ZM's 200g build
- Thread starter zoomonster
- Start date
zoomonster
New member
Perception is a funny thing... Tank looked huge when I first got it and now it looks smaller every day especially when working with rock. In the scheme of things 2 feet front to back is kind of limiting and the center overflow is a challenge. Most of the larger pieces are pretty much where I want them and I have quite a few cave areas. But I have to wait and see what shows on Tuesday. I kind of saved some space on the left side to work that in. Whats's really a challenge is getting it built up as high as I want it while still maintaining plenty of front bare sand space. Once all that's in place I can start pulling out some of the smaller clutter. No matter what I seriously doubt there will be anything remotely resembling an island. Just not enough space while still keeping adequate live rock and having lots of places to stash corals. Just don't have the benefit of a remote sump full of rock for this build.
zoomonster
New member
Refugium
Refugium
I got that cheap little LED light the other day and starting using it. Very small, unobtrusive and just ok on light. I was out at Lowes today and ran across what I had been looking for all along. A decent clamp on gooseneck light fixture with a plastic light housing for ~$9. I also found a 2 pack of Sylvania micro-mini CFL bulbs rated at 6500K, 1450 lumens and 23 watts (100w eq). Cost works out about $22 a year to operate 7/24. Much brighter than the LED and of known spectrum. The fixture is long and flexible enough that I can attach it to the end of the sump and lay it across a partition for more support and less likelihood of falling in. Plus its focused enough that it keeps most of the light in the fuge which is nice being it does not have black walls.
Refugium
I got that cheap little LED light the other day and starting using it. Very small, unobtrusive and just ok on light. I was out at Lowes today and ran across what I had been looking for all along. A decent clamp on gooseneck light fixture with a plastic light housing for ~$9. I also found a 2 pack of Sylvania micro-mini CFL bulbs rated at 6500K, 1450 lumens and 23 watts (100w eq). Cost works out about $22 a year to operate 7/24. Much brighter than the LED and of known spectrum. The fixture is long and flexible enough that I can attach it to the end of the sump and lay it across a partition for more support and less likelihood of falling in. Plus its focused enough that it keeps most of the light in the fuge which is nice being it does not have black walls.
zoomonster
New member
First inhabitants
First inhabitants
I put in an order for an initial bunch of cleanup critters. I'm going to need more stuff but this is an adequate start. The tank is new with limited food and don't want them to starve and start eating each other. As it is this bunch will require supplemental food for a while. I think too many people fall for the bloated "you need this for x gallons" packages and stuff starves. Granted I will eventually add a lot more but probably not close to those kinds of numbers.
As far as varieties what's missing is electric blue hermits (sold out) and a few more varieties of snails all of which I'll get later. Except for maybe the yellow tip and zebra I have long had all these and trust for the most part. I still want 1-2 brittle or serpents (and micro stars) but will probably wait to find ones in a store I like vs. pot luck mail order. Anything else will be added as needed.
Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit 12
Astraea Turbo Snail 10
Nassarius Snail 20
Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab 10
Dwarf Red Tip Hermit 10
Cerith Snail 15
Fighting Conch 2
Banded Trochus Snail 5
Dwarf Yellow Tip Hermit 5
Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab 5
First inhabitants
I put in an order for an initial bunch of cleanup critters. I'm going to need more stuff but this is an adequate start. The tank is new with limited food and don't want them to starve and start eating each other. As it is this bunch will require supplemental food for a while. I think too many people fall for the bloated "you need this for x gallons" packages and stuff starves. Granted I will eventually add a lot more but probably not close to those kinds of numbers.
As far as varieties what's missing is electric blue hermits (sold out) and a few more varieties of snails all of which I'll get later. Except for maybe the yellow tip and zebra I have long had all these and trust for the most part. I still want 1-2 brittle or serpents (and micro stars) but will probably wait to find ones in a store I like vs. pot luck mail order. Anything else will be added as needed.
Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit 12
Astraea Turbo Snail 10
Nassarius Snail 20
Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab 10
Dwarf Red Tip Hermit 10
Cerith Snail 15
Fighting Conch 2
Banded Trochus Snail 5
Dwarf Yellow Tip Hermit 5
Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab 5
zoomonster
New member
Ozone
Ozone
I've used ozone pretty close to as long as I have been in the hobby. A lot of people go w/o and there are mixed opinions these days so I have been debating using it this time around. I have always looked at ORP as a general benchmark for water quality and I finally came to the conclusion that I don't like where ORP is in my tank. ORP started reading at 129 and has slowly made its way to its current 229. I want it into the low 300's (and to keep it there) so I bit the bullet and bought a new Ozotech ozonizer from Salty (~$38+coupon less than BRS) and it will be here tomorrow. Aside from all that I have always liked the sanitizing properties, increased skimmer efficiency, clearer water and it can help save your tank from a potential water quality crisis.
I already have a couple air driers so all I got was the unit, norprene tubing and an air pump. How I will ultimately use it is still up in the air. Some skimmers like my reef octopus are (I believe) deliberately designed not to be really ozone ready so you will run out and buy a $300-500 ozone reactor. When I say not ready I mean no provision for a carbon cap or output filtration and the air inputs are typically much larger than any airline you would find on an ozone injection setup. So either I will figure out a safe working setup or I may convert a Nextreef MR1 I have to a ozone reactor. In the end though I'm still of the mind that the best ozone reactor is a skimmer.
Ozone
I've used ozone pretty close to as long as I have been in the hobby. A lot of people go w/o and there are mixed opinions these days so I have been debating using it this time around. I have always looked at ORP as a general benchmark for water quality and I finally came to the conclusion that I don't like where ORP is in my tank. ORP started reading at 129 and has slowly made its way to its current 229. I want it into the low 300's (and to keep it there) so I bit the bullet and bought a new Ozotech ozonizer from Salty (~$38+coupon less than BRS) and it will be here tomorrow. Aside from all that I have always liked the sanitizing properties, increased skimmer efficiency, clearer water and it can help save your tank from a potential water quality crisis.
I already have a couple air driers so all I got was the unit, norprene tubing and an air pump. How I will ultimately use it is still up in the air. Some skimmers like my reef octopus are (I believe) deliberately designed not to be really ozone ready so you will run out and buy a $300-500 ozone reactor. When I say not ready I mean no provision for a carbon cap or output filtration and the air inputs are typically much larger than any airline you would find on an ozone injection setup. So either I will figure out a safe working setup or I may convert a Nextreef MR1 I have to a ozone reactor. In the end though I'm still of the mind that the best ozone reactor is a skimmer.
zoomonster
New member
24/7 controlled by ORP probe to keep ORP in a desired range. Never really thought about it in terms of night time PH. I have a fuge with 24/7 lighting to help with that. This may change but where I have my Ca reactor dialed in now my daily PH range is running 8.16-8.23. The lowest it has ever been was 8.03 and that was before the MH's or fuge were running.
zoomonster
New member
The ozonizer showed up today and my dilemma on hooking it up is much simpler than expected thanks to Ozotech. I've owned a lot of ozone units that never lasted much more than 1-2 years including Saunders, Red Sea etc. I've also had some pool units like the Delzone. This Ozotech seems to be exceptional quality. The big plus I had not expected was that they provide a grab bag of hardware including multiple sizes of ratchet clamps, tee'd and straight threaded barb fittings and a variety of barb couplers including adapters. There's a spare fuse, multiple hose sections and some sort of internal threaded flow restrictor or check valve. What was most helpful was the barbed adapters. I used one to adapt standard airline out of air pump to the larger input line of the ozonizer, then straight norprene hose output to the skimmer where another adapter was used to adapt the norprene to the yet larger tubing used by the SRO skimmer. That was all for a quick test and let me say that even on low ~22mg it raised tank ORP from low 200's to 350 in a matter of minutes and the quality of skimmate has noticeably improved.
Tonight I will "install" it all and hookup to Apex. I had forgot to redo my air dryer but the media has been baking at 300F the past few hours. I'm building a vent pipe for the noisy skimmer anyway and will likely just incorporate carbon there one way or another. As far as the skimmer cap vent I'll have to think on that one.
