rick rottet
reefkeeper// propagator
some good points
let the insanity begin
- Thread starter rick rottet
- Start date
rick rottet
reefkeeper// propagator
dup
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rick rottet
reefkeeper// propagator
Yes, and not bad at all, respectively.
First tank progress. This is actually the second tank that was built. I had planned to use the first tank as an additional quarantine and acclimation tank. All of the Ricordea, egg crate and live rock from the first tank has been moved to this second tank. The first tank gets broken down, bleached and rinsed well before the next specimens go in. There really is not much to worry about as long as the corals are coming from my home tank, but I figure it's a good practice to get into when/if I start bringing in corals from outside sources. By this time, all of the live rock has been in quarantine in the vat for nearly ten months. Even though the first few tanks will receive corals from my home tank, you just never know what might be there. Everything that goes into my home tank was quarantined, but I have still ended up with a couple of pest organisms over the years and have seen creatures that I hadn't seen before, even though I haven't put anything new into my home tank for well over a year.
I also found that better pictures can be taken if I just shut off the airlifts and take look-down photos through the still water rather than trying to snap pictures through those plastic trays.
Greens.
Oranges.
Blues.
I had an area in my home tank about 6 inches wide by 11 inches tall covered by green star polyps (Pachyclavularia violacea). It all started from a 3" frag, grew up the side of a large rock at the base of my reef, jumped to three or four other rocks and was overgrowing itself and out into mid-air (or more accurately, mid-water, if you will). When the polyps were retracted. it looked like a big plating coral. It was really becoming quite a nuisance. I pulled the four upper rocks which had been overgrown with the GSP, peeled as much as I could from the large bottom rock, acclimated them with the drip method, cut off all of the lobes which had been growing out into mid-water, glued them to rocks and put them into the first tank to grow out.
Early this morning, some ployps opening. I'm a little surprised that they are opening less than 24 hours after being man handled the way they were, by just pulling rocks apart and ripping much of them off of the rock in my tank.
I did get the auto shut off valves installed for the sumps under the evap pads and took down those 14 1/2 gallon tubs I was using for topping off the evap system.
The shade cloth was also taken off this morning (10-9-05) and I have added a couple of outlets to the overhead electrical circuit. I am trying a different configuration of the HAF fans. Atlas recommended the original pattern with two fans on one side pointing in one direction and two fans on the other side pointing in the opposite direction to make a "racetrack" air flow. I have questioned this since installing the evap pads. When I stand in front of the shutter which has the HAF fans pointing away from it, I can feel a greater quantity of cooler air coming in through the shutter. I notice it the most when only the HAF fans are running, before the big exhaust fan turns on. When I stand in front of the shutter that has the HAF fans pointing towards it, I feel less of an amount of cooler air coming in through the shutter. My thinking was that the HAF fans were pulling air in through the shutter on the one side even if the big exhaust fan wasn't running, but on the other side, the HAF fans were pushing air towards the shutter, thereby hindering the amount of cooler air coming in. I wanted to turn the other two HAF fans around to point away from the shutter to see if that would pull more of an amount of cooler air in through the second shutter as well. I spoke to Calfo about it and he recommended to stay with the racetrack method as the greenhouse supplier had outlined. He said it is more efficient for heat exchange in winter, among other things. I thought I would go ahead and try it anyway, just because that's the kind of guy I am. I figured that even if all four fans were pointing in the same direction, the flows would travel up each side of the greenhouse, across the back, meet in the middle of the back, and return down the center. In effect, there would be two racetracks. Not only did the two fans have to be turned around, but they had to be relocated since they now had to blow from the opposite end of the greenhouse. The overhead thermostatically controlled outlets were no longer close enough to plug the fans into, so I had to tap into the junction boxes and install some new outlets closer to the locations of the fans. I really can't tell if it has made any difference or not since the weather has begun to cool off naturally and there is not a great need for any drastic cooling methods at this time.
The third tank is built and wet tested, so on to the next victims, ...errr... specimens.
