Whos ordered from IPSF?

[PghReef]

Thinking of placing an order. Tank has been up for a month and has about 50 lbs of dry pukani rock and 30 lbs of kpaquatics florida rock. Sand is all bagged "live" sand only because with online deals it was cheaper then dry sand.

Looking to maximize diversity in the tank and was thinking a large order from IPSF would be a great way to introduce bacteria and fuana from the indo. Only thing I dont want is aiptasia but am not to worried about much else

 

[Miatafan98]

I ordered from them in july when i started my new IM 14, great experience, no signs of any pests, they even threw in a freebee coral.

 

[PghReef]

I ordered from them in july when i started my new IM 14, great experience, no signs of any pests, they even threw in a freebee coral.

What did you order? I'm thinking the sand and mud combo with brittle stars is what I'm most interested in

 

[Miatafan98]

What did you order? I'm thinking the sand and mud combo with brittle stars is what I'm most interested in

I ordered the wondermud and live sand activator, along with some cuc and macro

 

[User1]

I've been ordering from them since 1999. One of the hidden gems tucked away. Nothing fancy. Not a designer or boutique shop. Owner has been involved with the hobby forever and has done a lot of good for it. With that out of the way here is what I can say based on my experience.

1. No unwanted hitch hikers. I say unwanted because you specifically mentioned aiptasia. I've not received it in any of my shipments nor do I know if it is even in the local waters in Hawaii.

2. Reef tune up kit for 99 bucks is usually what I go for. I also order their coral food and macro algae. The macro algae is silly incredible and my tangs go bonkers for it. Former lavender (had to turn in due to agression) and present scopas tangs colored up nicely and loved the stuff. You can also grow it in a refugium if you so choose.

3. Micro hermits usually stay small but I've had two that grew to hulk size.

4. Nerite grazer snails do wonders on the glass but mine kept escaping. Rimless tanks I'd probably avoide.

5. Strombus grazers they carry off and on. Amazing snails and rapidly reproduce in our tanks. Usually buy 6 and within a couple months I have 20 or more.

6. Micro stars. Great little fauna cleaners.

7. Bristle worms (gasp!). If you want them this is a good source. I personally like them in my tank as they again help with the micro fauna and what not.

I've also ordered the gold and green leathers from them. The gold grew to large proportions. The current green one is relatively small and slow growing. I think at the end of the day there are a lot of options they have around packs be it algae, specific coral food, and grazers. Down the road you can look at the macro algae should you want it. I've not used the mud or coralline algae boosts because that comes with time.

I see you used dry Pukani mixed with KP rock. Just be advised that the Pukani is a long haul rock to mature. I'm currently at the 2 1/2 year mark and I can still take a piece out of the tank, lift, turn 180 degrees, and it look just like I placed it in the tank at the start. Amazing rock but it takes FOREVER to fully mature and stabilize in my opinion.

TL; DR - IPSF is a good source to buy from but may not have everything you want. I personally am biased and love them.

 

[monti mike]

I've been ordering from them since 1999. One of the hidden gems tucked away. Nothing fancy. Not a designer or boutique shop. Owner has been involved with the hobby forever and has done a lot of good for it. With that out of the way here is what I can say based on my experience.

1. No unwanted hitch hikers. I say unwanted because you specifically mentioned aiptasia. I've not received it in any of my shipments nor do I know if it is even in the local waters in Hawaii.

2. Reef tune up kit for 99 bucks is usually what I go for. I also order their coral food and macro algae. The macro algae is silly incredible and my tangs go bonkers for it. Former lavender (had to turn in due to agression) and present scopas tangs colored up nicely and loved the stuff. You can also grow it in a refugium if you so choose.

3. Micro hermits usually stay small but I've had two that grew to hulk size.

4. Nerite grazer snails do wonders on the glass but mine kept escaping. Rimless tanks I'd probably avoide.

5. Strombus grazers they carry off and on. Amazing snails and rapidly reproduce in our tanks. Usually buy 6 and within a couple months I have 20 or more.

6. Micro stars. Great little fauna cleaners.

7. Bristle worms (gasp!). If you want them this is a good source. I personally like them in my tank as they again help with the micro fauna and what not.

I've also ordered the gold and green leathers from them. The gold grew to large proportions. The current green one is relatively small and slow growing. I think at the end of the day there are a lot of options they have around packs be it algae, specific coral food, and grazers. Down the road you can look at the macro algae should you want it. I've not used the mud or coralline algae boosts because that comes with time.

I see you used dry Pukani mixed with KP rock. Just be advised that the Pukani is a long haul rock to mature. I'm currently at the 2 1/2 year mark and I can still take a piece out of the tank, lift, turn 180 degrees, and it look just like I placed it in the tank at the start. Amazing rock but it takes FOREVER to fully mature and stabilize in my opinion.

TL; DR - IPSF is a good source to buy from but may not have everything you want. I personally am biased and love them.

Agree with everything you said! I started my tank over with dry rock because of aiptasia issues and used IPSF to get some diversity going. The littornid snails reproduce so much too... I could sell them I have so many now!