Tonight I will "install" it all and hookup to Apex. I had forgot to redo my air dryer but the media has been baking at 300F the past few hours. I'm building a vent pipe for the noisy skimmer anyway and will likely just incorporate carbon there one way or another. As far as the skimmer cap vent I'll have to think on that one.
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zoomonster
New member
I started using my old Nikon but its going to be a challenge (even with flash) with this tanks lighting which is very blue. Going to have to play around with white balance some more. All my other pics came from my old Nokia 920 or Samsung S5 phones. Much higher MP but the Nikon still takes better macros. The wife's been bugging me for a new SLR so maybe one of these days. This scarlet is by far the largest crab in the order. I use paint.net these days and this was a color auto level. The picture was much bluer.
That CUC order from Liveaquaria was just ok - mediocre. I didn't play a whole lot of attention when unpacking but I believe they substituted stuff, shorted me on the Nassarious and a lot is so tiny its hard to id. Most of the hermits are maybe 1/4-1/2 eraser head size and the scarlet's and red tips are small to medium. Pretty close to everything in the order was much smaller than what you would typically find and buy in a store. From now on I will hand pick locally. I'm going to try and hit a place in New Smyrna on Saturday and get some more stuff especially Nassarious.
Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit very tiny
Astraea Turbo Snail small
Nassarius Snail tiny-small
Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab small-medium
Dwarf Red Tip Hermit small-medium
Cerith Snail typical size
Fighting Conch about 1.5"
Banded Trochus Snail Tiny-small
Dwarf Yellow Tip Hermit unidentifiable
Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab seems to be more than 5. These guys are the most active.
That CUC order from Liveaquaria was just ok - mediocre. I didn't play a whole lot of attention when unpacking but I believe they substituted stuff, shorted me on the Nassarious and a lot is so tiny its hard to id. Most of the hermits are maybe 1/4-1/2 eraser head size and the scarlet's and red tips are small to medium. Pretty close to everything in the order was much smaller than what you would typically find and buy in a store. From now on I will hand pick locally. I'm going to try and hit a place in New Smyrna on Saturday and get some more stuff especially Nassarious.
Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit very tiny
Astraea Turbo Snail small
Nassarius Snail tiny-small
Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab small-medium
Dwarf Red Tip Hermit small-medium
Cerith Snail typical size
Fighting Conch about 1.5"
Banded Trochus Snail Tiny-small
Dwarf Yellow Tip Hermit unidentifiable
Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab seems to be more than 5. These guys are the most active.
zoomonster
New member
Out shopping
Out shopping
I finally got out and hit some Orlando area stores today looking for a few fish and some soft corals before I go ahead and order from LA. The place in New Smyrna maybe next weekend and a place in Daytona. I think there's a couple other places I haven't gotten to yet. Where I live isn't exactly the best location for "making the rounds".
World wide corals was first stop (primary dest) and a good hour+ drive. All I can say is that was a waste of time. They have more fish in their display tanks than they do for sale. I saw all the corals they have up for sale WYSIWYG and lets say I would not buy any of it. Corals yes they have a lot but it has to be the most overpriced place I have been to (ever). Frags for the most part range eraser head to dime size. Sure they had some cheap frags nobody wants but anything worthwhile I would say is on average $80 and anything remotely resembling a colony in the 100's with plenty marked as high as $800. This place is frag greed epitomized. Plus one of the guys tried to tell me a ~1" rose bubble tip was a large at something like $150 lol. I'll buy one that size from divers den next week for $50. Not impressed and won't be back.
Oceans Direct in Longwood (forgot about fishy business) had a few more fish but nothing I wanted other than a not so nice potter's. The frags they have are much larger and more reasonably priced but less selection. The place is kind of run down and dirty (especially fish system). They seem to have more designer clowns than anyplace else.
I've been to Storm Reef a couple times which is close by in Debary. Its a small place but someone obviously had a lot of money to spend with nice tanks, all Radion and Vortechs but not much to spend in the know how department. I pretty much expect that place to be out of business before long. Looked pretty nice the first time a few months ago but a few weeks ago they seem to have lost and shut down half the frag tanks and only have half the fish tanks online. What's left is jammed in a few frag tanks. Even the show tanks are looking pretty poor. Aside from that very little hard goods and what they do have is pretty overpriced.
Ocean Blue in Winter Park is my new go to local shop even if it is a bit of a hike. Lots of fish, corals etc. at good quality and reasonable prices (and 20% off sale on). Most of the fish I bought were the same to a little higher than the same I was going to buy from Liveaquaria. Nice people, clean operation, selection and they got my business.
These guys were acclimated a few hours ago and are pretty active and eating already. Also important they are all playing nice.
Flame angel medium
Flameback angel small
Sixline wrasse small
Royal Gramma large
Purple Psuedo small
Also got
XLarge Superman Rhodactis orange/blue on nice rock with hitchhikers astrea snail and what I believe is a small green Yuma.
Orange/Purple Yuma 3 mediums on nice rock.
The other day I also bought a 25 pack of Ricordia FL from a guy in the Keys on Ebay who's highly rated. $209 shipped for 4 bright neon green, 4 bright blue or purple, and the rest orange/pink, orange multicolor and/or orange rainbow and maybe a yellow. Considering singles (frags) range $20-30 that's a pretty good deal. Its sucks that Ricordia can only be harvested attached to a tiny chip of rock these days in FL but I will spend some time next week and glue up a couple rocks when they get here on Tuesday. I really have not seen any of the great colony rocks that used to come out of Haiti anywhere.
Out shopping
I finally got out and hit some Orlando area stores today looking for a few fish and some soft corals before I go ahead and order from LA. The place in New Smyrna maybe next weekend and a place in Daytona. I think there's a couple other places I haven't gotten to yet. Where I live isn't exactly the best location for "making the rounds".
World wide corals was first stop (primary dest) and a good hour+ drive. All I can say is that was a waste of time. They have more fish in their display tanks than they do for sale. I saw all the corals they have up for sale WYSIWYG and lets say I would not buy any of it. Corals yes they have a lot but it has to be the most overpriced place I have been to (ever). Frags for the most part range eraser head to dime size. Sure they had some cheap frags nobody wants but anything worthwhile I would say is on average $80 and anything remotely resembling a colony in the 100's with plenty marked as high as $800. This place is frag greed epitomized. Plus one of the guys tried to tell me a ~1" rose bubble tip was a large at something like $150 lol. I'll buy one that size from divers den next week for $50. Not impressed and won't be back.
Oceans Direct in Longwood (forgot about fishy business) had a few more fish but nothing I wanted other than a not so nice potter's. The frags they have are much larger and more reasonably priced but less selection. The place is kind of run down and dirty (especially fish system). They seem to have more designer clowns than anyplace else.
I've been to Storm Reef a couple times which is close by in Debary. Its a small place but someone obviously had a lot of money to spend with nice tanks, all Radion and Vortechs but not much to spend in the know how department. I pretty much expect that place to be out of business before long. Looked pretty nice the first time a few months ago but a few weeks ago they seem to have lost and shut down half the frag tanks and only have half the fish tanks online. What's left is jammed in a few frag tanks. Even the show tanks are looking pretty poor. Aside from that very little hard goods and what they do have is pretty overpriced.
Ocean Blue in Winter Park is my new go to local shop even if it is a bit of a hike. Lots of fish, corals etc. at good quality and reasonable prices (and 20% off sale on). Most of the fish I bought were the same to a little higher than the same I was going to buy from Liveaquaria. Nice people, clean operation, selection and they got my business.
These guys were acclimated a few hours ago and are pretty active and eating already. Also important they are all playing nice.
Flame angel medium
Flameback angel small
Sixline wrasse small
Royal Gramma large
Purple Psuedo small
Also got
XLarge Superman Rhodactis orange/blue on nice rock with hitchhikers astrea snail and what I believe is a small green Yuma.
Orange/Purple Yuma 3 mediums on nice rock.
