Cubed & Squared

[troubadour11]

I'm waiting to see your scape.....wet!!! :lol:....Yep, I sound like a broken record.

^^^ You're not telling me anything I'm not yelling at myself! :deadhorse1: I desperately want to see it wet. Hell, I'll take the wholes drilled through the wall and the plumbing done so I can at least PUT them in the tank. It's still currently on a drop clothed table in the entry hall :angryfire:

MORE PICS !

+1 :lmao: YAY PICTURES! :thumbsup: :lmao:

As for the frag battle, turns out greenie was no match, and is being eaten alive as we speak I can see that silly grin on your face right now

R.I.P. Greenie :blown:

 

[biggles]

Oh no please don't tell me that poor green piece of crap is being beaten up............ :dance:

Btw Bello, a few days ago the SCC and that big green stag met on their encrusting battlefront. Nothing happened for 2 days and i thought wow that's cool they'll just stop growing when they touch......... this morning there was a 1/4" wide burn strip on my SCC!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say that green #*%@^$# had a short sharp introduction to a chisel - don't no one or no coral be messing with my bloody SCC. :fun2:

 

[insaneDynamix]

This is a great system. Will tag along

 

[Bello]

This is a great system. Will tag along

Thanks for looking . The tank will be a year old next month, and should have some better pics up by then :thumbsup:

Biggles, I'm surprised you didn't Chainsaw the SSC attacking greenie :lol:.. And I'm still waiting for my SSC frag... It may arrive just before I leave for my short holiday, isn't that just dandy!!! :furious:

Troub, water water water water, Tank is thirsty, need water!!! :ape:

A couple pics,

Somethings affecting the green stag, can you see the ring around the branch? Any idea what disease this is?


And a healthy coral pic, was readjusting its location very slighty, to make room for growth, and since I usually can't snap a good pic of it, here we go

 

[biggles]

Both those pieces look healthy and happy mate, it's really unfortunate for you that green colored SPS are not considered worthy for tank battles so you get no points for those............:frog:
That stag looks like something has been eating the tissue - i would cut 1/4" above and below the area and super glue the healthy branch end back onto the original branch, basically excise the area and bin it. The other big colony would probably look better if you turned it upside down and stuck all that green in the sand bed......... i'll leave that decision to you mate
Seriously though - do something immediately about that stag before you go away and that second colony is going to look awesome if you get it in a cool spot, does it have green polyps as i see quite a few similar pieces regularly over here with fluoro green polyps.
Don't bother Troub please, he's busy setting up the first waterless SPS system seen on RC.............:fun4:

 

[Bello]

Aw come on..not even one measly point for the green ones? :lol:

I gave that stag "THE CHOP", and also moved it to the Monti system . It looks pretty good for now. I also modded the Acro tank scape a bit, to make more room for coral growth. I'm seeing decent growth rates from most pieces, so I'm ok for the moment. Still need to keep an eye out for AEFW's though.

I added a couple small rafts to the structure, like so,


And that's all the fish I have in the acro tank, in one shot

Left hand side view (and look, 3 tanks in one pic :lol

 

[trueblackpercula]

I am willing to bet th flame is causing the damage to the green slimmer

 

[biggles]

Hey i have green acros too, they're great for making other colors look better Glad you took care of that stag. Do you think the angel might have done it ? If he is the culprit use the sudden high light on in the middle of the night to stun him and then slap him against the side of the tank a few times and tell him not to eat your acros - if you do this i guarantee he won't eat any any SPS again, prob won't eat anything ever again tbh...........:strooper:
I love the scape Bello and all the overhanging acros suspended over the sand bed :thumbsup: The ledge at the back covered in frags looks really cool. What's that big tan looking stag at the back, it looks like my blue tipped stag that you liked recently. I think it might possibly be A. abrolhosensis.
Your colors are looking better every time i see the tanks mate so your doing everything right That blue tang is huge lol, he's a tad out of scale with the rest of the fish. I'd swipe your yellow tang if i had the chance as he's a beautiful looking specimen.
I think some closer shots of the corals would be cool mate - hint hint.........:deadhorse1:

 

[Bello]

I am willing to bet th flame is causing the damage to the green slimmer

That's a pretty good call on the flame. He does nip on some of the sps, but so far I haven't noticed a massive reduction in PE. All the same, I've got my eye on him.

The reason I don't suspect him in the above instance, is that he's been in the tank for only 10 days. I've been noticing that band on the slimer for about 2 months now. Arguably, it has worsened since his arrival, but can't say for sure. The odd part about that band was, that PE was still observed in those areas. Anyways, didn't wanna risk it any further, and fragged it now

If he is the culprit use the sudden high light on in the middle of the night to stun him and then slap him against the side of the tank a few times and tell him not to eat your acros - if you do this i guarantee he won't eat any any SPS again, prob won't eat anything ever again tbh...........

This had me in splits :lol:. I hope he doesn't cause any permanent damage though. I like the colour combo's on the fish I've got in there at the moment. One good thing about this scape, is that it will take me about 5 mins, MAX, to catch ANY fish :lol:. The Blue Regal tang is grossly disproportionate to the tank's size, and I feel guilty about keeping in there. BUT, I've had him for over 10 years now, and I don't trust any local hobbyists to take care of him. It's a tough call. I'd much rather keep smaller fish :thumbsup:

Since you have a BLUE Abrolhensis, don't be surprised if you hear a strange noise in the middle of the night someday soon. Keep calm, and go back to sleep. It'll just be me taking a frag :lol:. It's brown, but I love that piece. Fairly uncommon around here, but obviously a BLUE one is much much nicer :thumbsup:

Glad you like the scape. Just wanted to make more room, and utilize as much of the light as possible. I'll be placing some frags at the back overhang, so they won't detract from the front view and as they, hopefully, grow :thumbsup:. I'll possible be removing a couple pieces from the display, when I do get some nice frags.....waiting.....waiting....more waiting

Don't have a Macro lens, but will take some zoomed in cropped pics :lol:. Honestly, biggles, I'd never have taken half as many pics, if it weren't for your goading :thumbsup:

 

[buzzy]

Loving the look of the tank mate! Superb job!

Look up white band diease, a fellow reef keeper down my neck of the woods lost an entire tank full of acros to it. Started with a green slimer and nuked everthing

 

[Bello]

Loving the look of the tank mate! Superb job!

Look up white band diease, a fellow reef keeper down my neck of the woods lost an entire tank full of acros to it. Started with a green slimer and nuked everthing

Thanks buzzy, glad you like it!! :thumbsup: I'm trying to keep the rockwork minimal, while also using as much light as possible.

That's exactly what I was worried about, the white/black band disease. It started about 2 months ago, only on this piece, and I left it to itself. It started to worsen recently, and that's when I fragged it. The colony is still in the system, in the Monti tank. So far, all other corals seem to be ok.

Do you know the time frame over which your fellow reefkeeper lost the acros? I'm hoping that the 2 months, without any other incident in other corals, should be ok. Thanks again :thumbsup:

 

[troubadour11]

OOoOOoOOoooOooo

Looking good! :thumbsup: I'm digging all those tabling pieces extending out like that. They are superbly interesting :fun4:

And I of course LOVE the Flame Angel. I spent the weekend visiting a few LFS for fun and couldn't stop drooling over about 5 different Flame's, 4 Coral Beauties, and a little yellow/blue multi-colored pygmy... maybe one day... for now I'll keep dreaming :sad2: and hopefully if and when I get one it doesn't destroy any corals I end up with :sad1:

And my fingers are still crossed for you on the AEFW battle and whatever that white/black ring stuff is you might be battling. I hope you were able to cut it all out and that's the end of that!

But all in all it's looking great and those colors seem to keep improving. :dance:

 

[Showdizzle]

Wow. that's a really cool setup

 

[Bello]

OOoOOoOOoooOooo

Looking good! :thumbsup: I'm digging all those tabling pieces extending out like that. They are superbly interesting.

And I of course LOVE the Flame Angel. I spent the weekend visiting a few LFS for fun and couldn't stop drooling over about 5 different Flame's, 4 Coral Beauties, and a little yellow/blue multi-colored pygmy... maybe one day... for now I'll keep dreaming :sad2: and hopefully if and when I get one it doesn't destroy any corals I end up with :sad1:

But all in all it's looking great and those colors seem to keep improving. :dance:

Thanks Troub, I'm waiting to see an angel swimming swimming in your tank too . He seems to be fairly well behaved so far, haven't noticed any serious disruption, so fingers crossed. I actually don't plan on adding ANY more fish to the acro tank.

But now, seems like I have a handful of problems besides the pests. Cyano has taken over, and its getting irritating. Remember the improperly cured live rock used for the Monti scape...well, I have THAT to thank for my cyano headaches..My fault :lol:

Wow. that's a really cool setup

Thanks for you kind words :thumbsup:. It's nice to hear some positives, when the tank is busy trying to irritate the hell out of you :lol:

Here's a comparative pic of one of my favourite frags. Pics are from 18 March till date

 

[biggles]

Hey mate how is everything going now, if that cyano is still an issue rip the bloody sand out and knock it on the head once and for all. I guess all you can do is run GFO etc until you exhaust the crap leaching from your rocks mate but having no sand will make life a lot easier :thumbsup:
What's happening with that green stag with the band disease, did it stop after you cut it out.
Cool series of growth shots mate, by the pic 4 colors i'd already have been lining up a place in the sump for it lol. Just kidding it's growing well and coloring up nicely. Are the tips white or another color. I see the green monticulosa (yes?) is looking very happy :thumbsup:

WE NEED MORE PICS !

