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What did you learn at the Charles Delbeek meeting?

Lyn

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Please tell me what you learned at the meeting with Charles Delbeek. I REALLY wanted to go, but had a wedding to attend out of state. I am dying, not knowing all the pearls of wisdom you garnered from him. Please enlighten me!!! :)
 
A video Jay?! You mean Charles wasn't just teasing me about filming it? Yahoo! :D

Thanks! I eagerly await... :bigsmile:
 
I learned that Charles is a very down to earth guy, great sence of humor, dislikes Rich with a passion and values every word that streams from my mouth when it comes to reefkeeping :bigsmile:
 
Haha!!!

Actually, there was some good info about packing/shipping corals, like:

- If you're floating a frag in a container use a big piece of styro so the coral doesn't make contact with the container
- Get the coral to slime before packing by letting it sit outside the take for 20-30 mins (yes, coral out of water for that long).
 
cwolfus said:
- If you're floating a frag in a container use a big piece of styro so the coral doesn't make contact with the container
- Get the coral to slime before packing by letting it sit outside the take for 20-30 mins (yes, coral out of water for that long).

Actually, if you want to ship xenia, triple de-sliming plus styrofoam float is the way to go. I wouldn't do 20-30 minutes though. Might work better for a production facility where there's a ton of water and humidity.
 
He also talked about dry/damp shipping corals.

He didn't mention zoas, but I've done damp shipping by priority mail for zoas.

I wasn't so concerned about shipping weight for zoas, but I did the damp shipping for better oxygen exchange.

He mentioned one drawback to damp shipping was less temperature stability.

What can work is to put the water in a separate bag in the same container, so you have thermal mass.

That way you get the best of both worlds... temperature stability and decent oxygen levels for extended shipping duration.

Worked well enough to get zoas from here to New York by US mail in a 95 degree heat wave.
 
Wow, neat! :) Speaking of Zoas Norm, I took your advice to open the top of my canopy and the once closed zoas are now open. :) :) Thanks! :D

Does damp shipping mean you just toss the zoa in a bag without water or anything?
 
Cool on the zoas, Sherri.

Re shipping... the way I've done it is to put the zoas on a scrap of styrofoam and wrap with a layer of paper towel secured with rubber bands. Use a towel that doesn't fall apart when wet.

Dampen the towel with some tank water, and stick that inside a plastic bag. Splash some water in the bag too, and close it all up with a large volume of air.

The water inside the bag equilibrates with its vapor, so the coral doesn't dry out. The thin layer of water on the coral facilitates gas exchange with the large volume of air in the bag.
 
I learned the next time my girlfriend tries to guilt trip me that it would be romantic to go up to the Fort Ross area that I should fire back that taking along another friend from her class for a field trip and having her barfing in a bag the entire ride home just get me hotter than July in Alabama.
 
Sounds fun Mike. Was that the 1 or did you not do the full coastal route?

Norm's right, I wouldn't de-slime as long in our cooler less humid environments. Temp is a key factor and we don't have nearly the same temp as HI :)
 
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