A Splash of Color

[maxxII]

Andrew,
Glad to hear your mom is doing better. Hopefully she continues to do well.

Your stories are amusing and heart warming at the same time...Your dad sounds like he was a hell of a man and a great role model.

For being snubbed cruelly at birth by being born an Australian instead of an American...you turned out all right.

 

[M007]

Diddly

 

[biggles]

Andrew,
Glad to hear your mom is doing better. Hopefully she continues to do well.

Your stories are amusing and heart warming at the same time...Your dad sounds like he was a hell of a man and a great role model.

For being snubbed cruelly at birth by being born an Australian instead of an American...you turned out all right.

Thanks mate, dad took my brother and i to visit his mate's cattle farm one day and while there he taught me about electricity by telling me an electric fence was off and safe to touch. Went a couple of feet across the paddock when it pulsed........ he then spent about ten minutes explaining in 12 year old's terms why and where electricity can kill you. If i did that to my son he would never have spoken to me again lol.

Half an hour later i tried the same trick on my brother.....

' I'm not touching that. I'm not stupid, it's probably on knowing you '

' Touch it or i'll push you on it '

' You won't do that or you'll get electrocuted too '

He then smiled at me in his smart arse 14yr old brother way but that quickly vanished when i began smiling back............. i took a second hit that day but there was no way i was letting my brother miss dad's electricity lesson

We went off the garage roof together a couple of years earlier onto the backyard grass when i decided i wanted to try jumping off. Admittedly he went a couple of seconds earlier than me, and not being mentally prepared for the jump he stuffed up the landing - badly sprained ankle from memory.

My landing was a couple of feet left of his writhing form but as usual - i nailed it :smokin:

Diddly

Hey Mike

Tried taking a pic with all 4 lagoon blues on and just 2 actinic plus bulbs on - looks ghastly lol. The new echi went on the back of orange pav island which is about a foot long in the middle of the sand between the two 400W Radiums.

 

[1000_smiles]

I'll bet an echi frag your ungrateful brother never appreciated the effort you made to make sure he was included in those lessons and experiences

 

[biggles]

I'll bet an echi frag your ungrateful brother never appreciated the effort you made to make sure he was included in those lessons and experiences

To my knowledge he appears to resent it if anything.......

Since i've been boring you all with family rambles i thought i'd throw in some porn

Check out Tato's cleaning station, he's a natural at porn.......

Remember this piece i got a week before xmas.

It's now on the pav with the new echi - i placed the fireworks frags in between them up top, seemed like the right thing to do at the time

 

[martinphillip03]

Andrew, Dave did it again, I believe. You take back a fish, give it to Dave's mum, said you paid nuthin for it. Now suddenly you have a cleaner shrimp. I don't think Dave's done, Bloody oath it is. I bet next your "suddenly" going to receive another "Golden Ticket" I bet Dave is sleeping good these days.

Marty

Went to see Dave today, i took back BJ my white tailed tang because he has been going through ich outbreaks over and over for months and i don't want him suffering in my display. He's fine and happily sitting in a Q tank out the back of Dave's shop being treated now.

Dave was out when i visited to pick him up and Mark told me Dave said he would rather have frags instead of the $150- so i paid nothing - zero - zip - zilch.
Next visit i saw two white tail tangs in a tank - $650- each. Dave then informs me that he knows i won't pay lots for fish and since he knew i really wanted the fish he decided to lie about the $500- cost price to him after shipping.............. that's the other reason i wanted to return BJ, i can't pay that much for him and i won't let Dave do that for me - it's been eating at me for months.........

