Stock
The following items I have in stock and special pricing is good until 3 days before whatever swap your would like to pick up. NCPARS or NJReefer.
Astrea Snails - 55 cents each (~100 remaining)
Cerith - 80 cents (~70 remaining) Emerald Crab - $4 each Sold Out
Small Blue Leg Hermits - 30 cents each (~90 remaining)
Lettuce Nudibranch - $8 each (4 remaining)
Serpent Stars - $8 each (1 left)
Nassarius Snails Small - 70 cents each (~230 remaining)
Bumble Snails - $1.50 (~35 remaining)
Peppermint Shrimp - $5 (~10 remaining)
Yellow Gorgonian - $15 (~4 remaining)
Scarlet Hermits - $2.50 (~12 remaining)
To be ordered if enough interest
The items below I will bring in if I get enough folks to purchase and meet my suppliers minimum. I reserve the right to cancel the order if I cannot meet my supplier minimum (I have a lot of tanks, but not enough to house them long term to order extra). These are premium inverts. The best I can get. You will not be disappointed. The critters from the group buy are nice, but these are bigger and some are cool enough for a tank of their own. If you have a fish or other marine animal you are looking for and don’t see it on the list, private message me and I’ll see if I can get one for you.
As for the extra items I am willing to bring in if I get enough to meet the minimum from my supplier, only about 1/2 way there. So if you are interested in these place your order.
Large Fire Shrimp $32 each
Large cleaner shrimp $32 each
Electric blue hermits $5 each
Black turbos $1.60 each
Emerald Crabs - $6.50 each
Strombos conch $2.75 each
Orange chestnut turbos $2.99 each
Large nassarius (my favorite sand sifting snail) $1.99 each
Large turbos $1.99 each
Sea Cucumbers $10 each
Red Porcelain crab $12 each
Blue linkia Star $15 each
Red fromia star $13
Choco chip star $6
3 inch green lip deresa clam $39 each
2-3" gold maxima $39
2-3" crocea $39
Email me if interested in fish or other items not listed.
Please add your order to this thread and PM me your paypal id.Orders must be placed by 10/21 at midnight.