 

[PghReef]

I've been ordering from them since 1999. One of the hidden gems tucked away. Nothing fancy. Not a designer or boutique shop. Owner has been involved with the hobby forever and has done a lot of good for it. With that out of the way here is what I can say based on my experience.

1. No unwanted hitch hikers. I say unwanted because you specifically mentioned aiptasia. I've not received it in any of my shipments nor do I know if it is even in the local waters in Hawaii.

2. Reef tune up kit for 99 bucks is usually what I go for. I also order their coral food and macro algae. The macro algae is silly incredible and my tangs go bonkers for it. Former lavender (had to turn in due to agression) and present scopas tangs colored up nicely and loved the stuff. You can also grow it in a refugium if you so choose.

3. Micro hermits usually stay small but I've had two that grew to hulk size.

4. Nerite grazer snails do wonders on the glass but mine kept escaping. Rimless tanks I'd probably avoide.

5. Strombus grazers they carry off and on. Amazing snails and rapidly reproduce in our tanks. Usually buy 6 and within a couple months I have 20 or more.

6. Micro stars. Great little fauna cleaners.

7. Bristle worms (gasp!). If you want them this is a good source. I personally like them in my tank as they again help with the micro fauna and what not.

I've also ordered the gold and green leathers from them. The gold grew to large proportions. The current green one is relatively small and slow growing. I think at the end of the day there are a lot of options they have around packs be it algae, specific coral food, and grazers. Down the road you can look at the macro algae should you want it. I've not used the mud or coralline algae boosts because that comes with time.

I see you used dry Pukani mixed with KP rock. Just be advised that the Pukani is a long haul rock to mature. I'm currently at the 2 1/2 year mark and I can still take a piece out of the tank, lift, turn 180 degrees, and it look just like I placed it in the tank at the start. Amazing rock but it takes FOREVER to fully mature and stabilize in my opinion.

TL; DR - IPSF is a good source to buy from but may not have everything you want. I personally am biased and love them.

Thanks for the detailed response. Yes I'm aware of the pukani rock, this will be my third time using it. I can say my first tank it was in about 7 years and had a lot of frags and mini colonies, it took forever but eventually became a beautiful rock that could handle a nuke thrown at it and still stabalize the tank. If it didnt grt overrun with 1000s of aiptasia I wouldve kept it hence my only concern is the dang little anemones.

What is TL; DR?

 

[PghReef]

Agree with everything you said! I started my tank over with dry rock because of aiptasia issues and used IPSF to get some diversity going. The littornid snails reproduce so much too... I could sell them I have so many now!

Any issues every with shipping? I'm in PA gets pretty cold here. Is it overnight fedex?

 

[PghReef]

I've been ordering from them since 1999. One of the hidden gems tucked away. Nothing fancy. Not a designer or boutique shop. Owner has been involved with the hobby forever and has done a lot of good for it. With that out of the way here is what I can say based on my experience.

1. No unwanted hitch hikers. I say unwanted because you specifically mentioned aiptasia. I've not received it in any of my shipments nor do I know if it is even in the local waters in Hawaii.

2. Reef tune up kit for 99 bucks is usually what I go for. I also order their coral food and macro algae. The macro algae is silly incredible and my tangs go bonkers for it. Former lavender (had to turn in due to agression) and present scopas tangs colored up nicely and loved the stuff. You can also grow it in a refugium if you so choose.

3. Micro hermits usually stay small but I've had two that grew to hulk size.

4. Nerite grazer snails do wonders on the glass but mine kept escaping. Rimless tanks I'd probably avoide.

5. Strombus grazers they carry off and on. Amazing snails and rapidly reproduce in our tanks. Usually buy 6 and within a couple months I have 20 or more.

6. Micro stars. Great little fauna cleaners.

7. Bristle worms (gasp!). If you want them this is a good source. I personally like them in my tank as they again help with the micro fauna and what not.

I've also ordered the gold and green leathers from them. The gold grew to large proportions. The current green one is relatively small and slow growing. I think at the end of the day there are a lot of options they have around packs be it algae, specific coral food, and grazers. Down the road you can look at the macro algae should you want it. I've not used the mud or coralline algae boosts because that comes with time.

I see you used dry Pukani mixed with KP rock. Just be advised that the Pukani is a long haul rock to mature. I'm currently at the 2 1/2 year mark and I can still take a piece out of the tank, lift, turn 180 degrees, and it look just like I placed it in the tank at the start. Amazing rock but it takes FOREVER to fully mature and stabilize in my opinion.

TL; DR - IPSF is a good source to buy from but may not have everything you want. I personally am biased and love them.

Also do you have pictures of the leathers? When you say gold so you mean the Fiji gold leathers I loved years ago?

 

[monti mike]

Any issues every with shipping? I'm in PA gets pretty cold here. Is it overnight fedex?

I’m in MN and everything shipped fine. I think it was 2 day because the order has to ship from Hawaii. I got the order in April so it was still a little chilly here and I didn’t lose anything.

 

[monti mike]

Also do you have pictures of the leathers? When you say gold so you mean the Fiji gold leathers I loved years ago?