When i walked into the shop with the bucket holding the boomerang tang i said to Dave's mom Deb

' I never paid a cent for this fish Deb so Dave can't give me anything in credit ok, it's a six or seven hundred dollar fish '

' Nothing he does surprises me Andrew, he's an idiot with money but i love him '

' So do i Deb ' and then we both smiled

' I told Deb the fish was free Dave ! '

Dave frowned and gave me his sad version of a withering look......not the most intimidating gesture..... imagine a labrador puppy angry


That was my nice reef deed for 2017, i have one such moment each year which makes up for all the other things i do that aren't nice at all. :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

The orange pav is glued onto a 1/4" thick acrylic base and at the front of the base i attached another small rock which needed a few more acrylic plates under it to get it up to the height i wanted in relation to the pav behind it. Everything is hidden under the sand of course.
On this rock i placed some fluoro aculeus, some bits of the new blue tipped prostrtata i showed you and a deep pastel blue colony i have had for about 18 months. It used to live up high under the radium on the right island but after adding the gyre which surged across the top of the acro it never seemed happy. Since dropping it to lower light and flow it's now getting cool dark blue rings on the top of each pastel blue tip.
You can see the stupid monti when i got it, it looked pinkish orange even though it was pastel from part bleaching. it's next to the blue table a few pics back when i got it. It now looks like a carrot that a truck ran over which has been sitting in the sun for a few days......... ain't no hint of pink, just dead carrot......... :hammer:

When i went to pick up those three acros Dave sent me pics of i spotted a stunning little blue branch sitting near my three acros.

' Why didn't you send me a pic of this blue piece Dave, it's beautiful '

' You already have lots of nice blues '

' Well now i have one more, sit it beside my other ones please mate '

' Well only if you're sure you really need it '

' I'm sure Dave, trust me '

Later when i was getting ready to leave Mark was bagging my acros up for me.

' And that cool little blue branch mate, that's mine too '

' Really ? '

' What do you mean, really ? '

' Well it's just blue '

' It's a stunner '

' You think it will turn into a stunner ? '

' It's a $#^%#$ stunner now Mark, just chuck it in a bag for me please........ you and Dave are the biggest acro snobs mate, seriously, you've seen way too many nice acros '

Mark just laughed but at least he bagged it up for me finally.......

Here's my ' just blue ' :debi:

You lot would think you were in some acro fantasy dream if you went into Deer Park aquarium and tried to buy a blue acro, Dave and Mark have both lost the plot in my opinion...... :reading:

 

[biggles]

Andrew, Dave did it again, I believe. You take back a fish, give it to Dave's mum, said you paid nuthin for it. Now suddenly you have a cleaner shrimp. I don't think Dave's done, Bloody oath it is. I bet next your "suddenly" going to receive another "Golden Ticket" I bet Dave is sleeping good these days.

Marty

I received worrying news from Dom today Marty, he was at the shop sending me pics of nothing i liked - he's my beta test version of the acro shopping app i recently invented. I call it Domshop and what sets it apart from other online stores is that you can ring the camera guy and make him take closer pics or pics of a piece from different angles.

Whilst texting back and forth Dom thought it was funny to send me a pic of a clam....... ha ha Dom

' Clam shmam they're flubber in a shell '

' Haha i knew you'd say that '

' You've got a massive surprise waiting at Dave's for you too haha '

........... that doesn't sound good Marty, not good at all.

 

[reefmutt]

Your anecdotes are priceless family moments, and your photos are awesome acro porn.. only an Aussie could pull off that combo. Even if you do wear a jogging helmet.
So, it appears it was your brother who tossed you out the window when you were 5. I think he did you a favor.
Glad to hear your mom is and was always well cared for, Andrew.
I think I'm gonna get me a cleaner shrimp.
I picked up a gorgeous blue tipped, white bodied Aussie from Raja a month or so back..
He did the same thing.. I said I had to have a piece and he was mildly surprised and my insistence.
I love it. It's a stunner!

 

[Piper27]

So do you get a ticket if you decide your late and need to run somewhere without a helmet? Are the coppers there like hall monitors in elementary school saying "Hey no running without a jogging hat, walk it over!"?

 

[Pife]

I really enjoy the tidbits of your normal life that you share. It could make a good book with your writing style. It's kinda George Karlin esque.

