A Splash of Color - My SPS Peninsula Reef

[biggles]

Sweet video! Loving the new fish. Where's the navarchus? I really like the pink margin wrasse. I miss the one I had in my previous tank.

The Majestic angel has to be ordered but trust me it's going in I even bought some more zoas for it to eat

After watching that Im feeling a little queasy:spin2:....reef looks fantastic though. Its like the Bourne Identity meets a BBC nature documentary...

You see that Atty, Matt gets it ! I knew i should have used the Moby soundtrack :deadhorse1:

Nice video, corals are all looking good and I like the fish. Keeping stags at the bottom will look pretty cool I think. I try (but many times fail) to not put them in the tank because they grow so damn big so quickly. I'll throw them in my tanks in the beginning when there is nothing but little frags just for their growth, but I always seem to regret it a year later.

Thanks Joe, i'm not doing it now mate. You basically ruined the whole thing for all of us tbh......... i realised what you said made sense and all the open areas between the islands would be filled in quickly.

I grabbed this off the video because the yellow tang looks super cool in this still.

I can't seem to get that video to work.. I'll try from a computer....
You have access to the craziest acros, Andrew. It's nuts. somehow you manage to make them even more pastel and girly than they were to begin with!!
I applaud you, Queen Of The Acros!!
I am not going to use your nocturnal skimmate dump method (That's the NSD method.. For when it gets popular and we are looking for a name) until I have lower nutrients, I assure you. At the moment, besides plenty of frozen food for the fish and plenty of reef roids, I also add freshly juiced garden vegetables and Dairy Queen Oreo blizzards.
Well maybe the last two I am eating while feeding the fish but some may spill into the tank...
Generally, I am probably feeding too much. Gotta find that balance between keeping the fish and coral happy and not overdoing it.. I seem to always tend towards overdoing it.

I'm glad you're not doing it now Matt, you really need to have your nutrients squared away before you do crazy stuuf like me

Right, I can't get anything like that here. Obviously Biggles found the right guy to harass at the LFS into getting decent SPS.

I didn't look at the acros closely when i went to Williamstown aquarium because i wanted to spend my play money on fish. After picking out my four new wrasse i joined Cameron the fish guru at the counter ready to pay and leave. It was at this point that Cameron put on the high pressure sales hat and basically bullied me into having another look at the acro tank. ' No acros today ? '
Now i took that as ' go and get an acro or you're not having these fish '.

I have ignored very similar blue pieces like this a few times but this one has blue polyps and if an acro has blue polyps and doesn't look great in your tank - it's your fault 100%. Blue polyps = winner.

It's only pastel because it's stressed i think, you can see how pale it looks in this pic. You can see the blue polyps hiding on the left side in the pic, not just the axial ones but all the radial ones as well. It has blue pigment all the way down some branches so i should be able to have it looking all blue hopefully. It's an actual intact colony not a broken off branch so when you add all that stuff up a reefer would have to be a complete knob not to be able to have the acro looking half decent.
If you see an acro like i describe it's not really a case of 'if' it will look cool, it's how cool will it look. If you put this piece in your tank and could see what i can up close i'm sure you'd agree with me Joe

No one is to call me a knob if i kill it................

 

[biggles]

You definitely mentioned it. That's when I first tried it, but didn't notice much difference at first when it was just my algae over run tank. But once I started vinegar dosing, all of the sudden the favids were going nuts feeding and the sps started having great pe and started to grow and look the best they ever have when I would scrub at night before bed.

So I raise my cup tho you sir for sharing your great mind ;-)

I'm going to keep up with this practice. The sps especially seem to love when I remove the bacteria film from the glass each night.

I occasionally try your NDS method on accident. My skimmer can be finicky. It will be dialed in perfect for a week. Then I check it a few days later and its bubbling over the cup back into the sump. A quick empty and adjustment and I'm back to removing gunk. Not exactly planned at the ideal time. But it happens on occasions.

