 State
of the Tank (cont.) |
But
what was originally thought to be a
one-day operation wound up taking two
days mainly because they ran out of
buckets. This was because once we really
got down into the rockwork, we discovered
tons of mushrooms and other undesirables
lurking under there so we decided to
make this a bit of a re-aquascaping
endeavor also. So we gave them the
live rock too. By the time we removed
everything we wanted to, the tank looked
like THIS .
Now that may not look like much, but
what we started with was THIS .
We also added about 100 pounds of Dr.
Mac's fully cured Live Rock to
replace what went out with both the
corals and the crap. |
| I
must say the tank looked very much
brighter once we had finished the redecorating.
Water movement seemed much better too.
However, my visions of more room for
new corals were certainly dashed as
once we finished spacing out and the
ones we kept, there was very little
more room than what I started with.
I did end up with a few new pieces
though including THIS ,
a 'true' A. solitaryensis
and This; a Montipora that actually
has these neat little barnacles in
it. Unfortunately,
a couple months later, the soli began
to suffer from sloughing of its tissue.
This continued no matter how much fragging
we did and finally, we had to remove
the piece entirely. |
| |
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| It
was also during this time when
I really pruned down my zoanthids
and sent frags to several hobbyists
who'd been begging me for
them. Now granted, February may
not have been the best month to
send tropical live animals through
the mail, but I did the best I
could in regards to the liberal
use of heat packs, oxygen, etc.
And from what I understand, more
than half of what I sent arrived
in viable condition. So trying
to be a real dude about it, I told
everyone up front that if the animals
arrived DOA, they didn't
have to pay. So what happened?
Only two people paid. TWO!!! And
I know by their own testimony during
follow up calls that as many as
six other sets of 'frags' survived
the trip. Now, I don't know
if these people figured I just
didn't need the money or
they do this as a matter of course,
but I think it's ironic that
some of these same hobbyists used
to chastise me about selling my
frags exclusively to my LFS. "You've
got to share more with the community",
they'd say. Well, if the 'community' is
gonna behave more like the 'hood' and
rip me off, it's going to
make it really hard for me to keep
being so neighborly. I've
always liked operating under the
honor system, (as opposed to getting
involved with Paypal or other forms
of new commerce that I don't
understand) but if I'm going
to get burned, I'll simply
revert back to supplying a few
local reefing acquaintances and
nearby vendors where I'm
just merely singed on occasion. |
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