Bpb

Lol I was gonna say. I literally cannot tell the difference in the colors of those circles. I like how much removing that cyphastrea cleaned up the scape. Good move. That’s gotta be tough pulling colonies of sticks for good. I have duplicate colonies I’m having a hard time giving up


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I like your list of "design principles", its to the point, and on point.  I also like your first example

Thanks man. I’ve been googling aquascapes for months getting ideas and kind of hybridizing several I’ve liked. While I realize the goal is to have the corals do the talking, the tank will likely look pretty bare for the first year or so, so id like for it to look somewhat pleasing to the eye in the mean time.

Doing my aquascape in this manner presents a handful of challenges. The first and most obvious will be curing it beforehand. I want the entire rock work to fit into the tank as no more than 2-3 pieces. Meaning the large stack will be big. Probably 24-36” long, 12-18” tall, and likely weigh 40-50 pounds. It’ll be a challenge to cure it and transport it quickly. That amount of water will be too heavy for me to move alone, so I’ll probably have to do the wet towel method and dose the heck out of some vodka and prodibio on the first day to lessen the mini cycle that will result.

I’ll probably have some marine pure curing with it as well, and that will convey too which will be easier to transport under water. I intend to fully stock it with fish on the first day of setup. I may even borrow another rodi unit or two so I can produce enough water to fill the tank quickly. I’m hoping for a lengthy move in period but planning for a weekend. Bearing in mind I’ll be moving my entire family as well. And doing the bulk of the heavy moving and coordinating alone.




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Working on some rock scape. Making it a point to not just slap a pile together. I’m working very hard to achieve a few goals.

Maximum lateral and transverse mounting space.

Minimal vertical walls

Things for fish to hide under

Maximal water flow

This is the start of the left and dominant part of the rock stack. I’ll have a smaller stack on the right eventually and hopefully the sticks will kind of grow together in that empty space


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Some pics from today. Nothing new just some growth shots over time. Hard to justify buying new stuff knowing I’ll be breaking down so I just try to enjoy what I have















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In better news, I finally got my new frag tank/anemone tank up to running conditions

Oh no not you too. Ty’s anemone virus has infected you too. The city needs to quarantine y’alls whole street. This could spread city wide!


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Excuse the lack of proof-reading on that post. It was late.


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I think there’s an assumption going on also that carbon dosing will automatically drove nitrogen and phosphorous levels in the water down to zero by virtue of dosing alone. While it’s possible they can, you don’t have to be that aggressive with it. You can simply use it to control those levels to not climb excessively high.

I don’t use a pellet reactor, I favor vodka dosing, but it’s the same concept. I don’t drive my N and P out entirely with it. I have the dose dialed to keep my NO3 between 4-10 ppm and my PO4 between 0.03-0.1 ppm on any given test. Just figuring out how much you’re feeding regularly and how aggressive you are with your carbon dosing you can keep those values present but not depleted. That sentence didn’t make a ton of sense but I think you get the idea.

I have a cryptic fuge that is probably about 10-15% my total water volume loaded with Fiji mud and Tampa bay rock and I still have to dose about 4 ml of vodka a day or my nitrates climb up past 40 ppm and my phosphates will easily get up past 0.4 ppm. Been there.

Yes....I am fully aware that there are examples of tanks running those kinds of numbers with attractive corals. I have not been able to do such a thing. Nutrient levels that high made it wildly difficult to keep any skeleton building coral alive


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That voodoo magic is nuts. That’s an orange you don’t see often.


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Better late than never. Got ahold of a couple new ones today. Not quite pretty yet. Still adjusting. Let’s log some day one pics for documenting purposes

Walt Disney


$500 efflo


Sunset Millie


WWC Nuclear Fission


WWC Aqua Delight


PSX Crayola Plana


AAF “plum”


TSA Candlelight Stag




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Kudos for natural daylight pics. Love them.


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I was about to say, we need to change the name of your thread to “farmer Ty’s no water change colorful aiptasia (BTA) tank”


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You can almost count the days based on the pulsing of the polyps. That is some seriously fast growth. It’s interesting to see that in the day or two prior to bleaching the growth immediately halts.


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That’s it!!!!!! It’s dead ringer. That Battlecorals picture is 100% spot on


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Lol honestly if someone wants to act as currier I’d be happy to send you guys some samples. It grows as fast as a monti cap


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Maybe someone can shed some light. I got this as a tiny specimen. Some years back. Got rid of it. And about a year ago I reacquired it. When I first got it, it was actually my first acro. I wasn’t given a name (or if I was, I don’t remember). Got it IN AUSTIN though I don’t remember who I got it from. Didn’t stay in touch.

 

Any ideas on a species or trade name? Colors are true as can be. Almost a gunmetal gray

Base, green corallite tips with dark polyps, purple terminal coralites with fluorescent blue polyps. Grows in a sort of stag shape, though not real leggy. Stays fairly compact, but branches more than a bottlebrush shape. Ideas? Anyone have it?

 

 

 

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You get used to that white. Why not put the two 6500k bulbs on channel 1 of (the 2 bulb channel), and stagger your photoperiod more that way you’re not forced to have it that white for that long if you don’t love it as much. Just a thought


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God those 6500k bulbs [emoji19]

 

 

 

 

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They’re fantastic. Come November when bulb swap time is upon me my blue+ bulbs will be well in excess of 24 months old and the rest will be 18 months. I’ll be going back to two 6500k bulbs myself as well. They look fantastic when mixed with the right complementary bulbs

May seem strange but to me the ab special, coral+ and even the blue+ have a green hue they give off and the yellow of the 6500k helps to balance that out a bit

 

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Well, I finally did it. I fixed the ATI fixture a 2nd time. First time I replaced a ballast... It blew on me 2 days later.

So, on the advice of[mention=5132]Caravanshaka[/mention], I grounded the ballasts separate from the fixture. Hopefully this will keep it from shorting out again.

While I was at it... I took the plunge and went 2x GE 6500K. Two yellow bulbs? He's crazy! Its all about the blue world of reefing these days! [emoji51]

I approve of this message!


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I more love what it does than how it looks. I guarantee your blue led colors would be far more dramatic with colors created by 6500k bulbs. Even if they look more muted while they’re on


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I would either run 4 blue plus or two coral plus and two blue plus if I get one.


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I’m the weirdo that would run 2 6500k and 2 true actinic


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Getting prettier and prettier. Definitely my favorite piece in the tank. Moved it off the rack and onto the rocks in a higher light higher flow spot. Nestled directly under the 6500k bulb




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Interested to see what it turns into. I have no idea what to expect! I feel like the light and flow is actually best on my frag rack so it’s hard to be in a hurry to get them on the rocks.


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Not fair, you need to label those !!!!!

Where are my manners!!!

Left to right.

Greg C Acroberry
Old Blue Prostrata ^
Orange Furry *
Sky Doppel
Paletta Pink Tip
Raging Bull *

* not yet featured on his sponsor thread or on the website catalogue.

^ can be found on the featured thread on his r2r sponsor page, but not on the website catalogue




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The mailman cometh!



And immediately upon introduction. Not even waiting for PE for the first pic.




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That’s def a risk for nems sucks because they add so much to the tank IMO. The tank is looking great btw your colors and growth are awesome man, very impressed with the pics!! Excited to see what you have in store when you get the new bigger tank up and running.

Thanks man! Yeah I felt a sharp twinge of guilt. Mainly because they feel like a slightly higher order organism than a coral. And my clown is super bummed. But I cannot have them splitting more and claiming so much space. A nem tank has never been a goal of mine and the two of them were already cleaning a good 20% of my usable rock space


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