I'm looking forward to the biggles/Kevin joint production on plumbing and placement choices. I appreciate your thoughts. I picked up some pvc pieces to start working on my new plumbing soon.

And I've now got a green pocci and Bali green slimer on my sand bed. They had been in shadows under the arch for 4 days. I'll leave them on the sand until this weekend, hopefully they are still looking good then and can start to work their way up the rockwork. They are in the "let's determine a placement process" behind a pink monti cap (my oldest/healthiest sps) and a green Monti spongodes that's a few weeks old and 1/2 way up the tank now.

Super excited to hear about the biggles placement rules soon. I could use some experience and tips on how to plan for things to grow in and how it's decided if a piece is in a good spot (where you choose you wanted it) off if it's unhappy and would like a different spot in the tank better.

Anyway, I'll be interested in your thoughts on you methods.

The tank vid looked great, lots of dlp's in there now, but the corals are still looking tops. I'm excited to be getting some new colorful fish to add in soon as well!

Hey Troub, what fish are you thinking about mate. I saw the filament wrasse hiding in the rocks today so it's still alive so far.
I have all the corals selected for the new island, flubber might also be used in a couple of spots. I cut a piece of 1/4" acrylic sheet as well which i'll use. I have the perfect acro to show you exactly why the way you place an acro can make it eye catching rather than just nicely colored.

Very nice Andrew. Are you planning to put sand back in?

Most definitely Greg, what's the point of halides if you're not bouncing light off the sand

The same goes with the milk and honey guys. Corals simply don't have the digestive enzymes to break down lipids that are that large. Nice idea, not going to happen.

I haven't figured out how to stop the bees drowning in my skimmer cup otherwise i'd be dosing that whilst milking a cow directly over the return pump.........

I appreciate your input mate, everyone should be very cautious when reading the techniques of others. I would describe my own reefing method as Berlin meets Evil Knievel

 

[troubadour11]

Hey Troub, what fish are you thinking about mate. I saw the filament wrasse hiding in the rocks today so it's still alive so far.
I have all the corals selected for the new island, flubber might also be used in a couple of spots. I cut a piece of 1/4" acrylic sheet as well which i'll use. I have the perfect acro to show you exactly why the way you place an acro can make it eye catching rather than just nicely colored.



Most definitely Greg, what's the point of halides if you're not bouncing light off the sand

Ha-ha, yay... no mode bare-bottom-biggles! Well soon enough anyway it sounds like. ;-) I like at least a bit of sand personally, but to each is own. Although Kevin keeps pm-ing me and hinting that the bare-bottom is the key to the mysterious midnight acro-dance... I told him I didn't want to see the photographic evidence he was offering.

We are going to add in a harem of McCosker's Flasher Wrasse. We've already ordered them and are waiting on their arrival at the lfs. We're waiting on 3 females and 1 male that we can put through qt all together.

I'm glad you caught sight of your filamented wrasse. Good to know it's still in there :thumbs up: I'm excited for this harem of wrasse. I've never kept wrasses yet, so it will be something brand new for us!

Still looking forward to biggles reef class... this weekend I hear it might be featuring plumbing and new island coral placement methodologies. Wondering what you'll do with the acrylic sheet... Flubber placement is welcome too. I have my share of that since I'm doing a mixed reef.

Do you worry about "ease of fragging" in the future when it comes to placement with your flubber? Things like acans and favias, I expect are difficult to frag. Though I've never done it or seen it done yet. Especially if it's on a large rock and needs to be done in the tank?

Although with your rock scapes, I'm guessing it's fairly easy to get things moved around to frag if need.?.?

I have rock towers and worry about attaching things like favias, blastos, etc to any of the large pieces for fear of them growing and taking over the tower because I can't get it out to frag or something.

What sps would you vote I try next? Pink monti cap, spongodes, green slimer, and green pocci seem good right now. I've been going extremely slow with them. I've got a purple stylo that lost 2/3rds of its skin and may still try to recover. It hasn't gotten worse in weeks, but not really better at all either. I might try a did I again if I see one...

