Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail

[reefmutt]

Holy cow Matt, the pics and more importantly the colors are looking crazy beautiful mate :dance: Really pleased you finally pulled your finger out and got serious about creating a crackalackin SPS display :celeb1:
I hardly ever see filaments if at all in response to any feeding whether during the day or night Matt so i have no real idea what is up when it happens. It's a bit like when you shine a torch one night and everything has crazy over the top PE and other nights much less even though the daily food etc hasn't changed. I think such PE must be in response to a natural food stimulant being in the water, perhaps critters spawning after lights out but who knows.

Good topic to discuss imo :thumbsup:

Thanks Andrew! I've been aiming for crackalackin for a loooong time. I just need better growth... But I'm not complaining. I'm very happy with things.
Besides frozen foods and before I add frozen, I add a mixture of powdered foods. This combo is Reef Roids, Reef Chili and Reef Pearls... AND Reef Vitality. I have uncapped a bunch of the Reef Vitality and mixed the powder into the other powdered foods listed above. The tank gets four pinches of this every day.. Two pinches just before I add the frozen.. At each feeding. After this, many of the corals produce these very long filaments which stay out for almost a half hour..

 

[reefmutt]

Ok I think I got a few more before I go to bed..
My best grower:

Not sure what this is but I'm going to give it some time..

A rr pink floyd knock off which has nicer polyps..

Just a cool close up macro:

 

[reefmutt]

Couple fullish tank shots:
Left hand side..

Right..

 

[Myka]

Holy photo dump! That new Fiji piece and the new pink/green frah you have high hopes for both stand out to me. Very nice!

I'm pretty sure Raja doesn't have any of it left. Mine has just started to grow after months of hibernation. Don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on it!

So you may have the only piece? Well, when it gets a little bugger you really should spread it around a bit - for insurance purposes.

 

[biggles]

I like those FTS's so we get an idea of what is growing where Matt :thumbsup: What are those beautiful purpley colored anthias with the yellow backs - is there any reason i can't have some of those ? They're not $100- each or something i hope.
I definitely need a purple tang after seeing how awesome yours looks, this journal of yours is going to cost me some cash :lol2:
My BFC is going to go way over 2.0 i think lol.

 

[M007]

Well... Photo bomb time.
I have to say, it's has been three long years trying to get this tank right.. I couldn't believe what time and energy I was putting into my tank when it was doing badly. But now that it's doing so well, it was all worth it.
It's pretty crazy how a true reef addict, like me, can have his (or her) day be great or suck depending on how the reef is doing.. There has been 3 years of SUCK but lately, it's been great.. Personal life aside..
Ok first, a question asked with photo back up..
I find that lately, more than ever, my corals spew out their mesenterial filaments after I've added food to the tank:

Top down of same Fiji colony:

And here's a top down of the smaller frag to the upper left of the bigger colony:

And another shot of a coral with its filaments out:

I can only speculate, because I have no idea for sure, that the coral is hungry.. It smells food and it's not catching enough with its polyps so it's sending out a longer reach..
I don't know..
My nutrients are certainly lower than they have ever been.. Is there a correlation?
Thoughts?

I feel ya on that, seems I'm always in a better mood when my reef is doing well :beer: Looks like things are really coming around for you, congrats :celeb1:

 

[reefmutt]

Holy photo dump! That new Fiji piece and the new pink/green frah you have high hopes for both stand out to me. Very nice!


So you may have the only piece? Well, when it gets a little bugger you really should spread it around a bit - for insurance purposes.

Thanks. If you make a circle with your thumb and second finger, that's how big that piece is.. Once it grows out a bit, I'll be happy to spread it around.

 

[markalot]

Things looking really good Matt, very jealous of the colors!

 

[reefmutt]

I like those FTS's so we get an idea of what is growing where Matt :thumbsup: What are those beautiful purpley colored anthias with the yellow backs - is there any reason i can't have some of those ? They're not $100- each or something i hope.
I definitely need a purple tang after seeing how awesome yours looks, this journal of yours is going to cost me some cash :lol2:
My BFC is going to go way over 2.0 i think lol.

