Picked up some new goodies today!

[Puff]

so this morning i put my hip out...couldnt walk or anything. i got it put back into place, then decided, "hey, i want to go to the reef store!".

i only wanted to get a small algae scraper and some new pellets...well...that failed.

i was going to go to another LFS to check the price on the 50 gallon breeder tank that im going to get. this place is lousy though, the staff are surly and their livestock are usually in pretty bad shape, so i dont like to give them my business unless absolutely necessary. i was quoted 116$ from the "other" store. so i go to my favourite LFS. while im picking up some live phytoplankton from the back fridge, i ask the head honcho, "hey man, do you have any 50 gallon breeder tanks?

"ummm...yeah. i think i saw one upstairs. yup we have one."

"nice...how much?"

"umm...$118."

"well sh*t...pack her up for me!!"

it's an AGA 50G breeder (36" x 18" x 18"). VERY nice tank IMO. much better quality than the one i was going to pay 116$ for at the other store.

so i went and looked in the fish and coral section. i saw some nice small pieces of moon coral...i know it's aggressive and stuff, but ive wanted some for a while. so i bought some ($30). beautiful colours. i already have a great place for it, but right now it is chilling on the bottom of my tank well away from anything else.

so as im leaving i ask one of the guys about the larger tunze skimmers (i have the nano). he says, "man, for a bigger tank like the one you just got, i wouldnt recommend them. they are fantastic for smaller tanks, but not so much for bigger ones. then he checks and says, "nice. i have one euro-reef left. i have one RS80 and one RS100." i was going to just go for the smaller one, but decided to take a step up and possibly save having to buy ANOTHER skimmer if i ever get a bigger tank. it ended up 4$ more expensive than the tunze, but the tunze is only rated up to a max of 100G (but most likely under a very light load!), while the RS100 seems to be more effective.

so there i was...buying both a new tank AND new skimmer in one go. im psyched, but at the same time i dont like spending that much money at once. (i guess saltwater has started to change my spending habits.lol)

now it's time for pics!!

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0381.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0384.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0382.jpg

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0394.jpg

New Moon Coral. as you can see there is 2.5-4" of space around it.lol
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0390.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0391.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0392.jpg

Pics of a couple of things i didnt take pics of last time. new green palys and bluey/grey palys
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0378.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0379.jpg

no picture update is complete with out at least one fish pic. in this case, my clownfish yawning.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/davewjwright/Reef%204/20080310_0380.jpg

i noticed one other thing today. my clown has started hosting the frogspawn! she/he/it continually swims around the base of it, hides under it, and shimmies through the top. pretty cool IMO. it took it long enough to do!lol

[Myka]

Nice new tank and skimmer!!! Good choices! You'll love that skimmer. I'm pretty sure I saw that nice Favites coral on my trip to Vancouver (I stopped at 7 stores lol), so I think I know where you went shopping! I have a Favia that is the same colors. Favia and Favites are fairly aggressive. Keep an eye on the sweepers...mine regularly puts out 4" sweepers. It put them out more often when it was new to the tank, but it settled down a bit after awhile. :)

[Puff]

thanks for the info myka!

i gave it about 2.5-3 or 4" all around it because i heard that they put out tentacles at night. i was told roughly 2", but i gave it a bit more. when i get home later i might check on it and move it if appropriate

im deciding where to place it. i have a spot right up at the very top of my tank, but im not sure if that would be TOO much light.

in the full tank shot it is the are to the right of the GSP, up on that top rock. other than that i would have to do some major moving!lol

but ill hopefully be setting up my 50 gallon soon, so once that is cycled i can get some of my shrooms out of my good display tank!

i moved two HUGE green striped shrooms to the fuge today to make room for the moon coral.

[SeaSerpant]

have to say that tank looks awesome. Gonna set it up and give us some pics?

[Puff]

it will be set up in due time. i have some pieces, but still need to buy a couple more. then i will be set!

next in line is the lights. 6x39W Tek5.

[Myka]

thanks for the info myka!

im deciding where to place it. i have a spot right up at the very top of my tank, but im not sure if that would be TOO much light.


No problem! :)

What kind of lighting do you have? If you decide to try it out up top then you'll have to shade it for a few days, and slowly make it brighter each day. Use egg crate to lay a dozen or so pieces of fly screen on top of eachother, then remove one screen a day. Works like a charm. After a week, you'll know if it's too much light or not!

[Marlin65]

Wow that moon is nice I like it good score.

