A Splash of Color

[biggles]

Imagine.... good reason to play the lottery every week. If I win, I'll organize an international frag swap at the biggles manor.
I think I like that blue and white stick better than the fireworks, in that photo, Andrew. I have a serious weakness for that colour combo.. probably because I can never keep corals with that are true blue and white.

Hey Matt, that frag is all glowy white skin but the main colony between the halides in lower light lacks the white glow, obviously needs bright light to really shine.
That's the only thing i have that has such a crisp blue white combo Matt, it's actually a very pale cream skin when under less intense PAR.

one could say wet dreams...

One could Ryan.............

 

[biggles]

Sorry i missed your post ealier Mindy....:hmm2:

You bring up a very good point about flow. My tank is quite small, and fairly full, so I have limited options. I do however put all new Acros on the sand for a few weeks, and have been unconsciously turning them so the flow runs along their growth like you say, but only because I've noticed wild Acros like this spot in my tank, and I'm betting it has a lot to do with the flow! Very good observance Andrew!!! Thank you for sharing. It makes a lot of sense. I think back to my old Acro tank, and I did the same thing in that tank too - there was a special spot for new wild Acros.

Fresh wild branches absolutely hate suddenly being hit with flow from the opposite direction, i always make sure they get good flow sitting on a 2" high pipe off cut for a day or two before placing them where i want.
I need to go check your journal to see what new stuff you have

 

[bgouges]

It's a nice acro for sure Matt

Can you imagine what our displays would look like if we could all meet up in one place for a day and swap frags - no money allowed, just crazy acro porn swapping among mates............ stuff of dreams.......



Hi mate, it's currently recovering from all the BS i put the tank through. Looks like dirty salmon pink vomit with little sparkly bits on some of the tips atm lol. I'm sure i'll have it looking much better in a month now the tank has settled down. It's not quite as bad as the pic shows, fireworks never looks as blah as the way i processed the pic.

Btw, has anyone express posted an acro frag to W.A. from Melbourne successfully or does it take too long to arrive - as long as the water stays down around 16C it will be fine.

I'm sure you'll have it all looking sparkly in a month or two! Yeh I've had a few people post from Melbourne, brought a frag of john, not sure if he's the same john as your "John", I brought a firetruck frag off him that was shuttled by toll express that worked out, not sure how many couriers would be able to do it successfully tho

 

[Myka]

Sorry i missed your post ealier Mindy....:hmm2:



Fresh wild branches absolutely hate suddenly being hit with flow from the opposite direction, i always make sure they get good flow sitting on a 2" high pipe off cut for a day or two before placing them where i want.
I need to go check your journal to see what new stuff you have

Oh my tank has been up to no good. :lol: As you now know. :frog:

Gee, if we ever need to track you down Andrew, we can grab finger prints
off that putty in your tank! Hahaha! :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

I'm sure you'll have it all looking sparkly in a month or two! Yeh I've had a few people post from Melbourne, brought a frag of john, not sure if he's the same john as your "John", I brought a firetruck frag off him that was shuttled by toll express that worked out, not sure how many couriers would be able to do it successfully tho

It would have been my mate John, he has a stunning collection of one off pieces hidden away in his tank.......... he gives me a tasty frag every now and then to back up in case he has a disaster and i do the same because i know John knows what he's doing when it comes to SPS.
I will speak with John about how he did it, how is your firetruck doing ?


Last Thursday night i was relaxing on the couch when i get a text from Dave.

' Getting a box from Christian tomorrow night, anything you're after ? '

As you can see i have to work just as hard as you guys to find nice pieces...... now, a few months back Dave gave me a frag he cut from a large branch someone else stole from me before i saw it. It went through hell with all the water dramas i had and tried several times to die on me despite being nursed so, so carefully. It's totally shut down and i clipped the dead algae covered tips a week ago, looks a ghastly green color and will take many months to recover if it even does. I thought it had a lot of potential and it just ticked all the right boxes for my taste in colors.

