Question about DSB

[cvrle1]

Hello all.

I have a quick question for you. I'm sure that by now you have figured out that IPSF and IA are not shiping theit detritivore kits to Canada. I wanted to get one kit from IA but no luck with it. My tank is still kinda young (4 months) and so far I have some snails and a royal gramma for livestock. My sand is getting this weird moldy color on the top of it and I think that it may have something to do with me not having any det. kits.

Finally here is the question: Would anyone be kind enough to share just a bit of your established sandbed so that I can get as much deversity in my tank as possible. I would be more than willing to pay for it or trade (although only thing that I can suply is cyano bacteria right now images/smiles/icon_smile.gif )

Thanks for the help

[naesco]

No I was not aware. Why are they not shipping the kits?

[cvrle1]

When I called AI I told them I live in Canada and they said that they are not shiping anymore to CA because they are overbooked with USA shipments and because they can't guaranty their arrivals because things get checked at the borders and they might keep them for days before they send them out to the customers.

[titus]

Hello cvrle1,

It is unfortunate that business don't ship overseas. However, this actually is quite reasonalbe for the aquarium trade shipping livestock. Afterall, I have already gotten a few frauds by selling drygoods to the USA. Customers claim the item was broken when in fact it wasn't. Imagine shipping livestock. It is even easier for more people to claim DOA. You know.

The thing is, there's nothing really special about detrivoire kits. Buying liverock and have a good sand bed should provide enough seeding.

Titus

[Troy F]

There may be a way of having the kits shipped to Seattle and pick them up down there. There is a store down there and the owner is a past student of Dr. Shimek. Ron has told me to have the kits shipped to him and pick them up there. Also, Shadetree has a few contacts in Seattle that we might be able to use.

[canadawest]

I tend to agree with Titus about the liverock. I started my tank over 7 months ago, and haven't added any live sand or detrivore kits. My sandbed is very "alive" with worms and pods and whatever else just from critters that have migrated from the live rock.

While I agree that it is important to have a diversity of life in your sandbed, I don't think it's necessary to buy "kits" when you can get the same thing from trading sand with local reefers for free. I would ask the local LFS or local reefers if they would be interested in trading sand.