[Puff]

No problem! :)

What kind of lighting do you have? If you decide to try it out up top then you'll have to shade it for a few days, and slowly make it brighter each day. Use egg crate to lay a dozen or so pieces of fly screen on top of eachother, then remove one screen a day. Works like a charm. After a week, you'll know if it's too much light or not!

well it is on the substrate right now. im leaving it there for at least a week. then i will see how it goes. it is under a 150W metal halide, so it is a lot of light for a favia. one thing i did read was that the more colourful ones can usually tolerate higher light. that said, i dont want to rush it!!

thanks for the tips! i might set up a piece of eggcrate at a slightly higher level and move it up there over time. then to the top if possible.

i gave it a good feeding today, some mysis, and i squirted a small amount of live phyto at it (not sure if it would even eat phyto, but i was feeding a lot of things with it, so figured i might as well try!).

Wow that moon is nice I like it good score.

34$ im pretty happy with it :) i saw some guy selling 4-5 heads for 15$ on another site! i would say i have between 30 and 40+ heads on this piece!

[Myka]

Good price! I paid $60 for my Favite, but mine is a bit bigger I think.

[Whatigot]

HAHAHA....
Great posting, I have to say though that given your description of the lfs' here in and around vancouver it is near impossible to know which one you are talking about.
Surly employees seems to be a staple at most lfs' around here, though some much more than others.
I can't count the number of times I've woken up much like you and with 2 good hips decided to head out to any one of the lfs' only to get there and have the employees level of customer service be so low that I just can't muster up the conviction to force one of them to sell me something and so I leave empty handed with a full wallet.

There seem to be key individuals at each lfs who go above and beyond (or at least meet the bare minimum level of customer service I expect from any sales staff) and if you catch them its great, if not or if they are very busy helping everyone else who knows they are their only hope of getting any help you just wasted gas and time....

I will say the ONLY LFS i have gone to multiple times and been helped out every time to my satisfaction is OA in Delta...

Oh boy, sorry for the early morning rant, I think maybe I'm just jealous of your great skimmer....:wink:

[justinl]

sweet scores. definitely put me down for a frag of that moon coral when you're ready! :biggrin:

[Puff]

HAHAHA....
Great posting, I have to say though that given your description of the lfs' here in and around vancouver it is near impossible to know which one you are talking about.
Surly employees seems to be a staple at most lfs' around here, though some much more than others.
I can't count the number of times I've woken up much like you and with 2 good hips decided to head out to any one of the lfs' only to get there and have the employees level of customer service be so low that I just can't muster up the conviction to force one of them to sell me something and so I leave empty handed with a full wallet.

There seem to be key individuals at each lfs who go above and beyond (or at least meet the bare minimum level of customer service I expect from any sales staff) and if you catch them its great, if not or if they are very busy helping everyone else who knows they are their only hope of getting any help you just wasted gas and time....

I will say the ONLY LFS i have gone to multiple times and been helped out every time to my satisfaction is OA in Delta...

Oh boy, sorry for the early morning rant, I think maybe I'm just jealous of your great skimmer....:wink:

OA is amazing. definitely the best service in town. but because of my location J&L is my main LFS, and ive always found the staff to be awesome there. ive only had "poor" service once, but that was right around boxing day. i had been waiting for 20 minutes to get my coral. then some dickhead stepped in front of me in line...then worst of all, THEY TOOK THE CORAL I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR!! i got pretty ****ed off, not at the employee but the customer. they knew i was waiting, they had just showed up, yet when the guy came to get the next person in line i was like "oh that would be m..." then this other guy goes, "no, it's me.". i wasnt in a bad mood that day, or else i would have blown a gasket at the guy for being so rude. i protested, but the employee took the guy first anyways. that REALLY ****ed me off, but it was only once, and the guy's wife seemed like...ummm...not the nicest person (in absence of using another word). in the employees defence, i brought it up afterwards and he apologized profusely. i wont name the "other" store. but you're usually greeted by a troll smoking a cigarette.

[Snappy]

nice favia

[Whatigot]

hahahaha....
Man, this kind of stuff needs it's own forum.....lol.

I would love to share some of my more animated experiences at k.e and jl, h.r and most of all b.a, but since this is a public forum and sponsored by many of the aformentioned stores; I will refrain.
:mrgreen:

Cigarette smoking troll.....hillarious.....lol.

[Puff]

ive been treated like a donkey at KE a lot of times. now i just dont go there unless absolutely necessary. i would rather order stuff online from the US than go to their store. ive given them a TONNE of business, and sent friends there (noone on here) that have spent thousands of dollars there. yet they still dont know me (or didnt before i stopped going back). the only guys i got along with there were a couple of the younger "muscle" that they have to bring stuff out and help with the fish.

