"Insiders" article

[Fredfish]

Surveying my 5' high by 9' long storage shelf mostly full of aquarium stuff I consider essential, I am glad to see that I am not the only aquarium nurd out there.

This has to be one of your best articles yet.

Having done the aiptasia thing I would consider your advice here as the most important tip in the article. I will NEVER again put anything into my tank without quarantining it.

If you don't like the idea of going in to a pharmacy to get you needles, try your local farm supply store. They won't tell you its illegal and don't even give you a second look when you pick up a seringe and a couple of different guages of needles. They also have a nice variety of diffent sized needles for different applications.

I hope that the folks at aquarium systems come out with a "Stream" clone soon. Anyone that comes up with a reasonably priced, reliable, alternative should make a good profit.

Now for some questions.

Where do you find a 10x magnifying glass? I looked around and could only find 4x and 6x with a focal distance of 4": not very useful for an aquarium that is 2' deep.

Perhaps you could expand a little on the "dramatic results" you have seen from golden pearls and cyclopeez.

What organisms do you believe will benefit from the feeding of golden pearls? I am looking at them as a food for small benthic critters, various filterfeeders and as a replacement food for detritus for organisms such as z. sociatus.


On refractometers:

At one point there was a suggestion that not all refractometers were meant for use with salt water. Are all those available through common aquarium related sources appropriate? This along with salt for the tank are my next purchases for setting up the new tank.

Will any dissecting microscope do for aquarium purposes? What is a reasonable price range to pay for one of these? I have no idea what represents reasonable quality or what the value of these things is new so its hard to know where to start.

Again, great article!

Fred.

 

[EricHugo]

Hi Fred:

Thanks for the complements.

Let's see what I can do on these questions.

>>If you don't like the idea of going in to a pharmacy to get you needles, try your local farm supply store. They won't tell you its illegal and don't even give you a second look when you pick up a seringe and a couple of different guages of needles. They also have a nice variety of diffent sized needles for different applications.<<

thanks - great idea. Being a "city boy" and seeing when I travel all the great things available at farm stores, I am often envious that I don't have regular access to them without a drive to the country. Plus, our farm stores tend to have "big city" prices by comparison to reports from others.

>>I hope that the folks at aquarium systems come out with a "Stream" clone soon. Anyone that comes up with a reasonably priced, reliable, alternative should make a good profit.<<

Me, too.

>>Now for some questions.

Where do you find a 10x magnifying glass? I looked around and could only find 4x and 6x with a focal distance of 4": not very useful for an aquarium that is 2' deep.<<

Well, you would probably need a loupe for 10X, but 5X cheap-o magnifying glasses are a dime a dozen. look on google. I'm pretty sure you sould find a 10X glass, too. The focal length, of course, will not work with a deep tank, so you are limited to the area near the glass unless you remove things from the tank..which you will probably find yourself doing more than your realize.

>>Perhaps you could expand a little on the "dramatic results" you have seen from golden pearls and cyclopeez.

What organisms do you believe will benefit from the feeding of golden pearls? I am looking at them as a food for small benthic critters, various filterfeeders and as a replacement food for detritus for organisms such as z. sociatus.<<

The size is what is so different about these products. You can load the water column for a good half hour with a small amount of product. The size and nutritional profile of the material is such that it can be used by a very large range of aquarium organisms. One can watch the reaction of polychaetes, corals, amphipods, shrimps, fishes, etc. during a man-made plankton swarm using them. Down the road, the increase in population size of the small creatures will become very apparent, and I think most will probably see noticeable increases in the growth, feeding response, and tissue appearance of corals.

Freshly hatched brine shrimp are better in a number of ways, but are far less convenient and also larger but these are the best ways I have foundm to really load the water column with dense amounts of nutritious particulate food.


>>On refractometers:

At one point there was a suggestion that not all refractometers were meant for use with salt water. Are all those available through common aquarium related sources appropriate? This along with salt for the tank are my next purchases for setting up the new tank.<<

Good point. You clearly want a salinity or "salt" refractometer. I don't know the answer to your question about the ones available to the trade or how good they are. I have not compared them all against a standard, but the specs should be available from the manufacturer (not that I would neccesarily trust them, but it would provide a guide). For a decent site with good prices and selection and a variety of various types, see www.benmeadows.com. There are many many sources, but I have never personally used this company.

>>Will any dissecting microscope do for aquarium purposes? What is a reasonable price range to pay for one of these? I have no idea what represents reasonable quality or what the value of these things is new so its hard to know where to start.<<

Honestly, yes and no. All will work, but obviously some are much better than others. I have a really old one at home, and its ugly, but it has Zeiss optics. Optics are the most important, IMO, and Zeiss, Leitz, Olympus and Nikon tend to have nice optics. I am perpetually amazed at the deals available on dissecting scopes on eBay, and am irritated that I didn't purchase the microscope I have at home on eBay or I'd have a much nicer one. Fortunately, I use a $20,000 and a $50,000 scope at the lab, so home stuff is not really an issue. If you can find one of the above types on eBay or a used science supply source for $300 or lower, which I think is quite possible, you probably got a good deal. Many of the Wild scopes I see go on eBay for the 300-500 dollar range are a steal.