A Splash of Color

[biggles]

That is one nice looking acro buddy!

I was just reading through that matrix/siporax thread and it's got me thinking about trying some.

It's very delicate and pretty in the front right hand corner mate so that's where it's staying.
I would really urge you to get some into your system Conor, it really does work as an extremely efficient bacteria host that's much easier to deal with than LR. It's not really anything new, just better than harming reefs for LR collection in my baby harp seal saving opinion.

Andrew, that coral with blueish body and blue tips is breathtaking man !!!!

GREAT that the tank is coming back !!!!

Cheers
Daniel

Thanks Daniel, the tank is going well again now.

Thank you Andrew!
How often you do feed the corals with the skimmat?

I do it two or three times a week now days mate.

Do you still use the same filtration?
Sorry what is the matrix what do you use in the sump? How it looks like?
What do you use for nitrate dosing?
Can you post some pictures of your sump please?

How big level of nitrates and phosphates was when you lose pink and red colors, please?

I'll take some pics of the sump stuff this weekend and answer your questions at the same time so i can use the pics to explain things easier my friend.

Nice stuff brother, glad to see things turning around.
Maybe Santa's sleigh could run through Dave's shop and land some up here.

Thanks mate, i don't share my acros - not even with Santa.........

Wow that last one is a nice Acro! Love the light body and blue tips.

Thanks Mindy, if i gave it a touch more light i could drive the branches white but i like it where i have it placed and the contrast still looks great. I must take a pic of the echi i have secreted on the rocks that is deep satin blue from tip to toe, looks like this piece dipped in blue ink lol.

This is a stunner Andrew:

I might have something similar hidden in my tank...

Well i'm totally shocked that you of all people would have a nice acro hidden away.......... Myself and your other good mates on RC take it for granted that you probably have at least five frags hidden at any one time or another..........

 

[biggles]

Nice one Andrew :celeb1:

Thanks Mike.

Acro Porn for sure mate! Oh how I wish I had a piece of that coral

I wish i could give you a piece Perry.

Happy HoHo Biggles!

No xmas tree this year?

Just wanted to say thanks for keeping the best journal on RC. If I retain 1/4 of the info discussed here I might even see some colours in the coming new year.

Cheers to ya mate!

Thanks very much mate

Merry Christmas and Happy new year bud. Hows your mom

Thanks Dan, mom is doing great. She mentioned her car sometimes made a crunching noise when she was driving away from a parking spot, i told her to stop and ring me if it happened again.
Yesterday she rang me and i told her to make sure she had the hand brake off completely.

'Ohhhh, that's why that red light is on. Do you think it's faulty ?'
'The only thing that's faulty is..........'
This is where i suddenly realised what i was about to say to my mother and stopped mid sentence. It was too late of course and i had to then pretend that of course it would be easy for anyone to drive off with the hand brake still partially engaged. :facepalm:

After the first four times most people would have worked it out for themselves though mom.............

One of my dream corals right there - looking awesome Andrew.
Merry Christmas to you & all you thread subscribers.

Thanks very much Greg.

MERRY CHRISTMAS Andrew :celeb1::beer:

Ha, love the Xmas moose Mike.

Agreed! Dream coral, indeed!!

Merry Christmas!

You have plenty of dream corals of your own Matt, i want lots of your acros mate.

Merry Christmas Andrew for you and your Mom.

Daniel

Thanks very much Daniel.

Merry Christmas buddy

Thanks my good friend.

Are these not common anymore? I remember a bunch of echinatas coming in from Aussie a few years back before I quit.

I think they would still be coming in now mate.

Merry Xmas everybody!

And to you mate.

Merry Christmas! those are some beautiful corals you got there!

Thanks mate.

Any word from Bello. You did promise he would return in 2015.

Marty

I'm saddened to not have Bello around anymore Marty, i wish nothing but good things for my little buddy.


Even though Xmas is past i hope all my friends here and those you care for had a wonderful Xmas and i hope you all have an awesome 2016 in and out of the tank.

 

[sahin]

Andrew mate, the FTS looks great! :beer:

However, placing a bunch of softy yellowy snotty drops under a prized acro is disgustingly sneaky: :thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown

What other softy things are you hiding in the tank mate?

PS I have a specific photo request: can you take a photo of display (with only Radiums on) but with the room lights on? I want to get an idea of how blue the Radiums are compared to ambient lighting. Thanks mate.
If the tank room is too messy (because Kevin doesnt tidy up...) you can email me the photo :lol:

PS Bello is alright. I've been keeping in touch. Maybe he will return sometime in 2016.

