FarmerTy Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Colonies=money, but I know the feeling. That's why I bought more colonies this time and ditched my frags only rule I had for the old tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Ty, have you noticed a big difference in mortality rates among frags/colonies depending on size. I know previous system environment, initial health, transport time and method, and other unmeasurables will factor in here, but all else kept constant, around what size pieces of acropora do you feel do best when acquiring new pieces? I used to think small frags seemed to be the heartiest and had the best chance of survival, and moving colonies was a death sentence. Not so sure on that anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I don't want to take over Sascha's build thread but I will make a quick comment on it. I think mortality rates have to do with more on the source of the frag, which is obvious but I wanted to mention anyways. Obviously, the best frags are from fellow reefers who've had the coral in their system for a long period of time and it has shown great health and growth in their system. Even better, a system similar to your own, as far as lighting and water parameters are concerned... so the transition is as smooth as can be. I always feel bad when new reefers decide to try SPS and start ordering from some of our online vendors with fantastic photos of their SPS. Most of those SPS are mariculture and are not used to life in a reef tank. The transition is hard enough on its own but to do it in a newer system with a hobbiest that is new to SPS can spell disaster sometimes. Also, the colors you see in the picture will most often not keep so I typically discourage buying mariculture based on coloration you see in the pictures. Think of them as more to a hint as to some of the potential but know for the most part it will not stay that way. It may blossom to even something more beautiful or really, it's just a regular SPS you can get at the store but it looks amazing when it first shows up from the ocean. I encourage anybody looking to try SPS to get a few tester pieces from a fellow reefer in town to test your tank out first and then start opening up to purchasing online or at a LFS. But to answer your question, with all external criteria constant, I feel the bigger the better. Mainly because, if things turn south, you can always frag up a colony and try to save the pieces. Superglue and clippers are your friend. I'd think that Sam has a lot more experience to offer in this regard though as my old system was comprised mainly of frags from fellow reefers and mariculture colonies are newer to me in this new system. Sam has been doing maricultures for a long time now and I'm sure he has great wealth of experience to share in their regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Sorry Sascha, for some reason I thought I was on Ty's thread. Just replied to the email notification link. Not intending to hijack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 No problem. Good information is universal. My experience isn't quite the same so its good to see other sides. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makena95GT Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Remember that Hollywood Stunner i got from you? If you want it to test your waters you can has it. Poor thing has been just "meh" in my tank and will probably continue to very slowly die until i do the Great Tank Upgrade of 2015.. Well.. Not so great. A 40 gallon upgrade lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 Thank you Makena. I really appreciate that. I'm sorry that it wasn't doing well in your tank. The chalice that I still have hasn't bounced back either. The color is still there, but it's faint. Is it the same thing with your chalice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 FTS 3/28/15 Almost no GHA or cyanobacteria in sight. The dinoflagelles were the first to die and the rest is just hanging on by a thread. It should be ready for corals next week. Some kind of zoas, but I'm not sure what the name is. Hollywood Stunner Chalice. I thought it was dead and I removed most of it. It started coming back this week and regaining some color. If I decide to keep it then I have to move it somewhere else. Some sort of favia. Two weeks ago this thing was completely brown. Tyree Setosa. Coming back nicely. The part growing algae is the part that died. It was also a lot taller but I fragged a piece to try and save it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 I haven't tested Ca or Alk in 6 Weeks. I know, I know, I'm a model reefer. Out turned out okay though. Calcium came in at 420 and Alk is 175. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 6, 2015 Author Share Posted April 6, 2015 Week 91: The tank has been doing great this week. The film algae growth is minimal so I know that PO4 and Nitrates are also low. The cyano and dinos are all gone now and the water is crystal clear! There is a small amount of turf and GHA I've been removing Valonia every couple of days, but new spores grow every day. It will be a long battle but I hope to have it all gone eventually. With any luck my next tang will take a liking to it! I think it's almost time to start adding corals and fish! I will have to start small by picking up my corals from other tanks. Seeing how these corals do will tell me whether I can add any others to the tank. I will also be on the lookout for a fish or two to start adding some ammonia to the tank. It will be a true joy seeing fish in there again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Week 92: The tank looks great! All of the corals look happy and the display tank is covered in pods. Time to add livestock!! Corals Well I've tried to add corals but I haven't had any luck. This week I have contacted 7 ARC members who have said they have "overflowing" frag tanks. All but one of them blew me off, so it looks like I'll have a harder time than I thought restocking. I can honestly say