A Splash of Color - My SPS Peninsula Reef

[aggie13reef]

Thanks very much for the kind words my friend, i appreciate you taking the time to drop in and say hello
Is that your dog in your avvy, i need details and bigger pics please...... i love dachshund's. :thumbsup:

No problem at all! She was my wife's dog that she had when we met. Lost her last year unexpectedly, we did adopt another one though from a local shelter. Her name is Lily and she's 3 yrs old...

dachshunds really are the best :thumbsup:!!

 

[sahin]

 

[sahin]

Biggles, the tank is looking superb mate. :beer:

In one of the previous videos, you are showing the sump etc...what are is other mesh bag containing? One looks to contain GAC, but the other mesh bag looks to have white beads??? Is it seachem Phosguard? Or Something else? Thanks.

 

[Fishy 1]

Haha lol

Biggles, the tank is looking superb mate. :beer:

In one of the previous videos, you are showing the sump etc...what are is other mesh bag containing? One looks to contain GAC, but the other mesh bag looks to have white beads??? Is it seachem Phosguard? Or Something else? Thanks.

Sahin, that is biggles's secret acro growing, colour enhancing beads. So your apparent inability to keep colourful acros isn't really your fault, in fact biggles is cheating, thus making you look silly.:beer:

 

[sahin]

I'm working on colouring up the bloody acros mate...not working too well so far...maybe for 70% of the corals, rest are still turds. I need some of Biggles' Blue thumb Mojo thing...then my acros will colour up.

 

[Fishy 1]

Well at least you can keep the bloody things alive, I have failed thus far at doing that, but hopefully the digi will change that:lol:

 

[cFloor]

Biggles, thanks for posting that vid. Very enjoyable watch. Everything is looking so good! What are you filming with? I tried getting some with my iPhone and everything looks far to blue.

I'm working on colouring up the bloody acros mate...not working too well so far...maybe for 70% of the corals, rest are still turds. I need some of Biggles' Blue thumb Mojo thing...then my acros will colour up.

You're being way too hard on yourself. Your corals look great, especially considering what they've gone through lately.

 

[Scotty freddy]

Tank is looking awesome my friend! Keep up the good work

 

[Mike de Leon]

Time to subscribe!

 

[biggles]

It looks very open and free. I do like the way it looks as it shows that less in some cases is actually a lot more. By the way I lowered my intensity to see what my Sps look like in 30 days

It will be interesting to see how your acros respond to the lowered intensity Michael, it might take a few months before they adjust to the drop so don't rush to any conclusions mate.

Great videos Andrew, I always look forward to the videos ....

but why is it the next video queued up for me is Diversity & Inclusion "“ Love Has No Labels?

Are they trying to tell me something about my viewing habits, or yours? Next video after that is how to clean a grotech doser. :uhoh3:

So in the spirit of diversity and inclusion ... I love Montipora digitata, so the monti haters can go pound sand.

Lol, ytube is weird for me too Mark although yesterday i got fish farming in the cue and ended up watching a 30 min vid .....

Awesome videos Biggles! You definitely achieved your goal of making the scape look like little bommies sprouting out from the sand. Will look incredible once those corals grow into big colonies!

Thanks very much mate, it should look good hopefully once everything grows in.

thanks mate for the videos, let me know: under the corals there's a big rock and then you glue little rock&coral above the big rock, is it right? In this case at first I've to find some big rocks to place in the bottom and then go up with corals

I used a few pieces that were larger as bases and attached smaller pieces just as you see. I wanted the stags on higher rocks to emphasize the contrast between all the horizontal growing acros i have etc.

No problem at all! She was my wife's dog that she had when we met. Lost her last year unexpectedly, we did adopt another one though from a local shelter. Her name is Lily and she's 3 yrs old...

dachshunds really are the best :thumbsup:!!

Lily is super cute mate, thanks for the pics. Miniature dachshunds were our family pets my entire childhood so they will always be my favorite dogs

Biggles, the tank is looking superb mate.

In one of the previous videos, you are showing the sump etc...what are is other mesh bag containing? One looks to contain GAC, but the other mesh bag looks to have white beads??? Is it seachem Phosguard? Or Something else? Thanks.

Thanks mate, yes it's a standard bag of phosguard although i cut the bag open and pour the granules into my own nylon mesh bag for safety.

