Bpb Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 You all are always so much help when I can't seem to find a specific answer to a question by searching. Picked up a handful of frags locally last weekend. Guy had these in his biocube 8 gallon with stock lighting. He cut me the following frags: Cabbage leather Finger leather Pulsing Xenia A couple dark blue palys A blue polyp purple monti cap chip And a slice if a nice looking ricordea mushroom, no mouth They're in a Tupperware container in my refugium with rubble. Light is a 13 watt spiral 6500k bulb on a shop light clamp thing. Main display is 4x54 watt t5ho with good reflectors. Gonna upgrade the fuge light to 20 watts tomorrow. How long can these frags stay in there recovering and light acclimating before I need to move them to the substrate level in the display. I don't want to shock them and want to make sure they're all firmly attached so I am patient, but is it too LITTLE light in the fuge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 I always opt to put the tubberware on my sand bed in the DT instead of the fuge... might be unslightly at first but it speeds up my process. I know it will be gone in two weeks so I don't mind, and the fish love to dive in and out atleast the goby does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Staying in reduced light is a shock by itself. As a rule, light and circulation is what they need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Do yourself a favor. Toss out the leathers and xenia before they take over your tank. You'll love them for about a month and then wonder; "Why did I put this stuff in my tank?! It's everywhere! Gahhhhh!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted September 6, 2012 Author Share Posted September 6, 2012 Appreciate the comments guys. LOL Rob, I'm still new enough to the hobby that I don't think they'll be taking over any time soon. I have no problem trimming and tossing if need be. I actually really like the look of a giant leather specimen. It'll take a year or more for either of mine to get good sized I imagine. I guess I'm taking the road alot of noobs go. Starting with irritating invasive softies before successfully pulling off some nicer slower growers. I re-arranged a couple things this morning and added all my refugium frags to the display sandbed except the xenia. I automatically perched that on the top rock, as most tanks I've seen it with have it way up there. Hopefully these frags stay stuck down and don't bleach! The ricordea needed to be tied back down so I gently tied it down with a few wraps of black thread. I'll leave the thread on for a month or so then hopefully they should be stuck by then. Side note, all these corals STINK when I take them out of the water. It's not a dead smell, its just a real foul musk. That normal? I was also accidentally a little rough with my monti-cap and broke off another piece. So I gel glue'd those two extra chips to small pieces of rubble and I've kind of added the 3 of them here and there amongst the rock work. Hopefully they all take off, if not I'd be happy with any one of them growing. Not sure how breaking off pieces effects this coral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 The problem with xenia(no experince with cabbage/fingers) is it will drop stlaks and they pop up where you dont see them until they've taken root and started spreading. Once its in there, its tough to get rid of completely; but not impossible. And yes, we've all done it. Post a pic of your setup. Or, start a build thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Appreciate the comments guys. LOL Rob, I'm still new enough to the hobby that I don't think they'll be taking over any time soon. I have no problem trimming and tossing if need be. I actually really like the look of a giant leather specimen. It'll take a year or more for either of mine to get good sized I imagine. I guess I'm taking the road alot of noobs go. Starting with irritating invasive softies before successfully pulling off some nicer slower growers. I re-arranged a couple things this morning and added all my refugium frags to the display sandbed except the xenia. I automatically perched that on the top rock, as most tanks I've seen it with have it way up there. Hopefully these frags stay stuck down and don't bleach! The ricordea needed to be tied back down so I gently tied it down with a few wraps of black thread. I'll leave the thread on for a month or so then hopefully they should be stuck by then. Side note, all these corals STINK when I take them out of the water. It's not a dead smell, its just a real foul musk. That normal? I was also accidentally a little rough with my monti-cap and broke off another piece. So I gel glue'd those two extra chips to small pieces of rubble and I've kind of added the 3 of them here and there amongst the rock work. Hopefully they all take off, if not I'd be happy with any one of them growing. Not sure how breaking off pieces effects this coral. 1) Yes, many corals are pretty odoriferous out of water. Totally normal. 2) Breaking off pieces is how caps are propagated. You should be fine 3) Seriously, try to segregate the xenia on a piece by itself. It can and will take over your tank. It's easier to catch the runners that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Xenia will break off and float around too. It's not as simple as cut it when it gets to be too much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Xenia will break off and float around too. It's not as simple as cut it when it gets to be too much. Right, but it certainly makes it easier than if you were to try and keep things under control if it was rampant on your main rock work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted September 6, 2012 Author Share Posted September 6, 2012 I appreciate the warnings everyone. I'll keep a close eye on things. After observing all my Frags I noticed an aiptasia that seemed to slip through the cracks. He's gonna be hard to reach and is footed in a large hole (too large to seal) under a rock at the bottom of a stack. I'll have to get creative. I suppose I should have started a build thread. Perhaps I'll get one going soon, even though the tank is long set up. I can dig up some old pics though. Ill post a link once I get to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Do yourself a favor. Toss out the leathers and xenia before they take over your tank. You'll love them for about a month and then wonder; "Why did I put this stuff in my tank?! It's everywhere! Gahhhhh!" Amen to this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 Here's a full tank shot with all 4 bulbs running! When I can get around to taking more good ones, and putting a log together I'll post it in the tank builds section. When I got the tank it had one bleached hairy mushroom, a rock flower anemone (gone from 1" in diameter in May, to 4" now in my care), and a near dead almost totally white favia brain. I've added quite a few small frags since then, but from a distance the tank still looks alot like a FOWLR setup. This photo does not feature all the frags I added today. I took this at some point last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Lookin' good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Looks good. I can see some nice corals in there. I like the rock scape and the sand lay out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 Thanks! The shallow depth front to back pretty much means wall 'o rock is the only option in this tank. Luckily I have a ton of caves and two big bridges so it offers plenty to look at. The base rock forms a retainer wall. My engineer goby was the master builder as far as sand goes. I'm gradually removing sand from the tank to try to go shallower, but he has decided that a depth of about 8" all along the back wall is all the rage, so no matter what I remove, he managed to keep that mound piled high lol. He's an interesting character Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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