First tank progress. This is actually the second tank that was built. I had planned to use the first tank as an additional quarantine and acclimation tank. All of the Ricordea, egg crate and live rock from the first tank has been moved to this second tank. The first tank gets broken down, bleached and rinsed well before the next specimens go in. There really is not much to worry about as long as the corals are coming from my home tank, but I figure it's a good practice to get into when/if I start bringing in corals from outside sources. By this time, all of the live rock has been in quarantine in the vat for nearly ten months. Even though the first few tanks will receive corals from my home tank, you just never know what might be there. Everything that goes into my home tank was quarantined, but I have still ended up with a couple of pest organisms over the years and have seen creatures that I hadn't seen before, even though I haven't put anything new into my home tank for well over a year.
I also found that better pictures can be taken if I just shut off the airlifts and take look-down photos through the still water rather than trying to snap pictures through those plastic trays.
Greens.
Oranges.
Blues.
I had an area in my home tank about 6 inches wide by 11 inches tall covered by green star polyps (Pachyclavularia violacea). It all started from a 3" frag, grew up the side of a large rock at the base of my reef, jumped to three or four other rocks and was overgrowing itself and out into mid-air (or more accurately, mid-water, if you will). When the polyps were retracted. it looked like a big plating coral. It was really becoming quite a nuisance. I pulled the four upper rocks which had been overgrown with the GSP, peeled as much as I could from the large bottom rock, acclimated them with the drip method, cut off all of the lobes which had been growing out into mid-water, glued them to rocks and put them into the first tank to grow out.
Early this morning, some ployps opening. I'm a little surprised that they are opening less than 24 hours after being man handled the way they were, by just pulling rocks apart and ripping much of them off of the rock in my tank.
I did get the auto shut off valves installed for the sumps under the evap pads and took down those 14 1/2 gallon tubs I was using for topping off the evap system.
The shade cloth was also taken off this morning (10-9-05) and I have added a couple of outlets to the overhead electrical circuit. I am trying a different configuration of the HAF fans. Atlas recommended the original pattern with two fans on one side pointing in one direction and two fans on the other side pointing in the opposite direction to make a "racetrack" air flow. I have questioned this since installing the evap pads. When I stand in front of the shutter which has the HAF fans pointing away from it, I can feel a greater quantity of cooler air coming in through the shutter. I notice it the most when only the HAF fans are running, before the big exhaust fan turns on. When I stand in front of the shutter that has the HAF fans pointing towards it, I feel less of an amount of cooler air coming in through the shutter. My thinking was that the HAF fans were pulling air in through the shutter on the one side even if the big exhaust fan wasn't running, but on the other side, the HAF fans were pushing air towards the shutter, thereby hindering the amount of cooler air coming in. I wanted to turn the other two HAF fans around to point away from the shutter to see if that would pull more of an amount of cooler air in through the second shutter as well. I spoke to Calfo about it and he recommended to stay with the racetrack method as the greenhouse supplier had outlined. He said it is more efficient for heat exchange in winter, among other things. I thought I would go ahead and try it anyway, just because that's the kind of guy I am. I figured that even if all four fans were pointing in the same direction, the flows would travel up each side of the greenhouse, across the back, meet in the middle of the back, and return down the center. In effect, there would be two racetracks. Not only did the two fans have to be turned around, but they had to be relocated since they now had to blow from the opposite end of the greenhouse. The overhead thermostatically controlled outlets were no longer close enough to plug the fans into, so I had to tap into the junction boxes and install some new outlets closer to the locations of the fans. I really can't tell if it has made any difference or not since the weather has begun to cool off naturally and there is not a great need for any drastic cooling methods at this time.
The third tank is built and wet tested, so on to the next victims, ...errr... specimens.
rick rottet
reefkeeper// propagator
Thanks Marc.
They can grow on the rack all they want, just more frags to mount. Couplings cost money ya know.
Only one species per tank means no worries if it grows on the rack.
A tip to save; instead of couplings, cut short sections of pipe about 1" or 1 1/2" long. A ten foot section of pipe will give 120 pieces if they are cut 1" long. Couplings might cost 30 cents - $1.99 depending on size. A 10' section of pipe is only $2 -$12 depending on diameter.
They can grow on the rack all they want, just more frags to mount. Couplings cost money ya know.
