Live Aquaria- Diver's Den Behind the scene tour: The Corals

In case you've missed my previous posts on the facility's fish and inverts, here are their links:
Fish
Invertebrate
And for you coral fanatics here is the coral section of the facility. The Diver's Den facility of LiveAquaria is also the coral farm for this company. Here is a little background and fun facts of the place: http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=377

The coral display tank by the office in Diver's Den, very impressive and colorful.

A video of this tank:

First I want to show you this beautiful sps and lps coral display tank made of the aquaculture corals here at Diver's Den. This tank sits at the corner where the coral farm meets the offices.

Live Aquaria's aquacultured coral grow out farm

Here is a panoramic video view of the facility:

The coral farm here at the Diver's Den facility are made of numerous 3'X6' approximately 1' deep. The water is crystal clear and each bin houses a few turbo snails and a surgeonfish for algae patrol. Some of them are impressive adult chevron tangs! The corals all sit on a grid of egg crate that's boosted 4" off the bottom. I see the tangs darting back and forth from the top of the corals to the bottom of it. Some bins contain sand as they place lps or sps onto it. Some bins are bare bottom. Each of the LPS corals are carefully placed onto a ring of cut PVC pipe to prevent the sand from irritating it.
All of the corals that I could see had nice but not abnormally large polyp extensions.

A bin with crushed coral bottom housing non-photo synthetic corals

There are 2-3 bins like the one above housing the non-photo synthetic corals. And as you can see from the reflection, instead of Metal Halide or LED lighting, these bins use t-5 lighting for any misc. photosynthetic coral they need to place here. I also want to mention that one of these bins had a school of baby bangaii cardinal fish and it's a perfect environment since they feed these bins heavily with nutrient rich zooplankton to keep the non-photo synthetic corals happy.

A bin of marincultured sps corals

The bin above showcase a group of the marine cultured sps corals. As you can see they sit on a PVC ring with their sky#, price, and ID clearly labeled so you will always receive the correct item. The egg crate is 4" above the bare bottom with a chevron tang patrolling this bin for algae control. Each bin only houses one vegetarian fish, and with a turbo snail to supplement. You can see this bin features a 400W metal halide from the reflection. The halide sits on a track and is moved up and down the bin to provide the corals lighting from all angels instead of creating a "hotspot"
Here is a short "tease" of what these corals look like with the water flow and the light.

A bin with mixed marincultured sps coral and aquaculture frags

This bin also features some beautifully colored marine cultured sps coral, with some aquaculture sps & lips frags. Apologies for the really blue hue of the picture- I believe they use 20K bulbs for all the corals under metal halide.
I'm just going to post a few more photos here without much further description as they are pretty self-descriptive.

A bin with primarily aquacultures corals here in different sizes and shapes.

Amazing group of blasto frags here. I was really tempted to take them all!

How about a garden of hammers? all in different colors too!

Corals are sectioned of for pricing and ease of identification when workers here pick them for order. These lps and soft corals are under LED lighting as you can see from the reflection.

Another bin of amazing hammer corals! raise your hand if you want them all!

Group of long tentacle plates, the cutie at the bottom right is now in my tank!

And lastly a bare bottom bin featuring a garden of elegant corals!

Diver's Den Tour- Invertebrate Section

To continue the previous thread, this post will feature the invertebrate section of the facility.
First I want to show you the massive protein skimmer and reactor combo at this LiveAquaria, there are several of them:

This protein skimmer is taller than me... enough said.

Asked my wife to model for scale, humongous carpet anemones

More carpet anemones

Each of the anemones in this section, including carpet and a bunch of bubble tip are all hosting a pair of clownfish. it's really cool to see they make them all happy, even though as a retailer it's completely unnecessary to pair clownfish with anemone since one or the other would be sold soon anyways. But they did what they can to make each feel happy.

A bundle of long tentacle anemone

 a cluster of derasa clams (not yet offered on diver's den, they were exclusive for the tour), and a bunch of cultured maxima clam. very sweet deals! I managed to snatch two of these handsome derasa clams

Lighting may be one of the biggest questions any hobbyist buying from LiveAquaria wishes to ask. In the photo below you will see a broader view of the facility with lights running on a track. The lights run in a lateral movement so that it can cover all angles of the photosynthetic animals beneath rather than creating a "hot spot". When I toured this place a few years ago all lights were 400W 20K Metal Halide. Today this facility has a mix of high end LED (such as AI hydra + a few other varieties). All holding raceway are no more than 12" deep. All the animals look healthy and for clams I can observe significant growth indicating excellent health condition.

The livestock raceway

Here is a picture of the holding section for shrimp, small crabs (such as acropora crabs) and small shrimp (pistol shrimp or squat lobster, which by the way are size of a pinky nail!) They are held in individual transparent containers approx. the size of a film box (if you are born after the mid 90's you might not know what that is lol).

squat lobster, I can't believe how tiny they actually are compare to the online photos.

maxima clams in the diver's den section

And lastly, the diver's den clam section. I must say, almost all the clams in this section appears much larger than what is seems on the photo (contrary to the squat lobster), and honestly, the photos don't do justice on how beautiful they are. One of these clams I purchased looks like a mustard, brown color online but turns out to be a shiny gold in person! All of them are kept under 400W metal halide, 20K bulbs hence the very blue photo here. And one thing they offer that no one else do is live arrival ad 14 day guarantee.
Here is a couple videos:

Live Aquaria Behind the Scene Tour part 1- Fish

panoramic view of Diver's Den's Aquacultured coral display tank

LiveAquaria is an online aquatic retailer operated under Drs. Foster & Smith, one of the largest and reputable pet supply online retailers. Three times a year LiveAquaria opens up its doors for passionate hobbyist (like myself) to tour the facility in Rhinelander, Wisconsin and purchase livestock at a discount price in person. The Rhinelander location is one of the two LiveAquaria facilities, all of the Diver's Den livestock are kept and shipped out here while most other "generic" items are kept in a California facility. This facility is also LiveAquaria's coral farm where they propagate and grow out coral frags in the aquaculture corals section. If you have not been there or seen anyone posted the behind the scene photos, here is a glimpse of where your livestock was once kept and grown while you were ordering them online!
To see some fun fact about their facility, click here.

Diver's Den uses Reef Crystals exclusively, these are their massive holding vats!

Fish holding section, there are eight walls like this

The guy in charge of the fish section was very friendly and explained the fish holding, catching (they did not use net to catch the fish, which is amazing), and bagging process. I also asked some questions regarding the fish's health- The fish are held for at least 14 days before they are available, and the fish are also only available when they are actively accepting frozen food. He dosed just thawed frozen brime shrimp into at least 4 or 5 of these large tanks and I swear all the fish, even the anthias were eating like pigs! In fact I did pick up a MFF trio of bartlett anthias. The one thing I do need to mention is the fish are only lightly medicated so when you order from them I would still recommend a thorough quarantine- without the worry of getting them to eat though!

The legendary conspicuous angelfish, the most expensive fish, that I know of, in the world at $3,000!! happily mingling with other fish here in this holding tank, and happily accepting food too!

A larger group of bartlett anthias male and female mixed along with a Tinker butterfly, some rabbitfish and copper band butterfly

Two of my dream fish- Blueface Angelfish and Powderblue Tang, though I will not be having them anytime soon due to space limit in my tank

Here is another gem- the super rare candy basslet at $699 (see the price tag)

Even though the tag says "Giant Angler" this guy is really small seen in real person, about the size of a quarter. They seem much bigger in their photos online.

One interesting to note is that many of the fish does seem a bit "different" in person versus seeing them online. Most of the common items like tangs, basslets, and angels don't have much room for difference since most hobbyists have pretty good ideal what they "look like" already. But some of the rarity and novelties tend to be a bit "surprising" to see in person. For example, this angler in the photo is really tiny in real person, but it looks much larger on the photo displayed in website. I think this fish is no longer available but here is a similar fish I also saw that was tiny. That said, don't be fooled, these anglers do get big and won't thrive in a nano system.

Couple more coolfish- Achillis Tang and a Redtail trigger

An Emperor Angelfish with a half black Foxface Rabbitfish

If you purchase multiple fish of the same species, such as a trio of anthias or a group of cardinals, the fish collectors here scoop the fish out with a container instead of net (at least that's what they did with my bartlett anthias, and you know how tough and fast they are to catch), they then separate them and bag each fish individually in dark bags to reduce stress.

One of the bagging stations

Their Bagging station is kept very clean and sanitary. The floor is surprisingly dry (you would expect this place to be a swampy mess!), and each bag is inspected for the correct item at bagging. They inject oxygen, clamp the bag with metal clamp and place the bags in appropriate sized foam box with a heat pack and peanuts for shipping. I honestly cannot pick on anything about the entire process. Although the 5 layer bags you will eventually receive can be a bit troublesome to open and acclimate fish with. But it's all worth it for a stress free journey.

One of the two boxes I came home with. The larger bag has one of the anthias with the smaller bags containing corals and invertebrates.

20141107 LiveRock for Reef Tank

How much Live Rock is enough for (insert Gallon #) Tank?
This is one of the most commonly asked questions among many new hobbyists.
So why live rock? What kind of live rock? How much?

Newly set up tank with Bare Tonga Live Rock

Liverock serves several functions in the saltwater aquarium:
1. Landscaping- Aesthetically, this is one of the reasons people want to get a salt water fish tank- to resemble a part of the ocean at your own home!
2. Landscaping- Place holder, live rocks serve as a foundation for any corals you wish to encrust over and grow onto.
3. Landscaping- Housing complex, in the wild, the reef, live corals and dead corals (live rock) serve as housing for both fish and numerous invertebrates. This provides security for your fish's night time resting as well as a territory separator should you have an aggressor in the tank.
4. Maintenance- Since live rocks are primarily composed of coral skeleton and fossils, they are extremely porous just like our bones. The porous structure enables rocks to house an enormous amount of bacteria to help breakdown wastes in the water column.

In General, most aquarist recommend 1.5-2lb of live rock for every gallon of water volume. This figure is only for reference and often times very successful keepers are able to use much less rocks with compensation of other means such as an extremely efficient filtration system. In all of my current tanks I use an average of .7-.9 lb/gallon. But the key is for the tank to find its perfect equilibrium, then things will settle down and stay stable.

There are various types of live/dry rocks one can establish their aquariums with:
Live rocks- like these seen in LiveAquaria, these are collected from the tropical coral reef and are packed with freshly dead algae/critter plus an abundance of marine bacteria to start your new tank's cycling. It is advised to "cure" these rocks as you let it sit in an aerated tank and allow the excessive ammonia/nitrate to be eliminated before you add them to your tank. They come in various shapes and sized. Some of the most popular ones are Fiji live rock, they are typically more rounded with rugged edges and very porous. There are also rocks from Tuvalu, Tonga, and other areas of the South Pacific to offer landscaping options with shelf and branch like rocks.

Dry rocks- These are rocks mined from the land. They are not "live" as they are dry, such as the ones sold by Marco Rocks. But the composition of these rocks are the same as live rock- coral fossils. So once you place them into the water, bacteria and marine organisms will culture the dry rock and turn it into a full functioning live rock. Compare to the live rocks, dry rocks are less mysterious as you do not need to worry about introducing harmful or hazardous organisms into the tank along with it. But it will take a bit more patience as you must wait for the rock to mature and be cultured.

Artificial rock- These are "man-made" liveroks that looks and functions like live rock. Such as the rocks produced by Realreefrock. They are artificially infused with all the necessary bacteria for your tanks cycling and waste processing. And since they are artificially produced, they have less impact to the natural reef.

LiveRock are not cheap, especially because of their weight often times you must also pay for expensive extra shipping cost. My personal suggestion is join a local fish club or keep your eyes on Craigslist, wait until someone is selling off their rocks, not only the rocks are much less expensive, easily accessible, no shipping charge, but also the rocks are already cured, cultured, and all ready for you to use. Unless, off course, if the rocks are currently covered with undesirable organisms then you might have some heavy cleaning on hand.
Good luck rock hunting!

20141024 Conspicuous Angelfish

I like to go around the web and search for cool and unusual specimens. I haven't really seen much that I think is an absolutely "must have" but for the sake of introducing something not so common, I thought I put this guys up I found at Liveaquaria.

Conspicuous Angelfish, as seen on Live Aquaria

In case this fish is still around, you can find him here
Just to prepare you, it might break your bank- it's a $3000 fish! Personally I don't think they are that attractive, at least not compared to some of the other large angels. But it certain is rare as it doesn't surface in local stores as often as most other larger angels.

20140919 Swallowtail Angelfish

Just to compare what I got from the Local Fish store with what's currently available at Liveaquaria. This Genicanthus Semifasciatus (Masked Swallowtail Angelfish) is a changing male about 4.5 inch long for $300 + Shipping. And also to update, the fish has been eating very well and is now mingling well with other fish in the tank. Below is LiveAquaria's quick stats:

Minimum Tank Size: 125 gallons

Care Level: Difficult

Temperament: Peaceful

Reef Compatible: Yes

Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.021-1.025

Max. Size: 8½"

Diet: Omnivore, Plankton Eater

Compatibility: View Chart

2014-05-02 Livestock Spotlight- Pearl Tang

Ok, not everyone is willing to drop $3,000 on a fish.

But how often do you come across a fish this elegant and beautiful?

behold the pearl tang- zebra soma gemmatum:

You can now own this fish in your tank through Liveaquaria http://www.liveaquaria.com

Do you have a tank at least 120G? Do you have the perfect reef setting?

And most importantly, do you have $3000 in your saving's account?

2014-04-28 Livestock Spotlight

LiveAquaria generally has  decent price with very healthy animals- especially the divers den area.
Checkout this blue face angel. I do think you can probably find another blue face somewhere else to beat this price. But not with the 14 day guarantee!
http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden

Chances are if you are ready to invest $300 on a blue face, you are a seasoned fish keeper and probably know most of what you need to know. But just in case- Please do NOT purchase this fish unless you have an aquarium well over 200 Gallons.
This fish is also not quite reef safe as it may nip on some corals and will eat sponges.
Oh, and you probably want to put this fish no earlier than any other peaceful species as it is very territorial. Give it a rich, high protein, and high algae, high sponge diet!

2014-04-27 Livestock of the Day-2

Check out this cute possum wrasse! http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+3&ddid=225424
I have great experience ordering from LiveAquaria before so I would definitely recommend anyone to try them out.

Caution- All wrasses jump! They are jumpers! Please make sure you have good protection device in place for your tank before you order this little dude.
Possum wrasse are cute and wonderful to interact with. They can be a bit shy and timid so make sure they are in before you put any more aggressive "reef safe" fish in there such as dwarf angels and tangs.
The one thing you don't have to worry with wrasses is diet. I have never lost a wrasse due to not eating! If kept right, they can be in your tank for years!

Vietnam Squamosa Clam from Divers Den

When I saw this 5" Vietnam squamosa clam posted on Liveaquaria's Diver's den I knew I had to get it.

The order was placed Wednesday afternoon, I received the shipment tracking info Thursday afternoon and the clam was delivered Friday morning around 10.

As always, Liveaquaria takes great care in their packaging.

Even after spending over 12 hours on the road, this clam does not show much sign of distress.

Placed the clam in my mid foreground

Clam opened up almost fully within 15 minutes of placement

Blue Squamosa!

Even though blue squamosa clams are not as rare as it once was, it still is rare!
When I saw this blue squamosa up for sell on Divers Den I actually tossed and turned on my bed and had to put it in my shopping cart in the morning. Liveaquaria used to use Fedex for their delivery which I hated. I can still remember tracking the order last time from Liveaquaria, the shipment flew out from Wisconsin to Memphis TN, then back to Chicago, then back for delivery in Wisconsin- talk about the lack of logic in their logistics. Fedex did slightly better, it went from Wisconsin-Minneapolis-Chicago-Wisconsin.... just wondering when will they ever learn.

So obviously no one is home to sign for the package during work days, I had it sent to my office. I considered paying for Saturday delivery ($15 extra), and was like- nah!

You do get free shipping if the order is $225 or more, so I threw in a tabling acropora to go along with my clam.

the clam, did I mention seven layers of bags in my previous DD post?

The coral, again, seven layers of bags! wow!

And... here it is! it's about 2". I honestly didn't photoshop the color of this photo too much as my AI sol superblue LED does give out this much blue, and it is perfect enhancement for this little guy's coloration.