My Acro Nursery

[maoiwowie]

I want to document the Icefire STN for everyone in lieu of cutting it up completely. I did take a very small chip from a tip and put it aside though. This first photo clearly shows some recent STN. This branch must have suffered new necrosis since the last photo because this branch is so white with no algae.

This next photo shows me that the necrosis has stopped on this part of the colony. The algae looks to have been growing for some time without any new necrosis on the surrounding branches. If you look close to where the algae meets the healthy tissue there is no fading skin. In fact it looks like the skin is growing over the algae. Im not going to say the STN is going to completely stop, but for this part of the colony it looks encouraging.

And lastly this is a photo of a frag I cut on March 23. Two days later I already see healthy skin growing over the cut branch. If you look close you can see two polyps growing out of the white. This makes me feel confident that the Icefire STN is colony specific and not system wide... hopefully

 

[markalot]

Excellent news, and thanks for documenting it. Love the Icefire, hopefully it will be back to full health in no time.

 

[K.C.]

I'm glad to hear it's rebounding and that you made the frag just in case.

You did move it to a higher flow area ?

Did that change the level of light it's now receiving ?

 

[maoiwowie]

@KC - Yes, I actually removed it out of the main tank and put it in my 40 where the 250DE that it was originally under is. Its in higher flow too. Things look to have settled down... fickle little piece.

 

[maoiwowie]

Just took this picture. Now under the 250MH with higher flow i am going to confidently say the STN has stopped. All previous white is now green with algae and no new white limbs. Stoked.

 

[Jonmf]

Lookin good D! Glad the piece rebounded.

 

[maoiwowie]

Thanks Jon! Here is a photo from almost exactly two years ago of an early frag pack. 90% of these are still with me. Im amazed myself at the growth and color changes over these years. There are still ups and downs, but you lose that sense of urgency and panic when things go wrong.

 

[Jonmf]

Trust me I know the feeling! Haha

 

[K.C.]

... fickle little piece.

I guess I did call that one. But no, not fickle, just not tolerant of quick changes.

Glad to see it's going to be a survivor.

 

[KingBlingTx]

Just spent the last couple of hours going through your thread start to finish, Maoiwowie. Thanks for documenting this entire experience for us to learn from!! It's refreshing to see "The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly" parts of the process.

I chuckled a little inside when I started to read the thread because I'm in the process of putting together a 40g frag tank "in preparation for a much larger DT I plan to set-up in the near future." :lmao:

You've inspired me to try and share my experience as well as you have.

 

[maoiwowie]

@K.C.- Thanks for the assist.

@KingBlingTx - Thanks! I just briefly went over the whole thread as well. Wow so many changes over these years. The pictures really help tell the story.

 

[moatdaddy]

You also have helped battle corals. Your a poster example of some of his goodies. He made it onto the BRS new sps video.

Its excellent to see a system like your doing well and showing us some amazing corals. Nice work

 

[moatdaddy]

I read over how you weighed down your plugs. It says with sand. Those look like pvc caps, not male female ends. Do you have some photos of doing this or a video you watched. Also if you could do it again would you stick to the 1 inch or maybe go half inch.

Brandon

 

[maoiwowie]

@Brandon... I used sand in the male end plug that went into the female end cap. I only did this when my eggcrate was grown over with thick hair algae and the poor frags were practically choked to death. It was supposed to be temporary but I found they made great stands to allow the frags to base as well. But my problem with some of them now is that the frags are now colonies and will tip over even weighted especially the stags and tables. This will become an even a bigger problem using 1/2 in. pvc.

 

[moatdaddy]

how would you do it now with hindsight. I know mariculture in fiji, bali, and aussie they use a flat bottom dome rock almost but made of concrete.

 

[scrapz]

Nice to see the icefire is recovering. Glad you didn't just chop it up. Wonder if it'll grow faster since the base is already laid.

 

[maoiwowie]

@Brandon - Im not sure i would change anything really. Maybe go bigger for the base like 1.5 or even 2". I just never meant the frags to grow so large where they become so top heavy. Many of the pvc stands are completely based over.

@Scarpz - Yeah. Im hoping so, but this has been a slow grower for me from the start. Not sure how new growth will grow on the delicate branches. Ill learn something here.

 

[Nick James]

Breath thread and awesome peices you have! It gave me reassurance that being patient will eventually pay off.

 

[Gymped]

Best thread ive read in a while, Where are you located in LA Maoiwowie?

 

[maoiwowie]

@Gymped @ Nick - Thanks! The tank is located near downtown LA where i work. I live in Hollywood and do not have a tank at home. When we begin keeping reef tanks there is a natural progression toward SPS only tanks. But the transition is not easy. You develop habits keeping softies and lps' that are simply not appropriate for acros. I would see the TOTM compared to my sorry sticks and would be in almost disbelief that it was possible. How does my 6 month old 1 inch brown out with STN get to be that bright blue colony i see in the TOTM. Im doing everything right... Its impossible! You would read the same threads over and over... do this, try that, do not do that, you're fcuked, etc. I would always think to myself that I wished somebody would show me rather than tell me. Thats what I tried to do with this thread. It is indeed possible and dare I say easy. The tank is doing well. Humming along bursting with acros. If you look to the sides I have had to put shelves to hold mini colonies as there is simply no more floor space. Here is a photo taken just now.