Yea but they would have to still clean the water and make sure the fish is properly inflated. Maybe just a 3D shadow box aquarium.
Dary's tank!
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Yea but they would have to still clean the water and make sure the fish is properly inflated. Maybe just a 3D shadow box aquarium.
Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
Inflate my fish. That made me laugh,,.
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mr_X
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And this is why I can't turn my back on this tank with a clear conscience. Just a FYI, I don't make money here. It's enough to pay for my gas and tolls, and saltwater, but in the end I make probably 3 bucks an hour.....give or take. I don't even know for sure, it's been so long since I figured it out, but it's nothing, trust me. It's all about the fishies......
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Dary421
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Doug , do you use the gym tank as an experimental tank for your home reef as in trying out new ideas,equipment! swapping out fish ,corals ,frags etc or is it just a 100% isolated endeavor?
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mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
Not really Dary, but I'll take whatever I want. If I need a nice piece of Valida or something, I'll grab it, but I don't do anything ridiculous. I just do what I feel is best. I replace some things here and there with others, but things I think will work. For example, recently I removed some majano covered rocks and put in a rock with a 10x10" browned out stunner chalice on it, which immediately colored up and started consuming real estate. I figure, it might block out the light for some of those majanos....
How I got the stunner was by trading a nice frag of the valida to another guy. They don't mind, and they don't even notice. They really got excited about their dragonet addition today though-
https://www.facebook.com/AnuFitness...335008394842/1025753820786285/?type=1&theater
Honestly, if I still lived around the corner, I wouldn't mind at all, because they are good folks and it's a nice gym.
How I got the stunner was by trading a nice frag of the valida to another guy. They don't mind, and they don't even notice. They really got excited about their dragonet addition today though-
https://www.facebook.com/AnuFitness...335008394842/1025753820786285/?type=1&theater
Honestly, if I still lived around the corner, I wouldn't mind at all, because they are good folks and it's a nice gym.
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Dary421
Aquarium Advice Addict
It's a beautiful creature for sure but aren't they a rather difficult fish to Maintain? .. Especially if you're not there every day to keep an eye on things , Also if memory serves me right didn't you buy a filefish awhile back to eat some of the majano that was in your tank? If so how did that work out ?
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Dary421
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Ok ,..I gotta step up on the soap box for a minute ,... Granted the aquarium business doesn't make national headlines or even the back page of your local newspaper But it is a multi, multi ,million dollar business with millions of followers,.. Something I was thinking about this morning while doing my pwc was salt mixes and how they vary from one brand to another and one bucket to another as far as calcium,alk,mag etc goes ,..Some are exceedingly high in calcium yet dreadfully low in alk etc etc,..while others are just the opposite .Why isn't there a regulation somewhat like gasoline which says that regular gas must have an octane of 87 and premium must have a minimum octane of 91 ? So say regular salt must have a minimum percentage of the basic ingredients and " reef" grade salt mixes must also have a rating which is actually in reality more in lines of what's actually needed such as alk should be say 8 and calcium around 400 or so as a starting point before it can be labeled " reef" grade salt.
We're paying top dollar for a premium grade of salt , $50-60 -70 -80 dollars a bucket and yet the out of bucket parameters on a lot of mixes aren't even up to reef minimums ,... Maybe it is already regulated but if it is whoever is in charge needs to find a new line of work,... I realize that salt is basically scooped out of a underground cavern and it seems that what they scoop I'd what you get no matter what's in it ,.... My thoughts ,right or wrong , would be to have them say scoop out a 25 ton batch mix it and have it tested and add calcium or whatever is needed to bring it up to the basic real life standards ,... Yes I know there's a little label on it bucket that says what it's "supposed " to be , but in reality it seems that it never lives up to its label .
I guess in the long run nothing will change and we'll keep BRS in business with all the additives needed to keep our reefs up and thriving . Just my two cents :-/
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We're paying top dollar for a premium grade of salt , $50-60 -70 -80 dollars a bucket and yet the out of bucket parameters on a lot of mixes aren't even up to reef minimums ,... Maybe it is already regulated but if it is whoever is in charge needs to find a new line of work,... I realize that salt is basically scooped out of a underground cavern and it seems that what they scoop I'd what you get no matter what's in it ,.... My thoughts ,right or wrong , would be to have them say scoop out a 25 ton batch mix it and have it tested and add calcium or whatever is needed to bring it up to the basic real life standards ,... Yes I know there's a little label on it bucket that says what it's "supposed " to be , but in reality it seems that it never lives up to its label .
I guess in the long run nothing will change and we'll keep BRS in business with all the additives needed to keep our reefs up and thriving . Just my two cents :-/
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Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
We live in a complicated world where some regulations are way too little for the potential for disaster they represent. And with budget cuts, there isn't enough people to enforce the regulations we have. Our new free for all society would not be interested in protecting our investments by regulating salt mixes. We are on our own.
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SeanMonster
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Dary, totally agree with your frustration, however, the way things seem to work today I would be afraid that the regulation would be written by those we want regulated. And that seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Maybe it's a little short sighted on my part but it seems that nothing travels faster than bad news/reviews/etc. if everyone started using these forums and other media to boycott the worst offenders, maybe all of them would stand up and take notice. A hit to that bottom line usually works first time every time.
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Gregcoyote
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For years I used one salt and still do. I add some pre measured soda ash (sodium carbonate) and/or calcium to tune it to my needs. I know how much it takes for each 200 gallon batch so I only need to test it once every few months to see if that run of salt is still where I expect it to be.
Works for me.
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Works for me.
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Dary421
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,.But you shouldn't have to do that ,... It should already have been taken care of BEFORE you get it home , ... You go to the gas station and buy some "unregulated " 91 octane premium gas for your expensive muscle car and you pay the higher price only to find that they've only given you 81 octane gas ( despite what the pump says ) which doesn't run anything ,..so you have to go to the auto store and buy some octane booster out of your own pocket just to get it up to specs ,...just doesn't make any sense .
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mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
This is the perfect tank for a Mandarin. It's so loaded with pods I feel bad every time I clean the glass. There's nothing in the tank that eats them either. They aren't difficult to care for as long as you can feed them.
I bought a file for aptasia, and I never saw it eat a single one. It did chew on some LPS from time to time, but that's about it.
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Dary421
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lol,... I was thinking about getting a file fish based on their reputation for eating aptasias but maybe they will only eat em if there's nothing else to eat ,..kind of like a kid with Brussels sprouts .
Glad the Mandarin is well taken care of ,... Figured you wouldn't do it any harm.
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Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
Since I am angry much of the time (guess it's my nature) I try to save my wrath for stuff I am truly appalled by. But that list has no business on a aquarium forum. 
My understanding was the major salt packagers did test each batch and adjust for alk/cal. It might not be what you want it to be, but it's suppose to be consistent. If you see a major variance in the same batch or between batches, the packager isn't doing their job. Also complain to the company, it works sometimes.
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My understanding was the major salt packagers did test each batch and adjust for alk/cal. It might not be what you want it to be, but it's suppose to be consistent. If you see a major variance in the same batch or between batches, the packager isn't doing their job. Also complain to the company, it works sometimes.
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Dary421
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Hey Sean,.. Well put ,.. Dary is now stepping off the soap ( salt ) box , unless someone fires me back up again,... Otherwise All's good here,..bro al from Florida will be here on the 8 th for a three week visit, the local liquor stores will prob take a massive beer hit ,... Planning on taking him on our shop's private yellowtail fishing charter on the 20 th too.
My tank is doing very well right now ,.. Even my little coral crab is doing well,..he's got a little hideout in the coral and rarely moves more than an inch from that crevice , home sweet home .
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Gregcoyote
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Wonderful! Have fun!
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SeanMonster
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Sounds like a blast Dary. Tip a few for me.
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Dary421
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Greg,.. So how exactly did you figure out just how much additives to add to your dry salt mix before mixing with water?
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Gregcoyote
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I mixed it as per directions and then test it, my batch is 25 gallons each exchange. Use the BRS calculator and add half as much alk/cal/mg as recommended to hit your desired levels. Test to see how close you got, then add half that amount again. Retest and you should be real close to your personal tastes. Tweek as necessary and take note how much of each dry additive was used. That dose should be accurate thru the remaining 200 gallons. Requires some testing but you end up with exactly what you want. That's what happens with Instant Ocean vs Reef Crystals, same exact salt, but RC gets punched up with additional calcium and is ground differently.
I could also recommend buying salt in bulk all from the same run. Then your tests will be good thru that run. Salt while sealed never goes bad.
They are suppose to do this at the factory, evidently there is some evidence this isn't happening reliably with some brands.
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I could also recommend buying salt in bulk all from the same run. Then your tests will be good thru that run. Salt while sealed never goes bad.
They are suppose to do this at the factory, evidently there is some evidence this isn't happening reliably with some brands.
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Dary421
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Thank you greg ,.. This kind of gives me a couple of ideas on how to do mine ,.. I usually use the pre made liquids so I think I'll just start making up my weekly batch of new saltwater but before adding it to the tank I'll add the necessary amount of ca/ alk / mag to bring the parameters up to my tanks values . I know what you're going to say,..buy the dry bulk stuff from Brs ,.. (I have a cabinet full of it ) but I like the premade stuff better , yes, greg I know it's more expensive but that's just the way Dary rolls ( :-/) ,... I hate when you're trying to keep all your parameters stable and you then add your new " reef grade " salt mix with super low alk etc and it throws everything off .
Thanks for the tip.
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