' The blue and red frag you gave me i ruined, i'd love another frag of that one if possible '

' This one ? '

' No, but i got it when i got the frag of that lokani, it's this one '

' Might be this ? '

' Looks nothing like the pic i sent you but it'll do '

' Speaking with Chris now, he thinks it might be this '

' What is wrong with you two $%#$@ clowns, none of those look anything like the pic - tell Chris i want a frag off that red thing too btw '

' Hahahaha we were just messing with you, Christian says he'll see what he can do about that acro you want '

' Real $#%#%@ funny Dave, tell giggles it better be in the box tomorrow night or else........ '

' Haha, want to come to the airport with me tomorrow night and back to the shop after hours to unbox the acros, i'll come by and pick you up '

' Can't i'm on call for work '

' '

So old biggles didn't get to go to the airport or back to the shop........... i was quite bummed at missing out on that little experience.

We have Christian's prints too now Mindy.........

 

[Myka]

Fockme those are nice Acros!!! Good god they are SO rich!

We have Christian's prints too now Mindy.........

Heh, he's in trouble now... heh heh heh

 

[biggles]

Fockme those are nice Acros!!! Good god they are SO rich!

The stuff they grow out at Sustainable Reefs certainly isn't what you'd call washed out is it Mindy lol.

Dave sent me a pic when he was un boxing the Friday shipment at the shop......

 

[Pife]

Wow! No wonder your tank gets so stuffed with acros! It would be difficult for me to not being then all home!

 

[biggles]

Wow! No wonder your tank gets so stuffed with acros! It would be difficult for me to not being then all home!

Well if you have a friend like Dave you don't have to take any home mate........

Friday night 6.10pm i get a text from Dave:

' Feel like a visitor for a coffee and a chat '

' Sure, come on over mate '

' Be there soon, at the airport now '

' Take them back to the shop and then go home and rest please Dave '

' Nah, i want a coffee at Andrew's '

 

[reefmutt]

Fockme those are nice Acros!!! Good god they are SO rich!

What she said..... sort of..
I want Chris to come visit me.

 

[bgouges]

It would have been my mate John, he has a stunning collection of one off pieces hidden away in his tank.......... he gives me a tasty frag every now and then to back up in case he has a disaster and i do the same because i know John knows what he's doing when it comes to SPS.
I will speak with John about how he did it, how is your firetruck doing ?

Yeh firetrucks doing well! different to the firetrucky looking frag that came from christian, johns is more of a deeper red with white polyps may have to do with where its located in less direct lighting i wont post a pic and de-rail your thread but i took a pic for you and posted in my journalish thingy

 

[biggles]

What she said..... sort of..
I want Chris to come visit me.

Don't be so sure Matt, i asked Christian for another piece of this

And he sends this........... it's about half as saturated as the colors are in the dark pic. Obviously it's not the same but i kept it because i figured no one else would want it........ you could say i rescued it

Yeh firetrucks doing well! different to the firetrucky looking frag that came from christian, johns is more of a deeper red with white polyps may have to do with where its located in less direct lighting i wont post a pic and de-rail your thread but i took a pic for you and posted in my journalish thingy

I saw both your red stunners not to mention the tank stuffed full of beautifully colored acros that aren't red ....... you should be really proud of what you're achieving mate :beer:

The link in your siggy is broken btw buddy.


I shall make a coffee and then bore you all with a detailed explanation as to why i bought the bottom left acro. If i had to buy another it would be top left followed by top right. I wouldn't buy the bottom right piece ever purely based on personal taste. I like delicate branching acros but color wise it's a red polyped, green base turning to reddish purple then full deep purple on all those pale purple tops. The corallites have a red lip which looks different colors as you move through the tissue color changes.

I've had the exact piece twice before years ago and i can spot it from a mile away - those of you who chose it chose bloody wisely if you like chunky growing deep red/purple colors.

 

[biggles]

And we'll need this.........

and this........

 

[biggles]

Bare in mind that my personal taste in colors and growth patterns strongly influence my decisions and what i think is cool may not be to you - works in reverse obviously. What something does in my system may differ greatly to what you see happening in yours but in general it still applies.
Even though you can't see in the pic what i was able to up close and personal, the things i based my decision on will easily translate to any wild or maricultured branch or mini colony. I've noticed quite a few of my friends here have started buying more wild/mari stuff lately so hopefully you get a few helpful ideas from my short ramble.

The acro had great PE and looked healthy but washed out. The one rule i never break is to never buy an acro that i don't think will color up brightly from top to bottom. If i think something will have a visible area that is drab compared to the rest of the piece no matter what i do i will not buy it - it's one of the reasons my stuff catches your eye without you actually realizing it. I can't magically color up everything, if it's meant to be brown it will be brown - i pick only acros which i believe i can color up well all over.

The base of the acro was ugly pale tan/grey and the areas in the spot marked by the pink arrows was visibly light gacky brown pretty much all over except for the top 1/2" of each tip in that area of the colony. It had been in the shop for three days and was probably ignored because of what i just described despite the pinky mauve hues on the top area.

1. The circled light blue area with the arrows pointing to the small strip of tissue was not grey brown. It was very pale mauve/purple and that told me the entire base is capable of coloring up. If i saw darker brown on the edge i would have left it at the shop.

2. The areas maked by the blue arrows is base tissue just like the brown areas marked by the pink arrows. The base is growing at a sloped upward angle which mightn't show in the pic. If that area of the inner base is colorful then all of the base area is capable of doing the same.

What would explain why what i think will happen in my tank wasn't happening in the wild ? The acro was growing partially in the shade of another above and behind it marked by the lime lines. Look at the way it isn't wasting energy encrusting in the middle base area even though there's prime bare rock going to waste. It's instead encrusting strongly in a more sideways direction to get into clear light - just like they do in our reefs.
The small colored base spot circled was the only base area getting hit with direct beams of sunlight most likely. It's why one area is colored base to tip while another is brown - it's just a lack of PUR nothing more from the shading where it was growing in the wild.

The second pic was taken 5 days ago and the yellow arrows are where the light from the triple T5 units are coming from. The aqua blue arrow is the 400W radium hitting the piece.
I took the pic with just the T5's on so you can see the differences without the Radium influencing the way the acro looks when photographed. It's very pale still but there's much cleaner tissue all over now. Today i noticed the base had some areas coloring up at last so it will hopefully color up into something cool.

Anyway, not very exciting but now you know why i was confident i could color the acro up from top to bottom and hence why i chose it.

 

[reefmutt]

Well, looking forward to seeing it in a month or so..

Forgot to ask.. what types of food do you feed your fish?

 

[biggles]

Well, looking forward to seeing it in a month or so..

Forgot to ask.. what types of food do you feed your fish?

It could end up a bland reddish thing for all i know mate. I feed pellets and mysis every day and once in a while i mush up some nori and spread it in the water as the smaller fish won't take it off the magnet holder.

Coloring back up like everything else, always blue but the polyps turned white when the water wasn't to it's liking. it grows around the back of the pav island and i've decided i want to see it without walking around the back of the display - moving time tomorrow.

 

[reefmutt]

I want that. Period.
What type of pellets? Curious which preservative metals are listed in the ingredients list..

 

[Pife]

That may be my favorite piece in your tank! Incredible.

 

[martinphillip03]

You may of already moved it but, why not see what Dave got in before moving it.

Marty

It could end up a bland reddish thing for all i know mate. I feed pellets and mysis every day and once in a while i mush up some nori and spread it in the water as the smaller fish won't take it off the magnet holder.

Coloring back up like everything else, always blue but the polyps turned white when the water wasn't to it's liking. it grows around the back of the pav island and i've decided i want to see it without walking around the back of the display - moving time tomorrow.

 

[Alitoo_81]

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