[Bubbashrimp]

API is a great brand with aquarium chemical testing, they also make wipes for cleaning the glass that are unique in the market.

Wardley, Nutrafin, OCEAN NUTRITION, O.S.I.,HIKARI,and DANACHI are great dry foods.

frozen food i would offer Sallys, Cyclopeeze, Ocean Nutrition formula 1 and 2,Hikari(rotifers and baby brine shrimp), Reed Mariculture(copepods and phytofeast) and DT's Phytoplankton.

Additives I would stock salifert(ammino acids and phosphate eliminator) for high end,seachem, and kent. Purple Up, Marine Snow

Got to have the BIowheel filter and its refill FOR SURE, Hagen filters to accomodate all.

Coralife lights(your not a saltwater store without them)

Carib Sea Geo-Marine aragonite formula florida crushed coral substrate to mix with or use singely

Instant ocean is the most popular sea salt. Coralife is affordable

Red Sea Skimmers for thier ease of use and cleanability

floating magnetic algae scrubber

Metro+, E.M. ERYTHROMYCIN, Melafix,Primafix, Formalin Malachite Green, and gel-Tek for medicines

 

[Bubbashrimp]

live sand was a very good idea that i overlooked

I agree with titration, api is not only based on color matching.

you said "Good for test kits, but the AA additives are unnecessary, probably not good for reef top biotopes."

I trust the salifert company on thier claims of what this product can do but if you have evidence on the contrary I would definiatly like to see it and i believe they would as well. I understand most additives are unessesary like iodine for shrimp(I can reference this though)


you said "hmmm... totally personal experience, but XM MH bulbs would be a better brand by far, especially with electronic bllasts like the icecps newer models. URI for VHO's, I have no preference for the T-5 or PC bulbs at this time."

I use t-5 they work fine. Everyone seems to be talking about xm-mh I will check them out. If i were owning a pet store, i would definatly carry the affordable coralife lights.

Some one said "hmmm... look for inexpensive generics for these products, I have many concerns about use of antibiotics in fish aquaria without documented bacterial infections, but this seems to be a necessary evil of the hobby. I could type a ong post just on this subject... :squint:"

I Totally agree. I have not used these products but my lfs has,i have seen it. They use them when a fish is in an inch of its life from thier suppliers and they WORK. Generic, just like in humans people seem to think that generic does not work, but they most definatly do. Diagnosis of the diesease is hard to confirm luckily there is a relatively new trend in veterinarian medicine , thanks to koi. They are called aqua vets Cornell, some schools in florida, and california are working on this.

tdwyatt i enjoyed your writings on skimmers (foam fractionators) I have to tell you though a skimmer is a skimmer and no matter how many vortexes or dodads you throw on there the basic job it does is a simple one. and in life if there is a simple solution sometimes that can be more beautiful than someone suckering you out of money for the most "technologicaly advanced" skimmer. You still use your skimmer(berlin airlift), right? Why is that? Because it is simple conveniant and does a good job.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

Fair enough, but my berlin airlift(unmodified) works and has been working for a long time. The saying goes if it aint broke dont fix it.

Heres a different approach, why dont you tell me the reasons why your skimmer is better than mine?

 

[Bubbashrimp]

Comparison that it hooks up to an actual sump/pump well or comparison that it actually does a better job of skimming. The only problem I have with my skimmer is that you have to clean or replace the "bubbler", but the skimmers you have mentioned have that same type of problem in there list of cons when being analyzed.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

Pulling out all of this "stuff" is not nessesaraly a good thing, that is one does not want things such as phytoplankton to be removed, and it does get removed, one would like it suspended in an aquarium pelagically like what happens in the ocean. I think that skimmers like yours would be unhealth for my aquarium inhabitants as a GaLLON a day is a bit much, right?

 

[Bubbashrimp]

What is wrong with debate about a product, I am not debating skimming v.s. no skimming, I am debating that RS is a good product a good mover if you will for a salt water store. I am sure that debate about a product happens all the time inside the mind of a store manager.

Yes, I am sayin that you should not over skim. The only thing I can think about that is its ocean equivallent would be the waves breaking upon the shore. But the rising tide would wash it all back into the ocean.

Conclusion: Red Sea is a wonderful product that works. Demographically speaking, it is more open to a diverse array of aquarium owners with its ease of use, functionality, and price. Sure a few customers will pay for more expensive skimmers(that can be easily ordered) but if I were stocking a shelf in a medium pet store I would stock it with Red Sea. I believe that this is common buisness sense.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

JennM

You said "For some unknown reason, in this area anyway, stores push "Stress Coat" like it was going out of style. It just gunks up the water. I'm sure it's good if you have an injured fish etc., (I carry Seachem's compatible product and it's better - no aloe, no scum)... but I break a lot of people of that habit - it's a waste of money, IMO."

Perhaps you will reconsider whether or not this product is a waste of money or for that matter why you think it is nessasary to break someones use of a good product like it was an illegal substance. Dr. Wood, a noted researcher on cephalopods(cuttlefish,octopus squid,natulis), must think it important enough to include it, by name, in a paragraph about cuttlefish husbandry. here is the paragraph:

Once you have captured your critter, place him in a cooler. If you are going to be near the ocean for a while, do some water changes, especially if your cephalopod inks. If your trip home is going to be more than a few hours long and you have room, take some extra containers full of sea water in case your ceph inks on the way. Running a portable air pump will help keep the oxygen levels up. Also, try to keep your cephalopod out of the sun - cooler water holds more oxygen plus your ceph will need less oxygen at lower temperatures. Products that scavenge ammonia and balance pH, such as Stress Coat, can be used to help keep the water quality stable. If you have to keep your cephalopod in a sealed container for more than 6 or so hours use oxygen.

