A Splash of Color

[DiscusHeckel]

Thanks Jess, i'm not good with fish so fingers crossed.



Hi Bulent,

I'm just doing water changes and dosing lugols with some koral color atm mate but when i used the zinc the tank was in a mess anyway so i can't really give a decent opinion on it's visual effects. I doubt i will use it again so i think you should just stop and watch for the next two weeks. Do a couple of water changes as well and evaluate colors as you should know by then with no other changes.

Going to bed but before i go i thought i'd leave you something to ponder and it might be interesting to see what takes peoples fancy and why. There are eight acros to choose from and you can only take one home from Dave's today. I actually bought one of the eight which is why you only get to choose a single piece as well. They are $45- and i'm not bagging them up for you !

Remember ONE only !

Thanks for your reply Andrew.

I would choose the one I circled below on the grounds that its pigments are more saturated and looks in a healthier state. I find posts like this very educational. Please keep asking.

 

[reefmutt]

For me, it's a very difficult decision between the two in the middle of the top row. The two bluish/purpleish ones.
I think I'd end up taking the right hand one because I can't get enough of the blue tipped/white bodied corals.
It also has more saturated colours and therefore looks more true to its end color..for my tank anyways..

 

[1000_smiles]

I too was at first drawn to the blue/purple and white acro (top row second from the right) because of the brighter colors. But then I thought that was too obvious, this is biggles after all. So I looked a little closer. The green ones were out. The bluish one on the bottom right has that darker interior that I am afraid is just going to turn brown. The other bluish one (top row second from the left) looks like it might be a type of SSC. So that leaves the pink ones. They all seem to have hints of blue tips. But the little table on the bottom left looks like it might have some yellow further down, so that's the one I'm going with.

How did the similar piece you had in your tank turn out?

I know my acro-fu is weak, it will be interesting to hear what you and others think.

 

[Pife]

For me, it's a very difficult decision between the two in the middle of the top row. The two bluish/purpleish ones.
I think I'd end up taking the right hand one because I can't get enough of the blue tipped/white bodied corals.
It also has more saturated colours and therefore looks more true to its end color..for my tank anyways..

I would also pick that same one or the pink below it but probably that top one.

 

[tripdad]

Ok, I'll play along and put my ignorance about all things acro on full display. I would take the second from left, top row. Why? Because it has a very high tip to body color contrast and the body color seems very consistent all the way down to the bottom so hopefully it wont get a damn green base like everything else I pick. I would be very tempted by the bottom left, but I know I could never keep those pale shades, it would be brown in a month.

 

[biggles]

Turned the T5's on this morning - he's still alive !!!! :dance:

I need a coffee, just woke on a rainy Sunday morning - perfect day for reefing

 

[Piper27]

I am with Tripad on the acro pick. The colors are hard to see in that pic though but the rest don't have much going on except for certain species I like more than others. But that's how I pick acros anyways.
I like the top second from the right and the bottom right because those species are some of my favorites and in higher light can get amazing colored growth wether the base is brown or not. And in the end that's more contrast than a boring red table
Good mourning biggles, let's see some new pics! By the way can you change your screen name? I am tired of autocorrect changing it to giggles.

 

[reefmutt]

Nice fish!
Ok Andrew, here's a dad story for you.. your comment about a rainy Sunday and my imagining it being warm outside down in aus, at the moment, reminded me of my dad...
The house that I was born in, in montreal, had this greenhouse type shelter on the roof. Whenever it was thundering and lighting, my dad would take my two brothers and I up there to watch the rain pelt and the lightning thunder. It was the absolute best to be all huddled in my dad's arms under that shelter watching storms..
Later, as a pre teen, my family went on a car camping trip out to the eastern provinces of Canada (the Maritime provinces), along the Atlantic Ocean. During one of our beach camping nights by the sea, in tents, the skies opened up and the storm blew down the tent that us kids were sleeping in. At 2 in the morning under a raging downpour, my dad had to get out of his tent and re secure all the pegs and ropes to get our tent standing again. In the morning, me and my brothers had only vaque recollections of the thunder and wind and rain and my poor dad scurrying around in the wet dark trying to fix our tent. I believe we slept through it so well because we knew our dad was out there keeping the shelter over us.
ANYWAYS, to this day, I love a good rainy day and adore watching a good storm pass by. I think of my dad and say hi whenever the rain comes..
Thanks for adding that little tidbit of info to your last post.
Piper, just call him giggles from now on, nobody will mind!

 

[Kurt03]

Love the pop quiz. Top second from right, or second pick, top left and cross my fingers!

Take us to school biggles

 

[biggles]

Sorry, i ended up sticking the new bits down, doing a 10% water change and changing the gyre rotors and screens for clean ones. Everything went like clockwork until i put the gyre rotors on the wrong sides.