 

[biggles]

And by the way the tank looks awesome

Thank you Arlin

Andrew mate, the FTS looks great! :beer:

However, placing a bunch of softy yellowy snotty drops under a prized acro is disgustingly sneaky: :thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown

What other softy things are you hiding in the tank mate?

PS I have a specific photo request: can you take a photo of display (with only Radiums on) but with the room lights on? I want to get an idea of how blue the Radiums are compared to ambient lighting. Thanks mate.
If the tank room is too messy (because Kevin doesnt tidy up...) you can email me the photo :lol:

PS Bello is alright. I've been keeping in touch. Maybe he will return sometime in 2016.

Thanks mate, i thought some gratuitous pics would be a good way to end the year. I have lots of new flubbery stuff hidden around since you guys started throwing zoas at me........:hammer:

I'll take a pic for you asap buddy - it's going to be bloody blue lol. Speaking of bloody blue, this is what the camera sees when i have only the T5's on. I changed out all the triple banks to DD Giesemann bulbs which the acros have liked. Considering they replaced two year old bulbs anything is an improvement to the acros i think lol. I had about a square foot of cyano in total spread around the sand in patches here and there and it vanished after two days under the new T5's. The sand in the FTS pic hasn't been touched or cleaned in weeks, it's almost as white as brand new sand with the only change being the T5 switch. Makes taking pics hard due to the ridiculous contrast from the light reflecting sand.

Actinic +
Pure Actinic
Lagoon Blue

I also reduced the flow in the display by about 30% so the sand would stay in place. Even with the exposure under by 2/3 of a stop the phone camera still blows out the sand and darkens the corals trying to even out the light.

My submission for FTS porn pic of 2015.......

 

[M007]

Awesome pic Andrew, looks love things are back in order

 

[plyle02]

Nice FTS Andrew, looks stunning mate! I agree, the tank looks like things are dialed back in, congrats on pushing through, I am sure you have more vigor than ever

 

[reefmutt]

Looove that fts.. So much room.
I want to shrink myself down like ant man and go exploring in there!

 

[Myka]

Thanks Mindy, if i gave it a touch more light i could drive the branches white but i like it where i have it placed and the contrast still looks great. I must take a pic of the echi i have secreted on the rocks that is deep satin blue from tip to toe, looks like this piece dipped in blue ink lol.

Andrew, don't do that! It's a beauty the way it is! Yes, do take a pic of the Echi - one of my favs.

Thank you for posting the beautiful FTS. I came to your thread just for a pick me up since the first thread I read this morning was a douche-y reply, and I retaliated, so I came here for some humor and eye-gasms to put my day back on track. Ahhhh, I feel better now.

 

[markalot]

Looking good, glad to see the tank is recovering nicely. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

[glaukos]

Agree with everything all the guys above commented,andrew
Have a big place in my heart for your tank mate and i simply can't wait for the corals to outgrow it,it'll look awesome:beer:
Hey i thought you were going to give mr.freckles.Did you change your mind?

 

[biggles]

Awesome pic Andrew, looks love things are back in order

Thanks Mike, getting there mate, getting there..........

Nice FTS Andrew, looks stunning mate! I agree, the tank looks like things are dialed back in, congrats on pushing through, I am sure you have more vigor than ever

Thanks Perry, the display is bouncing back well now mate.

Looove that fts.. So much room.
I want to shrink myself down like ant man and go exploring in there!

The bloody wrasses would gobble you up Matt...:spin2:

Andrew, don't do that! It's a beauty the way it is! Yes, do take a pic of the Echi - one of my favs.

Thank you for posting the beautiful FTS. I came to your thread just for a pick me up since the first thread I read this morning was a douche-y reply, and I retaliated, so I came here for some humor and eye-gasms to put my day back on track. Ahhhh, I feel better now.

I'm glad the pics put a smile on your dial Mindy, wait until i manage to get a shot of Little Kenny who lives in that echi, he's a teeny weeny little white acro crab

Looking good, glad to see the tank is recovering nicely. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Thanks Mark, best wishes for you and the family too mate.

Agree with everything all the guys above commented,andrew
Have a big place in my heart for your tank mate and i simply can't wait for the corals to outgrow it,it'll look awesome:beer:
Hey i thought you were going to give mr.freckles.Did you change your mind?

Thanks Mike, if you mean Moby the whale tang then yes i am keeping him because he's like a pet dog the way he behaves now lol.

 

[MichaelW]

Andrew looks real nice. Glad the problems seem to be over now. I'm always up for a good shot of an echo so I will be waiting

 

[Myka]

I'm glad the pics put a smile on your dial Mindy, wait until i manage to get a shot of Little Kenny who lives in that echi, he's a teeny weeny little white acro crab

Thanks Mike, if you mean Moby the whale tang then yes i am keeping him because he's like a pet dog the way he behaves now lol.

Haha, I love how you name all your critters. I do too. Kenny has survived the wrasses?! I think Moby is still happy in your tank for some time yet. He doesn't look too big yet?

 

[reefmutt]

Uh... I'm ANT MAN!! I can beat the crap outta the wrasses!!
Love the side view as well... Awesome depth.

 

[DaveRaz]

Stunning!!! Do you have snails? I am playing there snails version of where's waldo over here.

 

[Montireef]

Hi mate! I find your aquascaping truly natural and inspiring, not like most of the other ones with weird unbalanced rockwork, unbelievable bridges and martian columns and caves.

I am very happy that things are getting better again and I wish all those awesome acros thrive like before the incident

 

[biggles]

Andrew looks real nice. Glad the problems seem to be over now. I'm always up for a good shot of an echo so I will be waiting

Thanks Michael, my new years resolution is to post acro porn top downs on new years day so you won't have long to wait :beer:

Haha, I love how you name all your critters. I do too. Kenny has survived the wrasses?! I think Moby is still happy in your tank for some time yet. He doesn't look too big yet?

Little Kenny goes off his nut when a wrasse spits sand on his echi lol. He starts chucking sand off and waving his tiny claws over his head like he's giving the tank a mouthful......... the wrasses can't get to the acro crabs and i've never seen one even try tbh.
Moby is only 3.5" long and the same length as both the blue and yellow tangs. I must make a video of the tangs attacking the magnetic vegi clip (love that thing). If you were a little woman made of nori and you went for a swim in my display they'd rip you to pieces Mindy

Uh... I'm ANT MAN!! I can beat the crap outta the wrasses!!
Love the side view as well... Awesome depth.

You're welcome to beat the crap out of the wrasses anytime Matt after they tried to kill a certain favorite critter of mine a while back.......... that's right, Santa came early on Xmas eve when i was shining the torch in the display and discovered a very sick looking and wrasse chewed shrimp. He was on the 6095 in the dark with all his feelers eaten off and his tail almost gone.
I put my hand in beside him and he slowly crawled on - i was actually saying stuff out loud the whole time like ' c'mon buddy i won't let those bastards hurt you again '......... i sat him back on the pump and grabbed a net and when he hopped on again i simply placed the net under my hand and took him out.
Since that day he lives in the sump and has been hand fed 3-4 times a day when the fish are fed. He molted two days ago and now has some feelers and a tail again, he's going to be fine which is more than i can say for those bastards that tried to eat him. I'm going to get him a sump fish buddy to hang out with and keep him company.

I do feel terrible that i left him while he was being attacked when i thought he was dead and wedged under the rock the wrasses were going nuts at. :deadhorse1:

Stunning!!! Do you have snails? I am playing there snails version of where's waldo over here.

Hi Dave, yes i have hundreds of small turbo snails that come out at night. The other day i added another couple of sand sifting starfish so i have three now. They do a great job of keeping the sand free of detritus buildup and you hardly ever see them so i'd urge anyone with sand to get a few as they motor through the sand eating crap.

Hi mate! I find your aquascaping truly natural and inspiring, not like most of the other ones with weird unbalanced rockwork, unbelievable bridges and martian columns and caves.

I am very happy that things are getting better again and I wish all those awesome acros thrive like before the incident

Thanks very much mate, i put a lot of time into making the scape look as natural as possible whilst still showing off the acros in their best orientation as far as the eye is concerned. It gets complicated finding the right spot for a piece sometimes so i just make a place for it if i have to.

Mindy meet Little Kenny, Little Kenny meet Mindy.......

The corallites are about 1/16" dia so Little Kenny is bloody little, the acro is 2.5" tall so not very big but LK is dwarfed by the branches lol..........

 

[markalot]

I'm not a fish person so I can honestly say I'd mount those evil bastards on stakes with signs, in fishese, warning those who might mess with the shrimp again.

I'm sure you're a better person than I am.

 

[biggles]

I'm not a fish person so I can honestly say I'd mount those evil bastards on stakes with signs, in fishese, warning those who might mess with the shrimp again.

I'm sure you're a better person than I am.

I'm not a forgive and forget kind of guy Mark so one day when they least expect it i'll get them back for Potatohead..........:hammer:

Since it's now 12.01am 2016 here i want to wish you all a safe and wonderful new year

And some porn........

 

[markalot]

Happy New year!

Should old acquaintance be forgot, uh, la la la la la

la la

well, you know.