I'm disappointed and it's hard not to take it personally, but I'm not going to force someone to take my money. All of the LPS and Polyps made it, but only about five SPS survived. I'm super surprised and excited that little nubs of Oregon Tort and Cali Tort are colored up and looking fantastic...on a miniature level! Fish My family was feeling pretty claustrophobic this last weekend so we decided to take a road trip to Austin Aqua Dome. I've been in Central Texas for a few years now and I've never been there. I didn't know what to expect, but I was really surprised. The store is very well organized, the tanks were clean and they had an amazing selection of fish. I thought the prices were a bit high, but that is to be expected since there is no real competition in the area. I'm proud of myself for sticking to my stocking plan and not giving in to temptation! Current Stock Melanurus Wrasse 3-28-15 Leopard Wrasse 4-4-15 Royal Gramma 4-4-15 Lubbock's Wrasse 4-12-15 Pencil Wrasse 4-12-15 I actually bought my first fish from Niko's six days before the 6 week waiting period. I hadn't intentionally tried to wait 6 weeks but it just happened to go that way. About a week after that I purchased two more fish from Niko's. The Royal Gramma was an inpulse buy. The last two fish I got this weekend from the Dome. Original Stocking List Large Angel or 1-2 Tangs Pearly Jawfish Clownfish Pair Leopard, Potter's or Kuiter's Wrasse Christmas Wrasse Melanurus Wrasse Yellow and Purple Wrasse Two Tone Wrasse Lubbock's Wrasse Tri-color or Orange and Black Fairy Wrasse Red Head Solomon Wrasse Mystery Wrasse Flame Wrasse I generally don't keep a CUC so I'm not going to talk about it too much. It's going to be pretty important to stock at least one herbivore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Here's why I don't stock a CUC. Me: Hey look at that algae! I had better think of something! Me: I know let's go to the LFS for a new crew. LFS: Hi welcome to the LFS. You must be looking for a new crew. Me: Yeah, for a 150 gallon LFS: Great! We recommend 75 hermits and 75 snails. They're $3 each. Me: LFS: Well that's okay, we offer personal loans at very competitive interest rates. Me: Aren't there any other options to help with the algae? LFS: Nope this is the only way there is. Please sign here LFS: Would you like to pay for the loan application by check or charge? Me on the drive home: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Wow. First of all who the hell would have that many snails and crabs in their tank and two which store sells them at 3 bucks a piece. I have a 180 and I might have 10 to 15 crabs, maybe and perhaps 10 to 15 snails 7 of them being big *** eat everything off the glass turbo snails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 I actually went to a local store the other day and they wanted to charge me $60 for 25 snails. That's after the bulk discount...of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I always found the "reccomended" clean up crew sizes to be quite laughable. The 1 hermit/snail to a gallon is ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Believe it or not I fell for that when I first started. Most of us probably have. I talked to a girl that was buying 100 hermits a year for the last 10 years. Pretty heavy load for her 55g softie tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 She was ammonia dosing Sascha. [emoji23] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Yep the old, "you have an algae problem here stock this amazingly big cleanup crew that will starve after they have eaten everything and the algae will come back so you can rebuy again" Cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 On the up side, I did a water change last night and turned the skimmer on. It's producing some major microbubbles! All of the fish are eating mysis and spectrum pellets. Now I just have to clean the glass and take some pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Some recovering corals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Fish pictures Pencil Wrasse - Pseudojuloides sp. Royal Gramma Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse Melanurus Wrasse - Terminal Male Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Truthfully, I may rehome the pencil wrasse. My tank is tall and deep and, after seeing this fish swim, I believe he may need greater surface area. Definitely one of the cooler fish I've had and he eats spectrum pellets and mysis with gusto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 Here are some past tank of the month winners. This is where I want to be! How sweet would that be right? A wise man once said, "Find a tank you like and copy it." Well I like these and they use all of the same equipment that I use except they run BP and I don't. BP looks confusing and I haven't tried to look into it yet. I think I may start this afternoon. http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/component/zine/article/65 http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/component/zine/article/154 http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/component/zine/article/133 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 I am with you, I want mine to look the same way. I think I have the equipment to do it but just can't seem to break the issue of getting SPS to grow or survive. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 Awesome Madsalt, we'll do it! I think that I was in a good place before the crash. I think I can get there again but it's an uphill battle at the moment. I stock heavily, so I may need a new skimmer and that means that I will probably have to remove the macro from the sump. I like the macro because it's a source of income, but I would probably be better off using that chamber for equipment. I may or may not need biopellets and carbon dosing. Truthfully, I would rather run BP than dosing because there are so many things that can go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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