Cubed & Squared

[biggles]

Damn i bet all that dipping was a pain in the bum to do mate. I'm sure the drastic action was your only option and i would have done the same in your situation. Have my fingers crossed that you killed them all buddy :beer:
A bit of browning is a small price to pay to eradicate those murderous SPS munching machines, if it was me with the quarantine i'd only do it for a week or two at most and give the coral a number of close inspections over that time looking for eggs. I do see why you're concerned at browning them in Q as we both know how slower the return to color is in most cases

Are you telling me that's a blue ice fire echi you have Bello - you do know that's my most sought after acro and i won't rest untill i score a nice wild piece........ you bastard Bello :strooper:

 

[Bello]

Are you telling me that's a blue ice fire echi you have Bello - you do know that's my most sought after acro and i won't rest untill i score a nice wild piece........ you bastard Bello :strooper:

:lol: I could be wrong....very wrong . Jason ID'd it as a Speciosa...so I could be wrong there, but I'm happy with it, whatever it is

I need to get the blue back in the tips, its reduced a bit off late.. Who said keeping SPS was easy

Good news is, a couple of the frags have started coloring up a bit... Need to stop messing around, and I will....... after I change the substrate of the Monti tank (which doesn't really have montis anymore). Darned sand keeps flying all over :furious:

 

[troubadour11]

Hey Bello, I know you're fighting the pest battle and all. But that FTS doesn't look that bad. In fact, I think it still looks pretty darn good! :fish1:

Is it nice to have the sand back in? Sure seems to brighten up the tank a bit. I think you're still looking good and on the right track. From what little I know anyway :strooper:

And that IceFire looks pretty to me. I wouldn't be upset with a piece like that :bounce3: Maybe one day... You're yellow tang looks to be happy in that FTS. We still aren't sure whether we will want to try a yellow tang in our reef yet or not. I guess I need to do a little more :reading: on them and other fish their size to see which I would prefer.

 

[biggles]

I'll save you the research Troub - it's bright bloody yellow, eats nuisance algae and looks awesome.

Fish - yellow - get one.

Oh i'm sure you're happy with my acro Bello...........
The tank looks really crisp with the sand in there mate, really does look great so i hope you're liking the new look as well The extra light won't hurt and the sand bed will do a great job of mixing and bouncing the LED's output as a bonus. I think things are going to change for the better in short order mate, grumpy acros don't color back up......:thumbsup:

 

[Bello]

Hey Bello, I know you're fighting the pest battle and all. But that FTS doesn't look that bad. In fact, I think it still looks pretty darn good!

Is it nice to have the sand back in? Sure seems to brighten up the tank a bit. I think you're still looking good and on the right track. From what little I know anyway

And that IceFire looks pretty to me. I wouldn't be upset with a piece like that Maybe one day... You're yellow tang looks to be happy in that FTS. We still aren't sure whether we will want to try a yellow tang in our reef yet or not. I guess I need to do a little more on them and other fish their size to see which I would prefer.

Thanks Troub! Hopefully things'll get better , and we'll be around to make sure that things go great for you :thumbsup:

I have a yellow tang in every single display tank I have. They're relatively inexpensive for me and you. But imagine if anti-fishguy biggles, who would probably never spend 40 bucks on coral, spent over a 100 on a yellow tang, that's saying a lot . If you do decide to add one, get a small sized specimen and add it last. A downside is that they can get quarrelsome on occasion. Adding them last will ensure no problems. For their color, utility (algae eaters) and price.....unmatched IMO

I'll save you the research Troub - it's bright bloody yellow, eats nuisance algae and looks awesome.

Fish - yellow - get one.

Oh i'm sure you're happy with my acro Bello...........
The tank looks really crisp with the sand in there mate, really does look great so i hope you're liking the new look as well The extra light won't hurt and the sand bed will do a great job of mixing and bouncing the LED's output as a bonus. I think things are going to change for the better in short order mate, grumpy acros don't color back up......:thumbsup:

Thanks biggles, I like the newer gravel, and will be using it on the monti tank soon. I may get some goodies soon, fingers crossed...

Before you yell at me for not posting enough pics, heres one...note the frags on the left, I can't get the colors right in the pic..... but pale bodied, blue polyps, and yellowish/lime tips

 

[biggles]

Those frags look yummy and very happy judging by the PE That one on the left is very pretty, look forward to seeing it grow out for you mate.
Top right in the pic i see green polyps and purple tips - spill the beans Bello and by spill i mean get a bloody pic of it for me pronto.........:lol2:

 

[Bello]

Sorry to disappoint you biggles, but the out of shot piece is well... ho hum... A mari and not as cool version of your brown, blue & yellow tipped evil godzilla

 

[troubadour11]

Sorry to disappoint you biggles, but the out of shot piece is well... ho hum... A mari and not as cool version of your brown, blue & yellow tipped evil godzilla

OK... so if this piece is just "Ho-Hum" I must be in for a real coral treat eventually. Because I think this piece is pretty cool. I'd be interested to watch how it develops over time.

