Unique: A Reefing Journal: A Look Back & A Movement Forward

Pallobi · Feb 10, 2014

Pallobi · Feb 10, 2014

Pallobi · Feb 10, 2014

And now for one of my past pride and joys. Can only imagine what this colony would look like now, like 15 months after selling it. I was an idiot. I will never do that again, but sometimes life's other circumstances dictate our hobby unfortunately, and I will do my best to avoid that from now on.

Again, no cropping or editing of any kind.

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When I moved this colony along, it was about another inch in diameter from the time this pic was taken.

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Pallobi · Feb 10, 2014

80g Conclusion

80g Conclusion

This is the last decent FTS I had from this tank. This was not right before break down. If you read threw my thread to this point, you will know what happened. You cant see them, but there are quite a few zoa/palys on the frag racks.

You can also see the sps and the last of it I really had. A darn shame really, but its a new day my friends, and as the thread title states, I am moving forward in an attempt to get my mojo back

:beer:

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Next stage of my hobby and thread segment coming soon...

ca1ore · Feb 10, 2014

Very nice!

Maybe I missed it, but your shots of frags on the tile pedestals - done purely for aesthetics or was there 'method to the madness' in terms of stack heights. Seems like a really original idea for managing a frag tank.

Pallobi · Feb 10, 2014

ca1ore said:
Very nice!

Maybe I missed it, but your shots of frags on the tile pedestals - done purely for aesthetics or was there 'method to the madness' in terms of stack heights. Seems like a really original idea for managing a frag tank.

Thank you... But...

Not sure where you got he idea of a frag tank, most were not frags (clearly they started out as them), but colonies grown from frags. These systems were not frag tanks.

Strictly for aesthetics and my own desire to be completely different than everyone else in the reefing world.

Like I said in the first post, I am fairly positive I am the only reefer in the world who takes this approach as I've been all over the boards and have never seen it before. Especially what I'm trying to acheive now and in the future. And that is pretty satisfying. Some hate it, some love it. And while I always appreciated any good vibes sent my way, I do it strictly for myself.

Once we get to the 40 breeder I have now, you will see and get a better feel for my end goal. However I have a table setup where I've been working on something truely awesome, but I will need the proper display, more tiles (I have like 6 milk crates at least half full), and my confidence in my husbandry again before that is unveiled. It could be 3 months from now, it could be a year, there is no time frame or limitation

BfishLpond78 · Feb 10, 2014

I think what Neal is trying to convay here is his appreciation for the specific corals he puts in the system and his ability to constantly manipulate it.

I say manipulate due to the fact that at any time he is able to raise, lower or move each coral to see how it response to lighting and flow needs. He is able to find the sweet spot for each coral he owns, unlike alot of us where the coral is placed, it encrusts and we have to live with it.

These pedestals give the coral the ultimate ability for them to thrive. I for one have tossed back the idea of stealing Neal's concept for a side project.

Pallobi · Feb 10, 2014

Moving on, Next up, 85g Acrylic Cube

Moving on, Next up, 85g Acrylic Cube

Alright, so we continue on with my history.

November 2012, the 80g was a hard lesson to learn in many ways. Really though, it was all for the best, because if those lessons didn't come, they would have come later, and best to get them out of the way sooner rather than later. Unfortunately I only learned from the Dino's that they really sucked, lol. So after having a local reefer and friend hold the last of the corals I did have left, I tore down the 80g you see on the previous page, sold the tank cuz i wanted something with better dimensions, and got myself my first acrylic tank. It was a custom made cube by a local reefer that measured 35 x 29 x 18" high. It was eurobraced which was awesome, had a black acrylic back side, and a centered external overflow. A very sweet cube indeed.

However, after quickly learning how difficult acrylic was to keep clean, my mind changed quickly about this tank and the like. It was very well made, and kudo's to you dude, you know who you are

but after about 2 months of dealing with cleaning and scratches upon the slightest contact or cleaning, I decided it wasn't for me.

Although, for a month or so before tearing down the 80g, and setting this one up, I worked on a real nice mock up with all the tiles yet again, and i was very happy with it, and it would have been awesome. It was similar in style to what im working on for my next display. But i was afraid to use them. Those Dino's really scared me and i didn't know enough about them at that point. Somehow i got it into my head that it was the tiles causing the problem. Which was foolish looking back now cuz i had used them for over 2 years to that point. But nonetheless, i wasn't willing to risk it and I decided not to use them, which I guess worked out cuz this tank was shortlived. For the reason of acrylic difficulty, but also, because the flippen' dinos came back yet again. So much for it being the tiles, but at least now i knew it wasn't them for sure, which helped a lot with my decision and want to continue working with them now and down the road from now. The really unfortunate thing is, i had acquired about 10 sps frags, and i didn't wana watch them die also. So the ones that lived, were either given away or sold.

At this point, I was done with sps until i could figure out the dino thing. If i would ever be able to. the dino's in conjunction with my unsatisfaction of using acrylic tanks, i pulled the plug on this system quicker than any others, as it didn't last more than a couple months, or 3 months tops. My sanity was one the brink, lol. I had still not figured out how to handle dino's, and they were constantly killing my hobby enjoyment for some time at that point.

Then, I basically decided to really get away from corals aside from a few zoas i held onto for a bit longer, bought a new Marineland 180g w/ corner overflows, and was gonna do what i did back in 2008 and just keep fish and inverts for a while. At least I knew the dino's couldn't really harm the fish too much, and i do love fish just as much as pretty corals. So I had come to peace with that. I just didn't want to have to give up my hobby completely as i just don't see that ever happening, period. Obviously it will one day, but hopefully not for a long, long time.

Most of the gear on this 85g acrylic cube was the same as the previous two tanks, but i figured what the heck, lets try some cheap leds. I sold the 8 bulb tekkie to Mike around the holidays of 2012/2013, and got a cheap Chinese led. I will say, they do work a little, as i had a Joe the Coral, that Ron now has, or at least did, and that thing started to grow like mad in a short amount of time. Everything else, not so much really.

This acrylic cube also used aragonite sand, and like I said, i didn't end up using the tiles on this one cuz i was nervous about fueling the dino's further. Just to find out it wasn't them. I actually really like this little scape i had goin on here with its center island feel, it was pretty cool for its short time in use.

you can see the lack of spectrum in the pics, and they were not much off that in person. Compare that you the previously posted pics with t5's. The corals were much more healthy and even a little more to the eye rather than just under these leds. Obviously the spectrum and intensities have come a long way as this was just a old Chinese cheapy, but you will never see me use leds again. Not hating on leds, but different strokes, ya know? lol

also, to add. You guys see that brittle star? its not a green one, just a larger fancy brittle. I fed if often, and even then, that thing started taking down fish like it was its job at one point. Just sayin for all of those who say they are completely safe. Just not true.

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Pallobi · Feb 10, 2014

ca1ore said:
Post #24!

Would love to have a rasta 'frag' like that though - stunning! German friend of mine would call that an 'uber-frag'

Anyhow, as thinking about thinking about setting up my first frag tank moves to actually setting one up, I just think your approach would look pretty neat. May have to 'borrow with pride'.

at this point in the thread, the read is much more informing and vital to the thread and my history, than the pics. The sps in the pic in post 24 had been through some serious damage, multiple times, and wiped out just about everything I had. That is why you only see "frags" in that pic. Again, I learned some painful lessons with that 80g setup.

ca1ore · Feb 10, 2014

Pallobi said:
I learned some painful lessons with that 80g setup.

Oh, we all have. If you keep tanks for long enough, and don't have a major setback, you are either extraordinarily lucky, or a much better reef keeper than I am. Personally, I have had three tank wipeouts.