 

[Bello]

Cyano is still irritating the hell outta me :furious:

I realized that I hadn't changed out my GFO in ummm, 3 months!!!! So checked it, and its at 0.04ppm...... so new gfo in. Hopefully this'll help. When I ran Zeo, I barely ever tested for PO4, since it was easy to maintain low PO4 with the zeo supps. Need to improve my husbandry!!! I'm almost pulled out the sand yesterday, but I'm still trying to desist. You know how I hate bare bottoms!!

The frag above is actually the yellowest acro in my tank, too bad my camera skills are still rubbish. Can't show off the correct colour. Will try again The tips are indeed white, its a fairly slow grower, but can't really complain ...

It's a A. Humilis to its right, I believe. I shifted it to higher light and flow, its now turned yellower ...Will post a pic of that soon...If you wanna see it....it's a green acro by default :lol:

The green slimer with the disease has been shifted to the Monti tank, but recovery has been slow. And I don't take nearly enough pics to compare for growth .

Here's a pic of another frag that's made me happy over the same time frame as the frag above


As you can see, I kinda like these comparative pics .

 

[biggles]

I think changing out the spent GFO will go a long way towards cleaning up your water mate but if things remain no better in a week i think it'll be time to display your bottom for all to see lol :lol:
I like the growth pattern on that yellowish frag and don't stress about your pics mate as i'm well aware they're a lot prettier in real life than your pics show :thumbsup:
I'd like to see a better pic of your humilis, i see quite a few of those thick branched acros for sale but usually go for the thinner more delicate branched acros i see. As long as that disease doesn't return i'd be happy whatever the growth is on the infected stag you had to chop up Bello
Wow i'm impressed with the growth your getting from that frag, it's a nice little mini colony now and i like the wilder looking growth pattern your getting - that's a winner :thumbsup:
A little birdy told me that you're going to run a more natural system rather than the gadget city sumps preferred by most lol. I should show you a pic of the skimmer and return sections of my sump so you can see what's not in there......... Don't get me wrong though, i'm all for automating things if your life circumstances require it or even if you're just into that technical equipment side of the hobby but i think it gets lost now days that you can run a healthy SPS display with very little equipment. If you can fill a container with RO and the daily alk dose and drip it into the sump over 24 hours you don't need a dosing pump, if you design your sump with a high flow baffle section you can get away with passive GFO and carbon in bags imo and the more rock you stick in the sump the better to keep your water crystal clean.
I live alone so i can devote a lot more time to my SPS tank than many with families and other commitments so i'm lucky in not having to purchase unnecessary equipment, doesn't mean i wont though

 

[troubadour11]

How's the cyano battle coming Bello? Did swapping out that GFO help? Or are you going to be baring that bottom for all to see soon? Ewwwww :thumbdown:

Sorry for that... sometimes childish humor has to win out :facepalm:

I'm liking the comparative growth pics. It's really interesting to see how the shape evolves over time. I can't wait to eventually see the growth shots of that SCC you're waiting to receive! One day you will have that SCC you've always wanted, and maybe I'll have water in my tank :deadhorse:

Keep it up :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

Long gaps between updates usually means you're up to sneaky stuff with your reefs mate............:strooper: Hope everything is going ok with the family and the reefs

 

[Bello]

Thanks!!

Thanks!!

Thanks biggles & troub for hanging around when I really didn't feel great about the tank

So, its not like the tank is doing great or anything....still battling cyano!!!! :furious:. Plus, to make matters worse, my son wasn't keeping well a couple weeks ago, and we were due to go for our annual family holiday... so yeah a royal mess!!!

So, I just got back from the holiday, and this is what I saw...



Thankfully, no major losses. The green slimer began to RTN though, in my absence, and is now fragged. The cyano also caused the abro to stn, and its been annoying a few of the sps. I went bare bottom in the acro tank to try and reduce phosphates, but as it turns out, no matter how much GFO I run, phosphates are at 0.06 to 0.1....Not fun!!! I suspect that the rock I used for rescaping the Monti tank, is leaching tons of PO4. Any suggestions biggles? I'm currently adding Zeo Coral Snow, which is supposed to help battle cyano, by cleaning out the live rock, so I hope it helps.... It's bloody irritating!!

And I've also removed a lot of the maricultured monti pieces out of the Monti tank.....So yeah....I wish things were better...but right now, its just back to basics till I get rid of the damn cyano :furious: