new arrivals

Frag swap report:

The frag swap was success! I had to hustle to get everything loaded in the car, pick up my son and go the place where the swap was held. Twice a year Randy, owner of A Reef Creation , hosts the event in a vacant room above the store.

So I got there pretty early to have table and good spot, and already a half a dozen people had already set-up their display system.

I sold nearly all the stuff I had brought which allowed me to byuy some new corals, some supplies and still have money in my pocket for future supplies.

That said, I ended up with some decent coral frag at a very low price(compared to store prices).

• Superman Montipora
• Supernatural Montipora
• ORA purple pillows staghorn
• Blue and Teal acro
• Blue-ish with red skirt zoo's

When I got home, many hours later, I started acclimating the corals to the tank water using a 2.5 G tank. After it is adjusted to the tank water, I give the corals a dip using TMPCC for about 10 to 15 minutes.


After that the corals get transferred to the big tank. This dip kills a lot of nasties if they were to exist. You can't be too careful when you make an investment like this system, you may not only lose the new stuff but potentially wiping out the complete system.

Happy Reefing and till next time,
Waffleman

SPS frags

Fragging of SPS's

I just documented the fragging sequence I use:

Step 1:

Get all the tools you might need. Hammer, chisel, glue, drying rack, cutters towel etc..

Step 2:

get the corals you want to cut out of the tank.

Step 3:

cut and glue the corals. I use super glue gel, the corals quickly grow over the hardened glue.

Step 4:

Return the frags to the tank after the glue has set.

These corals are quite resilient. The montiporas seem to be the easiest ones to frag. They are for me at least...

Happy fragging!

Busy times

Sorry it's been taking a little while to post on the blog.

In preparation of the frag swap I've started to frag some of the corals already.

I just picked up crazy glue gel from the dollar store, this stuff works the best. They must think I'm crazy since I probably go through at least a dozen tubes a year.

The cut costs even more, I've bought a mat with 1x1" ceramic tiles to use as a base for my frags. This way I have a about 100 tiles for $4.

Our WNY group has a swap page set up where people can list their items:

www.fragswapper.com

Waffleman

frag swap coming!

Our local friends of URS are setting up a Frag swap for March 28th, 2009

We usually get people from all over western NY but also Toronto and even Pennsylvania.

So this evening I started fragging so that the corals have a chance to recoup before being sold at the swap.

Stuff that I will have for sale are:

• Leptastrea
• Red Montipora Digitata
  
• Purple Polyp Montipora Digitata
• German Blue Montipora Digitata
• Orange Zooanthids
  
• Green Zooantids
  
• Pink Zooantids
  
• People eaters
  
• Green Favia
  
• Teal Favia
  
• Green Poccilipora
  
• Pink Pocillipora
  

I always look forward to this event, it's a chance to see the friends you chat with on line and an opportunity to acquire new corals without loosing your shirt.

RIP little friend

As said before, I was able to isolate my starry blenny into a 2.5Gallon QT. Apparently it was too late. When I checked up on him in the morning he had already moved on. I will miss him and his cat like manors.

Causes? I have no idea, but by the fact that he didn't seem to be able to get up, I'm going to assume that he had some kind of a swim bladder issue. If that's even possible.

Every thing else in the tank seems unaffected.

As I'm typing this I notice that I use the word "seems" a lot. I guess I do that because it is just my observation, the way I see it. I'm not sure if that is the fact or not. In this hobby there are so many variables that we do not control. So, unless you have a Lab and a controlled environment where everything is monitored and you do biopsies when something perishes, we are just guessing, even if it is an educated guess.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of him hanging out in the toadstool coral.

So, my starry blenny is sick. :-(

He can't get up anymore, he doesn't eat but it doesn't look like he /she lost weight yet. I was able to quarantine him today and I will see what happens tomorrow. All the parameters are in line noting new is added either.

I hope he gets better. It a fish with a lot of character, and he likes to hang out in my toadstool or the frag rack, sorta like a cat on the window sill.