Only one species per tank means no worries if it grows on the rack.A tip to save; instead of couplings, cut short sections of pipe about 1" or 1 1/2" long. A ten foot section of pipe will give 120 pieces if they are cut 1" long. Couplings might cost 30 cents - $1.99 depending on size. A 10' section of pipe is only $2 -$12 depending on diameter.
rick rottet
reefkeeper// propagator
The green Ricordea haven't changed much at all. The oranges and blues have lightened up a bit, probably because; 1) they don't need to harbor the quantities of zooxanthellae- since the natural sunlight is more stimulating to the zooxanthellae, the corals can hold less and still receive the same amount of enrgy; and 2) because the prop tanks are much lower in nutrients than my home tank.
The healing process is simply miraculous to see. After one of the Ricordea are cut, the edges usually pull back together within 24 - 48 hours. This used to take maybe 5 - 6 days or more in my home tank. Within a week, they could probably be cut again, but I will let them go for two or three weeks to get good and healthy and return to their original size again. In my home tank, I might not feel comfortable about cutting again for more than a month.
The GSP has only been in the tank for one day, so it is too soon to make a judgement on them. Most of the frags haven't even opened up all of their polyps yet.
The colors do look a little less vibrant under the natural sunlight than they do under typical aquarium lighting. That is one of the reasons that so many people have gotten away from "daylight" bulbs (5,500 - 7,000 K) and started using bulbs in the bluer end of the spectrum (10,000 - 20,000 K). The bluer light makes the colors appear more..... well, colorful.
The healing process is simply miraculous to see. After one of the Ricordea are cut, the edges usually pull back together within 24 - 48 hours. This used to take maybe 5 - 6 days or more in my home tank. Within a week, they could probably be cut again, but I will let them go for two or three weeks to get good and healthy and return to their original size again. In my home tank, I might not feel comfortable about cutting again for more than a month.
The GSP has only been in the tank for one day, so it is too soon to make a judgement on them. Most of the frags haven't even opened up all of their polyps yet.
The colors do look a little less vibrant under the natural sunlight than they do under typical aquarium lighting. That is one of the reasons that so many people have gotten away from "daylight" bulbs (5,500 - 7,000 K) and started using bulbs in the bluer end of the spectrum (10,000 - 20,000 K). The bluer light makes the colors appear more..... well, colorful.
jnarowe
New member
I have a tank of rock which I placed downstairs thinking that was the coolest part of the house. Came down one day and a thousand or so bristleworms were floating around. I had accidentally placed the tank across from a window that gets afternoon sun. The only think that survived was a hairy crab that rather intelligently got most of its body out of the water to stay cool. Hence my new axium: Crabs are smatter than worms.--J
rick rottet
reefkeeper// propagator
A close up of one of the full colonies of GSP. (The squares in the eggcrate are 1/2"). There are two this full in the second tank. Both of them are sitting so they are touching the wall of the tank. That should be a good place for them to grow. Eventually, the whole inside of the tank will want to be covered in Pachyclavularia.
The colony below only had less than a dozen polyps when it went into the tank. It had been shadowed under some other rocks in my home tank and the GSP just used it for a stepping stone to reach the higher rocks. The purple stolon mat was still there, so I was hoping that it would come back. All of those little white dots tells me it is definitely growing back. There are two other colonies like this one, one this size and one twice this size. They are all three sitting against the wall of the tank too. (Now there's a couple of pics for ya Marc.)
Third tank up and running. These are mushrooms of the genus Discosoma, (at least, I'm pretty sure they are, although they could be a Rhodactis, but more likely Discosoma). Most Rhodactis, in my experience, smell like a solvent when they come out of the water. These don't smell that bad, which makes me think probably not Rhodactis, but they have a pinkish-orangish mouth which makes me think maybe Rhodactis, but then they are red bodied which makes me think probably not Rhodactis, but then they will eat mysis and bits of krill and silversides which makes me think maybe Rhodactis. In any event, the species is unknown, and the genus is only a probability. If they are Discosoma, maybe the species is sanctithomae, and if they are Rhodactis, maybe the species is indosinensis or rhodostoma (or maybe they are something I never heard of or read about and are something else entirely)??? Ahhh, ya just gotta luv soft coral taxonomy. Probably should send one to somebody smart like Eric B. so he can identify them properly for me.
