Kick-Off to fall

Have you been neglecting your tank? well now is the time to get it ready for the holidays. We are continuing to get new livestock and trying new dealers in order to provide you with the best quality, selection, and value.

Sustainable Aquatics Compliments Mystic Reef's Lineup

We're proud to offer Sustainable Aquatics lineup of captive bred, as well as captive raised fish to our selection of livestock. We're very excited about this as it gives us another avenue to provide our customers with more appropriately suited tank raised livestock. This includes popular clownfish such as black and whites occelaris, "snowflakes," exotic and hard to come by latezonatus, and unique species such as captive bred lookdowns.

Sustainable Aquatics also captive "raises" many different fish caught from tiny juveniles in the wild. This allows them to offer a good diversity of fish including clowns, chromis, cardinals, tangs, even clown triggers and wrasse, all of which grow up on an aquarium diet.

We have long felt a more "sustainable" practice was needed for many of these fish, including the "hearty" yellow tang, which suffer very high mortality rates from reef to retail. We have 12 captive raised yellows coming in, as well as yellow eye, sailfin, clown triggers, leafy filefish, and some rabbits, all accustomed to aquarium life and diet! Be sure to stop in this weekend to see our full shipment of sustainable fish!

VERTEX PURATEK DELUXE 100 GPD RO/DI at Mystic Reef

Were proud to add another new product to our expanding lineup of premium reef equipment. These RO units are awesome, and their low 1/1 rejection ratio should help your conscience, plus they have more features than a new car.. :emot95: Vertex Deluxe 100GPD RO/DI features:

*Oil-filled pressure gauge

* Booster pump

* Completely automated back flush system

* Microprocessor controlled

*Low pressure switch to shut down the unit if source water is disrupted

*High pressure switch to shut down the unit if used with float or any other valve

*Clear Canisters

*100GPD GE membrane

*Pre-filter

*Carbon Block

*DI cartridge

*One year warranty on all parts and components (excluding filters , membrane and cartridges) No need to purchase any add-ons units are supplied with all necessary connection and extras.

The Water/ product water ratio for this unit is 1:1 or better ( temperature dependent). Reduce your system carbon foot-print by wasting less water and save money.

All puratek units are supplied with GE reverse osmosis membrane (100GPD) which is recognized by “water quality association” to be of the best quality materials and made in US.

Ecoxotic LED Lighting products at Mystic Reef

Mystic Reef Now carries Ecoxotic's lineup of fully linkable LED systems, from 12 watt panorama modules to stunner strips. You can get a whole new light setup, or retrofit your old one, add some moonlighting, or Mod your nano-cube.

We gutted an Aquapod 24 hood and replaced it with Panorama modules and stunner strips, and the results are awesome. Stop by today to check out how lights look on an actual display

New June '10 Releases from ORA: Blue Cespitularia and Blac Ice Semi-Snowflake

ORA has been very busy this year diversifying the lineup. While Clownfish are still the Hallmark fish of ORA, they are many new species in the works including Mandarins and Blue Assessors, as well as many other great captive raised fish and coral. This month they add another Designer Clownfish to the game, The Black Ice Semi-Snowflake Clown, a beautifully abberant cross bewteen a Black Ocellaris and Snowflake (which is also an Ocellaris variant, opposed to the Platinum, which stems from Picassso Percula genes.)

Here's what ORA had to say of their new release:

• "ORA is introducing another new clownfish variety this month. The Black Ice Semi-Snowflake (Amphiprion ocellaris) was created by crossing a Black Ocellaris with a Snowflake. We were really hoping to get a Black Snowflake but wound up with an orange one with ultra intense black markings. These guys have yellow-orange bodies with an irregular white zig zag in the mid-section. The thick black outlines really make the colors pop."

Available for about 1/3 the price of a Snowflake clown in limited quantities, these are sure to go fast. I have several extremely aberrant ORA clowns in my store, and I have to say they might be more beautiful than their near albino brethren. The characteristic cheek spine or eye dots and jagged markings make them very unique.

ORA's new coral release for the month is the Blue Cespitularia. This is a very welcome coral to the industry as soft corals gain popularity again within display tanks. I have been farming a garden variety Cespitularia, and it has been quite popular as this coral is rarely available, even in normal colors. This variety is absolutely stunning and one can imagine how nice it must look under reef lighting or LEDs. Tyrpically soft corals with such vivid coloration require a good amount of supplemental feeding, but you can be assured this ORA piece is well adapted to tank life.

"ORA now offers a unique variety of Blue Cespitularia which has a sparkly turquoise body and peachy-orange polyps. This variety differs from the African variety which has a darker blue and purple coloration. It is rare to find such a bright and beautiful soft coral that is photosynthetic and so easy to care for.

Blue Cespitularia, sometimes referred to as “Blue Xenia”, is one of the most sought after soft corals in the industry. The color and movement of this coral appeals to all types of reefers, and its peaceful nature and hardiness make it an easy addition to any reef tank.