 

[glaukos]

what can i say...tank looks awesome andrew:inlove:
Will check the thread a few pages back because i see/read a lot of changes

I see your passion for greens belong to the past :beer:

 

[reefmutt]

Did I really read somebody write 'bare bottom biggles'?? (Troubadour, I'm not naming any names)
How am I supposed to get that image out of my head??
It was hard enough trying to wipe his midnight acro dance... But now I gotta deal with that AND 'bare bottom biggles'
That's just too much biggles....

 

[reefmutt]

By the way, reefvet, thanks for providing 'the other side of the coin'
Caution is certainly in order.
Your input was duly noted and your info was very helpful..

 

[reefmutt]

:bounce3::celeb1::celeb1:Now...
Let's see a video of the Biggles bare bottom midnight skimmer dump acro dance!!!!!
Woohoo!!

 

[sahin]

:bounce3::celeb1::celeb1:Now...
Let's see a video of the Biggles bare bottom midnight skimmer dump acro dance!!!!!
Woohoo!!

:uhoh3: :facepalm: :uhoh3:

I'd be very careful what you wish for. Such imagery could leave us traumatised. :eek1:

Where is Bello when you need him? With Bello around Biggles wouldn't dare put up such a video. :debi:

Any Andrew mate, Will watch your last tank video when I get home tomorrow. Wifi access isn't the best for YT.

 

[Thle009]

What's your lighting setup?

 

[biggles]

Alright i made a start on the videos but it's bloody hard to video with one hand and have your arm in the tank at the same time lol. I bumped the camera off 3/4 of the way through so had to join two vids to finish the in tank bit. :spin3:

We call that editing in the movie business........ :reading:

<iframe width="854" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wwKPNAAqkrk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Next video will be on the kitchen bench.

 

[Michael B]

What a fantastic thread & tank - thank you for sharing

 

[shih87]

Alright i made a start on the videos but it's bloody hard to video with one hand and have your arm in the tank at the same time lol. I bumped the camera off 3/4 of the way through so had to join two vids to finish the in tank bit. :spin3:

We call that editing in the movie business........ :reading:

<iframe width="854" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wwKPNAAqkrk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Next video will be on the kitchen bench.

Love the video, but you breath heavily :lolspin:

Your coral looks great, and it is obvious that your fish love you ;-)

 

[biggles]

We are going to add in a harem of McCosker's Flasher Wrasse. We've already ordered them and are waiting on their arrival at the lfs. We're waiting on 3 females and 1 male that we can put through qt all together.

That harem of flasher wrasse sound awesome Troub, you won't regret it i'm sure.
I don't ever worry about being able to frag anything tbh, i just place it where i want it to go within reason. Moving things can be easy if they haven't been in place long enough to grab the rock hard but the longer you leave it the harder it gets obviously. I would try the green slimer and a monti if i were you mate as both are relatively easy to keep.

what can i say...tank looks awesome andrew
Will check the thread a few pages back because i see/read a lot of changes

I see your passion for greens belong to the past:beer:

Thanks Mike, nice to hear from you buddy. I still have a few green bits here and there lol.

Now...
Let's see a video of the Biggles bare bottom midnight skimmer dump acro dance!!!!!
Woohoo!!

You never know what Kevin and i might get up to Matt.......

:facepalm: I'd be very careful what you wish for. Such imagery could leave us traumatised.

Where is Bello when you need him? With Bello around Biggles wouldn't dare put up such a video. :debi:

Any Andrew mate, Will watch your last tank video when I get home tomorrow. Wifi access isn't the best for YT.

Hi mate, hope you and the family had a great time

What's your lighting setup?

I have a 250W and 400W Radium along with blue plus and coral plus T5's.

