New to Upstate NY Forum

[Kirkwood77]

Just wanted to introduce myself and let everyone know I'll be participating in this board. Although I don't live Upstate, I have married into it. I live in Atlanta, GA and am a member of the atlantareefclub and active on our boards. My wife is from Palmyra, NY and I just spent the last 2 weeks up there. Suffice it to say I've had my fill of shoveling snow for this year after the week long snowfall we got. I visit for a few weeks each summer and Xmas so I hope to get to know some of you so that when I come visit this summer I can come check out some tanks. Would love to see any subtle regional differences.

Anyway, I took a drive to Canandaigua last week and stopped into The Salty Dog and liked what I saw. Saw some picassos and nice LE zoas. Its the only reef store I've ever come across while driving around. I spoke with Adam and he told me this forum was the best place for reefers in the Upstate area. When I asked about some things that Upstate reefers are known for, the first thing he mentioned was Todd's Torch. I'd love to see some pics, and hear about anything else you guys are known for.

cheers and happy new year.
p.s. - after being gone for 12 days I came home to my 120gal mixed reef system and found no casualities and happy corals. Always a great feeling. Of course then the wife starts yapping about why the first thing I do after a long trip is always to run to the tank and clean the glass. ??? figured you'd understand.

 

[NirvanaFan]

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

I'm glad to hear everything survived while you were gone. The wife always says the same thing to me after returning from a multi day trip. Next time you're up, travel over to ABC Aquarium in Fairport. Caribbean Forest and The Reef Shoppe are about half an hour away in Rochester.

 

[cardiffgiant]

Welcome! My family and I take a road trip to visit Atlanta every spring. There are some really great shops down there, each with their own kind of specialty. I'm positive that my wife would love it if I were to add some complexity to our trip by including a coral trade

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

WELCOME!!! :wave:

It's a pretty diverse reefing community around here and spread throughout Western NY state.

We have about 9 dedicated saltwater Reef stores between Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse areas of the state. A few very stellar places actually.

As well as several other general fish shops(not included in that 9)carrying a mix of saltwater and fresh.

There are regular frag swaps at several of the shops. More than once per year. As well as plenty of individuals in this group throughout the state which share/swap and sell quite often. It's an informal group that does have some formal get togethers once in a while by those who choose to participate.
Everyone here participates in sharing Online and it's mostly quite a friendly, caring and knowledgeble group of aquarists/reefers.

We are very lucky to have a large group of 9 stellar reef stores.
When your up here again and have time, they are a MUST to check out:

ARC (A Reef Creation)- Buffalo, NY
Saltwater Paradise- Tonawanda, NY (Buffalo)

The Reef Shoppe - Rochester, NY
Caribbean Forest- Rochester, NY
ABC Aquarium (ABC Pet City)- Fairport, NY (Rochester)
Marine Oasis- Spencerport, NY (Rochester area)
The Salty Dog- Canadaigua, NY

ABC Reefs- Syracuse, NY
ABC Reefs 2- Liverpool, NY

Have FUN !!! :dance:

 

[Kirkwood77]

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

I'm glad to hear everything survived while you were gone. The wife always says the same thing to me after returning from a multi day trip. Next time you're up, travel over to ABC Aquarium in Fairport. Caribbean Forest and The Reef Shoppe are about half an hour away in Rochester.

Yeah, I don't have my 2-part dosing set up automatically so I had to recruit a willing neighbor that stayed home for the holidays to come over to the house everyday and dose each day, and fill my 5g ATO jug. I purchased an Eheim auto fish feeder before I left town and synchronized it with a return pump shut down. I don't have a reefkeeper so this required a bit more outlet rearrangement than I'd like. I had purchased 2 Bartlet anthias a week before I left town only because I found them at a local store for $19 and couldn't pass it up. I was happy to see them both thrive in my absence. Funny thing was that when I returned home I left the auto feed cycle on to see how the fish were feeding, and as soon as the return pump shut off the fish all knew exactly where to wait for the food to drop in (I feed ELOS pellets). I had concern for anthias multiple feed requirements. But the Eheim did not disappoint, so it has my endorsement. I'll also be adding 2 or 3 more bartletts in the coming weeks when i find that deal again. The 2 i currently have are both female so I'd like to add a few more before a dominant male emerges.

I left the house temp at 63degrees so my main concern was maintaining my tank temp without the potential for a heater to burnout or go berzerk. Not knowing my tank temp while I'm out of town drives me crazy and its why a reefkeeper elite net is on the top of my list right now... i'd be devastated to have a tank crash for something as trivial yet paramount as tank temp.