Well at least you can keep the bloody things alive, I have failed thus far at doing that, but hopefully the digi will change that:lol:

Get yourself a stylo Rory as they're super easy to keep happy and colorful - don't get pocil as that stuff grows in toilet cisterns so it's not a good SPS ready coral at all. I hate pocil, not that you can tell............

Biggles, thanks for posting that vid. Very enjoyable watch. Everything is looking so good! What are you filming with? I tried getting some with my iPhone and everything looks far to blue.

I use my phone but i post process the video. I can show you a very simple tutorial using a freeware video editing program that is super easy to use (Sahin will still need his pet monkey to help him...) and will let you make simple changes to your videos so the colors are more realistically portrayed.

Remember this video



It's not perfect but at least you can see the different colors better now

Tank is looking awesome my friend! Keep up the good work

Thanks very much Scotty

Time to subscribe!

Thanks for dropping in Mike

 

[sahin]

Thanks mate, yes it's a standard bag of phosguard although i cut the bag open and pour the granules into my own nylon mesh bag for safety.

Thanks mate. Since when have you been using Phosguard? How do you rate Aluminium based PO4 removers over the Iron based ones?

I use my phone but i post process the video. I can show you a very simple tutorial using a freeware video editing program that is super easy to use (Sahin will still need his pet monkey to help him...) and will let you make simple changes to your videos so the colors are more realistically portrayed.

Remember this video



It's not perfect but at least you can see the different colors better now

Biggles, I didnt read anything about earthquakes in Australia this month...you recorded this during a small quake? I think the peak of the tremor was around 16 secs into the video...and possibly 5.6 on the richter scale...

 

[biggles]

Thanks mate. Since when have you been using Phosguard? How do you rate Aluminium based PO4 removers over the Iron based ones?

Biggles, I didnt read anything about earthquakes in Australia this month...you recorded this during a small quake? I think the peak of the tremor was around 16 secs into the video...and possibly 5.6 on the richter scale...

I've been using it for about 3 months now and i've mentioned it a number of times lol. Tested phos today for you and it's at 0.02 so i think it works fine as a phos remover.

That was when i trod on Kevin and it took a bit to keep him pinned to the floor, he got away eventually so i fed Potatohead.........

This little thing is starting to color up.

During the twilight hours the dominant Lyretail looks on with murderous envy at the Randall's beautiful tail........

I'm going to stick this milli on the rock between the stupid hairy blue thing and the pale branch that's starting to color up. It will point away from those two and i'll take a few pics of the process.

If you saw my fluoro table in person Sahin i think you'd change your mind about greens..........:beer:

 

[Dummyforclownfi]

I am missing where you talked about what lights you're using.

 

[biggles]

I am missing where you talked about what lights you're using.

I use Radium bulbs with T5's - ATI B+ & Coral+ tubes. I also have a 81W blue LED bar. 11 hours T5's and LED bar and 8 hours halides.

I was going to show you the new tri color acro i got which is all faded and gacky looking atm so you can see it color up but then i noticed the cyano had attracted a cyano reef frog.
If you keep flubber that looks like a lilly pad you're going to come across these pests sooner or later. :deadhorse1:

I use all this stuff when i play with the acros :spin3:

Imagine waking up tied to a chair with that spread out before you. :uhoh3:

 

[mhucasey]

I use Radium bulbs with T5's - ATI B+ & Coral+ tubes. I also have a 81W blue LED bar. 11 hours T5's and LED bar and 8 hours halides.

I was going to show you the new tri color acro i got which is all faded and gacky looking atm so you can see it color up but then i noticed the cyano had attracted a cyano reef frog.
If you keep flubber that looks like a lilly pad you're going to come across these pests sooner or later. :deadhorse1:

I use all this stuff when i play with the acros :spin3:

Imagine waking up tied to a chair with that spread out before you. :uhoh3:

I hear there is an in-tank treatment for cyano frogs these days

Your tools are far to dirty for a professional torturer, though...

 

[martinphillip03]

Biggles, Your the Dr. Christiaan Barnard of SPS keeping.

Marty

I use all this stuff when i play with the acros :spin3:

Imagine waking up tied to a chair with that spread out before you. :uhoh3:

 

[biggles]

I hear there is an in-tank treatment for cyano frogs these days

Your tools are far to dirty for a professional torturer, though...

I know snakes eat frogs so i'm thinking i might need to chuck a 6ft sea snake in the display for a while to clean up the frogs. Just need to convince Kevin to go catch me one.........

Biggles, Your the Dr. Christiaan Barnard of SPS keeping.

Marty

The key to success is my double black coffee dip that the frags all go through Marty :beer:


The piece was stuck on the back of the last island i made so i never got to see it unless i went around to the wiring bramble bush side of the display. I used my trusty chisel to pry it loose.

Snipped a lot of the old putty off with the rusty bonsai branch cutters.

Used the dremel to make a concave base on the frag as it was going on a curved surface rock face, also sliced cuts in the base for the glue to grab better.

1/3 black 5 min putty and 2/3 white slow cure putty gives me a fast curing pale grey putty once mixed.

Putty is mixed and ready to go so i squirted super glue gel on the base before placing the putty blob on it.

Put the putty onto the glue covered base and then put more super glue gel on the bottom of the putty ready to stick it onto the rock.

Used one of my pipe props to rest the acro on while the glue and putty set rock hard. It's fine to remove after 5 mins as the acro is well and truly locked into place by then.

 

[aggie13reef]

Biggles I really like the step by step pictures of the placement process. Learn more and more from this thread every day! Looking at all these colors is awesome. Then I look over at my tank and see my brown stylo....

 

[Ancelot]

Hey biggles, just clarifying, phosguard you're referring to the Seachem phosguard I reckon?

 

[biggles]

Biggles I really like the step by step pictures of the placement process. Learn more and more from this thread every day! Looking at all these colors is awesome. Then I look over at my tank and see my brown stylo....

I'm glad you got something out of it mate, i think a lot of us take for granted that everyone knows what we're talking about when we describe stuff but seeing pics always makes things crystal clear. The glue/putty/glue method is as easy as the pics show and works very well. I turn off any pumps that blow towards the spot where i'm going to place an acro if it needs propping. If i'm sticking something small or not hanging it horizontally i just stick it down as gravity keeps it in place while the putty sets.
A big tip when you stick it down is to touch and rub the super glue gel gently against the rocks where it's going until you pull it away 1/2" and there's stringy glue connecting the rock and putty base together - like chewing gum on your shoe on a hot summers day. The glue forms a tough skin as soon as it hits the water and even pushing the putty hard onto the rocks doesn't always break the skin so mash it around a bit and keep checking until you see a bit of glue looking like chewing gum on your shoe. I'll take a couple of pics next time so you see what i mean. If you're using just super glue gel on a small frag make sure you rub it on the spot a bit so you know the super glue gel has taken to the rock rather than forming over it with the skin unbroken.
Watch you skimmer after using glues and putties as they can cause over foaming if you do a lot at one time. If one or two i don't worry but any more and i turn the skimmer down and empty the cup just in case it still goes stupid on me and the cup over runs with foam.

Hey biggles, just clarifying, phosguard you're referring to the Seachem phosguard I reckon?

Sorry mate i checked the name and it's a 150ml pouch of phos-zorb i use each month.


I have lots of cool cyano atm, the blue tang blew up with ich the day after i transferred everything and most of the fish went down with it so i was feeding 7-8 times a day for a couple of weeks. I lost one lyretail but all the fish pulled through. The royal gramma was lying on the sand at one point and the little male clown stopped eating for 3 days, i was squirting mysis directly over him with the turkey baster for days lol.
Soon after starting to cut the food right back i added a pair of zebra dartfish (super cool) and a copperband. The dartfish are already eating from my fingers but the yellow tang has been a total jerk and constantly chasing the copperband. I haven't seen him eat anything i put in the tank, he ignores everything and only feeds on the rocks - that's when the yellow tang isn't being a bully. I actually shoved my arm in the display a few times the first day to swat the tang away from the copperband, he was trying cut the fish with his razor - once again i fed a lot hoping to see the copperband eat but it still won't and the cyano is getting annoying so the food is going back to 3 times a day.

The left end has only B+ on while the right end has a B+, C+ and aquablue special on. No color editing so you can see what the phone sees.



I tried to adjust the balance a bit but it's not great lol, at least you can see more contrast with the blue turned down but i might have gone too far i think.