Recent content by llowwelll

I just asked essentially this same question at Reef Central of Dr Ron Shimek with regards to Deep Sand Beds (DSB's). For a DSB, he recommends no more crabs than one per 100 to 1000 ft^2 of surface area in your tank. The thread is located here...

It's funny that you ask given the position the 50 gal bag of IO Salt has taken in the "I'm tired of paying full retail" thread, but...on the back of the IO 50 gal bag, they say to mix 1/2 cup salt per gallon. Personally, I'd take this as a good approximation but still measure the salinity.

MattM, Thanks for posting with the details of your operation and for your forthrightness! Not that the 50 gal bag of salt is the end-all, be-all lfs product, but for the purposes of this discussion, do you mind if we treat it as the proverbial widget of the lfs industry? Please don't take the...

sunset pizza, thanks for the post! I'm also in the process of converting over. I'm not an expert or anything...I'll just pass on what I've learned about all this in the past month or so. Right now, I'm attempting to make my SD sand "live" before putting it in the tank so that I don't end up...

I have to agree with Leonard. Leonard said the market will pay what the market can bear. I had posted earlier here in this thread ranting about high prices being self-defeating. I used the example of a lfs here in NJ charging $22.99 for a 50-gal bag of Instant Ocean salt. No way would I pay...

I would think that making money period, whether it's one cent or one dollar, on the bag of salt in question would be better for the lfs than the customer going somewhere else and making no money on it at all. It's no wonder that there is a steady slowing of customers to lfs's when prices like...

Yes, I'm definitely interested then. Let me know how to get in touch with you.

amber, thanks for the coupon idea and website suggestion. I agree with the whole notion of being sick of paying full retail for everything. This hobby is needlessly expensive. The markups are ridiculous. For example, I was searching for 50 gal worth of Instant Ocean salt recently and found...

Tonight, I came home and checked on my tank. My hippo tang was "asleep" in it's usual nighttime hiding spot. However, I was startled to see my three-stripe damsel snug against the tail of the hippo, also "asleep". I thought that one of the fish must be dead, but they were both fluttering...

I think old Cheese is just saying something akin to "here, here" or "I second that" or "that was a good input". I don't know, it's not like it pains me to read the {}'s that he leaves. It's kind of nice to know that somebody's out there in the distant cyberwebland...listening...responding.

I wouldn't mind going in on this but my tank is already almost full of LR. I probably only need about another 10-20 lbs. Also, Newark, is a little far to drive to pick up from where I live down by Philly.

Okay...I didn't even know what Southdown was until today when I started reading about it here. I was gonna buy some live sand but this sounds much cheaper. So, I went to home depot here in Mt Laurel, NJ and picked myself up a 50 lb bag of it. $3.84 and that's it. There wasn't a crowd...

chzheadguy, I had the same thing about three weeks ago. I added a rather large lawnmower blenny, a hippo tang, and about 18 blue-legged hermits to my 35-gal tank (I already had six blues, 3 scarlets, six ceriths, and about 12 turbos/margaritas). Now the algae is pretty much gone and I'm...

McFred...it looks like it snowed coralline algae on your glass. Kind of a cozy little picture.

Mine do the same thing and I have no idea. I assumed it was they were just eating off the shell of the other.