 

[tmz]

Welcome.
I lived in Newark NY for abut 8 years and I'm familiar with Palmayra. Considered buying a home there. My daugther lived in Atlanta for abut 6 years and we visited often. Now she's in Boston. So, I feel like I know you already.

 

[EllieSuz]

Welcome aboard. Hurry up and get that controller. You'll wonder how you ever survived without it. Set up two heaters a few degrees apart, so you have a backup if (more likely "when") one fails. Maybe you can time your next visit to a frag swap and we can get to meet you.

 

[Kirkwood77]

Welcome aboard. Hurry up and get that controller. You'll wonder how you ever survived without it. Set up two heaters a few degrees apart, so you have a backup if (more likely "when") one fails. Maybe you can time your next visit to a frag swap and we can get to meet you.

I'll be up this summer for a couple weeks over the 4th of July. I'll be out on Sodus point. I'll keep a watch on the boards to see if anything is planned for that time.

Can anyone tell me about the "todd's torch" and what makes it an upstate thing? Any pics?

 

[magdelan]

Todd's Torch

Todd's Torch

I'll be up this summer for a couple weeks over the 4th of July. I'll be out on Sodus point. I'll keep a watch on the boards to see if anything is planned for that time.

Can anyone tell me about the "todd's torch" and what makes it an upstate thing? Any pics?

It was brought to the area by a dude named, Todd. It's a unique Torch that is a deep neon green with long whispy tentacles. Here is a pic of mine when I had it. CaptCully has a nice colony, maybe he'll show it off for you.

 

[teamdulski]

Glad you found it.

 

[block head]

welcome, most of my family moved to georgia . next time your here, bring cash and your own supply of that vile liquid sweet tea. upstate is rather pleasant in the 2 weeks we call summer. several tank of the months and great lfs in the area. might even trade a todds for some decent moonshine. yankee's produce some respectable peaches , shine not so much.

 

[block head]

dan had a really nice one

 

[magdelan]

Dan's makes mine look like a PT Cruiser. And if you have a PT Cruiser, you should really think about NOT having one.

 

[Kirkwood77]

welcome, most of my family moved to georgia . next time your here, bring cash and your own supply of that vile liquid sweet tea. upstate is rather pleasant in the 2 weeks we call summer. several tank of the months and great lfs in the area. might even trade a todds for some decent moonshine. yankee's produce some respectable peaches , shine not so much.

Ha. Great pic. Nice avatar. Sippin on some woodford myself right now. Although I live in the south I'm still a Yankee. Born and raised in long island. I've caught some nice summer weather upstate and some nice salmon in lake Ontario. I bet you guys run a lot of basement sumps considering that most of the houses up there prolly have basements.

 

[saltyscotsman]

Welcome to the forum, you are more than welcome to visit when you are in the area, the snow here is not to bad!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kirkwood77]

Here is a FTS. Not great quality but all I got now.

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

Welcome to URS! We're always happy to have new friends here. :spin1:

Here's a picture of my Todd's torch from about a year ago....it's definitely grown since then.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

Again- WELCOME!

No hijack here, but since Todds Torch was brought up and people are sharing pictures here.. I was curious of one thing on it.

We all know it makes it's rounds around the URS and we are popularly known for it around here. As it also seems less available in some other areas. Such as further down the coast from the Carolinas down through Florida where I know several people want to get some shipped to them etc...

But my question:
Has anyone here ever purchased some through any other retail or wholesale outlet? (Other than a local frag..)

I was just curious because I think I have seen some available on the market. It's sketchy just how pricey it should be OR exactly how available (or "rare") it really is ?

Again, I'm making NO judgment at all. I'm just curious what people may think.
I've seen it available from a few suppliers around the globe from time to time.
One person I spoke with actually said thousands of them were grown and imported regularly from a deepwater location in Indonesia. It may not be available around a lot. But they made it sound like it actually was in abundance and available for importation by the thousands to those choosing to order at the appropriate times.

I included 1 picture attachment of just 1 place that "had" it. In your opinion is this actually "Todds Torch" ? (A couple places I checked that "periodically" get it, said it was.) Although they did not know of "Todd". But said the coral was imported regularly from their Indonesian supplier. I've had some other pictures on other sites that are even better (than the one included here) and really look like the examples of URS members Todds. I just never copied them and pics disapear after a while once they've "sold out" for a while. But they do get new shipments of them in from time to time..

 

[spinoleo]

welcome

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

welcome to the URS Forum on RC, Kirkwood

if you use RC's search engine, type todds in as a keyword and search the URS Forum. There are lots of old threads on this coral.

and yes... T is a friend of mine. Both of them.

(Todd and Tom)