Dary's tank!

[Gregcoyote]

In reality, I wonder how many takers they have? I need to check at our university, I bet they have a full water testing laboratory. Need to investigate if they will run some samples for me. I would love to have a printout of all the elements listed on their testing offer.

 

[Keithhjs]

I wanted to order one of those testing machines that hit the market end of last year. Very cutting edge. Performs like 24 tests or something (fresh & marine) and gives a readout of what your levels are along with advice on how to fix it. Helps sell products apparently (not the reason I wanted to get it just cuz it cuts your labor paying someone to test water & is probably more accurate). Costly machine to rent + they get $1 of each test. The machine is connected online & even orders the replacement regents automatically. Can't remember the name but it was pretty cool. Looks like a freestanding bank ATM.

Dary, corals look great! Glad to hear you've rescheduled your trip. Big island right?

 

[AquaRick]

I wanted to order one of those testing machines that hit the market end of last year. Very cutting edge. Performs like 24 tests or something (fresh & marine) and gives a readout of what your levels are along with advice on how to fix it. Helps sell products apparently (not the reason I wanted to get it just cuz it cuts your labor paying someone to test water & is probably more accurate). Costly machine to rent + they get $1 of each test. The machine is connected online & even orders the replacement regents automatically. Can't remember the name but it was pretty cool. Looks like a freestanding bank ATM.

Dary, corals look great! Glad to hear you've rescheduled your trip. Big island right?

I think you're referring to the Thrive water lab. Looks very interesting. Would love to see one first hand.

Sent from my SM-T217S using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Keithhjs]

I think you're referring to the Thrive water lab. Looks very interesting. Would love to see one first hand. Sent from my SM-T217S using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Yeah that's it. I contacted then last year about putting one in my store. It was a $ deposit + $ a month lease + $1 from every test. You pick the cost per test though. Expensive to say the least but like I said before if you pay a guy x $ an hr to test water & he does 5 tests a day times the time it takes then its possible it does make the store money by 1, freeing up the employee from test time, 2, attracts customer on the new cool factor, & 3, it provides a printout with recommendations that promotes the sale of products to correct water issues. Makes me wonder tho if it pushes products that aren't really needed. Still it's impressive looking & I bet it does get foot traffic wanting to see & use it.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I think almost anything you can do to drive traffic to your store is a good thing. If your population density is good enough, I would have this state of the art test as a draw. Where else would you go to get your water "really" tested? What you don't know will kill your coral. I see the ad now.

I would also make RO/DI a break even or even less to draw folks in. Dry goods is hard to make a living with, you will want to be selling systems, fish and corals, at least that's how I did it. With your knowledge and a differentiator like these, you'll stand out. And that's usually a good thing. You've gotta get them into the store to sell them anything, otherwise the basement and the Internet is the other option.

Thanks Dary, we end up robbing your thread. Your the most popular water cooler on this floor.

 

[mr_X]

Here's a company in my area that says they do most of the testing for free?
Certified Water Services - Fairless Hills, PA 19030 - Water Treatment, Water Softeners
Not hobby-based, but I imagine you could get a pretty good idea if something was amok.

 

[Dary421]

I think that the " thrive" water testing machine would be a super neat thing to have in a lfs,.. Even if it cost a couple of few bucks to have your water tested i think it would still be a bargain if they gave you a print out showing what you need to do to correct it,..I think a lot of people may be a little intimidated sometimes to bring in a sample of their own water to a lfs " expert" to have them test it, ..but using the machine is a non invasive situation which I think would actually make your customers feel a little more secure, and would probably sell more additives too.
On my adventures with hammers and bubble corals,.my hammers usually grow very well then suddenly they're just kinda fade away,..about two and a half years ago I bought a single headed frag which has now grown into about twenty five heads,..now it looks to be swiveling up somewhat and there's a head or two that s all but gone, ,that's my usual case scenario when it comes to growing them,.Makes one very Leary about buying anymore,...torches on the other hand grow like hell.
Doug has always changed out his salt mixes on a regular basis with the idea that if one mix is lacking some kind of mineral etc than hopefully the next mix will have that mineral and more., he is basically getting the best of all of them and creating a balance,... Using that same idea, a while back I started adding a small amount of kent essential elements weekly,,I ran out of that and haven't been using any for the last month or so ,...maybe there's something in there that those hammers needed that they were not getting enough of using just the regular water changes with the reef crystals ? Who knows but i did order another Bottle of the stuff yesterday :-/
Apparently , I'm not alone in this situation . Doug said he suddenly lost some corals and Greg has had a few issues too,...makes us really wonder what's going on inside them to make them do that,..Greg seems to be the scientist here and will keep fighting until he figures it out for all of us.
Yes,Keith I will be going to the big island ( leaving mar 25 ) can't wait to try out the new gopro at two step ! For those of you that have never had the opportunity to snorkel there it's a large black lava shelf that meets the water with many pinnacles reaching for the surface surrounded by very deep crystal clear water filled with a zillion large schools of tangs,triggers,angels ,moorish idols,parrot fish etc. ,... It can be a rather intimidating place to cruise around due to its depth ( 10-100+ feet ) but the fish life surrounding the pinnacles is mind boggling to say the least.

 

[Gregcoyote]

9" of snow...I guess if I want to go diving it will be in the fish tank. My friends are going to Aruba. Dary is going to Hawaii. As I look at the snow piled up outside, I will try not to hate you all.