 

[Rsmreef]

Rolflmao
Andrew again you have brightened my evening. Glad mom is doing well. Put me down for £50 on the cloud sharing thingy or I could just send you a tarp I use when it rains here ,
all my echi pigments are diffrent from coral to coral. When I brought the last piece the retailer had two in stock and they were very very diffrent . Basal colour and tip colour were diffrent I opted for the light of the two as per your suggestion for the area ..
I'm going to need to up grade soon as I'm running out of room , wouldn't mind but the tank is only just over a year old now and kinda said to the wife this is as big as I wanted to go but she is slowly being worked round to the idea of something a little larger . I sort of said but Hun it's only an couple of feet bigger and we can get rid of the sofa that no one ever uses. She replied maybe.
But I'll keep :deadhorse1: and hopefully over some cocktails on the beach she will fully relent to me sending even more on my obsession or hobby as other may call it.
Oh and I do have some plates in the the areas we spoke about but they are frags and really need to grow out get the effect but this as you know takes time .
Keep those sexy sun tears co I got my friend and give all your love to blue as its a really nice piece and deserves your attention .
Franz

 

[Wrangy]

Full disclosure to everyone... it's all true!! The bastard really did steal my tubes that HAD my name on them! :uzi: Luckily I picked up some a few days before he visited :lol:

My reef app does come with a price of constant torment when I'm at the store too, teaser pics, abuse, making Andrew cry over my wasted acro money on clams and fish :strange: Mark and I usually have a good laugh as we compose messages for Andrew :wavehand:

 

[bowen1022]

Biggles your tank is amazing. I have a quick question and I'm sorry if it was posted earlier but what are your nutrient levels? Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[biggles]

Your anecdotes are priceless family moments, and your photos are awesome acro porn.. only an Aussie could pull off that combo. Even if you do wear a jogging helmet.
So, it appears it was your brother who tossed you out the window when you were 5. I think he did you a favor.
Glad to hear your mom is and was always well cared for, Andrew.
I think I'm gonna get me a cleaner shrimp.
I picked up a gorgeous blue tipped, white bodied Aussie from Raja a month or so back..
He did the same thing.. I said I had to have a piece and he was mildly surprised and my insistence.
I love it. It's a stunner!

Thanks Matt, you need to get a shrimp buddy - trust me.

I'm always amazed at some of the pieces ignored at Dave's shop for days until i get a chance to visit. I often ask Dave if there were multiple branches of the same piece because i don't understand why it wasn't grabbed as a potential stunner rather than just a blue or just run of the mill SSC etc.

As an example, i don't actually have a single SSC in the display even though i see hundreds a year for sale and the green part most people strive to bring out makes them look like frogs with measles to me lol........... it's all a matter of personal taste i guess. Maybe i'll try one again.........

So do you get a ticket if you decide your late and need to run somewhere without a helmet? Are the coppers there like hall monitors in elementary school saying "Hey no running without a jogging hat, walk it over!"?

I have no idea what the jog cops are like mate, i find that laying on the couch typing on the lappy which sits on a coffee table i hand made so the height matched the couch perfectly so as to best minimize any physical activity seems to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Dad was a police officer for 35 years, he didn't care about joggers because no one exercised in the 70's. He spent 33 years in the highway patrol and you were fine as long as you weren't driving a vehicle containing one or more hippies or a traveling circus. My father wouldn't take us to the circus because ' they're all thieving bastards ' and hippies ' need their heads shaved and thrown in the army. '

I want you to put yourself in my place as a ten year old going to school on a Monday morning following the weekend the once a year circus came to town.......... my problem was that dad and his mate sat out on the highway, five miles out of town on the Friday afternoon and stopped every circus truck. They put un roadworthy stickers on every one so they couldn't be driven until the 'dangerous' repairs were carried out............. no one got to see the circus that year and a new one came the next year because the regular one refused to ever come back to our town.........
Dad was clueless to the fallout i went through at school sometimes due to his chosen career lol.

I really enjoy the tidbits of your normal life that you share. It could make a good book with your writing style. It's kinda George Karlin esque.

Thanks mate, he was right about the plastic bags......... yep.

