A Splash of Color

[biggles]

Interesting I don't remember seeing snails in any of your pictures. I must have been distracted by all the acros. Your post about having a really high snail population has got me thinking I need to add more snails since I only have about 50 in my 180gal

Most of the snails huddle under the rocks out of the direct light during the day. I often amuse myself (doesn't take a lot) by grabbing a few big snails from the sump where they are colored dark purple with coralline and drop them onto the sand in the display. Next day you see these snow white all over bleached snails lol......... give snail bleaching a try :wave:
If your 180 is at least a year old it should have hundreds of snails by now imo mate, all my systems have been snail breeding factories.

Just a reminder, Thursday Night Acro club meeting at Daves. In around 6 hours. maybe Dom can pick you up. Be careful if he has a cup of coffee for you.
This just in, Premium Aquatics is having a contest. Here is the link. You should have no problems winning.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2600569

Marty

I don't do Thursday nights Marty............ you know that.......... :twitch:

Thanks Andrew I will definitely give that a try sounds like a positive thing to do. What species of snail is it that spawn in your tank I'm interested in adding some more snails.
Big thanks again.

I have no idea what the snails are but i'll get a photo of some for you. They're the little round shell type - same shape as a garden snail shell.

When one casts an eye from a tank illuminated by a pair of 400W radiums to a frag tank below, illuminated by only T5's it's like looking from the ocean to a dimly lit swamp. I don't want anyone who uses T5's as their main lighting to take offense but in future if you see me use the term 'sps swamp rats' - i'm referring to T5's users :love1:

I am not wasting a 250W dragon breath bulb over a frag tank, i'm not made of money so i just can't afford to run another halide when it's to grow frags i don't charge for anyway.......... what to do, what to do :crazy1:

Scenario

Frag tank 30" x 24" x 14" - water height is 10".

Problem

Don't like swap lights but can't justify also running a 250W radium over a simple frag tank.

Solution

Change the word ' Frag ' to the words ' Delicate Deepwater Display ' when describing the sump section in question.

Nailed it...........:smokin:

 

[Enrysps]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Head cam - good thinking Christian, both hands free to collect. [emoji106]

Have you seen that new shark doco - ' The Shallows ' by any chance mate ? A guy was wearing a head cam in that and he had both hands free to do whatever he wanted with them.......... didn't make much difference in the end...... BUT, and this is important - the helmet AND the camera survived 'the event' totally intact !

Despite coming at the problem from two different directions we both arrived at the same conclusion - a helmet cam is a win win idea mate. [emoji106]



Hi Justin, it happened to me when i had pieces similar to the little pale aqua blue caroliniana that bleached almost to white. When that happens i instinctively place a piece in low light so zoa will populate and supply nutrition needed. This is when the typical green tinge begins and that's when i place the piece back into higher light. If you give it enough light it will produce the highlight pigment again. Trouble is by then i hate it so much i won't give the piece a prime light spot because that's where all the crazy looking stuff goes..........

In short, if it had other pigments that are no longer visible you should move it if it's now growing happily without them. Acros in the wrong flow can lose color but still grow. You may be waiting for a color to return that will never come simply because it's not needed by the acro. This is assuming you have no probs pulling any color pigments on your other stuff.
If 40 are looking good to great and one or two look ordinary, don't be an idiot like we all have been at one time or another and mess with anything chasing those couple of duds. If nothing changes after a couple of months just move them into higher light or take a frag now and place it in higher light to see what it does. If it remains green then get used to it or replace it........ :blown:

The frags i took from one of Dom's pieces are starting to look cool. That's about as close to yellow as i ever get btw :deadhorse1:

Hey Andrew,
Here is a link from this weeks dive from 18m to 22m deep
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

 

[biggles]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Hey Andrew,
Here is a link from this weeks dive from 18m to 22m deep
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

Talk about a field of acro dreams.............. damn that's one hell of an acro reef Christian, thanks heaps for making the video for us mate :beer:

You know if you skip every second breath you could stay down twice as long and collect twice as many goodies.......... :reading:

 

[Enrysps]

Lol i don't use tanks

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

 

[Enrysps]

Lol i don't use tanks

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

We use a air compressor with 100m lines when we dive that was only 2% of that reef its really beautiful in person i lose myself down there ... if i had a air tank on my back i would never find my way back to the boat.... and run out of air
Christian

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

 

[biggles]

Hose guy hey.............. :twitch:

I lost count of the number of spots you could wedge a dry ice bomb on that reef, where did you end up placing the wired shut Milo tin Chris ?

And don't give us the old ' i don't use dry ice bombs ' - Dave already let the cat out of the bag...........:blown:

 

[Geeray]

Most of the snails huddle under the rocks out of the direct light during the day. I often amuse myself (doesn't take a lot) by grabbing a few big snails from the sump where they are colored dark purple with coralline and drop them onto the sand in the display. Next day you see these snow white all over bleached snails lol......... give snail bleaching a try :wave:
If your 180 is at least a year old it should have hundreds of snails by now imo mate, all my systems have been snail breeding factories.
:

Tank has been running for 3 years. For some reason most of the snails available in North American don't readily reproduce in an aquarium. Sounds like not only are your acros nicer but your snails are better as well...

When are you going to be releasing the BSC - Biggles Snail Coefficient?

 

[gregkn73]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Hey Andrew,
Here is a link from this weeks dive from 18m to 22m deep
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

Acro......jungle, nice place.......working

 

[biggles]

Tank has been running for 3 years. For some reason most of the snails available in North American don't readily reproduce in an aquarium. Sounds like not only are your acros nicer but your snails are better as well...

When are you going to be releasing the BSC - Biggles Snail Coefficient?

It's a work in progress mate....:thumbsup:

Now............ :reading:

The little A. caroliniana is happy and has the same PE during lights on. He's too white to photograph without the exposure blowing up so i took a pic tonight to show you the different areas of pigment.

Low down in the middle where it's very bright whitish is actual true bleached areas - no more than about 5% of the entire acro.

The surrounding pale tissue which has an almost pink glow at night is where the zoa are still present but in very low numbers compared to normal - about 10% of the acro.

Every other part you see that looks pale grey blue is the color we will hopefully see return and then some, just as it had at 23 meters a couple of weeks ago when Christian found it hiding in the deep....... :beer:

 

[wheelman76]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Hey Andrew,
Here is a link from this weeks dive from 18m to 22m deep
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

Thanks for the video Christian , that was awesome!!!

 

[wheelman76]

Tank has been running for 3 years. For some reason most of the snails available in North American don't readily reproduce in an aquarium. Sounds like not only are your acros nicer but your snails are better as well...



When are you going to be releasing the BSC - Biggles Snail Coefficient?

I've always had good luck with Trochus snails breeding in my tank. They are a great all around snail for eating algae and can flip themselves back over pretty well too.

 

[seachange]

A Splash of Color

My system is close to a year now and I am beginning to see lots of baby snails. See
them out at night usually and in numbers!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Enrysps]

Thanks for the video Christian , that was awesome!!!

The Reefs we go to is pretty much untouched ... and a dream to see
Regards chris

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

 

[Piper27]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Hey Andrew,
Here is a link from this weeks dive from 18m to 22m deep
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

Wow, that's a sight right there. Did you ever find the spot you left your neon hammer? You swam off pretty far it seemed and I saw it in the beginning of the video. Are all the large tabling acros different or are a lot of them similar color?

 

[biggles]

I've always had good luck with Trochus snails breeding in my tank. They are a great all around snail for eating algae and can flip themselves back over pretty well too.

I had twenty of those bulldozers Jess, wait until they are big and start smashing tips off your finer acros as they force their way past....... all removed.

My system is close to a year now and I am beginning to see lots of baby snails. See
them out at night usually and in numbers!

Night time is the right time to snoop for snails mate, let the glass green up for one day more than you would normally allow and shine a torch later that night to see a whole lot more than you might think you have.

Wow, that's a sight right there. Did you ever find the spot you left your neon hammer? You swam off pretty far it seemed and I saw it in the beginning of the video. Are all the large tabling acros different or are a lot of them similar color?

Nick was saying that sustainable reefs have a $500- tool replacement budget built into the running costs since Chris tends to lose stuff pretty much every dive...........

I decided to bite the bullet and raise the little island onto a larger base rock since the purple thing had started going after the only space left to encrust - straight towards the other two acros, both of which couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag when it comes to acro fight club.

Everything was fine until i tried 'popping' the rock the three were attached to off the 1" acrylic base that hides just under the sand in the pic. You see i forgot that i made the little island from multiple rock rubble pieces on the acrylic........
It's hard to really describe what happened on the kitchen bench, you really needed to be there. Krakatoa, yeah......... didn't see it but i reckon it was the acro version of that little eruption.....

As to my initial feelings at witnessing the island become five islands...... it was not good people...... i had to get the ladder a few hours later to retrieve the chisel from my neighbors roof. He's a good mate and is used to things hitting the tile roof occasionally...... followed later by ladder visits.......

I don't handle these sort of things well.....:furious:

 

[biggles]

The three acros now sit 2" clear of the sand and are much more visible in the back right corner.

Sat morning T5's.......

 

[wheelman76]

The Trochus snails Ive had for a couple years only get to a max size of maybe 5/8" , they're not large like some of the turbo snails. Great colour contrast in that last picture , I love the look of those yellow striped cardinals and recently ordered a bunch after seeing yours.

 

[reefmutt]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Hey Andrew,
Here is a link from this weeks dive from 18m to 22m deep
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr9qlu5i7aalf4y/DSCN0218.MOV?dl=0

Sustainable Reefs Cairns Australia.
https://m.facebook.com/sustainablereef

+

The three acros now sit 2" clear of the sand and are much more visible in the back right corner.

Sat morning T5's.......

=

Groovy acro tastic heaven.

What a video.. what a pic!

Can't say enough about how important snails are in my tank. Without them, I would no longer be in the hobby. I have a good 80-100..
I wish mine reproduced!

 

[Piper27]

Beautiful t5 shot man! Great colors in thoes pieces.

We have always kept a huge population of snails. When things are going good there are eggs all over the glass and rocks from each type of snail. We like to keep a few Mexican turbo snails as well as some tuxedo urchins. We stay away from crabs because they always lodge themselves in the same acro and in the same branch no matter what... Right now cerith snails are making up the most eggs piles. I definatly share your love for a good clean up crew of snails.
We also have huge populations of mini brittle stars and stomellas. The mini stars I can find a ball of ten under just one frag plug. The stomellas keep a large population going by themselves obviously and I think they really help out as well.

 

[Jim Z.]

Astrea snails are the best algae remover in my tank. They have been cleaning up all of the algae from the tank crash--better than a tooth brush! I have some major chiseling to do in my tank and can appreciate your disdain for using the chisel! As usual, your acros are colorful and are doing very well:beer:!...................Jim