A Splash of Color

[martinphillip03]

Rory, will you be keeping a journal on your new tank?

Marty

Wow the tank is looking amazing Andrew!! I've got a lot to catch up on and see what has been going on while I've been away........its been a while but I'm back finally!!

I've just bought myself a brand new 220ltr setup (managed to persuad the real estate into letting me get a bigger tank hahaha) that I've been customising and preparing to fill it later today (SO excited!!).This will be the build that I get right and have success with so I will be pestering you with questions about everything shortly hahaha.

 

[Fishy 1]

Rory, will you be keeping a journal on your new tank?

Marty

I think I will Marty so I can keep all my info in one place for the tank. I've been taking photos of the progress whenever I remember too [emoji12]. Had a couple of minor inconveniences with the setup so far but its all sorted now and it will be running in a couple of hours. I'm already in love with it and its only holding water hahahaha. I will try and start the build thread tonight

 

[maxwell]

Andrew
better pics with very low light first thing,can you offer advice on what i should be looking for in the colouration.
many thanks Bill

 

[biggles]

Hey Bill, those pics are much better lol.

The fluoro tipped aculeus is the same color variant as the one i have on the pav island beside the fireworks frags. It will keep the white skin in bright SSC light and turn an off greyish white in lower light. It's the prettiest fluoro aculeus variant out there imo because the polyps stay bright white - you scored.
All aculeus should have pretty shaggy PE 24/7 or something is wrong.

Need a coffee before i give you an opinion on the anthocercis and microclados

 

[biggles]

Back with coffee........

I meant to say about fluoro aculeus, the highlight colors you see are a mix of green zoa and fluoro yellow tissue proteins. The ratio of that mix needs to be heavy on the tissue protein and light on the zoa concentrations to look yellow.
You control those with your water and lighting.

If it loses 'pop' it is losing the proteins. If you have no probs keeping green acros nice and bright green rather than drabbish green you should have no probs keeping the green zoa at bay Bill.

I think the reddish acro is an anthocercis collected deep 20-30 mtrs in lower flow. The weird multi headed chunky ones are collected in wave affected top down flow areas. Yours was happily tabling with the delicate growth i see a lot now days. Christian collects a lot of beautiful acros very similar to your piece and there are 20-30 red/pink variants so i can't be sure what yours will do.
Wild pieces like yours hate a reversal in flow so make sure you don't place it with water hitting it head on or you will see bugger all PE. If it has the tiniest hint of any green or yellow color to the base or polyps where it is broken off it is a del fuego color variant. green, yellow, red, purple/maroon with deep red polyps.
Otherwise it will be a solid reddish themed table that will look best in the same light the aculeus does. Another nice piece imo mate


The microclados you have will likely lose the light skin tone so if you see any hint of green hue anywhere on it you are looking at the enemy Bill lol.......
If it has white polyps all over rather than the standard pink and white SSC fresh collected polyp colors it might lose the pink to more of a salmon pink highlight.
In short those eye catching microclados branches can be very hit and miss but being able to hold strong bright pinks and reds will make your job a lot easier. It will either be a stunner or a dog Bill.

Doesn't look yellow now........

 

[maxwell]

Andrew
Many thanks very informative 2 out of 3 im happy with luck rather than judgement with the other we will wait and see what happens and of course all depends on my water quality. If it turns out to be SSC variant that will make it 8 i will have mainly different colours and form lol. At my age its hard enough seeing the polyps without taking pics.

thanks again Bill

 

[biggles]

Hey Bill, i know you keep beautiful acros mate so those three pieces will all color up nicely for you one way or another

That big red and green frag Christian sent me is starting to develop bright glowy polyps and some other hues on the tissue. It is looking pretty cool i have to say and the pics are porny so you can see what i'm talking about even if i didn't get the colors exact. More fluoro versus zoa battles, the polyps are ugly dull olive green unless the fluoro is present. Look at the top left polyp compared to those more shaded. I stuck some orange pave up high just for the hell of it.

 

[martinphillip03]

Andrew, Have your corals started growing. Has your Alkalinity uptake increased?

Marty

By the way, your corals look great!

 

[Independent84]

Good day, and what are the parameters of the water at the moment?


Отправлено с моего iPhone используя Tapatalk

 

[sparker1663]

This spooky mike frag is ridiculous. The colour is so strong and intense I am spending way too much time staring at it in my frag tank than doing maintenance on all my tanks.... Damn you.... lol

 

[Fishy 1]

Well here's the build thread my friends Your opinions and advice would be much appreciated on it hahaha

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25041206#post25041206

 

[Fishy 1]

Hey Andrew are you still dosing you super secret special sauce you were using last time I was around here?? The colours are looking awesome!!