The other day I also bought a 25 pack of Ricordia FL from a guy in the Keys on Ebay who's highly rated. $209 shipped for 4 bright neon green, 4 bright blue or purple, and the rest orange/pink, orange multicolor and/or orange rainbow and maybe a yellow. Considering singles (frags) range $20-30 that's a pretty good deal. Its sucks that Ricordia can only be harvested attached to a tiny chip of rock these days in FL but I will spend some time next week and glue up a couple rocks when they get here on Tuesday. I really have not seen any of the great colony rocks that used to come out of Haiti anywhere.
zoomonster
New member
I had a few errands to run today and decided to give Storm Reef another shot. At the very least I wanted some brine shrimp. Amazingly enough I found a very nice pair of true Percula's at a good price. They were in a pretty small tank and right now they are ripping up and down my tank enjoying the space and the water flow. I'll have a Rose BTA for them this week. They had some but they were too green for my taste. The whole tank was more active today but the very active clowns are helping bring out everyone.
zoomonster
New member
Tuesdays going to be a bit busy... Looks like the way things worked out the Ricordia shipment, an order from Liveaquaria and one from Salty Underground will all be here at the same time. This should be about it for a while and anything else will likely get found here and there or from local hobbyists. Sometime in the future when pod populations are up there I'll add some Mandarins and Anthias. Also some blood and/or cleaner shrimp in the near future.
25 Ricordia
Potters Angel
Yellow belly Hippo Tang
Rose Bubble Tip Anemone
Orange and Green Rhodactis colony
Tonga Purple Rhodactis colony
Red and Green Rhodactis colony
Neon Green Nepthea Leather
And few a frags to start... I was going to buy a couple small wild colonies from DD but decided to wait and try 100% aquacultured acro to start.
Orange Montipora Digitata
Red Planet Acropora
Wildwood Bottle Brush Acropora
Northwood's Tri-color Acropora Coral
25 Ricordia
Potters Angel
Yellow belly Hippo Tang
Rose Bubble Tip Anemone
Orange and Green Rhodactis colony
Tonga Purple Rhodactis colony
Red and Green Rhodactis colony
Neon Green Nepthea Leather
And few a frags to start... I was going to buy a couple small wild colonies from DD but decided to wait and try 100% aquacultured acro to start.
Orange Montipora Digitata
Red Planet Acropora
Wildwood Bottle Brush Acropora
Northwood's Tri-color Acropora Coral
zoomonster
New member
Well I came to the realization today I underestimated my initial need for cleaners. I had a rather sudden proliferation of green film algae over all the dead rock. Pretty normal for dead rock in a new tank but unsightly none the less. I have not tested in a while but I went ahead and changed out my carbon and GFO since it was there since startup.
I decided to give reef cleaners a shot this time and got more cleaners, some pods and some plants. I was happy to find the limpets which are the same reef safe variety I kept for years (they breed like rabbits) and being like a tank nothing will eat them (well any fish or crab I'll have anyway). They are true mowing machines.
The algae is going in the fuge for fish food and export. I already have Chaeto and will let these grow on rock. I had the feather for years and I know a lot of people have problems with invasiveness but my yellow tang would devour a large rock full in a day. One of my favorites but it has to be kept under control.
40 Dwarf Cerith
10 Dwarf Planaxis
40 Florida Cerith
10 Limpets
20 Nassarius Vibex
30 Nerite Snails
1 Pods+
30 Zig Zag Periwinkles
1 1 Penny Macro Algae
1 Red Gracilaria
1 Fern Caulerpa
I decided to give reef cleaners a shot this time and got more cleaners, some pods and some plants. I was happy to find the limpets which are the same reef safe variety I kept for years (they breed like rabbits) and being like a tank nothing will eat them (well any fish or crab I'll have anyway). They are true mowing machines.
The algae is going in the fuge for fish food and export. I already have Chaeto and will let these grow on rock. I had the feather for years and I know a lot of people have problems with invasiveness but my yellow tang would devour a large rock full in a day. One of my favorites but it has to be kept under control.
40 Dwarf Cerith
10 Dwarf Planaxis
40 Florida Cerith
10 Limpets
20 Nassarius Vibex
30 Nerite Snails
1 Pods+
30 Zig Zag Periwinkles
1 1 Penny Macro Algae
1 Red Gracilaria
1 Fern Caulerpa
zoomonster
New member
Rock ripoff
Rock ripoff
BTW I never did get the replacement rock (as promised) from Aquacon.com, Inc., Marine Life USA, Saltwaterfish USA, Quality Marine Life, Saltwater fish depot (all BBB F's) or whatever name they are using today. I gave them every opportunity but they won't answer email or phones and I went ahead and filed a charge back with my bank today. Not that it will do any good but I also filed a BBB complaint to add another to the long list of complaints. Avoid these con artists like the plague. Seems like now they are playing off the name "Quality Marine" which is of course a well known CA distributor. When you get voicemail (all you get) they id as Quality Marine.
Rock ripoff
BTW I never did get the replacement rock (as promised) from Aquacon.com, Inc., Marine Life USA, Saltwaterfish USA, Quality Marine Life, Saltwater fish depot (all BBB F's) or whatever name they are using today. I gave them every opportunity but they won't answer email or phones and I went ahead and filed a charge back with my bank today. Not that it will do any good but I also filed a BBB complaint to add another to the long list of complaints. Avoid these con artists like the plague. Seems like now they are playing off the name "Quality Marine" which is of course a well known CA distributor. When you get voicemail (all you get) they id as Quality Marine.
zoomonster
New member
Temp
Temp
Lots of rain, heat and humidity here lately and my AC has been struggling to keep the house even 78-80 during the worst of the days. I got it serviced and got a pressure test from the E company and its all pretty good now.
It looks like I'm good to go with the metal halides and T5's and won't be needing a chiller. My current baseline is 77-78f (heat on/off) and the highest I've gotten is 81.4F in the last week. Of course the room has multiple AC ducts, a large ceiling fan, the tank is uncovered and I'm adding about 2 gallons of top off a day. That may change if/when I get some known jumpers in the tank and I cover it. If need be I'll add some fans over the sump to make up for it. That should be good for 2-3 degrees.
Temp
Lots of rain, heat and humidity here lately and my AC has been struggling to keep the house even 78-80 during the worst of the days. I got it serviced and got a pressure test from the E company and its all pretty good now.
It looks like I'm good to go with the metal halides and T5's and won't be needing a chiller. My current baseline is 77-78f (heat on/off) and the highest I've gotten is 81.4F in the last week. Of course the room has multiple AC ducts, a large ceiling fan, the tank is uncovered and I'm adding about 2 gallons of top off a day. That may change if/when I get some known jumpers in the tank and I cover it. If need be I'll add some fans over the sump to make up for it. That should be good for 2-3 degrees.
zoomonster
New member
LA/DD order
LA/DD order
Well for my criticism of the cleaner order this one was a 5 star excellent. All arrived alive and very well packed.
Rose BTA: I went ahead and got a larger one from DD for 89 vs. the smalls for $59. Beautiful specimen, much larger than expected and nicer than anything seen locally. Good color and probably at least 6" open tentacles retracted. As soon as it was in it immediately latched on a rock for a while and then started moving around. Eventually it will find a spot. The Percula's have not paid much attention to it yet but they will eventually.
Potters Angel: This was supposed to be a medium from LA and is larger than expected. I've seen some shabby ones but this one is definitely an A+ specimen and is absolutely beautiful. My Flame is a medium and the Potters is larger and beefier. There was a little friction between the two but they seem to have settled down. Surprisingly the new Potter's was the instigator.
Yellow Belly Hippo: This was a small and is a little smaller than a fifty cent piece. Immediately colored back up when in the tank and wasted no time eating everything in sight. Very active right away and healthy. Being a juvenile no yellow belly yet and hopefully it really is. He is a little paler in the area to turn yellow so should be good.
The DD wildwood bottle brush and the tricolor valida are well... frags. Decent size for frags and on spiked aragonite disks. Neither showing any signs of polyps yet. The wild wood is looking very green (not so yellow yet) and the valida is just very dark.
LA/DD order
Well for my criticism of the cleaner order this one was a 5 star excellent. All arrived alive and very well packed.
Rose BTA: I went ahead and got a larger one from DD for 89 vs. the smalls for $59. Beautiful specimen, much larger than expected and nicer than anything seen locally. Good color and probably at least 6" open tentacles retracted. As soon as it was in it immediately latched on a rock for a while and then started moving around. Eventually it will find a spot. The Percula's have not paid much attention to it yet but they will eventually.
Potters Angel: This was supposed to be a medium from LA and is larger than expected. I've seen some shabby ones but this one is definitely an A+ specimen and is absolutely beautiful. My Flame is a medium and the Potters is larger and beefier. There was a little friction between the two but they seem to have settled down. Surprisingly the new Potter's was the instigator.
Yellow Belly Hippo: This was a small and is a little smaller than a fifty cent piece. Immediately colored back up when in the tank and wasted no time eating everything in sight. Very active right away and healthy. Being a juvenile no yellow belly yet and hopefully it really is. He is a little paler in the area to turn yellow so should be good.
The DD wildwood bottle brush and the tricolor valida are well... frags. Decent size for frags and on spiked aragonite disks. Neither showing any signs of polyps yet. The wild wood is looking very green (not so yellow yet) and the valida is just very dark.
zoomonster
New member
Salty Underground Order
Salty Underground Order
Not bad but this one only gets 4 stars for packing and deceptive pictures of two of the Rhodactis colonies. As far as packing they jammed 3 rocks and 3 frags in tiny little bags in a 9x9 styro line box box with one tiny ice pack.
Orange and Green Mushrooms Coral: 8 tiny shrooms on maybe a 3" rock chip.
Bright Purple Mushrooms Coral: This is very nice and has at least 10 shrooms on a nice rock. Fairly certain these are actually true Tonga's making this piece a steal.
Red and Green Mushrooms Coral: Another maybe 3" rock chip with 1 medium and 3 small shrooms.
Aquacultured Neon Green Leather: Colors good and what I wanted but a little small. Mounted on tiny piece of rock.
Aquacultured Hot Orange Montipora Digitata Coral: Frag on a ceramic square tile. Actually very good color and polyps extending already. Already encrusted over tile top and sides. Nice sized frag.
Aquacultured Red Planet Acro: Frag on ceramic square tile. Also very nice red color and showing polyps. A little on the small side and barely encrusted.
Salty Underground Order
Not bad but this one only gets 4 stars for packing and deceptive pictures of two of the Rhodactis colonies. As far as packing they jammed 3 rocks and 3 frags in tiny little bags in a 9x9 styro line box box with one tiny ice pack.
Orange and Green Mushrooms Coral: 8 tiny shrooms on maybe a 3" rock chip.
Bright Purple Mushrooms Coral: This is very nice and has at least 10 shrooms on a nice rock. Fairly certain these are actually true Tonga's making this piece a steal.
Red and Green Mushrooms Coral: Another maybe 3" rock chip with 1 medium and 3 small shrooms.
Aquacultured Neon Green Leather: Colors good and what I wanted but a little small. Mounted on tiny piece of rock.
Aquacultured Hot Orange Montipora Digitata Coral: Frag on a ceramic square tile. Actually very good color and polyps extending already. Already encrusted over tile top and sides. Nice sized frag.
Aquacultured Red Planet Acro: Frag on ceramic square tile. Also very nice red color and showing polyps. A little on the small side and barely encrusted.
zoomonster
New member
Ricordia Order
Ricordia Order
As expected 25 Ricordia polyps on tiny rock frags. Shipped ok but packed in one bag of very nasty water (probably was NSW). Very nice assortment of colors but no yellow (not really expected) and no what I would call true blue (I long ago coined the phrase blueberries when I sold them). If a blue Ricordia does not have a purple mouth its a lesser blue. Then again some may consider them purple Ricordia. They are all in a specimen container in tank. This pic is top down, sharpened and with paint.net auto color level for the excess blue. Colors seem to have a little extra saturation but very good representation of the colors I got. Plus they are only partially open. Quite a few of these are also multi mouth. Very happy with these.
Ricordia Order
As expected 25 Ricordia polyps on tiny rock frags. Shipped ok but packed in one bag of very nasty water (probably was NSW). Very nice assortment of colors but no yellow (not really expected) and no what I would call true blue (I long ago coined the phrase blueberries when I sold them). If a blue Ricordia does not have a purple mouth its a lesser blue. Then again some may consider them purple Ricordia. They are all in a specimen container in tank. This pic is top down, sharpened and with paint.net auto color level for the excess blue. Colors seem to have a little extra saturation but very good representation of the colors I got. Plus they are only partially open. Quite a few of these are also multi mouth. Very happy with these.