Awesome thread, BTW!

Pallobi · Feb 10, 2014

ca1ore said:
Oh, we all have. If you keep tanks for long enough, and don't have a major setback, you are either extraordinarily lucky, or a much better reef keeper than I am. Personally, I have had three tank wipeouts.

Awesome thread, BTW!

Thank you. When your home sick on your weekend not doin jack, you have time to kill, lol.

Plus I thought if I started from the beginning, I could reflect, and others could learn from my acheivements and failures. I'm really hoping to build up to something good here in the long run. And consolidate my many threads for my fellow local reefers :beer:

Pallobi · Feb 11, 2014

180g

180g

Next up, in a long line of unnecessary, my 180g. Which ended up being primarily a fish and invert only system after the first few months. First off, let me say, 180's are AWESOME tanks and they really allow for a lot of options in all departments of this hobby as far as display options, and stock options. The fish have a ton of room to do their thing, and corals, if i actually grew some in this tank, well, the options are endless as well. The aquascaping abilities, jus the whole thing really. Those of you who have one, know what i mean

I loved this tank. Still do, though i don't have it anymore, lol. Yet another local reefer got a great deal from me, and i hope to see it in use and the fruits of their labor soon. Nudge nudge guys

I had this tank up for about 7 months, which was great, and it looked good. I even went and made yet another mock up of a "tile built city" again, and was pleased with what i had made. However, again, i was very nervous about dino's, so everything that went in the tank as far as rock as sand, was completely dried, and rinsed and stowed away in fresh water for some time. (fresh water will kill dino's instantly upon contact i learned, which was a huge help in that regards, and i'll get more into them later as they did in fact come back, but not in this tank thankfully). So like i mentioned previously i basically was taking a break from corals, though i had some zoas you will see in a few of the pics to come. I had them, and most grew well, for the first 2 months or so, then i decided, since i didn't have the money to get a legitimate light for this thing, i would just pass them along and hopefully come back to them at a later date. So that is what i did. Someone in BRS got one hell of a deal let me tell you, lol.

Getting back to the fish only aspect of this tank, aside from a few inverts, I kept my Purple Tang, the same one Ron now has since this tank came down, another trio of yellow tangs like my last "fowlr", a Kole tang, a diamond goby, a mystery wrasse, a dragonface pipefish, a midas blenny, purple dottyback, and a powder blue tang. whom the posder blue unfortunately didn't last long due to what seemed to be some sort of infection, even though I QT'd him well. This was, and will most likely be, the last fish I buy from any LFS ever. I now get all my fish from LiveAquaria, and will most likely continue to do so unless i really trust a local reefer and pick something up from them. but we will get to that in the more present day posts. I also kept a few different starfish, urchins and shrimp in this tank as well and for the most part I was pretty happy with it. I never saw one speck of Dino's, which was a huge relief to me, and all seemed well the entire time aside from some fish aggression, more so amongst the smaller fish, which was weird cuz the tank was so big and i had a fair amount of rock, and the sickness and death of the previously mentioned powder blue. I didn't run UV on this tank as I didn't have one at the time, but if i did i would have. Fortunately, no other fish showed any signs of issues.

My gear on this tank was (4) smaller Tunze's for in tank flow, the same Reef Octo 300 extreme dual pump skimmer, a dual media reactor in which i used a 1/2 cup of carbon in each, a pair of Mag Drive 9.5's (one for each overflow return), two 300 watt heaters, a 65g breeder for a sump (same from the 80g DBA), and another single cheap Chinese led fixture over the middle section of the tank/bracing.

This tank was a real relief. Everything went well and i never had any issues really. Of course I didn't have corals or anything after the first couple months, and even then they were only zoas, but I was able to enjoy my hobby again, and that was nice.

