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RAP win and a loss

Jeremy Brito

Jeremy Brito

So I finally got to attend RAP! Mind blown it was awesome I meet some youtubers that I follow and some that I follow that I couldnt remember there names, I got to meet a few people from the club for the first time also awesome.
I got a bunch of cool samples, stickers, magnets and magazines a really good sample pack from this company ESV. Bought a couple 10 dollar frags and a few fish.
So now for the win and loss
I bought a 35 dollar wrasse from a stand near the clubs table I camt remember the company but they had some cool staghorn hermits and some really good deals on other things.. Any ways I bought a cool wrasse I remember telling the guy at the stand who was doing a crappy guy baging to make sure to give me a big bag lots of air and water for a long ride home.. Well he must have done a bad job because out,of everything I bought when I got home the air in the bag was mostly deflated amd the fish was dead... Very upseting 35 dollar toilet flush later.
The win
As I was walking to my car my phone rings and its manhattan reefs I won the raffle and needed to come claim my prize. When I get there they have a table witha few items on it some wall stuff nothing to extreem but on the table was a box of ESV salt mix for 50 gallons in my eyes the best value on,the table and concidering I got a nice sample pack from ESV earlier I figured that the free salt box from them would complete the package but boy was I surprised when I opened the box.. This package was awesome the value alone in the box would make me buy there salt again let me show you the contents
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All that was innthe box salt magnesium trace elements scoops mixing cups measuring kit carbon dosing you name it. I have to actually read more on how to use it but I am very very impressed with it
 
KenM

KenM

Sorry about the fish... last year I brought a few very small buckets and hooked up some D battery-powered air bubblers in the car for the way home.
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Vice President
Staff member
NJRC Member
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@Jeremy Brito was it Pets Warehouse? I bought a wrasse from them for $10. They were very stressed so picked one that seemed less stressed and made it home okay.
The bags were for frags they put the wrasse in very small IMO but I was going right home. No rubber bands just a knot so I always pull them as tight as I can.
It sux you lost it though.
 
Jeremy Brito

Jeremy Brito

MadReefer said:
@Jeremy Brito was it Pets Warehouse? I bought a wrasse from them for $10. They were very stressed so picked one that seemed less stressed and made it home okay.
The bags were for frags they put the wrasse in very small IMO but I was going right home. No rubber bands just a knot so I always pull them as tight as I can.
It sux you lost it though.
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Ya i believe so i bought a 10,dollar wrasse from,them as well but this one wasnt a 10 dollar one alot of the fish seemed stressed I even,made them,pick diffrent ones after I saw there first choice because some didnt,look healthy.. I blame the stress and,crappy job bagging as the cause I bought a few 10 dollar frags from diffrent places they all seem well
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Vice President
Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
I picked out the wrasse I wanted, did not leave up to them.
The scooter blennies for $5 were rather large.
 
Jeremy Brito

Jeremy Brito

chrisdhewitt said:
Awesome on the B-Ionic, i use that for two part dosing as WWC suggested its what the guys who work there use.
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Ya I am impressed with what I saw so far I actually stopped by there both just out of curiosity the guy running it explained alot about it and actually gave a nice sample pack including the two part and a calc and buffer two part so far the product seems very high quality and I think for whats included in there salt mix kits I might continue to buy from them if I like the results
 
C

chrisdhewitt

@Jeremy Brito When you start dosing it, its important to use equal amounts of the solution. If you dont you'll be chasing ca and alk tests every day. Apparently when you use equal amounts, after a week or two the levels will balance and stay very stable. They probably told you this, but I made the mistake when I first started.
 
Jeremy Brito

Jeremy Brito

chrisdhewitt said:
@Jeremy Brito When you start dosing it, its important to use equal amounts of the solution. If you dont you'll be chasing ca and alk tests every day. Apparently when you use equal amounts, after a week or two the levels will balance and stay very stable. They probably told you this, but I made the mistake when I first started.
Click to expand...
Ya the 2 parts calcium and alk solution correct? yes they told me and gave me like a instructional packet right now i am doseing 1 ml per 4 gallons equally it says daily but my question is if i do it daily wont it increase my calcium and alk levels or just keep them at a stable balance? i am also using this other stuff that is called transitional elements PE and PE Plus ones orange and ones yellow, it says to does the orange daily if you want to carbon dose but when the nitrates run down to dose the yellow one instead. I accidentally over dosed the PE stuff the other day when i mixed up the doses but so far no problems from what research i did its basically a trace elements and carbon dosing mix ive been testing and i have seen a slight increase in my trace elements like Potassium and iron, iodine and maganese but nothing to crazy the tank seems to be doing well i finally mixed about 10 gallons of the water to use as a small water change or possibly a emergency but most likely ill do a bigger water change with the stuff so i can see how the tank responds and to see if its worth it in the long run.
what i like about bi-onic so far is the quality, the salt water kits all come with measuring equipment the mix is 4 parts in total 1 part Calcium Chloride 1 part Magnesium phosphate both of those ingredients are in there own zip lock bags and the bags come double bag to prevent contamination and moisture from getting in, the last 2 parts are liquid i dont know the contents of the bottles but as far as bottles go i guess they are nice lol the kit comes with a mixing chart that goes either by weight or measurement it recommends weight as the most accurate but you need a decent electronic scale. The instructions are simple enough to follow with out getting mixed up, over all it does take alittle more time to mix but when mixing i feel like the process is smoother and less messy.
Depending on how busy i am i might write up a review when i get to test it out for a little bit but no promises i just got a promotion at work so i am alittle extra busy these days.
 
C

chrisdhewitt

@Jeremy Brito I am not sure what this transitional elements thing is. B-Ionic includes all of the appropriate trace elements in its system. I have mine set in a dosing pump to dose 6 times per day of each component A and B. The goal of it is to maintain stable alk and calcium, not to correct for it. I have read others experiences where the alk will stay stable but the calcium will make weird swings up and down (mostly up) while the ecosystem finds the ionic balance. I believe the component b also includes magnesium, so that wont be a concern either. If you're interested in a dosing pump, I got a 5 head one from aliexpress.com quite cheap, and its the best thing I have ever gotten for my tank. Once the elements have balanced, just choose a salt that fits where you want your levels. For me it was the Red Sea blue bucket.

As for the carbon dosing, I have tried that in the past as well, and it caused more trouble than benefit. It bleached out coralline algae and macro algae in my refugium. I guess the idea is to drop nitrate and phosphate so low that the corals are on the edge of starvation, which shows brilliant colors. Interestingly, in coral reefs the step before bleaching or mass die off is corals showing these colors. In this state they will not grow.
 
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