|
Newsletter - August 2004 The President's Pen: The word is getting out: DFWMAS is most definitely here to stay. Each week, I meet at least one person that was unaware of a local club in our metroplex. You guys are doing a great job handing out the new club business cards. If any of you need any, I bring them to each meeting. Feel free to come by if you'd like to pick some up sooner. Several of the LFS have our cards on the counter or handy in case a customer inquires about any clubs. Golf Shirts orders are coming in. Barry, our webmaster, set up a page for individual orders, and these can be ordered only for a limited time. These are prepaid, and on September 16th the order will go in. So don't forget to place your order soon. Ron Salsini did a great job organizing the Dallas Tank Tour, which will be highlighted briefly in the next newsletter. You can see a few of the images that were posted by checking out this thread. The next big event for our club is the Coral Propagation Workshop, which will take place during our September Meeting, on Saturday the 18th. Fish Gallery in Dallas will be hosting that event. Marc Levenson
The meeting at Aquarium Services was jam packed. This store is in a business district, and the owner and his staff were very kind to take care of all our needs. We had so many in attendance that the raffle had to be taken outside. Fortunately the weather was mild that evening, and many left as winners.       Don't miss our future meetings, because those two hours a month with other hobbyists are priceless!
Message Board News A FAQ page has been compiled to assist you Occasionally a number of members like to participate in a "Group Buy" to save money on an item. Be sure to check out the Group Buys Forum, as it might save you a few dollars. A group buy is very simple. The person that leads the buy takes everyone's order, gathers up the data and places the order with the vendor. Because it is a group buy, there is a good chance the vendor will offer some type of discount or add extra items for free. Due to it being shipped to one location, shipping costs are greatly reduced or spread out between the group buyers. The intent of a group buy is to save the membership money, and no one person should gain financially from the order. However, if the organizer states clearly that they will be profiting so that all are aware and they are agreeable, the BOD has no issue with the organizer. Once the order comes in, the buyers are notified via the Group Buy thread, and arrangements are made to pick up the items promptly. Payment may be collected before the order is placed, or with the vendor the order is coming from, or paid to the organizer when the item(s) are picked up. This is should be figured out in advance so that no-one is left 'holding the bag', so to speak. Overall, DFWMAS has had many good group buys, but the membership should always be careful whom they are dealing with. There is always a risk factor that should not be ignored. I want to trust people as much as the next guy, but it is plausible for an organizer to collect funds from the membership and disappear the same way they showed up. Fortunately this has not occured to us, but should be on the minds of the buyers. DFWMAS has a number of sponsors These vendors have purchased a forum from which they can offer their goods and make their names visible. They are in business with their own set of rules. If you have not had a transaction with a vendor yet, check with others from the club to see what their experience was. Sponsors are not club-sanctioned and members should not blindly assume they are "safe." Do your homework.
Featured Tank of the Month
Please contact Marc if you want to have your tank featured in a future newsletter.
Benefits and How-tos of a Quarantine Tank I know that many people simply find that setting up and maintaining a quarantine tank can be a very difficult task. Hopefully this article will give you some insight and useful tips on running a Q-tank successfully. After all, is it really worth it to risk your healthy beautiful livestock to some unseen disease? There are a great number of benefits to quarantining new purchases, be they fish, coral, or invertebrates.
Setting up a quarantine tank can be as simple or explicit as you would like it to be. I once quarantined a 6-inch Hippo/Regal tang (Paracanthurus hepatus) in a 5-foot long Rubbermaid tub on the floor of my bedroom for roughly a three month time period. It worked out perfectly as a dark environment (very minimal but regular lighting schedule) and it was large enough to house him for the duration of the extensive treatments he needed. It was very cheap and very effective, and he lives happily in my reef today. The basic requirements for a bare-bones quarantine tank are a holding tank (glass, acrylic, Rubbermaid – so long as it is large enough for the inhabitant), heater, sponge or hang on back filter (HOB) and some PVC elbows for the fish to hide in. I also recommend some sort of lighting to help them adapt to a regular lighting schedule. This setup is very easy to maintain and you can medicate at any time without trouble. It is helpful to keep a small sponge in your main tank or sump to be colonized with good bacteria. When the need for a Q-tank arises you can simply use that sponge as an instant cycle mechanism for the Q-tank. I still find it necessary to check parameters daily for PH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Currently I am running a reef-style Q-tank that stays set-up at all times. I know many people don’t have the time or space for this, but if you do it can really make things easier. I personally prefer the reef style above the bare bones, as it is a more natural environment for the fish to adapt to. It consists of a small tank, HOB filter, heater, ½ inch of aragonite gravel and about 10 pounds of live rock. The great thing about this set-up is that the biological filter is always established and the fish adapt a bit easier in my experience. Another plus to this system is that there will be ample food for the inverts you might want to QT, and some suitable places for corals if you quarantine them as well. The major downside to this is that it cannot be medicated. If your new purchase acquires something that needs treatment, it will have to be moved to a bare bones hospital tank. In the meantime your reef-style Q-tank would need to sit fallow for at least 4 weeks. With either method you choose I still advise testing your Q-tank’s parameters daily. This is the only time I would recommend dipstick style tests, having to mix reagents on a daily basis is enough to make some people swear off a Q-tank. The dipsticks aren’t as accurate as some other tests but I find that they give a good enough reading to know if there is a spike in any of the water parameters. The effects of ammonia and nitrite at any measurable level can be severely damaging. They can cause irreversible gill damage making it very difficult for the fish to breathe. If you have elevated readings on these two parameters it will be necessary to perform regular water changes to keep them at 0. Nitrate is certainly a lesser evil, most fish will tolerate it at levels far above 20ppm. However if it exceeds 20ppm then again water changes are in order. pH is recommended to be between 8.0 and 8.4. I shoot for the middle of that range in all my tanks. The higher pH end can be beneficial to the fish’s immune system. I recommend keeping the salinity in a Q-tank a bit lower than your main tank. Mine runs about 1.020 – 1.021 on average. The lower salinity promotes easier osmoregulation for the fish and in return will help relieve stress. If you are using water from your main tank for water changes it is easy enough to dilute it a bit with reverse osmosis/deionized water (RO/DI). Of course if you do this, then the salinity will need to be slowly brought back up before transferring the fish to the main tank. I hope this will answer a lot of questions out there about running a successful Q-tank and help your new arrivals in an easy acclimation to captivity. Look for part two, Medicating in a Q-tank, in the upcoming months. Happy reefkeeping! |
in using the message board and more. Please use it.
Previous NewsLetters