Nowwwwwwwww, imagine pointing your 150 gyre at your sand bed for three 6 second pulses one after the other at 70% power with nice shiny clean efficient rotors and screens...........
Because i was kneeling down to plug the power back on i spent about 20 seconds checking the settings were correct on the pump and once satisfied it was ok i stood up........... i don't remember what came out of my mouth as i turned the power off but some of the paint peeled off the wall near where i was cutting loose at the stinking gyre for ruining my Sunday ! :furious:

Needless to say i just spent about half an hour blowing 5lbs of sand off my babies and trying to fill the big hole in the sand bed. The water is almost clean again but there's still some cloudiness as you can see, tried to show you the sump as well which i recently cleaned up big time. I haven't cleaned the sump frag tank glass for about a week but i cleaned the display glass this morning.

 

[biggles]

Nice fish!
Ok Andrew, here's a dad story for you.. your comment about a rainy Sunday and my imagining it being warm outside down in aus, at the moment, reminded me of my dad...
The house that I was born in, in montreal, had this greenhouse type shelter on the roof. Whenever it was thundering and lighting, my dad would take my two brothers and I up there to watch the rain pelt and the lightning thunder. It was the absolute best to be all huddled in my dad's arms under that shelter watching storms..
Later, as a pre teen, my family went on a car camping trip out to the eastern provinces of Canada (the Maritime provinces), along the Atlantic Ocean. During one of our beach camping nights by the sea, in tents, the skies opened up and the storm blew down the tent that us kids were sleeping in. At 2 in the morning under a raging downpour, my dad had to get out of his tent and re secure all the pegs and ropes to get our tent standing again. In the morning, me and my brothers had only vaque recollections of the thunder and wind and rain and my poor dad scurrying around in the wet dark trying to fix our tent. I believe we slept through it so well because we knew our dad was out there keeping the shelter over us.
ANYWAYS, to this day, I love a good rainy day and adore watching a good storm pass by. I think of my dad and say hi whenever the rain comes..
Thanks for adding that little tidbit of info to your last post.
Piper, just call him giggles from now on, nobody will mind!

Thanks for sharing that story about your dad Matt, made me smile more and more as i read on mate

My turn again lol .........

When my son was 5 he was going to kindergarten for half days and mom and dad looked after him until i finished work each afternoon. My wife was a nurse and worked afternoons so he was with them for 3 hours every afternoon. Mom and dad both spoiled him rotten and he adored spending time with them as dad would take him out the back yard and let him help tend to his massive veggie patch and generally get down and dirty and play in cow manure rich soil.......

One day the kindergarten rings me because my son stood up and told all the other kids and his hippy whale rolling teacher that he and dad catch birds in the veggie patch that try to steal his pop's tomatoes. They use grapes and a trap to kill the ' thieving bastards ' - she droned on and on about the swear word and pointed out that dad needed to stop ' murdering wildlife especially in front of a young impressionable child ' - i had to hold my tongue because it was the school my wife wanted him to go to.... :twitch:

After questioning my son about what he and dad had been getting up to i went around to see dad to request that he stop killing starlings with rat traps using grapes as bait regardless of the fact they were eating his tomatoes because it was just wrong. It went pretty much how i expected it to......

He made me go into the veggie with him and then showed me all the holes in ' your mother's tomatoes ' caused by said thieving B's. ' Go and tell your mother she has to eat rotting tomatoes because you're worried about a few rats with wings ' - the instant he turned it into a 'mom' thing i was screwed. Like, would any of you stand there and tell your father that yes, you think your mother - his wife of over thirty years should have to eat rotting tomatoes so the flying rats could eat first.......... check - bloody - mate......
He did agree not to let my son help him or see the results of his pest eradication process due to the threat of animal cruelty officers turning up after a phone call from the teacher so at least i got that much out of him.

' You want to find him a new school that's not run by hippies ' - yeah, i don't think i'll run that idea past my wife dad.......:facepalm:

Love the pop quiz. Top second from right, or second pick, top left and cross my fingers!

Take us to school biggles

I didn't mean that i knew more than you guys, i was actually interested to see what my friends liked and why. I have a pretty good idea what all of them will do when placed under our tank conditions but personal taste colors all our opinions.

But as an example, the poopy acro top right in this pic

is the same acro as the one top right in this pic

I've had mine for almost a year and even though the colors are drab like all my reds and pinks atm you can see the difference in pigment and polyp saturation. For me, that color variant turns bright red polyps with maroon pigment top to bottom - when it's not sulking that is. Atm it's a drab dog but you get the idea at least that polyp contrasts seen on new stuff might not remain once you get your hands on the acro.

 

[martinphillip03]

I really like the green ones.

Marty

 

[reefmutt]

I really like the green ones.

Marty

Ha Marty! Maybe we should call YOU giggles!

What a gem of an image: your son telling the class how he kills the thieving bastards in the garden.
That certainly wouldn't fly with this generation of educators. Even in aus, apparently!

 

[biggles]

I really like the green ones.

Marty

You're on the wrong journal then Marty, you need to head over and check out the Canadian journals........... you won't miss 'em, they look like planted FW tanks without the neon tetras.......... :beer:

Ha Marty! Maybe we should call YOU giggles!

What a gem of an image: your son telling the class how he kills the thieving bastards in the garden.
That certainly wouldn't fly with this generation of educators. Even in aus, apparently!

My boy still tells his mates about the crazy stuff he and dad got up to and it blows their minds - city kids :twitch:

The frag on the right is going to change color before your eyes over the next month hopefully, i have other frags weeks ahead of this one which was only placed in high light a week ago so i have a head start on you as to what's coming.

The change is very dramatic and has just started on this frag but it will give you a clue.

 

[biggles]

Biggles took one of the three fireworks frags off the orange pav and took it to the shop on saturday in the hopes of swapping it for something cool. Before he reached the wet room he ran into a guy named Mark who told him he had a magic bean acro in the shop tank he would swap for the precious fireworks frag.

' Looks like just another fluoro green acro to me Mark '

' It's a magic bean acro. Very, very rare and will change into whatever color you want it to '

' BAG IT ! '

Biggles giggled to himself all the way home and relished telling all his acro mates about the magic acro he had because he knew he was the only reefer on RC with a MAGIC BEAN ACRO. :celeb1:

So the time has come, check it out suckers - i haven't decided what color i want it to be yet but Mark said all i had to do was tell it and wait a week or two - how easy is that

I expect some of you jelly bellies to say there's no such thing as a magic bean acro - that's just because you don't have one !

I do :smokin:

 

[reefmutt]

Looks like the magic green bean acro to me..
It's the one that requires a lot of drinking to get it to change colour.

 

[biggles]

Looks like the magic green bean acro to me..
It's the one that requires a lot of drinking to get it to change colour.

I'm going to make it a color you don't have Matt........ :wave:

 

[biggles]

When i was at the shop i asked both Mark and Dave to pick out an acro they thought might be really cool, i always ask them because they both see so many acros and get a lot of feedback about what happened to a piece in regards to colors if it turns out nice.
Anyway, these two pics were taken by Dave, one in daylight through the shop windows and one under porn lighting by the looks of it.

I think Dave liked the deep purple piece which i decided was too dark and might end up a big purple blob in my tank. Mark liked the bleachy glowing pastel table with lots of subtle highlight color tones but it was about 4" x 5" so i said no due to the size......... but i did think it was very cool.

After i'd selected my acros Dave picked up his cutters and snipped a 1" tip frag off the purple thing and said ' see what it does '. Then he picked up the big table and said ' are you sure you don't want a frag of this at least ' ......... i mean i'm only bloody human and what would you say if someone was waving that table at you with one hand whilst opening and closing cutters with the other......... ' yes please Dave just a small bit '

Dave's attempt to frag the table didn't go as smoothly this time and he shattered about a third off one side ' opps ' he says lol....... He then held out his handiwork - a 4" long piece and a 5" long piece and asked ' big or bigger ' whilst grinning like an idiot - Dave is a legendary LFS owner I insisted on paying for the pieces but i Dave wouldn't have charged me enough i'm sure.

Btw, this is the fish Dave wouldn't let me have........... he's like a beautiful glowing puppy dog.......

Back to the acros........ well, when i got home i glued the purple bit to a plug and threw it in the sump tank which had week old algae on the front glass, the purple thing looked crap to me so i was glad i didn't buy it. About 5 seconds after i cleaned the glass a few days later i saw the little frag through clean glass and instantly regretted not buying the whole branch. I think it might turn out very cool but i need to put it in the display and get a pic for you just in case it colors up crazy or something - there's just something different about it.......

The other piece is so pastel and glowing white it's very hard for me to photograph with the phone camera but i want you to know that even though it's not perfect and i had to keep the pics dark to stop the piece blowing up into a whiteout these kind of fresh collected pastel pieces really do look as breathtaking as i tried to show. It's bloody hard to ignore some of the stuff i see even though i know the end result will be very different, when you are standing over a tank looking top down into pastel heaven you just lose all sense of time and most of your common sense....:hmm3:

I'm not trying to rub anything in, you all know how good i have it and i don't pretend i don't get amazing acro choices. All i want to show you is just how stunning the colors are on the wild pieces that come in and how different they end up in my system due to the saturation that i know will take place over about 8 weeks. The problem with saturation is that in many cases you lose all the subtle color shifts behind the main pigment and end up with a monotone colored blob. This might end up stunning blue all over, crazy bright blue or something....... i want you to see why such an outcome would actually bum me out a bit, and you too if you bought the same ' frag '.

Ignore everything but the acro in question, the flubber is all super happy but remember i'm just trying to show you what your eyes actually take in when looking at such a piece. Doesn't matter how this ends up, won't ever be quite as pretty as it was in the wild.

 

[reefmutt]

I'm going to make it a color you don't have Matt........ :wave:

Great! Giggles is getting out his food colourings again!
It autocorrected to giggles! I'm leaving it..
Maybe get your boy to have a word with that green bean acro, maybe he'll be able to change its colour with a few good insults he learned from his pa..

Andrew, never stop rubbing it in.. always love the coral shots

 

[Pife]

That's the frag he made? Holy cow. Beautiful too.