Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail

[cugly]

Looking great Matt

 

[March.]

subscribed !

 

[reefmutt]

Fantastic tank pictures Matt. The Acro distribution looks so pleasant to the eyes. Very well done mate !!!

Daniel

Thanks Daniel! I have a long way to go to achieve that beautiful grown in look that you and Bulent have.. But I'll get there!

Matt the FTS is gorgeous as always!

Hey Tim, thanks!

Hi Matt,

I am mesmerised.

Have you read Glenn's method to get rid of bubble algae?

Cheers

Bulent

Thanks Bulent, thanks you! Actually, no I haven't. The bubble have slowed- not stopped- and I just haven't gotten around to it.. I'm not desperate yet!

What is Glenn's method? I have some bubble algae that is now diminishing but always looking for new methods.

Kirt if I am not mistaken, Glen uses hydrogen peroxide but I do not know the method of application.. Sorry..

Matt, the tank is looking good! Now whats this about you using some AquaForest bacteria in there? Just from the salt or have you intercepted a Rebel transmission?

Matt, The planet moosoine has indeed intercepted a rebel transmission and has had some behind closed doors meetings with rebel sympathisers. Moosoine is, however, still not committed to the rebel alliance, as it has a strong contingent of its population with sympathies for the dark side..
As may be expected the moosoinians are trying to stay somewhat neutral at this time... We moosoinians have a penchant for trying to find the middle road.. We will remain an open trading route until more diplomatic discussions with both sides can be had..
Below is king moose himself flipping the bird at.. Well.. Not sure who..

You can see where I chopped off the head of this Fiji piece.. King moose is inspecting the regrown damage..
This remaining lower section of this Fiji is showing extreme promise..

 

[reefmutt]

The imperial deep water pigment assassin droid began wading through the gross green acro scape of Moosooine in search of worthy pigments..........

Tank looks fantastic Matt! Lots of lovely colours and the fish look amazing and healthy too!! :inlove: especially the Bellus, she's real purdy!!

As can be seen.. Moosoine has not only been visited by the rebel alliance. The Dark presence has made himself and his minions conspicuous on Moosoine.
Moosoinians will continue to rely on the dragon trifecta to withstand a total decent into the dark side..
..

Thanks Dom! I have a pair of Bellus' in there.. Looking for a third female..

 

[reefmutt]

Hey Matt, The tank looks really good! FTS look excellent!

Sorry to hear about finding AEFW, I know a bunch of people who have them in their tanks for years and still have good growth and color so there are things you can do to keep the populations down, I had them a long time a ago too.

Blowing on the acro with a turkey baster will dislodge the worms and throw them into the water column, I have found that if you do this certain fish will eventually start eating the worms as they are dislodged. Even normal yellow wrasses will eat them once the show up in the water column. I used to have two yellow wrasses that would follow me around the tank when I brought the turkey baster out, eating AEFW when they popped off the corals, eventually you should notice less and less. But it is just a means of control, it does not get rid of them. I still have no answer for that.

You can also try blasting them with rodi water too, they will pop off the corals even quicker if you do that.

Joe, thanks for the info on the aefws.. If/when I begin to see significant impact from them, I will begin the water blasting.. Most of my colonies or frags are still removable, so if I see anything, I'm still able to remove and dip.. I'm really hoping the peppeemint shrimp can keep them under control.... To some degree..
Very interested to see how the triton method works for you!

Loving that Miyagi shot, not sure I have ever seen one that sweet looking! Great stuff as usual Matt!!!

Thanks, Perry! You are another true member of the alliance.. The force is strong with you!!

Looking great Matt

Thanks, Conor!

 

[reefmutt]

subscribed !

March!!!! nice to see you, my friend!
Since you have visited my thread, I figured I'd prepare a few shots of some of your very nice fraggage!
RR pink matrix: for some reason I got two frags from you... Not complaining!
1

2

This pearlberry has sat for just about a years without doing a thing but has recently juuuust begun to move

And I can't forget the red moon... This baby is gonna be niiiice!!

Now, I posted this shot several pages back but since the Acro came from you, as did the completely blurred out setosa in the background.... Not to mention I just love this shot... In your honor, I will repost it!

And I will end this transmission with one last artsy fartsy shot which also happens to have your corals in it..
A Mari colony Acro with the good ol setosa and ponape birdsnest in the blurred out background..
Mondrian meets Mother Nature..

Yes, this last one has been seriously tweaked.... That was my intention.. Like I said, it's my artsy fartsy side coming out!

 

[Cyberdude]

Hey reefmutt what tests do you do on your water? I was thinking of sending a sample to triton because something is off but I'm not sure sure what. Is it worth testing for iodine, copper, and others that are not the usual suspects?

 

[reefmutt]

I can see no reason why not to send a sample to triton.
I feel that a few big water changes would probably fix any imbalance but why not do a test? Can only help give you more insight..
I have never had a lab test my water however..
I test the usual suspects.. Alk, ca, mag, po4, no3 and a bit more frequently than in the past, potassium. I noticed I had very low readings so I have been dosing lately and testing. I was using KZ potassium but it is too expensive so I switched to Brightwell's powdered potassion p. Since it is so much more concentrated, I am testing a lot to see where my dosing is leading me.
Let us know your experience with the triton test!