Your snorkel spot looks great.

 

[mr_X]

I had to plow last night, and again tonight. The guy I plow for said "be ready for about midnight". Nothing worse than that for me....I can't sleep early. I guess I'll be doing some sleeping in the truck

I emailed a company ( St. Louis Testing Laboratories ) about testing the water for the major elements, and they sent me back this-

[FONT=&quot]Hello Doug[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]SLTL can test for most of the major ions listed for a cost of $300, [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This would include an anion scan (chloride, fluoride, bromide, sulfate) and a cation scan (potassium, sodium, calcium, aluminum, iron, copper, lead,-- about 30 elements total ). [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thank You[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Rob Sinn[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]St. Louis Testing Laboratories[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2810 Clark Ave.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Saint Louis, MO 63103[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](314)531-8080[/FONT]

Ouch!

 

[Keithhjs]

I had to plow last night, and again tonight. The guy I plow for said "be ready for about midnight". Nothing worse than that for me....I can't sleep early. I guess I'll be doing some sleeping in the truck I emailed a company ( St. Louis Testing Laboratories ) about testing the water for the major elements, and they sent me back this- Hello Doug SLTL can test for most of the major ions listed for a cost of $300, This would include an anion scan (chloride, fluoride, bromide, sulfate) and a cation scan (potassium, sodium, calcium, aluminum, iron, copper, lead,-- about 30 elements total ). Thank You Rob Sinn St. Louis Testing Laboratories 2810 Clark Ave. Saint Louis, MO 63103 (314)531-8080 Ouch!

Yeah I'll just skip it and do a few water changes lol

 

[Dary421]

I had to plow last night, and again tonight. The guy I plow for said "be ready for about midnight". Nothing worse than that for me....I can't sleep early. I guess I'll be doing some sleeping in the truck

I emailed a company ( St. Louis Testing Laboratories ) about testing the water for the major elements, and they sent me back this-

Hello Doug

SLTL can test for most of the major ions listed for a cost of $300,

This would include an anion scan (chloride, fluoride, bromide, sulfate) and a cation scan (potassium, sodium, calcium, aluminum, iron, copper, lead,-- about 30 elements total ).

Thank You

Rob Sinn
St. Louis Testing Laboratories
2810 Clark Ave.
Saint Louis, MO 63103
(314)531-8080

Ouch!

...is that blue eyed blonde In the white smock included ? Wow,..that would buy a lot of beer

 

[mr_X]

Agreed. I'd have to be entertained by her for 4 hours or so before I forked over 3 bills...lol.
this is a different company though....another link on the first page when i googled "water testing".

 

[Sniperhank]

Water testing is expensive. I remember getting our spring water testing to find out how bad the fecal count was since the corn field above it was leaching into our water...still is in my mind and I won't drink it. Though I think that this is all about knowing someone. Just wishing I still had friends in the chem lab back at college...they did this kinda stuff all the time.

 

[Gregcoyote]

That's what I'm looking into. Our conservation department is one of the best in the nation. I know a guy and he can point me where the water testing lab is.

$300 is pretty high, even if it includes dinner with the blond. I will not comment more to stay politically correct. I guess it's expensive to run a sample thru a gas chromatograph. Although even that might not track all the ions you want tested.

 

[Sniperhank]

As my continued 4th day off work due to the weather goes on, I stumbled upon this and thought about you Dary. Don't know if this is something you'd do, but def made me want to check in on things and the tank. How are things going?
Put a bottle in your tank

 

[Dary421]

As my continued 4th day off work due to the weather goes on, I stumbled upon this and thought about you Dary. Don't know if this is something you'd do, but def made me want to check in on things and the tank. How are things going?
Put a bottle in your tank

Although I'm not a big fan of pirate ships,anchors,mermaids etc in tanks This bottle thing was interesting to say the least,...I know that livestock and prob corals too would love the use of a bottle as a home,... I remember catching and seeing people snag a bottle or tin can while fishing and 9 times outa 10 they'd be an octopus or mantis shrimp et.c that had taken up residence there.
I deffinatly could come up with an old ( or new wine bottle) to try it out in the sump first.,... Other than that nothing really going on tank wise , a few corals doing amazingly well while others seem to just hang on,.. Just life as normal here.
The only thing that I even really think about is having my brother watch my tank for 10-11 days while we go to Hawaii next month,..but over the years it's become rather bullet proof as long as he checks the ATO water it should be fine,.,BUT , it's still just something that you worry about while you're away :-/

 

[Sniperhank]

We all worry brother. It'll be fine, I'm sure with all the tips you old timers have taken to this reef or that reef that your brother has watched the tank before.

 

[Dary421]

We all worry brother. It'll be fine, I'm sure with all the tips you old timers have taken to this reef or that reef that your brother has watched the tank before.

I think I'd sleep better at nite having a setup like Greg has that has a camera on the tank that you can access from your phone or computer whenever you wanted to check on things,.... But in my case maybe just ordering another cold one would help

 

[Gregcoyote]

Dary, these cameras are a snap to set up. Hit your Best Buy and for less than $100 you'll be good to go. You need an internet connection at home to make it work, but it's pretty simple. Call me or my son and we can walk you thru it.

 

[Dary421]

A hundred dollars will buy a lot of cold ones ( even in Hawaii ).... One day ill prob set things up like you have., but for the time being ill just have to make do with what i got.... Cold ones !!!