Listen to my LFS?

TAFKARojo

AC Members
Nov 17, 2004
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Leominster, Ma
Ok after a long hiadus from the board I have a working computer and I'm back.
Now I went to my LFS and was talking to the guy there. I asked him a ton of questions, and the answers seem to contradict the majority of the people on the board. He said that the "live" bags of aragonite they sell for 40 dollars are WAY better than the 4 dollar bags at Home Depot. I heard they are the same thing and anything "live" about it dies while it sits on the shelf. He also pointed me in the direction of a Prizm skimmer, would that be good enough on a 55 gallon "working its way to becoming a reef" tank?

Also how do I start a good colony of copepods, I NEED a mandarin goby.

Thanks, and I glad to be back,

Chris
 
Dont trust that LFS, play sand from home depo will do just as good, and i hear some bad things about Prizms at times. However in terms of pods, it would be easier to set up a sump for them.
 
A large, established aquarium with 75+ pounds of live rock and no competition from another mirco-fauna predator are required for a mandarin.

The bagged sand will contain some 'stuff'--larval forms--that may be beneficial, but only if it has been cared for properly. without knowing if it sat in the sun for half a day before going on the shelf, or froze, etc, there's no way of knowing if it's still viable. With the play sand, you know you're not introducing anything, but it will be cheaper to buy the sand and then introduce the critters from quality live rock and a activator kit.

I'd go with a better brand name skimmer.
 
TAFKARojo said:
Ok after a long hiadus from the board I have a working computer and I'm back.
Now I went to my LFS and was talking to the guy there. I asked him a ton of questions, and the answers seem to contradict the majority of the people on the board. He said that the "live" bags of aragonite they sell for 40 dollars are WAY better than the 4 dollar bags at Home Depot. I heard they are the same thing and anything "live" about it dies while it sits on the shelf. He also pointed me in the direction of a Prizm skimmer, would that be good enough on a 55 gallon "working its way to becoming a reef" tank?

Also how do I start a good colony of copepods, I NEED a mandarin goby.

Thanks, and I glad to be back,

Chris
As far as the Prizm skimmer goes I am using it and have had GREAT success with it now. It is pulling a lot of crap out of the water that I didn't know was there. I have my Prizm on a 55 FOWLR tank and couldn't be happier.

Bradd
 
Update on my Prism skimmer. It recently bit the dust and I will NOT go back to using another one. I purchased a Coralife Super Skimmer and it more than kicks the Prizm's butt! I love it and couldn't be happier.
 
I have to ditto the information on the Prizm. It did sort of ok but leaked if you were not VERY careful about the O-ring. I've also bought a coralife and it is doing more in a day then my prizm did in a week.
 
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