I'm officially a geek

WildPraire · 06-28-2004, 12:38 AM

Hello,

David bought me a headset with led lights on it, it also has a red flip down filter. This thing is a blast for the reef tank. I can clean things with the lights removed from the refugium, which was hard before. Best of all the last two nights I've witnessed the hundreds of baby cleaner shrimp dispersing from their parents. I had no idea it was that many! This is fun stuff!

I'll be headed home to Carmel, Ca Tuesday, and I'll check out to see if I want to bring anything home with me from the few reef stores in the general area. Has anyone had any type of trouble flying with corals? I mean as far as them wanting to know what they are, why they can't go through the belt security system etc? Not sure that I'll find anything I want to bring back, but wanted some advice just in case.

I'll be missing the reef meeting in July, its a couple days before I come home.

Sue

Jive Turkey · 06-28-2004, 12:57 AM

I recently got one too. I saw many thingsI didn't even know I had, like 3" urchins and a red britter star. I have seen the shrimp spawn during the day too. The clown gobies can't seem to eat enough, they were so fat I seriously expected them to die.

Good luck finding some new corals.
As far as I know you can bring livestock as carry-on in the lower 48. Hopefully the store hours and the flight time work out, and you don't have to keep the critters overnight.

Joe

Fahz · 06-28-2004, 01:08 AM

Sue:

Here is someone to make contact with in Monterey who is big into Fancy SPS from what he told me. I have only had contact by PM on Reef Central but he did send me some SPS's last year. Says he has lots of wholesale contacts and the gallery pictures look very interesting if this is his website. Always interesting to meet someone new if you can make the contact.

Fahz
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/me...o&userid=20421

http://www.exoticcoral.com/index.htm

fugucuts · 06-28-2004, 01:30 AM

I recently brought back some corals from Cali. No trouble with security, just let them know what its is. The airline I flew normally allows only 1 carry on, but once I let the flight attendant know what it was, they allowed me to carry the box with me. Just make sure your ticket reservations are confirmed. I got bumped when I flew back from Cali. Could have been ugly.
Plus don't keep looking into the box at the airport, might make some people nervous.

mmclain · 06-28-2004, 01:55 AM

Sue:

You shouldn't have any problems carrying on the plane. I've carried both fish and corals quite often when I travel to Detroit on business. I use one of those small, collapsable, insultated soft coolers and it works quite well. Depending on the size you get, you can get between 4 - 6 bags in the cooler. Your flight is going to be longer than mine but I have never had any temperature problems....even in winter. Just don't open it up once you put the stuff in there until you get home.

Also, you mention explaining why it can't go on the security belt. Odds are you won't have a choice unless you want lots of extra attention. I run mine through all the time and have never had any problems.

Have fun!

Mike

Dwayne · 06-28-2004, 10:50 AM

I agree with what has been said. You shouldn't have any problem at the airport. Worse case they start asking questions, tell them they're for research. Worked for me.

I have one of the collapsible coolers that 'fits under the seat in front of you or in the overhead bin' you could borrow.

Have a good trip.

FastFish720 · 06-28-2004, 10:50 PM

One time I brought back some small pieces of this deco florida rock from Florida. So we were at the airport and it was in a box in my suitcase. The place scanned my bag so many times and I was like it's a rock!

WildPraire · 07-16-2004, 01:57 PM

I'm back!

Didn't find any corals I had to have in the stores while I was there. However the link supplied above (the exotic coral one) by Fahz turned out to be something very special. I met the owner of the tank at her home on the Monterey Penin overlooking the ocean. Her main tank is the most incredible tank I have ever seen. She has many pictures of it on her site. She is friends with many of the big names we hear of in frag raising. Her pictures are very worth looking at. She uses all NSW. I will never forget my visit to her home, she was a lovely and gracious lady who took time out of a very busy schedule (not to mention drove 4 hours in the middle of the night to get home so I could see her tank, just to turn around and drive back.) What a special experience. Thank you Fahz for suppling the link. She doesn't sell anything anymore, except to Blowfish Aquatics for resale there.

Sue

Fahz · 07-16-2004, 02:50 PM

Hey Sue:

Glad I was able to link you up we'll have to talk at some time. Not sure how she connects to the fellow I met online but I knew if you could connect it would be interesting.

Fahz

WildPraire · 07-16-2004, 03:37 PM

Hi Fahz,

She is the 'fellow'. Her name is Shu Tin, you may have thought it was a male, or you may have had contact with her husband.

Sue

Fahz · 07-16-2004, 04:10 PM

Sue:

Just went through all my PM's with Shu Tin and I'm now standing in the corner. I thought I was dealing with a guy but I can see I was wrong. At the time I was not into SPS but I see she offered me a lot more then she sent but I declined. She did send me two nice Steve Tryee's pieces which are doing well in my tank and with my new MH lighting should do even better.

Fahz

( I just remembered it was here husbands return address on the shipping label that made me think it was a guy so I'm out of the corner)