 

[biggles]

That acro colony is a dormant stunner mate. :thumbsup: If i was you i'd take a frag off it and drop the frag into lower light as i've had several colonies over the years that looked like twins to your acro when i bought them and low light saw the pigments light up. Lots more food for all the boys and girls will see all those pale acros start earning their keep.
Once you're confident the tank is back under control i'm sure you'll see good things happening once you get some life back into your water and a more natural system with some critter life helping to feed the corals 24/7.
How much food is going into the tank now buddy, i see a bit of green algae on the rocks still but nothing out of control by the looks of it.
I really think your systems are going to put a smile back on your dial now that you're going back to a more simple and natural approach mate. :thumbsup: Mind you as soon as your acros color up i'll start dropping my SCC pics in your journal once again.............

 

[Bello]

OK... so if this piece is just "Ho-Hum" I must be in for a real coral treat eventually. Because I think this piece is pretty cool. I'd be interested to watch how it develops over time.

That acro colony is a dormant stunner mate. :thumbsup: If i was you i'd take a frag off it and drop the frag into lower light as i've had several colonies over the years that looked like twins to your acro when i bought them and low light saw the pigments light up. Lots more food for all the boys and girls will see all those pale acros start earning their keep.
Once you're confident the tank is back under control i'm sure you'll see good things happening once you get some life back into your water and a more natural system with some critter life helping to feed the corals 24/7.
How much food is going into the tank now buddy, i see a bit of green algae on the rocks still but nothing out of control by the looks of it.
I really think your systems are going to put a smile back on your dial now that you're going back to a more simple and natural approach mate. :thumbsup: Mind you as soon as your acros color up i'll start dropping my SCC pics in your journal once again.............

Thanks guys , I do like the piece, just that its not exactly rare. Troub, you should be able to get a mari colony of the same for 50 bucks, I think, without too much trouble. It's currently blasted with light, and hasn't grown much since I got it. In any case, as usual, I've come up with another brilliant (idiotic) idea...... Ready for it???

Here we go,
I'm gonna keep the acropora tank, more like a shallow water acro tank...and hopefully with a couple more stags. The acro tank is about 60w brighter than the monti, and with more whites too. Meanwhile, the monti tank will now host deeper water acros, bushy structured acros, and other sps. I think I'd like this look and concept. Biggles, I'll be shifting the acro above into the monti tank, should get more interesting there. Lesser light, and I'll feed more

But before all that, I need to change the substrate on the monti tank, since its constantly blowing all over the bloody place, and add some live rock to the sump. This will probably take me a couple weeks at least. And then, provided I have no problem algae with the above changes, I can work on the colors. Good thing is, some of the frags from the drop off have colored up . I'm still not feeding much, since I get diatoms pretty quick, but it's manageable.

Any comments on the above?

And here's a pic....of whats going on in the monti tank ...notice....no montis

 

[biggles]

Hey mate, i love the idea of a deep water acro tank and a shallower staggy reef as the contrasting looks would be very cool with one a more serene scape and the other more wild looking with the stags
The colors in that pic are looking a whole lot better than things did a while back Bello, even your rock is looking better and less 'gooped' up with algae and slime etc. You're making some big changes in your overall water keeping methods so i think you just need to be patient for a month or 2 to let the nutrient cycle settle into a new rhythm. Don't rush the coral foods until you're confident the systems can handle it mate, i know you know all this but i'm just throwing out ideas.

I know you won't believe this mate but i think you have a lot better SPS collection and much nicer pieces than i do, yours are just on color strike atm and will return to work once the tank working conditions are more agreeable lol. Even though you think you don't have much to show i really do wish you'd post some individual acro colony pics as many of us appreciate the beauty of the different growths and species and i think you under value the overall success you're having buddy. Considering how many guys can't even keep the bloody things alive you're only real issue is colors vibrancy which isn't going to take long to correct - looking at that seri i see good color compared to what they do under my blue/white LED unit so i kinda think your lighting spectrum is okey dokey in that regard. You have great PE and things are growing which is what i call success, sorry for the ramble but i don't think you give yourself enough credit for keeping 3 SPS reefs at one time - i only have to worry about one. :thumbsup:

 

[Bello]

Wow Biggles, thanks for your words of encouragement , means a lot coming from you

You're right about not making too many changes. I know this, but tend to get carried away and push my luck, get complacent.....and that's when things can go wrong. I'll hold off any major changes for a couple weeks at least.

You're also right, that I don't believe that I have a better collection than you . I do have some nice frags, but its gonna be a long time before they have a significant impact on the look of the tank. The rest are just mari piecies. While they do look nice, they're really common, and easily found on multiple tanks all over Reef Central, unlike your juicy sps

I've shut down the drop off now, as far as sps is concerned. Figure I may as well focus on just one tank, and save money on additional equipment I'd have to buy. I'd did pick up a couple pieces recently, and I got my frags . The PE on the new arrivals is quite poor to be honest. The older sps have great PE, just the new ones. Any ideas?

Here's a pic of some of them


Thanks for your words Biggles, its amazing when the rude Aussie is polite
I'll put up better and more colony pics in a couple days, enough of the FTS shots

 

[biggles]

Those little guys have some serious potential Bello, as usual i messed with your pic so i could get a better idea of the colors. Is that tiny little lime/yellow frag a fluoro as it sure looks the same color as mine. The stag below it is super cool with the blue tip, that's going to be a beauty as is the one above it, are they diff acros mate.
Is that a milli top left, looks to be a peachy colored, what is it supposed to look like when it's happy as i find milli's in particular are very easy to both care for and get colorful results. Personally i dislike the hairy nature of most milli's and prostrata's as in many cases the bloody polyps mask the prettier colors underneath.
That looks to be a blob of pink pocil top right, that will take a month or two like mine to pink back up and they're lazy little bastards in the encrusting department lol. I like that lower right acro that has the branches, what is the color of that when it's not sulking - that's my fav piece btw even though it has no real color atm i think it's growth pattern is yummy and the placement is excellent :thumbsup:

If all the older ones are happy then it's simply shipping stress affecting the new frags. I find leaving the main lights off and just running dawn dusk all day for a day or even two will usually encourage poopy acros to stick their polyps out for a look at the water and people forget that there's lots of stormy days on the reefs when it's dark all day due to heavy storm clouds.
I have to say the colors are starting to look a little more rich and saturated rather than all pale and wishy washy mate, do you see it that way in real life.

Thanks for your words Biggles, its amazing when the rude Aussie is polite
I'll put up better and more colony pics in a couple days, enough of the FTS shots

Yes you will put up more pics asap Bello - your efforts to this point are bloody woeful so pull your finger out and get snapping. If Troub can get off his lazy waterless behind and fill his tank, you can take some pics for us.......
As you can see the polite thing didn't last long.........

 

[Bello]

First off biggles, that's a really accurate edit of my pic :thumbsup:

Ok...ze frags.... the tiny flouro colored frag is a A. Lokani, I believe. Its supposed to be more yellow, but I guess this'll do fine for now. I have a bigger piece of it in the following pics....yes I fragged a frag

The 2 blue tipped ones are the same. I have an older version of it, which love, but find it impossible to take a proper pic of. Its aqua colored, so I just had to get more of it. Here's the older one aqua one I have, terrible pic


I'm beginning to loathe milli's, since I just can't get 'em right. Its supposed to be yellowish with brownish polyps...but lets see what happens.

The frag leaning over on the right is supposed to be purple...but once again, just got 'em and it looks like its gonna take a while. I hope it works out well.

PE seems to be improving steadily on the acros, so that's a good sign, hopefully, they'll settle down soon. I did take a few more pics, and tried playing around with ps, lemme know what you think.

This one's the A. Hyacinthus. Jason I'd it for me biggles, the red table acro that you've got seems to be different in structure.


Here's an enormous stag I picked up.....just couldn't resist


And a millie mari.... why do I bother with these


More frags


Monti's in the Monti tank....


Troublesome millie frags


And I love this structure in the Monti tank


Whew....

 

[biggles]

It's after midnight so i'm going to bed Bello but i've been sitting here all this time thinking you had tanks full of crappy acros........... i'll reply at length tomorrow you sneaky acro hiding bastard...........:strooper:
Played around with PS did ya Bello........... played around with the bloody camera is more like and actually showed me your SPS stash........

Edit: Just saw your pink deepwater acro Bello, i suppose that popped out of PS too did it........

 

[Bello]

Guilty as charged biggles

I got my frags last week, along with a couple maris. I have a blue one thats colored up, just can't get a decent pic of it .

