What do you think of my BB tank?

[Weatherman]

So Im not sure but it looks like you do not follow a standard month long quaranteen period? How do you get away with this?

A little bit of skill in selecting healthy fish from the lfs (I never order fish from online vendors).

But mostly... just dumb luck.

If you wish to be very careful and follow standard quarantine practices, you'd be looking at least one month between fish addition.

 

[NoSchwag]

As bad as it might sound I have no quarantine tank, and no plans on getting one any time soon. I think my quarantine tank would just turn into another reef tank.

From what I've read it's the quality of the water in the tank and stress that brings out the problems a fish might have.. Is that true?

 

[Floridiot]

As bad as it might sound I have no quarantine tank, and no plans on getting one any time soon. I think my quarantine tank would just turn into another reef tank.

From what I've read it's the quality of the water in the tank and stress that brings out the problems a fish might have.. Is that true?

Somewhat true. Selecting healthy fish to begin with is much more important. I agree 100% with Weatherman on this. Only select fish that are already eating in captivity, with clear eyes, no raised scales, breathing normal, no fin damage, etc...

I've quarantined fish in the past about 50% of the time, normally only with 'iffy' fish. It seems that these were the only ones to get problems. Perfectly healthy looking fish would normally go right into the display tank and never became an issue.

I finally got to the point where I wouln't purchase 'iffy fish', no matter how rare, cool looking, inexpensive, etc... and I never used my quarantine tank again.

Oh yeah... luck does help too.

 

[10" Red Devil]

A little bit of skill in selecting healthy fish from the lfs (I never order fish from online vendors).

But mostly... just dumb luck.

If you wish to be very careful and follow standard quarantine practices, you'd be looking at least one month between fish addition.

I know this, I just can believe you get away without doing it.

 

[10" Red Devil]

Somewhat true. Selecting healthy fish to begin with is much more important. I agree 100% with Weatherman on this. Only select fish that are already eating in captivity, with clear eyes, no raised scales, breathing normal, no fin damage, etc...

I've quarantined fish in the past about 50% of the time, normally only with 'iffy' fish. It seems that these were the only ones to get problems. Perfectly healthy looking fish would normally go right into the display tank and never became an issue.

I finally got to the point where I wouln't purchase 'iffy fish', no matter how rare, cool looking, inexpensive, etc... and I never used my quarantine tank again.

Oh yeah... luck does help too.

Hmm, I suspect you and other have not purchased many fish. I mean there is a reason they have the 1 month quarantine. This is set up by the experts who also have said to look for a healthy fish, with clear eyes, already feeding, blah, blah, blah. I belive this is due to the fact that if a fish has a parasite they do not always manifest themselves, there is a hidden stage, underneath the skin that does not effect the fishes eating or eye clarity, etc.

Just trying to save you guys some pain.

 

[Floridiot]

Hmm, I suspect you and other have not purchased many fish. I mean there is a reason they have the 1 month quarantine. This is set up by the experts who also have said to look for a healthy fish, with clear eyes, already feeding, blah, blah, blah. I belive this is due to the fact that if a fish has a parasite they do not always manifest themselves, there is a hidden stage, underneath the skin that does not effect the fishes eating or eye clarity, etc.

Just trying to save you guys some pain.

Actually, I have purchased my share of fish. It is true that not all make it. I have had a few problems in the past, but never have I put a fish in my tank that has made another sick.

I have also quarantined fish for a month, only to have them come down with gill flukes, ich, or something else stupid after I added them to my reef. This can happen due to fish aggression from the other tankmates. This happened with a pair Cirrhilabrus jordani I bought a few years back.

I believe the main reason for quarantining fish is to prevent viral disease moreso than parasites. There are a few viruses that can wipe out an entire aquarium very quickly. This is where the luck comes in.

 

[eidillitih]

You know I've been in the hobby for a while and never have I had to QT fish. I've always been the type of person who goes to a pet store and watch a fish for a hour (no lie). I ask them to hold it for me. A week or so, I come back and look and stare at it again for a while and if it's good. Then I'll buy it. I drip acclimate for a least 2 1/2, 3 hours. I end up using 3 or 4 gallons of tank water but small water change is how I veiw it. I give them a fish water dip for five minutes and in they go. I've had good success. Outside Katrina wiping out my tank I hadden lost a fish in years. My tank water will be better than any QT tank. So way would I put a iffy fish in water that is not of quailty to send him to more stress. After the two or more weeks in the store the fish should have shown sign of external disease and if you were careful in selection then you should be fine. As for internal disease, internal disease usually don't spread to other fish. If you worried about your fish going behind the rock and dieing, then you need to increase the flow behind your rock so that the flow blows them from behind the rock.

 

[10" Red Devil]

NoSchwag,

Sorry Im not going to hijak your thread any further. If anyone wants to discuss this in private mail I would be happy to do so. I will say that people will be looking at this and I think it will be misleading to those, especially new people to the hobby to tell people its okay not to quarantine. For the record, I worked at a fish store, and I had people come in all the time that did the same thing as the other posters on here. Watch fish for hours, hold the fish etc. However those people learned the hard way eventually that their luck ran out and if you have a big tank that you are constantly stocking, you will get some kind of illness no matter how good the fish looks at the fish store. I do agree that you can quarantine and still get an illness, but it is an overall effective treatment. But to each his own I guess.

-peace

 

[eidillitih]

I say this and i'm through, I've worked at a fish store also and have advise others to QT but I don't but that me I've had good success in choosing my animal. But I don't add animal regularly, so my methods may be misleading in the fact I might add 1 or two a year (that is, before Katrina). But I don't want to mislead anyone, so QT your fish. % of survival is higher.

 

[NoSchwag]

2 out of 3 cardinals have died. I thought maybe they weren't eating so I got some krill and some other carnivorous food tonight.

The last one eats something then spits it out. I looks like he really want's to eat but just doesn't like the food.

I don't know what else to try.

 

[Weatherman]

By the wayââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ Wilma is looking a little ragged this evening, so Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m not too concerned about the storm causing severe damage, unless it really gets its act together over the next 48 hours.

Well, it certainly did get its act together, racing through the southern part of Florida with 120 mph winds.

I lost power at 6:00 am on Monday. I fired up the generator after the winds died down at 11:00 am Monday. My house suffered minimal roof damage (some roof tiles blown off), but otherwise just some fences down and trees extensively trimmed.

I'm very fortunate to live close to a fire station, so my power was restored at 6:00 am today (Wednesday), but better than 90% of the Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach metro area is still without power. Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale) suffered the most damage. It was the strongest storm to hit the county since 1950. I had a chance to look outside as the backside of the eyewall was moving through. Torrential rain along with 100+ mph winds is something to see and hear.

 

[NoSchwag]

^^^

I heard on the radio that Ft. Lauderdale was hit real hard and I thought about you (and your silly comment about it looking ragged)..

Glad to hear that everything is okay.

 

[Floridiot]

I'm very fortunate to live close to a fire station, so my power was restored at 6:00 am today (Wednesday), but better than 90% of the Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach metro area is still without power.

You're one extremely lucky fellow. Word has it that only 70% of Broward will be restored by 11/8. I'm running on a small generator right now, and I have about enough gas to go until Sunday if I run it at 8 hrs per day. Luckily I can run one Tunze 6080 off an inverter and marine battery during the times the generator is off, and I charge the battery while the generator is on. I sure hope gas is available soon. The only station in my area has a one mile long line to fill up.

On more positive notes: Like you, I had no serious damage, mostly just fence and landscaping. I also have a small yellow porites colony that came in on my marshall rock I recently got. It doesn't seem to mind that the tank's temperature fell all the way down to 73.6 last night. Its polyps are wide open right now.

Isn't this fun????

 

[Floridiot]

Well, it certainly did get its act together, racing through the southern part of Florida with 120 mph winds.

Also, has 120 mph sustained winds been confirmed in Broward? The highest I heard they were reporting during the storm was 105 mph. The damage definitely looks like 120+, but I haven't heard that confirmed yet.

 

[ReeferMonkey]

NoSchwag,

Does your LA3 Mini have a rail across the top that gives you two hardpoints to hang the fixture from? I'm looking at the pics on the website and I don't have that, so I'm left with just one screw/i-bolt despite the fact that my kit came with two... I know I'm missing out on something here.

I just got my Mini in yesterday and can't for the life of me figure out how to hang it. So much for getting that done before I go to bed... Although I did test-fire the 10KK Reeflux and I must say it's freaking SWEET.

 

[NoSchwag]

All that mine came with was 2 holes in the top with eye bolts and nuts.

I used "S" hooks and jack chain to hang mine from the celing.

 

[ReeferMonkey]

Weak dude. Mine only has one hole in the top. Right now I've ghetto-rigged an eye through the back slide that the mogul sits in. I'll have to call PGS tomorrow.

This Reeflux bulb is freaking amazing. It's better than a 20K and has the PAR of a 10k. My blues are highly pronounced and my greens are electric. It's freaking sweet!

Can you post a pic of the top of your fixtures?

 

[Weatherman]

Also, has 120 mph sustained winds been confirmed in Broward? The highest I heard they were reporting during the storm was 105 mph. The damage definitely looks like 120+, but I haven't heard that confirmed yet.

Best estimate is that maximum sustained winds were in the 105-115 mph range in a band that extended from Weston, through Pompano Beach. Gusts probably exceeded 120 mph. Unfortunately, there are no official wind reporting stations in that area (the wind gage at the Pompano Beach Airport failed during the storm), so we'll never know for sure. Damage and central pressure readings support a Category 3 storm passage over northern Broward County even though official wind readings may never support more than a Category 1.

By the way, official wind readings only supported Katrina being a Category 1 storm when it passed to the east of New Orleans.

 

[elephen]

I'm digging your tank. I'm getting ready to get a new 120 and I'm gonna drill it for a closed loop with a Dart with eductors along with a 600-800gph return from the sump. It'll be a BB starboard reef too, I love the cleanliness of it, just looks like.

Looks good, can't wait to get mine. Did you paint the back of yours black?

 

[NoSchwag]

The back was already painted.