 

[mhucasey]

As can be seen.. Moosoine has not only been visited by the rebel alliance. The Dark presence has made himself and his minions conspicuous on Moosoine.
Moosoinians will continue to rely on the dragon trifecta to withstand a total decent into the dark side..
..

Thanks Dom! I have a pair of Bellus' in there.. Looking for a third female..

Dragons are invincible! I love that group!!!

 

[mhucasey]

Moosoinians, man!

 

[biggles]

Dragons are invincible! I love that group!!!

Genetically mutated giant branch snapping imperial stylo crabs

Game over..........

 

[plyle02]

Genetically mutated giant branch snapping imperial stylo crabs

Game over..........

LOL!!!:lol::lol::lol:

 

[mhucasey]

Genetically mutated giant branch snapping imperial stylo crabs

Game over..........

The Empire has a Rancor!

 

[fessoclown]

subscribed !

About time! Howdy.

Matt, The planet moosoine has indeed intercepted a rebel transmission and has had some behind closed doors meetings with rebel sympathisers. Moosoine is, however, still not committed to the rebel alliance, as it has a strong contingent of its population with sympathies for the dark side..
As may be expected the moosoinians are trying to stay somewhat neutral at this time... We moosoinians have a penchant for trying to find the middle road.. We will remain an open trading route until more diplomatic discussions with both sides can be had..
Below is king moose himself flipping the bird at.. Well.. Not sure who..

This is an awesome picture! I thought I lost my acro crab, couldn't find him for over a month and then BAM... I discovered him in a different acro yesterday to the one he usually hangs out in. They are so f-ing cool!

 

[reefmutt]

Moosoinians, man!

Sorry for being so wishy washy, apologetic and Canadian.. Well.. Not totally sorry... But a bit sorry... Well, no..


..Sorry.. I'm babbling..
Here.. Couple medium shots of the tank..

Top downs

Back corner, I never shoot..

 

[reefmutt]

Dragons are invincible! I love that group!!!

Thanks, Matt. They are growing quickly. They are right at the back and don't get very intense light.

Genetically mutated giant branch snapping imperial stylo crabs

Game over..........

The defenses of the rebel alliance are weak against the empire..
I'm hoping baby Furiosa and her Fiji friend can hold them off..

Or trifecta ll.


I see I'll have to dip this blue tort.. See some bite marks.. Crap!!

About time! Howdy.





This is an awesome picture! I thought I lost my acro crab, couldn't find him for over a month and then BAM... I discovered him in a different acro yesterday to the one he usually hangs out in. They are so f-ing cool!

Thanks! I love the Acro crabs, as well.. Right after taking this picture, he moved to a different coral..

 

[reefmutt]

So, here's a story about the fickleness of Lady Luck..

Couple days ago, I'm standing there staring at my tank (as I usually do when I should be doing something else..) and out of the blue, I hear a faint 'pop' sound and then the tinkle of plastic hitting the ground or something..
I had no clue what it was.. I had a quick look around on top of the tank and a quick look in the cabinet but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.. I figured it was a wire or something that shifted and fell against something else..
I went upstairs to do something and (due to my obsession with my tank) came back a couple minutes later to stare at the tank again!
As I'm standing there, I hear that ever so distinctive sound... The one that will get a reefer out of the deepest sleep or rouse a reefer from the worst drunken stupor... The sound of water dribbling out of somewhere it shouldn't be dribbling out of!!!
I look under the tank again, focus in on the sound and see water running out of the co2 tube that is usually connected to my ca reactor. There, under a pump are the parts of the swing check valve that is supposed to stop water from running out of the co2 tube!

After about two years of quietly working fine, the thing just, out of the blue, popped open.. Like the glue just gave out...
How lucky was I that I happened to be there??? Not driving a daughter to hockey or working or shoveling snow or watching tv or checking out reef central..... Or ON VACATION!!!!!!
Luckily, I was right there.. I just reconnected the tubing -without- a swing check and fixed...
I've had my share of bad luck with his tank but after that little episode, I consider myself veeeeeeery lucky!!
These stupid reefs have so many little things that can go wrong.. Whether it's inside the tank or outside..... Why are we reefers soooo dumb?!?! Who, in their right mind, knowing all the potential pitfalls of reef keeping would fill a huge box of corrosive liquid, with all sorts of tubing and equipment hanging off of it and knowingly leave the house?? Ever!?!
I know.. All of us!
We are all nuts..
Speaking of nuts.. Here are a couple new Aussie frags from uncle Raja..
They are different color morphs of the same species, apparently .. Couldn't resist putting them right next to each other..

Here's a nice shot from a little farther back..

Now, since I'm showing some corals from Raging reef, here's another I got recently... This is a reference shot because it is supposed the be spectacular. It's apparently called Badabing..
Hopefully, it will pull a biggles and go all the colors of the rainbow all at once!!

And just for good measure, here's a wild plana frag I got from Raja about six months ago that has finally shed its turds and coloured up..

 

[mhucasey]

We do it because of little beauties like the ones you picked up from Raja. It ain't easy to grow stone flowers!

 

[reefmutt]

You speak the truth, my friend!!!

 

[drawman]

Great pics and good work catching the valve fail! A couple of weeks ago seconds before leaving the house for the weekend my Apex Lite shorted and shut everything off. The luck of being home at the right time lol.