Anyways, the deepwater piece, ID'd by Jason to be A. Carduus, was a big wild piece I got months ago. I chopped into smaller bits since it was too big to mount anywhere. It's frags have since doubled in size when kept in high light. The drawback is that they are pale cream colored in that scenario. A couple months ago while mucking with the monti tank, I kept em on the sandbed (monti tank also has lower lighting) and noticed this


So a couple weeks ago I put one frag in shade, and its beginning to get the greenish tips like so


And my final confession biggles,


This rtn'd the day after I got, still I managed to frag a bit off, fingers crossed it recovers. I had a colony of this 4 years ago when I just started out, got it for like 60 bucks, but times changed after that, and my noob mistakes lost me the piece. Still I always admired its structure....hopefully now......

 

[troubadour11]

Awesome updates Bello 'ol boy! Thanks for all the photos!

It looks like things are just waiting to take off over there for you. Keep it up, it's looking good!

 

[biggles]

Hot damn mate i really pleased to see so many cool acros in your tanks now and they're all going to light up for you over the coming months i'm certain, keep things simple and don't play mad professor with your water and i'm going to be very envious of all those acros you have with delicate structure - you know i love those don't ya Bello...... you bastard lol. :thumbsup:
Put that one developing green tips down lower, under the sand bed would be a good spot i think mate. I know i'm gonna regret asking this but that last bloody frag you posted - tell me what it looks like when grown out....... it better not be anything like one of those dragon acros.
Btw i used to think that super bright lighting was the key to SPS colors, it isn't and i've always found that the lower light you can hold the color you like on an acro the more saturated those colors are compared to placing the same acro up high - watch those LED's buddy as less is definitely better with those things.

Obviously i need to increase the amount of food dyes i pour in just before taking pics........:hmm2:

 

[Bello]

Awesome updates Bello 'ol boy! Thanks for all the photos!

It looks like things are just waiting to take off over there for you. Keep it up, it's looking good!

Thanks Troub, looks like you're gonna be awful busy the next couple weeks with your progress, waiting to see what you pick out

Hot damn mate i really pleased to see so many cool acros in your tanks now and they're all going to light up for you over the coming months i'm certain, keep things simple and don't play mad professor with your water and i'm going to be very envious of all those acros you have with delicate structure - you know i love those don't ya Bello...... you bastard lol. :thumbsup:
Put that one developing green tips down lower, under the sand bed would be a good spot i think mate. I know i'm gonna regret asking this but that last bloody frag you posted - tell me what it looks like when grown out....... it better not be anything like one of those dragon acros.
Btw i used to think that super bright lighting was the key to SPS colors, it isn't and i've always found that the lower light you can hold the color you like on an acro the more saturated those colors are compared to placing the same acro up high - watch those LED's buddy as less is definitely better with those things.

Obviously i need to increase the amount of food dyes i pour in just before taking pics........:hmm2:

Me not play mad professor? That's asking for a lot biggles . Anyway, I just finished placing most of the frags in their 'final' positions, hopefully, they're happy there.

I'm now trying to stop messing around, and I've sworn to my self, that I'll stop adding more coral, except for a nice blue stag that is. Need to give time for the rest of the frags to grow out.

Was planning on doing a nice big update, but its past midnight and I'm sleepy as hell.

It seems that you're quite right about the lower lighting with the leds, achieving the best colours. I've resisted temptation to bolster my monti tank lighting many times, just so that I can place corals at different intensities and somewhat differing spectrums, to see their effects.

Anyways, you're right about that red acro, its the Red Dragon (once again, no lineage ), but its not doing so hot. Funny, since my maricultured piece that I had years ago was not picky at all. Highish light, flow....and it was happy. I dug up an old pic, you should be able to spot it out easily



I really meant to make a better update.... will do that tomorrow

 

[biggles]

Anyways, you're right about that red acro, its the Red Dragon (once again, no lineage ), but its not doing so hot. Funny, since my maricultured piece that I had years ago was not picky at all. Highish light, flow....and it was happy. I dug up an old pic, you should be able to spot it out easily

Red Dragon hey - i &$)*$%# knew it !!!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrr i know you know how much i love acros like that Bello........... funnily enough i did spot it out, it's the one i'd drown you in your own tank for on the right isn't it mate........
I know stuff all about LED's but talking to some friends on here with a lot more experience has shown me how deceiving LED's are to the eye compared to my halide.
I'm already in your tomorrow and i don't see any update...........:uhoh3:

Btw your mate Troubster is after your advice re constructing his giggle lights and how to put together what appears to be a xmas decoration reef light going by his description...........