Little Critters often overlooked!!

[Nanook]

In the quest for the work of art known as a full blown reef tank, many of us neglect the little things you can add to create a complete ecosystem. I prefer live rock, but as it becomes less available and folks are using terrestrial rock, it's important to seed a tank with the little life forms.

I have used Indo Pacific Sea Farms for about 20 years now and Gerald specializes in providing these little life forms that most people don't get. These little micro inverts add a lot of biodiversity to a system and help produce natural food sources and help keep the rocks and sand bed clean from excess food and detritus.

I just added a couple kits to my 600 gallon system and the variety of stuff I got was amazing! To name a few:

Strombus Grazers, Nerite snails, torches grazers, mama mia worms, bristle worms, amphipods, micro hermits and probably 4 or 5 more snail varieties that I don't know the names of. These things will reproduce in your tank as well, so think of it as an investment in biodiversity and keeping your tank clean

 

[hkgar]

Agree. I hae bought from them in the past and will again. The problem with our small systems (compared to the size of oceans and seas) is many of the smaller things have a difficult time surviving as the predator to prey is much against the prey.

My wrasses decimate copepods quickly and them and my file fish seem to enjoy many small snails, hermits like them too.

Indo Pacific Sea Farms

 

[hkgar]

In the quest for the work of art known as a full blown reef tank, many of us neglect the little things you can add to create a complete ecosystem. I prefer live rock, but as it becomes less available and folks are using terrestrial rock, it's important to seed a tank with the little life forms.

I have used Indo Pacific Sea Farms for about 20 years now and Gerald specializes in providing these little life forms that most people don't get. These little micro inverts add a lot of biodiversity to a system and help produce natural food sources and help keep the rocks and sand bed clean from excess food and detritus.

I just added a couple kits to my 600 gallon system and the variety of stuff I got was amazing! To name a few:

Strombus Grazers, Nerite snails, torches grazers, mama mia worms, bristle worms, amphipods, micro hermits and probably 4 or 5 more snail varieties that I don't know the names of. These things will reproduce in your tank as well, so think of it as an investment in biodiversity and keeping your tank clean

Which kit did you get?

 

[lolgranny]

Very interesting [emoji106] good looking out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Nanook]

I got two reef tank tune up kits, 6 big bags of amphipods, a bag of mama Mia worms and an electric green leather sinularia and a branching green torch coral head

 

[Anemone]

When you say the stuff from those kits reproduce in our tanks, you ain't kidding! I've got literally hundreds of micro grazer snails now, and those are only the ones I can see on the glass!

Kevin

 

[Nanook]

That’s the beauty of it The gift that keeps on giving. Plus it’s fun to get fresh stuff straight from Hawaii. A lot of the stuff comes out at night to clean while the fish are laying low. I think the value of these kits is one of the “bargains” in the hobby after you see how the populations grow in your tank.

Gerald has been around for a long time and goes out of his way to send ample critters, all double bagged and labeled. Definitely worth the money.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

IPSF is worth every penny. They deliver exactly what they advertise and always have. I've used them for 14 years with 100% satisfaction.

 

[jlmawp]

As an ecology/evolution student many years ago, this is the strategy I've tried to take throughout my short reef-keeping career. Diversity is what helps balance out an ecosystem. The more species the merrier.

My secret wish is to create a live rock swap community in my area that encourages people to temporarily trade live rpck with other tanks in the hopes of seeding and encouraging diversity in our reef tanks. My favorite part of my tiny little tank is still...after 2.5 years, discovering new things that appear. It's amazing what is packed in live, mature rock, even in a tank as small as 9 gallons.

 

[Sk8r]

Thank you, Nanook. I have wanted a good supplier of things like this, and I have bookmarked it.

 

[Rover88]

Sadly no shipping to Canada

 

[mcgyvr]

wow.. most mods activity I've seen in a post outside the lounge..
What is IPSF paying you guys...

 

[Nanook]

wow.. most mods activity I've seen in a post outside the lounge..
What is IPSF paying you guys...

The really great vendors never have to shill Their product and customer service speak for themselves. Most of the shady companies come and go, Gerald has been in business for decades on his reputation.

I started the thread mainly since everyone uses dead rock and often struggle to maintain a successful, balanced ecosystem. Not many companies offering this stuff either and many of our members would benefit knowing there are vendors out there like IPSF.

 

[homer1475]

Great place!


Been looking for someone, or someplace to buy the micro fauna missing in my tank since I started with dry rock and sand.



Thanks Nanook! Order placed.

 

[mcgyvr]

I always start with dry rock/sand and have tons of biodiversity..
BUT...
I purchase corals though that are typically mounted to "rock" chunks and not tiny frag plugs and don't "dip" them so I'm always bringing in worms/brittle stars/pods/snails,etc...
Thats all I need..

But yes... from what I've seen/heard IPSF does seem to be one of the good guys..