A website suggested by Lionking

[PhishMonger84]

Good morning-

I was reading a thread last week that @lion king contributed to and made the suggestion for a very affordable website that sells algae, mushrooms and zoas but mostly algaes. i cannot find it in my web history and for some reason unable to DM the king.

anyone know the site, very simple i believe black background and green lettering:?>

 

[lion king]

live-plants.com

Gulf Coast Ecosystems (GCE), founded in 2003, is a trusted source for live marine macroalgae, gorgonians, sponges and invertebrates. From our Florida Keys and Tampa Bay stations, we hand-collect and culture high-quality specimens for hobbyists, reef tanks, public aquariums, universities, and...

www.live-plants.com

 

[PhishMonger84]

live-plants.com

Gulf Coast Ecosystems (GCE), founded in 2003, is a trusted source for live marine macroalgae, gorgonians, sponges and invertebrates. From our Florida Keys and Tampa Bay stations, we hand-collect and culture high-quality specimens for hobbyists, reef tanks, public aquariums, universities, and...

www.live-plants.com

thank you so much, I'm unclear as to why i could not DM you.

 

[PhishMonger84]

Thanks for the link! Just received a bunch of macroalgae, some sponges, a gorgonian and a great deal on Zoas!

Hopefully I can keep this stuff alive!

 

[PhishMonger84]

Those look to be palys not zoas. Be careful with those ones.

Are you saying from the picture on the link?

They do have much longer “stalks” than Zoas I’ve seen

 

[lion king]

Dang it, lost alot of photos on a crashed computer, can't find pics of a gorg garden I wanted to show off. This site is best for macro, the photo gorgs are also great; and check out that purple sponge, it's a photo plating sponge that's really cool. Snails are pretty cheap and also a good addition to an order.

 

[PhishMonger84]

i'd love to see it, if you're able to locate.

This is what i ordered, as i had no idea where to begin and read descriptions looking for "hardy" (how did i do) anything i should grab next time?

Sponge Sampler Pack
Assorted Zoanthids- 40 polyps for $24.00
Gracilaria
Halimeda Opuntia
Caulerpa Sampler
Purple Ribbon Gorgonian

 

[lion king]

Did you read the care description for the macros, they actually do a pretty good job in honest explanations. The halimeda does require ca, gracilaria is one of my favs. I am also a big caulerpa fan, so we'll see what you get in a sampler pack. Purple ribbon gorg is cool. I have gotten other sponges from them that was nice. Personally never been a zoa fan so let's see what you get, figure for that price you are not getting show pieces. Make sure to clean the macro, I also use multiple rinse containers. Believe me this is true even for the high end macro places, I got aiptasia from one the most expensive highly recommended "clean" macro algae outlets, so go figure. Very upset as it was seeding the initial start up of a refugium in a small predator fowlr.

Not the pic I was looking for but you can see the gorgs in the background, look at the top right corner and you see the purple sponge.

 

[PhishMonger84]

i did read the descriptions and that led me to my choices.

i figured mix packs may take away some of the decision fatigue. i will go through and check the actual specimens against their photos.

I treated them like corals and dipped them.

the red sponge, purple gorg, gracilaria and zoas ( likely palys) are my favorites. theres a lichen like caulerpa that looks pretty cool too.

 

[PhishMonger84]

Ya I only saw pics of palys on that site. Looks like green death in the picture they have. Honestly you should be careful with any zoa but palys are much more likely than zoas to be dangerous.

To me or my tank?
I know there’s a toxin on the outside but I thought it was only an issue if you have an open cut

 

[PhishMonger84]

To both. it's not just open cuts. Please look into palytoxin more. It's amazing how many people buy these without being warned of the risks. I wish stores would be more open about it but they know they will lose sales.

I've read about it before, on WWC site there is a write up but I've also spoken with someone who has owned a salt water fish store since 1968 and he has the same opinion about the toxins on box fish. for some, in rare and particular scenarios there can be a bad experience but for the average individual it won't be a problem.

 

[PhishMonger84]

I would consider them exponentially more dangerous to the average individual than boxfish because the average individual will never own a boxfish of any sort. Good chance they end up buying palys though. As long as you know the risks and handle them properly that's all you can do.

Thanks for your concern and advice