But I knew deep down I needed to get back to my own methods of presentation and I had an itch like no other, lol. After doing my mockup and building a whole scape out of the tiles i love to use, I came to a realization. First, this tanks dimensions didn't truly suit what i wanted to do, and the cost for the adequate lighting and flow would have been absurd. To do things how I like to, I would have needed an 8 bulb, 60" t5, and something like 4 mp40's. That kind of stuff just wasn't, and most likely never will be in my budget. At least not if i wana be a somewhat responsible person, lol

What i did, was decide that I really wanted to stick with my vision and my own personal reefing goals, and I moved out the fish and found them new homes (I miss my purple tang lol), all the rock, etc, and broke down yet another tank and sold it. For the last two months of this tank being up, I started a second 40g breeder which was to be a small coral growout so i could take some steps back to that aspect early while I figured everything else out. That was a disaster that is coming up next, and I will share more about that soon.

Anyhow, this "fowlr" and invert tank was good to me, and i very much enjoyed it, but as i mentioned in my first post here on this thread, its important for one to not follow the crowd, and follow one's reefing heart. So that's what i did, and I am doing now. But wow, what a nice tank this was. It rain from January of 2013 to September of 2013, this past year...

Pallobi · Feb 11, 2014

basically all of these pics were taken in the first few months when i still had some zoas scattered along the bottom, so you will see them obviously, and a couple close ups. I actually really liked the simple rockwork, in both styles. But the second attempt, where i kept jus 3 islands instead of 4, i think was my favorite.

And a lot of the fish came in after these pics, so you wont see much of them unfortunately.

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gosh I hated cords in the tank. Never again with that, lol.

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A pic of a Mantis I had who lived in my overflow, which was cool.

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and a few of the zoas, LOVE alpha omegas, hope to get some more in a week or two.

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Chriskid · Feb 11, 2014

very cool to see "your" growth in this wonderful hobby. im sure you have something up your sleeve for coming days.

Pallobi · Feb 11, 2014

Chriskid said:
very cool to see "your" growth in this wonderful hobby. im sure you have something up your sleeve for coming days.

Thanks dude :beer:

And oh my gosh, am I sick of typing, lol. And all this looking back and re-evaluating and going through all my past experiences, is making me a little frustrated and making me wana kick my self, lmao

Thankfully I've only got a few more posts until I get to the present, so thank goodness for that!

Though I am happy with how the thread and read is turning out for the most part so far, and I've always liked to share my experiences, good or bad.

Really looking forward to adding more corals and working on my biofiltration and parameter stability, and really just getting my confidence back and getting this "seed" system going and continuing to play with tiles and building my next scape. When will it come to fruition? only time will tell. But I'm enjoying the hobby again, and proud to be different

Tweaked · Feb 11, 2014

I feel like I saw this all before:spin2: lol I lost so much as well until I started calibrating my refractometer daily and testing alk biweekly. The others aren't as important, but those two are key. Good advice for all, great thread.

Pallobi · Feb 11, 2014

You have seen it all before, lmao. But I just got more in depth

Just a couple more posts, and everything is all new dude, lol!

and thank you for the compliment.

Pallobi · Feb 11, 2014

Sometime around late June/early July I had setup what was intended to be a designated hospital tank w/ a 40g breeder, stand, reactor, sump, etc. I immediately decided to go a different route as i was anticipating a return to corals again in the future. In my mind at the time, was strictly polyps, no other softies, lps or sps. So i ditched the idea of using it as a hospital/quarantine. I immediately started construction what I think was a really cool idea for display and growing out zoas. Yup, again, back to the tiles, lol.

I had made a 6 row, tiered, staggered structure, sort of similar to the sps columns in the 75g previously shown and talked about. I had something like 47 small colums, turned corner forward so that you saw two sides of the columns rather than one. And as they were staggered and tiered, increasing by two tiles in height each row, It made for what i felt was a great feel and look for a display that would have been strictly polyps growing over and down these smaller columns. I was actually pretty excited. I'm looking now and i don't seem to have a pic of it, which is too bad, cuz i think a couple of you who appreciate my approach, would have really liked it. None the less, i had it setup and all ready to go. I bought a used 36", 6 bulb tekkie from some dude i don't recall their name, and I now decided that adding and going back to the aragonite sand in my tile displays would add a bit more of a realistic, under ocean look. I REALLY liked it and the way it looked, having a diamond goby in there, and some hermits to keep the tiles and sand clean, i was looking forward to this one. I started acquiring some frags, some from PC, buying a few from fellow reefers, and having a couple kind folks like Bob (bubbabob), return the favor of previous freebies to them, with some of their own. I was feeling pretty good about it, and i loved it. It really was something i would do, and i was very hopeful...

and then... the god damn Dino's came back... As well as having some alk issues, which I'll get to in a moment. I was soooo effin mad, i cant even begin to tell you. These things had been the bane of my reefing existence for over a year, and I was not impressed. These things either come in on other people frags as dorment, or active and they are just shaken off before they are sold when others don't see them, and they pop their evil heads when there is a certain fuel or something in the water column, or they are always there, even if you don't use anything live to start (i bought live sand for this however), and they are able to again, lay dorment in wait. I still don't know for sure where they come from or how, but I made up my mind that day, I was gonna beat the hell outta these things, and I was not going to let them defeat me anymore, and ruin my favorite hobby. I was putting an end to this. I didn't quite know how, or when, but I refused to quit.

I'm gonna hold off going through my treatment procedure until a further post here in a bit, as i don't wana clog this segment with too many scattered details. However, I stopped listening to the people who thought they knew what to do even though they never had them or just claim to have had minor occurances, and started researching madly, and asking the most experienced people i could find here on RC and other places. Long story short, (lol, sort of), with my dedicated decision and diligence, I destroyed these things and I have not seen a speck of them since in this short lived system, or the one i have now.

THANK GOODNESS TO THE REEFING GODS!!! I was quite relieved my efforts had finally paid off after watching these things destroy some of the nicest sps I had grown and other corals and even snails and whatnot, in a past system or two. These things have been my hardest fought battle in this hobby, and I had finally won. Both I, and my livestock, were stoked, lol

However, yet another serious, self inflicted, ignorant move, really put a hurting on this system like the 80g I talked about earlier. Once again, solidifying the fact, that ALK and its stability, and relation to other parameters, is one of, if not the most important aspect in reefing aside from the basic stuff like proper salinity, gas exchange, and oxygen levels. This is where i learned that not only trying to keep alk at the proper and acceptable levels was important, but equally important was the levels and focus of Mag, and Cal, and ph, in regards to their relation to ALK. You see, you cant just keeping dosing and trying to build up one, when the others are too low or two high. It simply wont work IMO. You cant have a Calcium of 200 (for example), and expect your alk to hold steady at 9, 10, 11, whatever... They have to be within an acceptable ratio, or, one of the other will just precipitate out. Same with mag and ph, if they aren't up to snuff, the other two wont hold either. Yet another important reason to make sure you keep an eye on everything, as a whole, all at once.

Another thing i feel that caused an issue for me, and i can not prove this, but i feel the BRS two part I had started using wasn't good for me. In previous tanks, i had used Sodium Bicarbonate, and this time I was using Soda Ash, also known as Sodium Carbonate. Basically cooked baking soda, but the impurities are burned off. However, and in conjunction with my failure at chasing only alk, dosing the heck out of it in doing so, and not concentrating on the balance and levels of other parameters, this Soda Ash (carbonate) seemed to precipitate much more than the Bicarbonate i had always used. Did some research and found out that Carbonate will affect and raise ph a little more than the other Bicarbonate, but it is also prone to precipitate much more. SoB, lol.

I was back to square one yet again, and i now had a system with everything so outta wack, it was pointless to not just replace all the water completely, and re-setup, yet again... So, thankfully I move on quite easily, I don't dwell on my failures and ignorance and mistakes too much, and that is what i did... yes, again, lol.

here is a pic of the initial setup of that system, which lasted from June 2013, to a few months later, late August/early September 2013.

Again, I REALLY wished I had a kept a pic of the tile presentation I had in this one, which was to be designated to strictly zoa/palys. I feel as those of you who appreciate my style would have really liked it and seen what i mean.

and i really love this little stand (still have it). metal black frame with adjustable feet for leveling. Got it from petco for 60 bucks regular price

Pallobi · Feb 11, 2014

How I beat Dino's

How I beat Dino's

I'm gonna try and keep this post a little shorter, lol, which im sure isn't gonna happen, but this was basically it.

First, i did a TON OF RESEARCH. Even if it meant reading the same articles and threads/posts over and over again. I wanted to know as much as i could, inside out and backwards, and back around again. It was tedious, but worth it.

Now some people don't have the extreme issues I had with them, starting with the complete decimation of basically every sps in post #24 here (which had taken some serious ALK hits previously), and every piece and frag i added after that. I wish i had kept a couple of the pics i had from then, of the dinos and their suffocation of the sps, but unfortunately i do not. Or any other occurance for that matter. But I had them bad. Really bad. They killed, if not severely damaged all my sps, killed all my turbos which I had kept for nearly two years without ever buying anymore, and irritated all my zoas, colonies and frags from 3 separate systems. If not killing them too. I hate these things. And if you have had issues with them, you know what I where I am coming from.

Again, READ, READ, and READ. Its good for your hobby and its longevity.

There is no one step approach to hammering these things back IMO. It takes a few different approaches and methods all at once, and YOU MUST stick with it, until they are gone, and have been gone for a little while anyway. Just because you don't see them, or you "siphoned them all" out, doesn't mean a damn thing.

A lot of people talk about lights out, and if your fortunate to had that work for you, and they were in fact dino's, though their are many different kinds, and some are much more difficult than others, well, lucky you. Consider yourself truly lucky and blessed. IMO, and from what i have read and learned, that alone will not do it. What happens is, they release into the water column and stop attaching to each other, and forming the bubbly "strings" they are often referred to. This is why so often when you look at the tank when the light first comes on, you will not see them much. But after a couple hours of the light being on, they begin to show themselves much more, and attach again, to any surface they can, including sps, which is bad. Filter socks and skimming will help a little a guess, but not nearly enough. Carbon, utilized properly with help with toxins they may or may not release, but again, basically futile if not done in conjunction with other approaches.

The following is what i did, and then did not do. This is not guaranteed to work for anyone, and i make no promises to help anyone. But in my sincere opinion, its a good way to start.

1. I started using a filter sock, which probably didn't do a lot, but i changed it daily, and this probably helped remove a few. Though they reproduce rapidly and this probably wasn't very helpful.

2. I packed my reactor with as much high quality carbon as i could and still have it tumble and work properly. I changed this out every few days during what was a 6 or so week attack on them. Again, doesn't do much to help with the dinos, but if they do in fact release toxins upon melting, this helped with that.

3. I turned up my skimmer to wet skim as much as possibly without needing to add too much fresh saltwater to the tank. My salinity dropped during this period, but not too much. One thing you MUST NOT DO, is do any water changes during this time period. I'll say it again, NO WATER CHANGES!!!

4. in reference to no water changes, not to be convused with #1, or you can use the same sock, but don't forget to change it daily. you will want to get the finest filter sock you can find, (one reason i suggest using a separate sock for this part), whether it be only 200 micron or finer, and siphon them DAILY, usually at the end of the day, before lights out. THIS IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT. take not of this step with my last step, as they work hand in hand together IMO.

5. UV. UV run at the proper flow rates. not for pathogens, just a nice slow rate so the dinos in the times of day when they release into the column (nite time) will pass through and be killed by the UV. As most know, UV will only kill what passes through it. And that is a good reason to run it off your return so you can be rest assured, all water passes through. use a ball valve to control flow and slow it down, even if the UV your using, should you choose to, is only temporary for this scenario. I put a UV on the tank in the previous post after that pic was taken. If your UV sucks, or is a crappy manufacturer, or you don't run it inline, especially when dealing with this, your wasting your time and money. I only used UV on this system, for a short period while i was doing this. Aside from that, i didn't really get back to using UV full time until a couple months ago.

6. in tank flow. Crank it to the max of your ability without harming the corals further. The more flow, the harder it is IMO, for the dino's to hang on to one another, thus making sure more of them make it to the overflow, and through the above mentioned UV.

7. Lastly, and I didn't have any complete eradication until i did this, Peroxide dosing. the last 6 steps helped but this is the thing that really seemed to kill them and eradicate them. again, multiple approaches are necessary, all at once, but im standing my this as the end game when applied to other numerous tactics. At first, i tried the standard you see of dosing you see @ 1mL per 10 gallons. Didn't do crap. Not until I upped the dosage to more like 2.5 mL per 10g's, did i start to really notice the peroxide part of it working. My corals, and fish, seemed to be no worse for wear. The corals would close up a bit for the first few hours after dosing, but would come back around by the end of each day. I really feel as though the peroxide did more for them than the UV, as the peroxide will sterillze the entire water column much more evenly rather than just what passes through the UV. Oh, and remember when i said siphoning was important when using the last step? well, yea, make sure you siphon daily, towards the end of the day. I dosed with peroxide for almost 4 weeks or so. but i only did the larger dose for about 2.5 weeks.

I never stopped running my lights, and i did absolutely no water changes whatsoever during my nearly 6 week attack. And I had finally beat one of the worse cases of dinos i had ever seen. And i have had them 3 separate occasions, badly.

One week after I didn't see anymore dino's I stopped all approaches and went back to a normal running system. until the ALK issues hit anyhow lol. they had actually already started during this treatment, which is should have been a little more clear about in the above post. But one thing at a time, ya know? lol, i was on a mission... a few days after that, i did two 50% water changes a few days apart. And have been rolling without issues with dino's ever since. however, this tank was moved over to my next setup (in terms of corals, frags, plugs etc that lived through the previously mentioned alk issues), to my present setup, which i will get to soon. I have not seen a sign or speck of dino's since.

Take what you want from it, but if you try to cut corners and you have them bad, well, you might find them more difficult than you anticipated. Or you might just be lucky. After the stints i had with them, i wasn't looking for luck, i was looking to kill

I sincerely hope this helps even just one other reefer, because these things can literally destroy the most beautiful of aquariums once they take hold.

** CORRECTION** the timeline of this tank (the one posted in the previous post) was til sometime around early to mid October or so. Trying to keep my timeline and details as accurate as i can.

Pallobi · Feb 11, 2014

Just a couple notes to add...

I now use a saltwater/peroxide mix to dip all zoa/paly incomers. Followed by a 30 second fresh water dip, adjusted to the same as the tank temp. Freshwater will kill dino's upon contact from what i understand. these are my two precations. I just did the same as far as the peroxide dip, (at a lesser concentration than polyps) with two favias i got recently, though i don't recommend this to anyone. do it at your own risk. Im sure the source i got them from does not have dino's but after all I have been through, ill risk losing a 20 dollar frag, over my reef again, anytime. the favias, seemed a little bothered, but it was a quick in and out of like 15 seconds, but again, i wouldn't suggest this to anyone. any sps I get, i rinse and shake thoroughly in some of my tank water in a separate container so it slimes up, then i swish it some more, just to be extra careful. The zoas and palys being dipped in freshwater for about 30 seconds, and hit with a baster or sorts, upsets them, but i have never lost a frag since doing this, and they are usually just fine within a few hours time.

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