What a fantastic thread & tank - thank you for sharing

Thanks very much Michael

Love the video, but you breath heavily :lolspin:

Your coral looks great, and it is obvious that your fish love you ;-)

It's heavy work shooting a doco mate, there's the camera gear, lighting, refreshments for the cast and crew....... i have to cart all that stuff around the lounge room.
My fish make the display :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

Part two of the video on making the little island. All went without drama although Goliath tried to make a run for it across the bench and had to be manually returned to his stylo lol.
I delivered the closing line with quite a flourish.......... it's pure narrator gold....

<iframe width="854" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h016sfH0rUo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[M007]

Nicely done, thanks for the videos :artist:

 

[sahin]

Awesome videos mate. :thumbsup: I heard some remark about the Flipper Magnet, but since the videos were so damn good I will let you off matey.

Kevin was not so useful as usual. :hammer:

The holiday was amazing. We all had fun.

What's happening with the bare bottomed tank business? Do you have a tray of sand for the wrasse? When is the sand going in?

 

[Wrangy]

Easily the best thread going round Darth Acro :strooper: You certainly have quite the eye for aquascaping which is something I definitely aspire to but it's still a little beyond me getting it from my head to the rocks :spin2:

Looks like I might even copy your lighting too, the right MH/T5 hybrid unit has come up for sale second-hand and I'm jumping on it! It's something I've always wanted to try :reading: where do you get the radium bulbs from?? I've heard so much about them so my interest is definitely peaked it trying one out too






Just for some background... :hmm5:

Address me as Darth Acro from now on please Wrangy or i'll do that finger strangle thing to your acros.....

 

[biggles]

Nicely done, thanks for the videos :artist:

Thanks mate

Awesome videos mate. :thumbsup: I heard some remark about the Flipper Magnet, but since the videos were so damn good I will let you off matey.

Kevin was not so useful as usual. :hammer:

The holiday was amazing. We all had fun.

What's happening with the bare bottomed tank business? Do you have a tray of sand for the wrasse? When is the sand going in?

Glad you had a good holiday my friend.
There's a pile of sand against the overflow wall i left in for the fish to sleep in. I want to get more live rock for the sump and organise some new sand so it won't be going in soon.

Looks like I might even copy your lighting too, the right MH/T5 hybrid unit has come up for sale second-hand and I'm jumping on it! It's something I've always wanted to try :reading: where do you get the radium bulbs from?? I've heard so much about them so my interest is definitely peaked it trying one out too

I have a six month old 250W Radium bulb you can run for another 3 months without a problem so you can see if you like it mate. If it turns out that your acros color up better than mine i will not be telling you where i get them from :thumbsup:


This is the third night in a row the filamented wrasse has wound up sleeping in the overflow. Every morning i scoop him out but he likes to hide out there and is obviously a filamentus cowardissus wrasseri species.
If he does it again i will be employing my patented 'The Shark' technique to discourage this behavior and make the display full of bully boy fish appear a much safer place than the overflow.

Kenny Rogers "“ Coward Of The County

 

[Wrangy]

I have a six month old 250W Radium bulb you can run for another 3 months without a problem so you can see if you like it mate. If it turns out that your acros color up better than mine i will not be telling you where i get them from :thumbsup:

That would be amazing and incredibly appreciated! :lol2: I'll be sure to edit the photo's down so you'll never know then :fun5:

This is the third night in a row the filamented wrasse has wound up sleeping in the overflow. Every morning i scoop him out but he likes to hide out there and is obviously a filamentus cowardissus wrasseri species.
If he does it again i will be employing my patented 'The Shark' technique to discourage this behavior and make the display full of bully boy fish appear a much safer place than the overflow.

Kenny Rogers "“ Coward Of The County

He's an absolute stunner though! Even if "The Shark" may be required for attitude adjustments!

 

[sahin]

Darth Acro...? Kevin must be the little yoda thing...A very unlikely friendship you have there...and I'm sure a while ago you mentioned playing with T5 tube light sabres... :uhoh3: