This was the second time ordering from John over at reefcleaners.org and for those who don't have time to read about the whole experience, you can skip ahead to my recommendation"¦ sure, I'll definitely be ordering a third time. I'll also be posting this on another forum site under the same username.
The RODI that I was purchasing from a LFS was high in nitrates. This took me about six weeks to figure out so the nitrates in my tank got pretty high. I had a Cyanobacteria issue that sprung up shortly after I got my nitrates under control. Adding to my CUC was one of the ways I decided to attack this problem. John from reefcleaners suggested some ceriths and nerites which I had in the tank. He also suggested two fighting conches.
Here's what I ordered:
2 fighting conches
2 mithrax crabs
10 Florida cerith
5 nerites
5 nassarius
4 fuzzy chitons
10 med. crab shells
Chaeto
Pods
Most of this order was aimed at refreshing the CUC after my nitrates issue. I know I lost at least two types of snail and other than the above, I only wanted to add trochus snails to my tank. I would have ordered the trochus from John but he was out at the time I ordered. I did find that trochus snails are sold as "œred stripe snails" and "œMexican turbo" in some of the LFS.
John has a reputation for sometimes sending more than you order which was one reason why I ordered low numbers of different species. I didn't want too much. I still have at least 60 dwarf ceriths and 20 hermit crabs in my tank from a previous order.
I didn't get an email with a tracking number. I wasn't too concerned about this because John had emailed the week before to say that he would send out the package on a date I chose. I admit I had some doubts once noon was nearing and as I was emailing John, the package arrived. Packaging was pretty much as expected, nothing fancy, on the outside but everything on the inside was fine. I acclimated as per reefcleaner.org recommendation and everything went in tank.
Pods are hard to comment on"¦ they were either devoured or took refuge in my rocks and sand. Chaeto was about the size of a baseball. Interestingly, my crabs ate the chaeto so it's now mostly gone. I received 26 empty shells and some of them were really nice shells. The nerites, ceriths, and nassarius were all pretty much on target, maybe one or two extra each. John states that the cerith take some time but mine got going by that evening.
The four chitons turned out to be only one. They come attached to a shell for transit and because they are fuzzy to start it is hard to tell them apart. As it turned out, what I thought was a small pile of chitons was just one large one. Once the crabs eat the algae off of it, it is easier to see. John refunded me the price of the three plus a prorated shipping amount. One of the mithrax crabs is a good size and has only one arm. I don't have a problem with that and my kids love it. It loves chewing on chaeto. The fighting conches are pretty big. I would say 2.5 and 3.5 inches. They are tall also; might be too big for my 65 gallon tank. They have since buried themselves for the past few days and I can only see the tip of one in my sand.
Two weeks later and my cyano problem is under control; practically gone. I'm not sure if it was the beefed up CUC. I also started carbon dosing and changing out my T5s four weeks and three weeks ago respectively.
So, as I said, experience was positive. If there was a Saturday delivery option I would order again soon but as it is I will simply wait. I just wanted to give a perspective on some of the livestock John offers. Wish all vendors were like this.
The RODI that I was purchasing from a LFS was high in nitrates. This took me about six weeks to figure out so the nitrates in my tank got pretty high. I had a Cyanobacteria issue that sprung up shortly after I got my nitrates under control. Adding to my CUC was one of the ways I decided to attack this problem. John from reefcleaners suggested some ceriths and nerites which I had in the tank. He also suggested two fighting conches.
Here's what I ordered:
2 fighting conches
2 mithrax crabs
10 Florida cerith
5 nerites
5 nassarius
4 fuzzy chitons
10 med. crab shells
Chaeto
Pods
Most of this order was aimed at refreshing the CUC after my nitrates issue. I know I lost at least two types of snail and other than the above, I only wanted to add trochus snails to my tank. I would have ordered the trochus from John but he was out at the time I ordered. I did find that trochus snails are sold as "œred stripe snails" and "œMexican turbo" in some of the LFS.
John has a reputation for sometimes sending more than you order which was one reason why I ordered low numbers of different species. I didn't want too much. I still have at least 60 dwarf ceriths and 20 hermit crabs in my tank from a previous order.
I didn't get an email with a tracking number. I wasn't too concerned about this because John had emailed the week before to say that he would send out the package on a date I chose. I admit I had some doubts once noon was nearing and as I was emailing John, the package arrived. Packaging was pretty much as expected, nothing fancy, on the outside but everything on the inside was fine. I acclimated as per reefcleaner.org recommendation and everything went in tank.
Pods are hard to comment on"¦ they were either devoured or took refuge in my rocks and sand. Chaeto was about the size of a baseball. Interestingly, my crabs ate the chaeto so it's now mostly gone. I received 26 empty shells and some of them were really nice shells. The nerites, ceriths, and nassarius were all pretty much on target, maybe one or two extra each. John states that the cerith take some time but mine got going by that evening.
The four chitons turned out to be only one. They come attached to a shell for transit and because they are fuzzy to start it is hard to tell them apart. As it turned out, what I thought was a small pile of chitons was just one large one. Once the crabs eat the algae off of it, it is easier to see. John refunded me the price of the three plus a prorated shipping amount. One of the mithrax crabs is a good size and has only one arm. I don't have a problem with that and my kids love it. It loves chewing on chaeto. The fighting conches are pretty big. I would say 2.5 and 3.5 inches. They are tall also; might be too big for my 65 gallon tank. They have since buried themselves for the past few days and I can only see the tip of one in my sand.
Two weeks later and my cyano problem is under control; practically gone. I'm not sure if it was the beefed up CUC. I also started carbon dosing and changing out my T5s four weeks and three weeks ago respectively.
So, as I said, experience was positive. If there was a Saturday delivery option I would order again soon but as it is I will simply wait. I just wanted to give a perspective on some of the livestock John offers. Wish all vendors were like this.
