It's been a while!

RossTheReefer1 · Jun 29, 2017

Hey everyone,

I hope all has been well since i last saw or spoke to you all! Life has been crazy, i bought a house and am renovating it room by room.

I'm pleased to announce that my tanks are finally on the upswing. For a long time corals wouldn't ever grow, as if they were in suspended animation; water quality was perfect, different lights tried, and almost every other conceivable variable tested. Ultimately it turned out that the rocks we had (30 years old live the whole time) had a variety of sponge that was releasing toxins into the water. We broke down the tank and swapped all the rocks, then voila problem solved!

Right now we're slowly re-stocking with corals and fish so I was wondering if anyone wants to sell or knows where i can find the following:

- Mated pair of pistol shrimp for shrimp gobies.
- Pair of black spot angelfish 2 1/2 - 3 1/2". - - Blue or yellow assessors, a few of them.
- 15" - 18" tall gorgonians.
- A beautiful Scott's fairy wrasse, male or maybe a pair.
- unique colors of frog spawn

Thank you!

Ross

reefer4816 · Jun 29, 2017

Looking great

RossTheReefer1 · Jun 29, 2017

reefer4816 said:
Looking great

Thanks

kgstei · Jun 30, 2017

I remember seeing your post someplace else when I first joined CTARS. Have you seen Rose the reefer lately? welcome back.

Giraffe0621 · Jun 30, 2017

How common is it for live rock to have sponge that releases toxins? Is it a few, recognizable species, or all of them? In the process of deciding live rock versus dry, and this was something I hadn't heard of yet. Thanks & beautiful tank

eatbreakfast · Jun 30, 2017

Be wary of a scott's fairy wrasse. They are pretty aggressive for a fairy wrasse. Scott's are also known for losing their bright colots. Also, definitely don't get a pr, because with their level of aggression one will eventually kill the other.

kgstei · Jun 30, 2017

Giraffe0621 said:
How common is it for live rock to have sponge that releases toxins? Is it a few, recognizable species, or all of them? In the process of deciding live rock versus dry, and this was something I hadn't heard of yet. Thanks & beautiful tank

I don't think it's too common. I've never heard of it before. I like the surprises of live rock but then again I don't do expensive coral.

pboutin · Jun 30, 2017

Nice Tanks. Welcome back!

RossTheReefer1 · Jun 30, 2017

Giraffe0621 said:
How common is it for live rock to have sponge that releases toxins? Is it a few, recognizable species, or all of them? In the process of deciding live rock versus dry, and this was something I hadn't heard of yet. Thanks & beautiful tank

Very very uncommon. It's a very specific species of sponge that is pretty much unknown to the industry. It took the help of a biologist at House of Fins speaking to natives who collect corals on the other side of the world to figure this out as a possibility. Apparently the natives know the sponge and identify it by smell. It is typically (and rarely) found on LPS such as frogspawn.

I would go with live rock that you are confident is free of bad pests like flatworms and briopsis. Or just get dry rock and seed it with a few live rocks from a tank that's healthy.

RossTheReefer1 · Jun 30, 2017

eatbreakfast said:
Be wary of a scott's fairy wrasse. They are pretty aggressive for a fairy wrasse. Scott's are also known for losing their bright colots. Also, definitely don't get a pr, because with their level of aggression one will eventually kill the other.

Thanks for the advice! The tanks are at my dad's house and i'm very busy so he's doing the research on choosing new fish. I'll have to do some research myself now on his choices to double check!!

Giraffe0621 · Jun 30, 2017

RossTheReefer1 said:
Very very uncommon. It's a very specific species of sponge that is pretty much unknown to the industry. It took the help of a biologist at House of Fins speaking to natives who collect corals on the other side of the world to figure this out as a possibility. Apparently the natives know the sponge and identify it by smell. It is typically (and rarely) found on LPS such as frogspawn.

I would go with live rock that you are confident is free of bad pests like flatworms and briopsis. Or just get dry rock and seed it with a few live rocks from a tank that's healthy.

@RossTheReefer1 -- After you mentioned House of Fins I realized you live close to me -- I'm up in Milford

That's pretty crazy that something that uncommon made it into your tank out of all of the whole big, bad ocean

But good to know that HOF has a biologist working with them. Definitely not something you hear every day.

RossTheReefer1 · Jun 30, 2017

Giraffe0621 said:
@RossTheReefer1 -- After you mentioned House of Fins I realized you live close to me -- I'm up in Milford That's pretty crazy that something that uncommon made it into your tank out of all of the whole big, bad ocean

But good to know that HOF has a biologist working with them. Definitely not something you hear every day.

Hi Giraffe,

Yeah, crazy indeed. Always something new to come across in this hobby. No matter how good you are there are always surprises haha.

As far as I know, the majority of the HOF employees have a degree in marine biology or are studying for one. They aren't the cheapest but they are paying for quality employees and quality livestock.