I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY SOME OF YOU THINK THAT IT IS NESSESARY TO "PRODUCT BASH".

 

[Bubbashrimp]

I am not opposed to others having an opinion, Infact I was HAPPY to hear from a REAL store owner. Remember that what you said is an opinion, If we are to investigate the validity of something, lets do it. Claims such as "For some unknown reason..." Well maybe you should ask them why they push it or better yet do some research.

You could say "in my opinion it is not nessesary to eat or drink water" but just because it is used with the word OPINION does not make it right

of course they could have "plugged another product", it is not about the name it is about what the product does. You just happed to slander stress coat.

NOT EVERY ONE GETS MARINE INHABITANTS FROM A PET STORE!!!!!!!

When you use words such as "cumpuslion" you are clearly trying to make yours the SUPERIOR opinion...so who has the problem accepting others.

Qualified to answer what sells, yes, but in this case you discourage the sale.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

I come here to learn too, I believe that this place is a free exchange of ideas.

Allright, I accept your challenge. While most peoples problems are with the color matching i use the calcium test that does not rely upon color(except the changing of the end color). All that being said I have matched my API against Red SEA and have found similar results. If you have a problem with Red Sea as well I would be extremely interested. How long have your tests been sitting around? API warns that the shelf life of these products is limited. I agree that salifert is one of the better products, but it is not the best in terms of acctual tests one can do but in terms of the products one would buy from an aquarium store.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

5 years for a shelf life. I would use that product up before 5 years. Why pay the money for extended time if you do not need it? 0n average I probably blow through a "typical" test in about a year.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

You said "Wouldn't you rather use it up *before* it expired, rather than find it had expired before you finished it.

If it's got a five year shelf life and you use it in a year, you're laughing.

If it's got an 8 month shelf life but it takes you a year to use it up, you would have to replace it before it's used up.

That's my point."

I am not near my aquarium so I do not know how long the tests are actually valid for. I understand your point and it is a good one, however, I said "typically" so that is more or less. Whatever it is, I would reather be a couple of months off instead of 4 years and a couple of months(understanding that the data points at the end of the tests life are a bit squed).

What I really what to do is move toward digital. Right now the technology has not reached the marine aquarium world the way I want it to but hopefully it is coming. I know that there are individual testers that are digital, but I would like one that does all the testing at once i.e. one probe with continuous monitering. Futhermore, I would like it to be able to make plots in excel, communicate to you while away from home, and test for things more closer to what one might find in a marine aquarium. I do not know if these are possible though. The only thing that I found able to do this is a bit bulky. Check it out if you like, but I believe it is around $3000. This is my dream and I hope pinpoint, or who ever, start to manufacture something like this. And as a store owner maybe you could direct me to a place that already makes something like this.

http://www.eurekaenvironmental.com/manta/overview.htm

on another note:

Are you going to still discourage the use of stress coat(or the other product equivalent)? I hope not. Although, it does sound like there is some overusage in your part of the country, it is still a good product when use right.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

Yeh habib hangs out at RC

how long it has been sitting on the shelfs is important as well

 

[Bubbashrimp]

I would add Stress Coat to mine/your list. I am friends with a reef store owner who is realistic and ethical. So there is a way to sell this product with out being pushy(overdosage) or irrationally(unfounded predjudice) against it. I also know times might be hard with a $6000-$16,000/ month rent and one might have to get into other things for supplementary income(dog clothes) and if every dollar counts I would add this to your list. I also realize it is hard to be open to all things as a store owner once established, like another person here suggested. Dr. Wood seems to be a very ethical person with only education and research in the front of his mind. I will provide a link if you would like it to his web page were he diseminates this information to the public.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

Perhaps, if people understood the mortality rate of cuttlefish they might understand a bit better. Cuttlefish on average have about a 10% survival rate, YES I SAID 10%, thats conservative. That means for every cuttlefish that you see in aquaria 9 DIED trying to be that one. If we are to keep taking from the reefs without giving back, I say take all the precautions that are nessesary. Put yourself in the animals "shoes" if you will, what obstecles did it go through just so the aquarist can see a pretty cuttle or shrimp or fish or invert. I understand JennM concern about overdosing or even overusing and I am on her side as far as that is concerned, but to bash a product that has been suggested by a researcher to help is crazy. If you read the quote carefully he does not even say to use Stress Coat over another product. I use it when something is going wrong such as one fish injuring another and stabalizing the ph etc. I do not just blindly dump it in my tank like some of her old customers did at her old pet store. Besides what is wrong with a doctor recommending a product, in this case he recommended a product similar to stress coat or stress coat, I can see when the doctor might have a conflict of interest, but that does not seem to be the case. When you go to the doctor they recommend medicine and you have a choice brand name or generic, in any case they still recommend the medicine.

I contemplated about whether or not I should even write a response to this for fear of opening this particular can of worms again. Although, I do what to clarify my position on stress coat, which is why I am writing this, I do not want to do it hurting someones feelings or have them think that I am singleing them out.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

How come one moderator is asking an opinion while another moderator is telling me to lighten up

where are you going with this?

 

[Bubbashrimp]

I wrote a respose to your inquiry Doug1, but I decided agaist opening the can of worms again. I am going to listen to twitterbait, I believe he has my/our best interest at heart. I will happily send it to you but I do not know how.