Green leather from IPSF (this was a freebie I’m my order)

 

[CCauthers]

Thanks for the detailed response. Yes I'm aware of the pukani rock, this will be my third time using it. I can say my first tank it was in about 7 years and had a lot of frags and mini colonies, it took forever but eventually became a beautiful rock that could handle a nuke thrown at it and still stabalize the tank. If it didnt grt overrun with 1000s of aiptasia I wouldve kept it hence my only concern is the dang little anemones.

What is TL; DR?

TL; DR stands for too long, didnt read. It's basically a summary

 

[User1]

Also do you have pictures of the leathers? When you say gold so you mean the Fiji gold leathers I loved years ago?

Sadly, no. They are not the Fiji yellow or golds. Those are rare it seems these days.

Let me see if I can grab a snap of my green. Sadly I lost the gold during the upgrade 2 years back and I'm somewhat still upset The coral was doing amazing in a 29 gallon bio cube. The tank got a bit crowded with a rose bubble tip that continued to split for some reason so I moved it to a 40 breeder. Still was doing well but between it, a large hammer colony, and the rose bubble tips I upgraded to a 210 gallon tank. This brings me back to the pakuni rock

New tank cycled. Left alone to run for another couple months after moving over one fish. Water chemistry fine and the new tank uglies came and went. On month 4 I moved the 40 breeder into the new tank and I believe it was too much too fast. Even though the rock was established and tank cycled moving over the corals, mature rock, and fish both the hammers and leather didn't like it or something and quickly failed. Oddly enough my Xenia did the same. Left it alone and everything slowly came back but that golden leather from IPSF sadly.

But to your question no, it isn't the yellow Fiji's. Just the run of the mill gold, green, or yellow tint leathers. The gold did have some very long tentacles though similar to a Japanese willow leather I have.

 

[User1]

TL; DR stands for too long, didnt read. It's basically a summary

Thanks. I tend to ramble so that is why I put that there

 

[PghReef]

Sadly, no. They are not the Fiji yellow or golds. Those are rare it seems these days.

Let me see if I can grab a snap of my green. Sadly I lost the gold during the upgrade 2 years back and I'm somewhat still upset The coral was doing amazing in a 29 gallon bio cube. The tank got a bit crowded with a rose bubble tip that continued to split for some reason so I moved it to a 40 breeder. Still was doing well but between it, a large hammer colony, and the rose bubble tips I upgraded to a 210 gallon tank. This brings me back to the pakuni rock

New tank cycled. Left alone to run for another couple months after moving over one fish. Water chemistry fine and the new tank uglies came and went. On month 4 I moved the 40 breeder into the new tank and I believe it was too much too fast. Even though the rock was established and tank cycled moving over the corals, mature rock, and fish both the hammers and leather didn't like it or something and quickly failed. Oddly enough my Xenia did the same. Left it alone and everything slowly came back but that golden leather from IPSF sadly.

But to your question no, it isn't the yellow Fiji's. Just the run of the mill gold, green, or yellow tint leathers. The gold did have some very long tentacles though similar to a Japanese willow leather I have.

Sad you lost it. Always sucks to lose a coral. I'm just trying to do everything right this time and think a lot of peoples success comes with great biodiversity. My first tank was dry rock but everything bought was colonies and it did fantastic for a couple years. Then a hob quit and restarted dumping ammonia into the tank. Lost a dwarf angel and over a month all my coral but xenia and mushrooms. I dealt with some cyano but that was it.

Second tank all dry this time bleached and cooked in a tub for 6+ months. Nothing but frags and was a constant algae struggle of all kinds. Tried chemicals and just cant keep corals alive ever since dosing fluconazole. Everything test out good but the tank constantly struggles. I do believe an ICP test might reveal some kind of toxicity as the problems started with a new batch of liveaquaria salt. To test my hypothesis I did a Water change on a frag tank with a few frags with the same salt and everything but mushrooms perished. Red sea blue bucket from now on.

 

[PghReef]

Cant overstate the awesome ability to work and aquascape with pukani. I had 100 lbs or so bought sitting in my basement from before they closed up. In some ways it's difficult because of how intricate it is to make it look right and the pieces are rather large, but the massive pieces also make good anchors. That and the ability to carve out caves and tunnels is something you can not do on any other rock. My current scape the 1 anchor is a 25 lb single pukani rock cemented to a small piece of fiji for stability.
This I just dry, about 47 lbs.

And after 30 lbs kpaquatics added

 

[beesnreefs]

Just came across this as I was looking up some info on WONDERMUD.

4 years ago I started a 13g nano-reef from a Biota Kickstarter. Was struggling to stabilize it and randomly found IPSF. Reached out and Gerald spoke to me and suggested a package of items to help me out. I ordered what he recommended and it changed my tank. In just a few weeks everything stabilized, algae all but disappeared and my corals began to thrive. 3.5 years later I've got a huge pod population in there, tons of bristleworms, and the 2 gorgeous Hawaiin cowrie snails he sent are going strong as ever.

Not to mention, the tank is almost self-sufficient. I clean the glass and change 10% of water every week. That's it! No dosing, no fuge, no scrubber, no skimmer.

I'll be ordering a package for my newer 65g mixed reef soon.