BA...ive had some bad experiences there. but the manager sorted that, so i wont go in to detail. but being told that you cannot pick out fish from a tank (when there arent that many fish IN the tank) is pretty stupid. "yeah sure...just grab me that one floating on the top gasping for air." :(

[Canadian]

I'm more interested in your hip being "out". Are you actually dislocating or subluxing your hip or is this some more chiro-speak?

[Puff]

I'm more interested in your hip being "out". Are you actually dislocating or subluxing your hip or is this some more chiro-speak?

i literally popped the right side of my hip out. there was a bone sticking out around the back part, and my leg was hanging off to the side. it was brutal. i couldnt move my right leg. took me 10 minutes to crawl up the stairs.lol

it's all good now though. a bit weak, but at least i can walk.

ive played rugby for years, hockey since i was a kid, soccer, and lots of other sports. ive fallen off boats at high speed...i did my hip in getting out of bed to take a leak! i swung my leg out and it went, "CL-ICK" i didnt pay attention to the sound until i put my foot on the ground and it felt like someone stabbed me with a red hot knife.

[Whatigot]

king eds is definitely hit and miss with customer service, big als is just a bunch of kids who could care less about aquaria or anything outside of a paycheck.

I would LOVE to find a lfs where they put as much time and care into taking my money off of me as I did making the money.
I think when it comes down to it we all just want to be romanced a little and ENJOY spending it, I know I really look forward to having enough $$ saved up to actually go out and buy that new skimmer or the upgraded lighting and it's really dissapointing when the store you have been so excited to blow some dough at is much less excited to have you in it spending it.

I am a salesman by trade and have been for life and my g/f and I often remark what a great LFS i would have since I love two things; aquaria and sales.
Maybe my standards are high and I should just fork over the cash and run away with the goods, but I just can't see why someone who's selling me a 200 dollar pair of jeans is putting more into it than someone selling me 500 dollars worth of livestock and hardware....

[Canadian]

Puff,

Given that the artery of the ligament of the head of the femur (aka the foveal artery) provides the blood supply to the femoral head and that disruption of this artery can occur with any dislocation I would take this issue rather seriously. If the blood supply is regularly disrupted or disrupted for prolonged periods you could quite easily develop avascular necrosis of your femoral head requiring hip replacement surgery (The same thing happened to Bo Jackson). The depth of the acetabulum generally makes true dislocation pretty difficult but if you have a shallow femoral head or acetabulum this will make your hip less stable. Ergo, I would get in to your GP and see if you can get an x-ray. And of equal importance I would get into a physiotherapist so you can stabilize your hip with some exercises for your gluteus medius and gluteus minimis.

Often snapping of the iliotibial band (IT Band) over the greater trochanter of the femur can mimic the sensation of a hip dislocation. Rehabilitation would still include glut med and min strengthening as well as addressing other weaknesses (eg glut max).

i literally popped the right side of my hip out. there was a bone sticking out around the back part, and my leg was hanging off to the side. it was brutal. i couldnt move my right leg. took me 10 minutes to crawl up the stairs.lol

it's all good now though. a bit weak, but at least i can walk.

ive played rugby for years, hockey since i was a kid, soccer, and lots of other sports. ive fallen off boats at high speed...i did my hip in getting out of bed to take a leak! i swung my leg out and it went, "CL-ICK" i didnt pay attention to the sound until i put my foot on the ground and it felt like someone stabbed me with a red hot knife.

[Puff]

Puff,

Given that the artery of the ligament of the head of the femur (aka the foveal artery) provides the blood supply to the femoral head and that disruption of this artery can occur with any dislocation I would take this issue rather seriously. If the blood supply is regularly disrupted or disrupted for prolonged periods you could quite easily develop avascular necrosis of your femoral head requiring hip replacement surgery (The same thing happened to Bo Jackson). The depth of the acetabulum generally makes true dislocation pretty difficult but if you have a shallow femoral head or acetabulum this will make your hip less stable. Ergo, I would get in to your GP and see if you can get an x-ray. And of equal importance I would get into a physiotherapist so you can stabilize your hip with some exercises for your gluteus medius and gluteus minimis.

Often snapping of the iliotibial band (IT Band) over the greater trochanter of the femur can mimic the sensation of a hip dislocation. Rehabilitation would still include glut med and min strengthening as well as addressing other weaknesses (eg glut max).

thanks Canadian. my hip has been fine since being put back in. actually feels a lot better than it did before! i will definitely get in to see my doc just to make sure though. i HATE rehab though. darnit!