Getting ready for laser tag?

After three long weeks, the 2000mw laser pen i purchased online, shipped from China has finally arrived! It comes in a kit the laser, batteries, charger, and the protective goggles you see here

Here is the kit in the box

And the contnets inside the box

I purchased this because of all the buzz of using laser to kill aquarium pests such as anemones, majano, aiptasia, overgrown soft corals etc. i experimented with this last night and boy do i have some nice videos to share!

A photo of me holding the laser for scale

20150329 180 Reef Tank update

A video update of my 180 Gallon Reef Tank after a couple weeks of intensive stocking effort.

Below are some of the new additions from this weeks fragswap at Janesville Wisconsin.

Middle of the 180 tank

New 4" Squamosa Clam

New Rose Bubble Tip Anemone about 3" disk, 6" open

Elegant coral in the process of swallowing some food

The Clarkii clownfish ditched the long tentacle anemone to host this rose bubble tip within 10 minutes of the anemone's introduction!

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.

20150317 Camera is back

Without turning this into a Tech blog, I just want to say I take most of my photos published here using my iPhone5S. And when that camera goes out of commission it becomes very difficult for me to take photos and post them.
After a long and hard battle with Apple I finally found a replacement and now back!
Here are some tank update! While I was away, I added two anemones!

7" Squamosa Clam

This is the new long tentacle anemone I found. I am a true believer now in the symbiotic relationship with specifically the Clarkii clownfish with the long tentacle anemone. I placed the bubble tip anemone in the tank two weeks before I introduced the long tentacle. It took the Clarkii about 3-4 days to settle into the bubble tip compare to 30 seconds of me introducing the long tentacle.

The new Long Tentacle green anemone, hosted by a Clarkii clownfish

And a new bubble tip anemone, not so bubble tip right now though

20150302 Pre-packaged plants

So I have seen quite a few "pre-packaged" plants being offered in both chained pet stores (Petco, Petsmart, etc). But I have also begin to see individual aquarium stores carrying some of these pre-packaged plants. The chances of seeing them in an average aquarium store would be less likely as they sell at a much smaller volume and while these plants are living in a package they do not last as long of a "shelf life"as they would underwater. Below is a display of them packaged and being sold like salad.

pre-packaged freshwater plants

So should you purchase them? Well, it all depends on the condition of the plant by the time you hold it in your hand. Like any vegetable in the grocery store, they have a shelf live and will spoil after a while. However, do not let the dryness fool you. When distributors ship plants to pet stores, they never actually ship the plants in water. The added weight is too expensive for shipping. In fact, all plants are shipped "damp" while wrapped in plastic and newspaper with a spray of moisture. That said, they must not stay too long in that state of they will begin to suffer.

Lastly, many of the "aquatic" plants in the North American trade are not "true aquatic" plants. they are plants the can be flooded for an extended time but then must be exposed to air, instead of being soaked underwater for its entirely. So please do your homework before you purchase the plants.

20141104 What Light for your Saltwater tank? Part 1.

One of the most commonly asked questions is the choice of lighting. What's appropriate for your critters? What's the best color temperature combination to bring out those colors? All lights seem so expensive, can I just DIY?
First, I must say that without proper training in light, physics, and electrical, everything I am going to discuss is entirely based on observation and real life experience.

LED light reflecting from the surface

Currently some there are many options for aquaria lighting. Among some of the less expensive but least light output are:
Regular T7 florescent tubes, incandescent bulbs, power compact lights
These lights are suitable for fish only aquaria or some of the non-photosynthetic or least light demanding soft corals. But in most cases will not provide enough energy for higher end corals and inverts to thrive
Some of the more sophisticated lightings are:
VHO T5 florescent tubes, Metal Halide bulbs, and LED lights
These lights tend to have a higher cost and drains more electricity, but can sustain some of the most light hungry creatures such as small polyp stony corals (SPS), large polyp stony corals (LPS), clams, anemones, etc.
Another option is DIY- if you are skilled in electrical, you can also design and put together your own lights. You can find many light parts, ballasts that are suitable for your project. Warning, if you do not construct the light correctly it can result in fire.
There are many other aspects of lights such as PAR, light's distance from the water surface, water depth, and light color temperature. We can save all them for the ensuing parts of this series.

In the mean time, there are some good readings I recommend from a couple reputable online livestock retailer:
Liveaquaria Light article
Pacific East Aquaculture Light article

20140717 Waikiki Aquarium part 1

This is the birthplace of my aquarium hobby. Ten years ago I came to this aquarium and fell in love with all reef dwelling creatures. Ten years later I love these reef animals just as much, but with much more respect.

 The Waikiki aquarium has been one of the leading research and educational facilities in marine biology. Unlike most aquariums in the mainland focuses on tourism with unnecessary dolphin or beluga whale shows, not to mention over priced admission- The Waikiki aquarium charges a very reasonable $12 / adult admission with optional audio tour included at no additional cost.

This is a very happy long nose hawkfish living in the display tank by the entrance. It's the largest long nose hawk I've ever seen, over 5" and very perky. This tank also features several butterfly fish (you can see the long nose in the background) that does not touch the corals at all.

Hawaii vacation

Wet and wild recently had a vacation in Hawaii- and yes, we did some snorkeling and visited the world famous waikiki aquarium. And yes, there will be posts to share these experiences!