Rolflmao
Andrew again you have brightened my evening. Glad mom is doing well. Put me down for £50 on the cloud sharing thingy or I could just send you a tarp I use when it rains here ,
all my echi pigments are diffrent from coral to coral. When I brought the last piece the retailer had two in stock and they were very very diffrent . Basal colour and tip colour were diffrent I opted for the light of the two as per your suggestion for the area ..
I'm going to need to up grade soon as I'm running out of room , wouldn't mind but the tank is only just over a year old now and kinda said to the wife this is as big as I wanted to go but she is slowly being worked round to the idea of something a little larger . I sort of said but Hun it's only an couple of feet bigger and we can get rid of the sofa that no one ever uses. She replied maybe.
But I'll keep :deadhorse1: and hopefully over some cocktails on the beach she will fully relent to me sending even more on my obsession or hobby as other may call it.
Oh and I do have some plates in the the areas we spoke about but they are frags and really need to grow out get the effect but this as you know takes time .
Keep those sexy sun tears co I got my friend and give all your love to blue as its a really nice piece and deserves your attention .
Franz

Thanks Franz, good luck with the upgrade quest mate. I'm glad you're trying a few different things with your display, i'm almost certain it will add a bit more excitement to the overall acro scape. At the end of the day you do what you like because only you know what you like to look at :thumbsup:

Full disclosure to everyone... it's all true!! The bastard really did steal my tubes that HAD my name on them! :uzi: Luckily I picked up some a few days before he visited

My reef app does come with a price of constant torment when I'm at the store too, teaser pics, abuse, making Andrew cry over my wasted acro money on clams and fish. Mark and I usually have a good laugh as we compose messages for Andrew :wavehand:

You and Mark will play with the cat until it bloody scratches Dom.......... :hmm5:

Biggles your tank is amazing. I have a quick question and I'm sorry if it was posted earlier but what are your nutrient levels? Thanks!

Thanks a lot mate. Phos is 0.05 and nitrates are 10 and the glass needs cleaning daily again. I'm cleaning the system back up after a few weeks of not enough care when mom was ill but everything is fine with the display.

I moved my old purple valida colony into much more light than it's used to by placing it much closer to a Radium a couple of weeks ago. The blue highlight pigment has increased in saturation a great deal and it now looks like a big purpley blue monster hiding at the back.

 

[slavetonet]

Andrew, hows the growth rate now?
Your daily dosing in ML for alk and cal?

 

[Ucantwin]

When you need to clean the glass daily, do you clean the black overflow part also or just let the algae continue to grow?

 

[Geeray]

.

I moved my old purple valida colony into much more light than it's used to by placing it much closer to a Radium a couple of weeks ago. The blue highlight pigment has increased in saturation a great deal and it now looks like a big purpley blue monster hiding at the back.

The color on that valida is insane!

 

[tripdad]

Hello Andrew, can I get an update on the colors on this pink,yellow, blue beauty? I was just wondering if it became more saturated with color or not as most of your corals are very well colored.

 

[biggles]

Andrew, hows the growth rate now?
Your daily dosing in ML for alk and cal?

It's very, very slow Kevin. I started using kalk when mom was ill as it was easier but i was only adding about 1/4 tsp a day. A week ago i tested alk and it was at 9.0 It was at 7.5 a week earlier - a week between alk tests shows you how little i was caring about the poor old acros
Anyway, today i tested alk at 7.7 and added 25ml of bicarb in the dripper instead of kalk as i want to go back to alk, cal and Mg dosing again now i'm getting things under control again.

When you need to clean the glass daily, do you clean the black overflow part also or just let the algae continue to grow?

I never touch the black acrylic sheet i siliconed to the glass overflow wall. It stays covered in coralline but i could keep it spotless black if i wanted to add more cleaning work to my list of reef chores........ nope

The color on that valida is insane!

It's that color from top to bottom but it's very dark and tbh the best way to display it's beauty would be to place that fluoro piece behind it rather than in front as i did. As the new fluoro table lights up over the next month the contrast will still end up looking very silly.

Hello Andrew, can I get an update on the colors on this pink,yellow, blue beauty? I was just wondering if it became more saturated with color or not as most of your corals are very well colored.

Hey Scott, it's not looking too crash hot just as all my pink stuff isn't. Pretty sure the high nutrients in the water column are responsible because it was much pinker and had yellow tips developing right before i let things go a bit.
Hopefully i can get it to smile and i'll show you pics if and when it gets any color changes because i already know what it's going to do from the earlier glimpse i got.