Blue Cespitularia adapts to a variety of lighting conditions, but we have noticed the most intense coloration under lower light levels when compared to typical SPS requirements. So as always, we suggest starting this coral out on the tank bottom and gradually moving it up to the desired location. Our other observations show that this coral prefers moderate to high water current and spreads by sending out a foot-like projection which attaches on to a nearby rock or solid surface."

These, as well well as all of the other ORA favorites can be found at The Mystic Reef.

Adam Mullins to Speak at IEMAS meeting 4/2

Adam Mullins, Co-owner of The Mystic Reef, will be speaking at the April Inland Empire Marine Aquarium Society meeting Friday, April 2, at 7:00 pm.

The meetings are held at the IHOP next to Ontario Mills Mall off of Milliken.

Adam will be speaking and presenting photos on the subject of "Hitchhikers; the good, the bad, and the Ugly." the focus will be on desirable animals that sometimes hitch a ride with live rock or corals. In the case of some corals, hitchhikers offer a way to find and culture animals not commonly collected for the aquarium trade.

The Mystic Reef will also be donating several farm raised corals for the club raffle, including a fragment of the "Mystic Green Tubipora," which has been farmed from a tiny hitch-hiking mother colony.

If your in the Riverside area, I encourage you to make it out and support your local club, as well get current on the latest "reef talk"

Happy 2010! New Corals From Malaysia and West Africa now at The Mystic Reef

Red Malaysian Micro

Happy New Year!!! 2009 was a long year for many people, and everyone seemed to feel the effects of the economy at one point. Lots of interesting things happened in the hobby; new skimmers and lighting, new livestock availability, and, unfortunately, the closing of many businesses, in and outside the pet industry.

The pet industry, which is the broad umbrella that the aquarium industry falls under, is essentially an industry based on luxury. No one needs an aquarium, or parrot, or reptile, or whatever, we just live in a world where we are lucky enough to accommodate our wants. Sadly though, when things turn sour, ( which happens in a cyclical economy), luxury spending is the first to be put on hold, with good reason.

Its been sad to see the closing of many stores, less competition is nice, but it also means a lot less business at the wholesale level, driving costs up. Many people are amazed to find stores, of nearly any kind, surviving or doing well in these times. Not all is bad though, there are still plenty of people with steady jobs that are still deeply interested in their hobbies, which is great news as there has been plenty to keep them coming back for more, so to speak.

Another Malaysian Micro

One of the ways we have been able to stay afloat this long, despite people telling us from day one that we entered the business in the WORST possible time, is by being deeply involved in all facets of the hobby and trying to stay current with whats going on. We listen to what people want, what's new, what people need, and generally this is how we purchase things for our store.

If you've been to our store, you've probably noticed we are saltwater only, and nearly Reef tank only. We have a huge emphasis on corals and invertebrates, as its one of the most diverse "product lines" we can carry. This business started out as a passion, and therefore I still am very interested in everything I buy, I often say I started my store because I couldn't fit all of the various creatures, corals, and fish in the 7 tanks at my house.

So, to that end, it is one of my great interests to search out the best livestock I can come across for my store, whether it be tank raised from O.R.A, Vanuatu, Australia, Florida, or anywhere else. We work very hard to establish these connections, and we're happy to start 2010 with a few more.

Late 2009 saw some premium corals being imported from Malaysia and Borneo, which lies inside the infamous "Coral Triangle" which inlcudes Bali and the Solomon Islands, which is where much of our corals have been coming from in the past. This is exciting and there are sure to be plenty of new corals, along with unique color morphs and growth forms of well known corals. LPS corals will for sure be huge, and we've already seen amazing Blastomussa, Micromussa, and various other LPS including a large amount of Fungiids.

Once I heard about this, I had to get my hands on some, unfortunately I caught the tail end of the availability, as flight cancellations into and out of Malaysia have been making shipping difficult. Things should ease up as 2010 progresses and you can expect to see more of these great Malaysian corals in the next few weeks at The Mystic Reef.

Schizoculina africana

We also heard about some corals being shipped out of West Africa and worked hard to track down some for ourselves. While not exactly the most brightly colored coral to look at, African Schizoculina species are certainly unique, which is similar to a galaxy coral (galaxea) though we are still unsure of how aggressive they are towards other corals, and their exact environmental needs. I like this unique little brown coral, the fuzzy appearance of the translucent tentacles and large corallites make these coral a cool piece for sure.

They do appear photosynthetic, and will catch small foods, and thus far appear to be quite hearty. This should be just the beginning of new and interesting corals to hit the market from West Africa, we'll continue to keep you updated with more photos as we continue to receive new livestock from these and other great new locations.

Top Down of the Schizo

We are working hard to bring in new stock from new locations all over the world, 2010 is looking bright!