Those five were over 4" in diameter in my home tank. They just went in last night (10-21-05) so they are still stressed. The ones below, there were six over 2" diameter, seven that were 1 1/2", and about 25 that were around 1/2" or less. These guys were growing up the glass, jumping rocks, becoming a nuisance, and stinging other corals all over the tank. There are also about another 25 or so that were just starting to grow from pedal lacerations and were barely big enough to see. I also found three more in my home tank this morning, but I would have to move a bunch of rock to get them. There are 3 layers of screen over this tank plus a layer over the trays to keep them from blowing away, and it is early in the morning so they are not opened up and the color looks muted.
The colony below only had less than a dozen polyps when it went into the tank. It had been shadowed under some other rocks in my home tank and the GSP just used it for a stepping stone to reach the higher rocks. The purple stolon mat was still there, so I was hoping that it would come back. All of those little white dots tells me it is definitely growing back. There are two other colonies like this one, one this size and one twice this size. They are all three sitting against the wall of the tank too. (Now there's a couple of pics for ya Marc.)
Third tank up and running. These are mushrooms of the genus Discosoma, (at least, I'm pretty sure they are, although they could be a Rhodactis, but more likely Discosoma). Most Rhodactis, in my experience, smell like a solvent when they come out of the water. These don't smell that bad, which makes me think probably not Rhodactis, but they have a pinkish-orangish mouth which makes me think maybe Rhodactis, but then they are red bodied which makes me think probably not Rhodactis, but then they will eat mysis and bits of krill and silversides which makes me think maybe Rhodactis. In any event, the species is unknown, and the genus is only a probability. If they are Discosoma, maybe the species is sanctithomae, and if they are Rhodactis, maybe the species is indosinensis or rhodostoma (or maybe they are something I never heard of or read about and are something else entirely)??? Ahhh, ya just gotta luv soft coral taxonomy. Probably should send one to somebody smart like Eric B. so he can identify them properly for me.
Those five were over 4" in diameter in my home tank. They just went in last night (10-21-05) so they are still stressed. The ones below, there were six over 2" diameter, seven that were 1 1/2", and about 25 that were around 1/2" or less. These guys were growing up the glass, jumping rocks, becoming a nuisance, and stinging other corals all over the tank. There are also about another 25 or so that were just starting to grow from pedal lacerations and were barely big enough to see. I also found three more in my home tank this morning, but I would have to move a bunch of rock to get them. There are 3 layers of screen over this tank plus a layer over the trays to keep them from blowing away, and it is early in the morning so they are not opened up and the color looks muted.
rick rottet
reefkeeper// propagator
Todd, if you are serious, I would be willing to arrange it. It won't be too long until I will be ordering pallets anyway. (I am assuming you are just messing around and making a reference to the conversation we had at the meeting Saturday.)
a drop of super glue on each corner holds the screen in place over the trays.
a drop of super glue on each corner holds the screen in place over the trays.
rick rottet
reefkeeper// propagator
Thanks ALTI. I appreciate you taking your time to read through the thread.
On the first tank, there are little sections of the pvc square stock glued to the inside of the tank, and the lift tubes are then glued to the square stock. (The same square stock the was used for the cross braces.)
The rest of the tanks (so far), the eggcrate was precisely cut to the diameter of the pipe which holds it pretty snugly about halfway up. At the bottom of the pipe, there is a piece of rock sitting against it holding it in place.
The frag trays have 1/4" crushed coral in them.
On the first tank, there are little sections of the pvc square stock glued to the inside of the tank, and the lift tubes are then glued to the square stock. (The same square stock the was used for the cross braces.)
The rest of the tanks (so far), the eggcrate was precisely cut to the diameter of the pipe which holds it pretty snugly about halfway up. At the bottom of the pipe, there is a piece of rock sitting against it holding it in place.
The frag trays have 1/4" crushed coral in them.
im doing an aquaculture project myself, so this is required reading material 
. i setup a small system using artificial lighting as a test run before i build the greenhouse structure. i just wanted to go through some growing pains before i dove in head first. ive made enough mistakes that i think it was well worth the foresight.
what size airline r u using to feed the airlifts, and what size pvc r u using for the main airlines?
where did u find the crushed coral?
. i setup a small system using artificial lighting as a test run before i build the greenhouse structure. i just wanted to go through some growing pains before i dove in head first. ive made enough mistakes that i think it was well worth the foresight. what size airline r u using to feed the airlifts, and what size pvc r u using for the main airlines?
where did u find the crushed coral?