Top left is what i've done to it so far lol.....

Ramble which will bore most of you but might help newer SPS keepers........

Notice how i placed the branch on top of the putty so that if i decided the spot was wrong for flow or light or whatever i could easily pry the putty off the rocks without disturbing the encrusting edge in any way. You can see it's only encrusted about 1/8" so far onto the putty but you get the idea. If you have to cut off a piece to move it you basically end up with an acro that behaves a bit like a brand new piece. Even if you pull it away from the putty it will leave all the encrusting behind and - sulk - begin to encrust - grow new tips.

You lose 4-6 weeks progress so don't disturb the encrusting if you can.

The frag lower left corner in the pic is a great example of how i usually attach all my pieces whether small frags or wild branches as i don't always get the placement right and sometimes need to move a piece. I super glue gel the acro to a small rock outside the tank where i can make sure the attachment is rock solid and won't let go without a lot of force. I use the instant set spray which sets the super glue within a couple of seconds and then turkey baste the area with tank water over the sink. The spray is fine but too much and the skimmer over foams so i wash most off and the place the rock and acro on the display bottom while i get set up to prop the piece with pipe if needed - 90% of the time it is as most stuff i add is small branches.

That little prostrata frag obviously didin't need propping but you can see how i just added glue to the rock bottom, stuck a blob of mixed putty on it and then added glue to the bottom of the putty blob - then i just stuck it down. I'm not 100% certain it's getting enough light where it is but if i need to i can move it without it even knowing........ sort of....

Tato was standing on that flubber and i was going to get an awesome shot but the little bugger darted back just as i went for gold...... he's still not used to how often i intrude into his world. I have to swat the fish away as some of the idiots try to taste the shiny super glue blobs.

Shrimp Warning

Be very careful the first few times you use glue in the display if you have a new shrimp. They are very inquisitive straight away and Tato already climbs onto my hands when i'm not watching. He already tried to grab some fresh glue but i swatted him away - Potatohead actually got his claws into glue years ago and then more got stuck as he tried to get it off. It was seriously like watching a nightmare in front of my eyes when suddenly he kicked the blob away and shot into the rocks. He hid from me for a week even when i held out mysis for him.......... shrimp get the shits just like we do.

Always keep an eye on your shrimp when you use super glue !


One last thing, i wanted to get some opinions on a moral dilemma i'm sorta facing. See the little blue and cream pearl skin table frag. It has very, very pale red polyps atm. It's a frag from the table i added to the pav island but in this pic you can actually get an idea of just how pretty it really is. It's one of my prettiest pieces by far but i struggle to capture the real detail that Matt and other guys show you so my pics end up cartoonish.

This entire branch looks like the frag above but i couldn't show the glowy almost white skin and bright blue tips without making everything else look ridiculous.

I had that frag on a frag rock and when Dom was over a few weeks back i pointed out that it was his for the display reboot, he seemed most pleased. Anyway a few days later i decided to attach it to a better rock for Dom so i took it out and pried it away from the rock. I then placed it on the display bottom and went off to have a relaxing smoke or two........ after i ate a large bag of doritos and a jar of salsa dip, a mars bar and 3 cans of coke i went off and relxed some more........... BIG MISTAKE !

I walked in and began looking at the acros close. I was looking at that poopy pink and yellow branch when i noticed a hole in the rock below it - perfect for the right frag to go in. I then spot Dom's frag and it was as if the SPS stars aligned to my eyes - PERFECT !
I took it out and used the dremel to grind the end to a smaller diameter so it fit in the hole, added super glue gel and jammed it into the hole. I stood back and thought ' hot damn that's cool ' :smokin:

I then went to the kitchen bench to make a coffee and that's when i spotted the rock meant for Dom's frag........
It looks awesome where it is beside a fireworks frag and it's glued in tight so what the hell are we going to tell Dom people. I want to keep it now.......... and don't even suggest cutting a bit off my big branch - i just told you the whole thing looks like the bloody frag so would you want to cut it - no you bloody wouldn't !

What to do people.......... what to do...........:twitch: