Who wants a spot at the MTRC frag swap?

[Mariner]

Hey all,
As was noted on another thread, the MTRC frag swap is coming up January 20th in Nashville.
Several of us went last year and had a blast.
This year it will cost $20 per table to sell/trade frags. Tomoko can probably reserve some spots for NARC members who want to share tables, but she needs a head count of how many will want spots, and approximately how many frags you're planning to bring. KwajRocks, Beefarmer, Tomoko and myself have expressed interest already. If you're interested, reply to this thread.
I'm planning on being there with about 10 frags.
Mariner

 

[olwiggum]

Woo-hoo! I don't need a spot, but I'd love to get some more xenia from you. Once Christmas is over, I'm looking to re-establish my tank. My wife and I already have the calendar marked to be in Nashville that weekend for the swap.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I believe that they had to raise the fee to $25 per club table for now. We should hear from them pretty soon about the location. I think H@rry is also coming.

Tomoko

 

[H@rry]

I'm kinda undecided right now. We might be out of town during that time. No matter what, I've got to set up a small tank and treat it with Intercepter before I can take any frags.

 

[buzzbait00]

Hey,I talked with my vet today about Intercepter.He was very interested in the fact that I wanted to use it for a coral dip.He said it sounded like a good idea!Apperently he has never heard of this before.I couldn't rember how to mix it so he asked me if I could bring a copy of the artical by.Where can I find the info on Intercepter at?He said he would sell me a pack but I didn't want a whole pack(TO High)so he is going to get me a free sample from his rep.


Me and Claudia are hopeing to make it to MTRC and stay the night or the weekend in Nashville.I don't know if i'll have any frags or not.I could bring 10 or 15 Eagle Eye frags but thats about it

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Who needs interceptor?

Who needs interceptor?

If any of you need an interceptor ready for dipping your corals prophylactically, I can make a small packet to make 1 or 2 gallon dip solution. It's a 6 hour long dip.

8Ball kindly donated a Interceptor tablet to our club. But I definitely need headcounts on this because of the tedious work involved to produce such small packets.

A tablet weighs almost 1 gram (1 g = 0.0353 oz). I can make a number of 0.013 g packets (x5 strength for dipping), but it's such a tedious work. I have to be very careful since I can easily overshoot the target weight with a smidgen of the powdered Interceptor. It took me about 20 minutes to make just 10 or so packets for 8Ball.

Buzz -

Try here for the Interceptor dosage: http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=439155

You need your vet's help to weigh it down to 4 decimal places, though. An ordinary kitchen scale or a postal scale do not go down low enough.

H@rry -

Since your tank is very big, you probably don't need an electronic balance to weigh the dose you need. 1 tablet treats a 380 gallon tank according to the original Dustin Dorton's dosage. You need to repeat the treatment two to three times at 1 week interval. Dustin recommended three treatments initially because he did not know that red bugs did not produce eggs and free swimming larvae. He also recommends that you do a big water change after the 6 hour treatment and add extra amount of activated carbon to get rid of the medicine. Some people seem to have had success with a small water change and adding a lot of activated carbon. I know it's a real pain to do the huge water change on your big tanks, but the actual treatment part is very easy.

Tomoko

 

[H@rry]

I'm not ready to nuke the entire tanks now although I probably will do one a little later and see how much difference I can see. To tell the truth, the corals seem to be doing fine. They are growing but since I found out about the red bugs I'm thinking that the polyps are not extending like they should. I look at the ones close to the glass that the magnifier will focus on and I can see a few on some corals and none on others. I can't see them without the magnifier (my grandson refers to it as the "see big").

I've got a little 10 gallon tank and I was thinking about transferring all the frags going to the swap and adding Intercepter. How would you recommend I do that?

Now back to the main tank nuking, how would you estimate the volume of water in my tanks and how much Intercepter? How long should the treatment last? How big a water change?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

If you want to pretreat your frags for sale, I suppose you can dip them in the interceptor solution for 6 hours and then put the frags into your 10 gallon tank. The trick is to have enough water from your main tank nuked somehow (I wonder if microwaving works to sanitize the salt water without losing too much good stuff) to keep the frags in the 10 gallon tank after the treatment. Otherwise you end up using entirely fresh salt water. I've never done that to my SPS's, although Anthony Calfo seems to think a 100% water change is okay.

As for the water change for the main tank, Dustin recommends 25% minimum. If one table treats 380 gallon, you need a 1/2 tablet to treat your 190 once. The interceptor seems to be gentle to other organisms even at a double strength. Some people reported losing acro crabs and other crustaceans, but many reported that their shrimp and some pods came through the treatment unscathed.

The link I posted above details out the steps pretty accurately and also give references (links.)

Tomoko

 

[H@rry]

Tomoko, you're confusing me now (although that ain't too hard to do)

First, you say you need a scale that will weigh down to 4 decimal spaces. Then you say it seems to be gentle to other organisms even at a double strength. The "other organisms" are the only things I'm concerned about. Maybe I can just double dose the tank and forget about estimating how much water I have and how many grams of powder I use.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Sorry if it was confusing. I meant to say that you needed an electronic balance if you are weighing the small dose of 0.013g for a 1 gallon dip solution.

Weighing for a really big tank like yours is easy, but remember I'm dealing with 1/190 of a volume of your tank here. You need to cut the tablet in 1/2 for your tank, but I hate to have to cut the tablet into 190 tiny chunks with a knife... So I just grind it up fine and weigh it with my electronic balance.

If you are only worried about other corals and fish and nothing else, you're going to be okay with a double dose. On the other hand if you want to save acro crabs and other crustaceans such as mysid shrimp and what have you, I'd stay on the safe side and use Dustin's dose (a 1/2 tablet for you.)

When I found out that iodine did not kill all the red bugs on my acro frag I bought, I ended up nuking my Q tank where I had the frag. I used something like a 3x dose and the bugs were gone within 6 hours. Something interrupted my schedule and I could not do a water change right at that time. I looked at it again at around 24 hours after dosing. The frag and the Q tank inhabitants were still okay. I got interrupted by my kids' emergency and missed a water change again. After 36 hours or so from the dosing with no water change, my acro frag started losing its tissue. However, some benficial isopods, xenia and macro algae in the Q tank were fine. The frag was already weaked by strong iodine to start with and all the bugs sucking its body fluid. I was surprised that it lasted that long actually.

Am I confusing you again?

Tomoko

 

[8BALL_99]

H@rry lol.. What she is saying is that one tablet treats 380 Gallons to treat your 190 a half tablet would be fine. Just cut one with a knife.. But if you wanted to treat say your 10 gallon Q tank you would need a VERY small amount of the tablet that would be hard measure without a scale..

As far as your tank.. This stuff is suppose to be very safe.. I've read alot of threads on it.. I haven't heard of anyone having major problems with it.. Like Tomoko said it seems to be safe even at double and triple the recomended dose.. But for treating your entire tank it would probably be best to not overdose it. As long as you do a water change after 6 or so hours and run some carbon you should be fine..

Will

 

[kng]

I agree, it is safe for your tank. Just remember, it will kill all your hermits, shrimps, and most of your pods. And I still think a dose once a week, for three weeks is important to get them at.

-Kyle

 

[Mariner]

OK. I have issued RC arrest warrants for Harry, Tomoko, 8Ball and Kyle for flagrant hijacking of a thread with the intent to kill...redbugs.
Mariner

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Okay, back to the original intent of the thread.

I NEED headcounts for the table!!

And for the intercepter packets.

Sorry Mariner, could't help it

Tomoko

 

[Mariner]

Here's the poster for the SWAP. Stole it from this thread.

Tomoko, where does the head count stand? Do we have a table? Also, I'm about to send you a PM about another matter, so heads up!

Mariner

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Hi Mariner,

So far I have reserved one table for NARC. I suppose that a few of us will be sharing the table as usual. Any one else need table besides Mariner, Kwajrock, (possibly H@rry), and me?

Tomoko

 

[H@rry]

Looks like I won't be going.

 

[Philip Root]

I will want a space. who do I need to talk to?

 

[buzzbait00]

"Hi Mariner,

So far I have reserved one table for NARC. I suppose that a few of us will be sharing the table as usual. Any one else need table besides Mariner, Kwajrock, (possibly H@rry), and me?

Tomoko"

Me and Claudia are still planning on going but Im confusisI've never been to a swap before. If im not selling do I still need to pitch in on the NARC table to sit at it?Are the tables just for selling?

 

[Mariner]

Yes, the tables are just for selling and possibly trading. No need to help pay for a table if you're just attending, buying frags, or participating in the other activities.
Mariner