 

[bgouges]

Hey Bill, i know you keep beautiful acros mate so those three pieces will all color up nicely for you one way or another

That big red and green frag Christian sent me is starting to develop bright glowy polyps and some other hues on the tissue. It is looking pretty cool i have to say and the pics are porny so you can see what i'm talking about even if i didn't get the colors exact. More fluoro versus zoa battles, the polyps are ugly dull olive green unless the fluoro is present. Look at the top left polyp compared to those more shaded. I stuck some orange pave up high just for the hell of it.

I recon thats the same as my firetrucky acro there biggles! Develops white polyps

 

[biggles]

Andrew, Have your corals started growing. Has your Alkalinity uptake increased?

Marty

By the way, your corals look great!

The alk draw began rising two weeks ago from the 30ml it was stalled on for almost two months Marty. It's at 45ml now mate.

Good day, and what are the parameters of the water at the moment?

Hi mate, as requested........

1.0255
7.0 alk
420 cal
1300 Mg
440 K

Nitrates are 10 and phos is 0.05

This spooky mike frag is ridiculous. The colour is so strong and intense I am spending way too much time staring at it in my frag tank than doing maintenance on all my tanks.... Damn you.... lol

You have no idea just how spooky that acro really is Sam. The cardinal that started living under one of the Spooky Mike colonies is possessed. Sounds crazy i know but today it's mouth was swollen and while i was looking it kinda burped and i saw.......... i saw flies in it's mouth Sam.......... just like in the horror movies when flies come out of peoples mouths.........

If you have cardinals Sam, watch 'em close once the Spooky Mike goes into the display mate.......... watch 'em real close......... :twitch:

Well here's the build thread my friends Your opinions and advice would be much appreciated on it hahaha

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25041206#post25041206

I shall pop in and see what's what Rory

Hey Andrew are you still dosing you super secret special sauce you were using last time I was around here?? The colours are looking awesome!!

I don't dose the trace hard anymore Rory as it was sky high with copper acording to my Triton results.

I recon thats the same as my firetrucky acro there biggles! Develops white polyps

Could be for all i know Brok, Christian sent it down. I've only had it a few weeks now but once it's settled and colored up, how ever it is going to in my tank, i will get some good pics so we can check it out properly.
I have another red frag i think is one of your other red acros but i need to get some good pics so you can give me your opinion. That last batch of frags i posted pics of had three full on red acros in the shipment but i never saw them for obvious reasons lol.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I don't dose the trace hard anymore Rory as it was sky high with copper acording to my Triton results.

Hi Andrew,

Are you planning to have another ICP test done? It would be interesting to find out if there have been any changes to copper readings since you stopped using Trace Hard.

 

[biggles]

Hi Andrew,

Are you planning to have another ICP test done? It would be interesting to find out if there have been any changes to copper readings since you stopped using Trace Hard.

Hi Bulent, i will get one as soon as the alk hits 100ml mate. There shouldn't be anything hopefully, or trace amounts only.

 

[Fishy 1]

Ah ok, what are you dosing the tank at the moment Andrew?

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[cFloor]

I think I post the same thing over and over in your thread, but again, your corals are second to none. Always a pleasure to see the results you are able to achieve.

 

[biggles]

Ah ok, what are you dosing the tank at the moment Andrew?

I dose 1ml of koral color and one drop of lugols every night Rory.

I think I post the same thing over and over in your thread, but again, your corals are second to none. Always a pleasure to see the results you are able to achieve.

Hey Conor, thanks buddy but i actually think there are guys with much better SPS tanks than mine, take this guys ridiculous reef for example........

I decided i like the new blue frag i got at Dave's a week ago so before i glue/puttied the plug to the rocks i gave it a once over with the dremel to bevel the edges down and reduce the obvious cement plug profile. I took a couple of pics for you outside in the sun after i finished - the patient survived entirely intact which is not always the case.

The notch in my thumb nail was dremel'd there last week........ anyone can just snip a frag with lamo ' i don't want to get hurt ' bone cutters. Snip - that's it, exciting stuff indeed. :rolleye1:

If you use a diamond wheel dremel, and i mean the real 240V plug in one not some gutless cordless model made for hippies with a fear of mild to severe electrocution ( depending on how wet my hand is ), you can literally make coral skeleton smoke...........

Always ensure your hands are dry when using a real dremel please people. Most haven't built up the immunity i have so play it safe and wipe your hands dry !

 

[Fishy 1]

Hahahaha its quite the electrify experience using power tools around tanks.......that was bad I apologize. Thats a pretty tiny frag but its got some nice colours

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