I cannot, for the life of me take wide shots of my tank. They suck. I'm going to have to apply myself and get better shots... I'll try a video soon when the rest of my aptasia have been consumed..
The purple tang is a gorgeous fish and I've always liked the contrast between a purple and a yellow tang. That yellow is a captive bred tang. I didn't know they were breeding yellow tangs in captivity. It made it easy to buy him. And he is TOUGH. I added the yellow, the copperband and the pyramid bfly at the same time in hopes of diffusing the aggression from the purple. He had been alone for a long time and any new fish were being harassed... Well, he totally savaged the yellow and ignored the other two.. The poor yellow was ripped to bits, had multiple slice marks across its body and missing fins. I thought it was a gonner but each day he held his ground and the purple started laying off. He healed up and now the two swim around and graze together. Thenyellow never got a spot of ick or an infection. The purple is obviously the boss but they have made up.
The anthias are Evansi anthias- not easy to keep.. I had 10 to start. The others never really ate very well and over time, they disappeared. These three are first on the food and eat anything frozen. They have adapted. Evansis are not too easy.. With two feedings a day- and now they are larger feeldngs, these ones do well..

 

[reefmutt]

I feel ya on that, seems I'm always in a better mood when my reef is doing well :beer: Looks like things are really coming around for you, congrats :celeb1:

Things looking really good Matt, very jealous of the colors!

Thanks, guys!
I am becoming more and more satisfied with the tank, these days..
My problem now is that I am totally hooked and can't stop buying new corals..

 

[ReefSalt]

looking good Matt,you got some beauty`s there.

I picked up the smaller acro that did not have the colours yours had at the store. Slowly it will colour up more, now just deciding its ideal spot.
do you know what type of branching spa it is?

 

[reefmutt]

Thanks, Rob..
I don't know what type of acro it is.. Scientific names are not my forte..
But it'll be nice!
Good to see you after so long!
Because it's got tight branches, I put mine in a high flow spot with direct lighting.

 

[reefmutt]

I woke up today to find several of these tiny white specks racing around in the current.. I can only assume they are baby blue streak cardinals.. The adults often have mouthfuls of eggs and babies but I've never seen babies swimming in the water..
See if you can spot them in the centre of this video..
Who knows if they will survive.. The other fish seem totally uninterested in them..
I did watch one get caught in an aptasia, unfortunately.

http://youtu.be/Kf7sxmgplf8

 

[cugly]

Really cool bud.

 

[M007]

I woke up today to find several of these tiny white specks racing around in the current.. I can only assume they are baby blue streak cardinals.. The adults often have mouthfuls of eggs and babies but I've never seen babies swimming in the water..
See if you can spot them in the centre of this video..
Who knows if they will survive.. The other fish seem totally uninterested in them..
I did watch one get caught in an aptasia, unfortunately.

http://youtu.be/Kf7sxmgplf8

What do you do with them? Cyclopeeze? Would be cool if the survive

 

[plyle02]

AWESOME MATT!
You have spawning going on, great colors, apparently you are on to something my friend, the video is very cool...

 

[naterealbig]

That is incredible Matt! Perry is definitely correct here - if you've got spawning, you are doing something very right. How long have they been doing this? What do you attribute it to?

 

[reefmutt]

Really cool bud.

What do you do with them? Cyclopeeze? Would be cool if the survive

AWESOME MATT!
You have spawning going on, great colors, apparently you are on to something my friend, the video is very cool...

That is incredible Matt! Perry is definitely correct here - if you've got spawning, you are doing something very right. How long have they been doing this? What do you attribute it to?

Thanks, guys!
Unfortunately, as of today, I don't see any more of them whipping around the tank..
If you feed cardinals enough food, they will spawn. One of the parents- not sure which- will carry the eggs until they hatch. Then they get let them loose in the tank when they are fry.. They are so tiny, I'm really not sure what they eat. They could probably eat powdered foods that I feed like reef roids, reef chili and reef pearls but I can't be sure..
The cardinals have been spawning for months but this was the first time I saw free swimming babies..
I saw my pyramid butterfly eat one as it swam by.. And an aptasia capture one..
Now, I have no clue if there are any more hiding here or there..
Too bad..

 

[Myka]

Cool video! Do you have any anemones? The Cardinals may hide under the tentacles of the anemones.

 

[biggles]

Awesome video Matt, very cool thing to see in person i bet :thumbsup:
My wrasses would be all over those guys in seconds so at least you got to see them for a little bit.

There are no acro pics on this page and you know that gives me a :twitch: