Clean up crew suggestions

[crister13]

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!! HES HUGE!!! Hes a beauty too. If mine gets at all too large back to the store he'll go or to an aquarium. I hope he doesnt get too large......... lolz. Nice pic!

[Gregcoyote]

Yes...he was a keeper. Hard to pass him up for the dinner pot.

[bioteacher]

Update: I should be getting my crew tomorrow. The people at Aquatic Connection have actually been fairly responsive and helpful. So far, I would say, don't necessarily trust everything you read on the Internet. One or two really angry people may make it look much worse than it is.

So, minor hiccup that was sort of annoying. After talking with them on Monday and confirming that they had my items "in stock" they told me today that they did not have any tiger conchs or nerite snails. Not wanting to delay the shipment cause I am off work this week only, I had to make a rushed decision about what to replace the $45 worth of merchandise that they did not have. I spoke with someone at the shop about something that would replace the conch's sand sifting ability. He ended up recommending a royal starfish. I looked at their description on their website and asked the guy a few questions. Seems like it will do the job and I will have to inject mysis shrimp or something meaty into the sandbed regularly to keep him fed. They had him listed at $50 so I appreciate that they were willing to overcompensate me for the change. However, saltwaterfish.com has them on sale for $26.

Ok, so any suggestions about receiving and getting these guys into the tank. This is my first time getting live goods from the Internet. I read up on and plan to use drip acclimation, probably over about a 3 hour period. Open the box under low lighting, and keep tank lights off for a day after introduction. No air exposure for starfish, urchins. Anyone have any tips? I plan on using two 5 gal buckets and have 2 drip lines going.

[bioteacher]

Woohoo, just got a FedEx tracking email! Totally excited! Is this a normal feeling, or am I just a super nerd

[Gregcoyote]

Sounds like you have it under control. The starfish are not easy to keep, but very cool.

[MacDracor]

Just make sure that whatever you are acclimating them in is of about the same temperature, as a bucket or bowl by itself will get cold too quickly.

[bioteacher]

Originally Posted by MacDracor

Just make sure that whatever you are acclimating them in is of about the same temperature, as a bucket or bowl by itself will get cold too quickly.

If I am dripping from the display tank, shouldn't that keep the temperature about the same as the tank where they are headed?

[MacDracor]

A bucket or bowl sitting near the tank for 3 hours will cool off very quickly, even if warm water is being dripped into it. I've had a bucket for drip acclimation drop 10 degrees in an hour before. I got a small betta bowl heater to put in for future drip acclimation. Super tiny and flat. I think it's only 5 watts. Doesn't need to "heat" the water, just slow down the cooling so the dripping of warm water keeps the temp fairly constant.

[Gregcoyote]

You want to match the water temperatures as best you can. I use a styrofoam box I had fish shipped in. It retains the heat.

[bioteacher]

Received my order right at 10:30 this am. Almost everything is doing well. The 6 peps arrived DOA, and I am currently in communication with aquacon about them. At 2.99 each, it is not that big a loss regardless how it turns out.

I am dripping at about 2 drips/second to take the water from 1.020 up to 1.026. I am currently up to 1.021 after about 90 minutes of drip. Maybe too slow? Also nested each bucket into a tote full of freshwater with a heater in it. That will slowly bring up the temp

pH in the buckets are 7.99 and 7.72. My tank is at 8.49 which is a pretty big jump. Quite a way to go on that parameter.

The starfish is huge and gorgeous. I am excited to have him both for his function and his form.

[MacDracor]

There was a good article in TFH recently about drip acclimating. I had always used about 2 drips per second, too, but this article indicated that was way too slow.
Author Jay Hemdal states that it should be called flow, rather than drip acclimation.
Quoting from the article: "If one were to set up a drip line at one drop of water per second (as many home aquarists have assumed would be an appropriate rate), it would take 50 hours to equilibriate the difference in water parameters between 1/4 gallon of shipping water and the receiving tank to within 90 percent of each other".
He then goes on to state that a flowrate of a milliliter per second would reach 90% equilibrium in 2.5 hours.

[bioteacher]

Ok, so I have been dripping for like 4 hours and parameters on the receiving end are still no where near the DT. I guess the drip is set too slow.

Also, settled the DOA issue with aquacon with little hassle. They will send me 6 new peps with my next order. I asked if I could apply the credit to a different product, and they said that their policy is just straight up replacement. While it is not ideal for me, I can understand the policy.

The irony of this all is that this whole order started when I was thinking about controlling Aiptasia with peps, and that is the one thing that arrives dead! Oh well, I went the the lfs and shelled out $7 a piece for 6 replacements....

Not having dealt with other companies, I would recommend aquacon to anyone. Their customer service was fine, and got a lot of critters for the money.

[bioteacher]

Originally Posted by MacDracor

There was a good article in TFH recently about drip acclimating. I had always used about 2 drips per second, too, but this article indicated that was way too slow.
Author Jay Hemdal states that it should be called flow, rather than drip acclimation.
Quoting from the article: "If one were to set up a drip line at one drop of water per second (as many home aquarists have assumed would be an appropriate rate), it would take 50 hours to equilibriate the difference in water parameters between 1/4 gallon of shipping water and the receiving tank to within 90 percent of each other".
He then goes on to state that a flowrate of a milliliter per second would reach 90% equilibrium in 2.5 hours.

Thanks for that info. I think I saw my cleaner shrimp tapping their fingers out of boredom. I'm gonna go turn up the flow a little. What is TFH? A magazine? Website?

[MacDracor]

Shame about the peps. I've aldo heard good things about berghia nudibranches.
If you use a liquid test kit with a 5 ml test tube, check your flow rate by counting how long it takes to fill a test tube to the 5 ml line. If it takes more than 5 seconds, probably too slow.

[MacDracor]

TFH is Tropical Fish Hobbyist. Sorry, I should have been more specific.

[bioteacher]

Originally Posted by MacDracor

Shame about the peps. I've aldo heard good things about berghia nudibranches.
If you use a liquid test kit with a 5 ml test tube, check your flow rate by counting how long it takes to fill a test tube to the 5 ml line. If it takes more than 5 seconds, probably too slow.

Lol, that is exactly what I did....only thing I could think of that would measure ml easily. I read ur post right as I was doing it. Thanks again for the tip. Regarding the nudis, I have read about them as well. We'll see how the peps do before buying a $25 one inch slug.lol

[bioteacher]

Originally Posted by MacDracor

TFH is Tropical Fish Hobbyist. Sorry, I should have been more specific.

Had a feeling it was a magazine. If I was more experienced I probably woulda known that acronym.....lol, still getting used to lfs, DT, QT, LS, LR

[MacDracor]

There is an acronym guide under FAQ's for this forum. Also, was just doing some looking and found that saltyunderground has berghia for 9.49 each plus shipping. Cheapest place I could find them. Still more than a peppermint, but they are obligate aiptasia eaters. And once they've cleared the tank, you could resell them to friends.

[bioteacher]

So, does anyone know how to tell if my royal starfish is dead? It is still in the same place where I put it last night. I was hoping it would be out of sight cause they are supposed to borrow in the substrate I thought. It still has its color, and does not smell bad. I already read about some things via google search. The star is not supple. It is pretty stiff. But, it was kinda like that when it arrived yesterday.

I dunno...maybe it will move when the lights come on. Can anyone provide their insight or experience?

[carey]

I thought my starfosh had died one time and I just went in and tried to move it. Kinda like poking it with a stick gently to see if it moves at all.