Skimmer cleaning

[Stlrockguy]

I'd like to check out your system Greg. Any decent fish stores up by you or do you travel to St. Louis area

 

[Stlrockguy]

Lmao. I'd be afraid of that sucker

 

[Gregcoyote]

I'd like to check out your system Greg. Any decent fish stores up by you or do you travel to St. Louis area

We have one in Columbia, Ocean Aquatics. He specializes in saltwater and is a nice knowledgable guy. Small shop, but usually has something interesting. It's where I take my excess coral.

 

[Stlrockguy]

There's not much here in Springfield. I've decided to order most of my stuff online

 

[Gregcoyote]

Just three hours north. Surprised Springfield doesn't have a good store. If you come to town give me a shout.

 

[Stlrockguy]

I will. We have one aquarium place that has salt and cichlids then we have a couple pet warehouses. Normally neither place has a large selection. I'm from the st Charles area and in a 45 minute drive there are tons of places. Wish I had salt water tank then

 

[Gregcoyote]

There are some fantastic stores in St. Louis. I kind of learned a long time ago that hanging out in a really good LFS is a bit like hanging out at the Porsche dealership. I tend to only go on focused missions or I end up bringing more livestock home. Which I DO NOT need. But I get it anyway.

 

[MarinaClown]

I DO NOT need. But I get it anyway.

Exactly why I am getting an RO\DI system. Going to LFS every week just to get salt/fresh water ends up with a purchase of a frag. Lol

 

[Gregcoyote]

Told my LFS they should give away 5 gallons of RO/DI water to anyone who comes in with a bucket. A large majority of them leave with other stuff.

 

[Stlrockguy]

The lfs down here doesn't have a very good coral selection so when I go get water it's always the exact same coral. The few nice pieces they have are really pricy. I guess I'm used to the nicer stores that have so much variety

 

[Gregcoyote]

It's the luck of the draw. I have been to some smaller towns that have a fantastic LFS. The best LFS are always owned and staffed by saltwater junkies like us.

 

[Stlrockguy]

Oh I'd love to have my own store. But it's a hard living

 

[mr_X]

Oh I'd love to have my own store. But it's a hard living

Not to mention that you are directly responsible for helping to destroy the reefs. It is very hard knowing of everything you sell, only about 2% of it will have some semblance of a natural lifespan. maybe less than that.

 

[Stlrockguy]

If I had a store I'd figure a way to aquaculture anything I sold. So my own store would never happen

 

[Gregcoyote]

You'd end up like me, I have trouble selling any hard corals. I guess I'm a coral hoarder.

But in the past few years I have grown a lot of coral, maybe enough to pay back Mother Nature for those I killed.

Among the worst culprits for reefs crashing are global warming, human encroachment and poor fishing practices. For sure our hobby is part of the problem, but in our case we have the opportunity to wean ourselves off of this natural resource and maybe even help give back. I cringe as you do when I see a big head of hard coral that obviously was broken off a reef. I try to stick with aqua cultured frags and go without some of the exotic stuff.

 

[mr_X]

The thing is, even with aquaculture, drawing any attention/attraction to this hobby is indirectly causing damage. think of the Noob who comes to your house or sees your tank here and wants some nice size pieces for his own new reef. Ultimately, someone who sees a mature colony in an established tank is going to want the same, and will be impatient about it. Why not buy the fist sized colony at the LFS instead of waiting a year for the frag to grow?
I don't know how many people on here have killed corals, fish, and inverts to just say "oh well, it was only 35 bucks, I'll buy another one".

 

[Stlrockguy]

I hate when any of my livestock dies. I hate taking it slow also. But I know that I have to. I only have 3 fish 3 frags an anemone and my clean up crew. I am way under stocked.

 

[Stlrockguy]

Finding nemo was probably vey disastrous to the reef

 

[Gregcoyote]

A lot of people bought clown fish and hippo tangs that weren't set up to allow them to survive. It was a mess. Same thing happens when dogs like Dalmatians show up in a Disney movie. Everyone wants to be part of the movie. Especially little kids.

 

[Stlrockguy]

That's very true. I wish people would educate themselves before jumping into something like that