Yes, I do hang around here Love your tank

Glad the Acan is doing fine. The little Tyree True Undata frag I got from you recently is already showing new side growth. Along with my Sunset doing so well I'm becoming a real Monti fan

Wow!!! Super nice Hurricane you have there. Not your average pinky nail sized frag that you always see for sale. I hope that you can continue to grow it out as these corals are really something when they get larger. Kenny (pookstreet) has shown some of his before that are the size of a coffee saucer or bigger.

I guess that is the one thing that has turned me off so far with the Chalice craze that is going on...my wife would literally toss me out of a moving car if I asked to spend $200-300 on something that is smaller than half my toe nail I'm just wondering how long it will last...I remember when Nucs, PDs, RPEs were going for $50+ a polyp...now they are basically a dime a dozen.

Stunning corals nonetheless...guess I'm just bitter I don't have the cash laying around to pick up more LE corals if you know what I mean. Getting one nice piece and trading from there seems to be the way to go.

**I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THESE ATTACHMENTS ARE FROM??? They are randomly showing up and they are not my pictures. Weird.***

The reef hobby has chased one fad after another for the past 20 years. Chalices are no different than the past fads.

My approach is just to buy corals that aren't on the list of "hot new corals", and wait a year. What costs 300 now will be 50 in a year or two. It ALWAYS works that way in this hobby.

People so easily forget that what it LE now is always just a generation or two of fragging away from being dirt cheap, and what is dirt cheap now will be expensive again.

My LFS used to carry heads of bright red blastomussa the size of your head for 40 bucks. Now just a couple of polyps cost more than that. *shrug*

Here Here!!! I remember when I first started in the hobby a mere 3 years ago that there were loads of folks on Club-Zoa and other sites that had all sorts of nice Chalices that no one was really interested in. So far, as long as I've been in the hobby the fads have gone... Z's and P's (RPE, Nucs, PDs), Aussie Acans, and now LE Chalices.

I'll stop crapping on your thread now I am ALL about getting LE pieces for less than LE prices...like you did with the Hurricane. Now you have trade for other pieces which is the way to go in my opinion.

Hahaha. I'm with ya guys there (for the most part ). SPS20, I hope you're right about the older stuff becoming worth something again later. I'm gonna need to sell some of this at some point!

I have to admit though that I DO WANT a Purple Hornet, BADLY. But I can't bring myself to pay $200 for one polyp that may not survive. $75 would be a fair price IMO, as they are far more attractive than PPEs, Nucs, & PDs. It is interesting to me how prices can be driven up sooo freakin high for a finger nail size chalice. The slower the grower, the more expensive too. My main concern being, if I pony up for one of these frags, by the time I have 4 eyes I'd be able to buy a colony of 5 eyes for $400 or less - which I've found some Bazooka Joes and Tyree Watermelons selling for now. The bargain colony buys are definitely out there, but you have to hunt to find them. Makes me wonder if $100/eye is still worth it.

One thing I like about the Miami Hurricane is that I can get at least 1 eye a month out of it, possibly TWO. Fast grower so I hear. Over the past couple of days I've been feeding it like a pig. Hoping to double its size for trade. Any takers?

I hear ya on the Purple Hornets. The true Hornets really are a pretty amazing looking polyp. As you said, way more appealing than Nucs, PDs, RPEs, and even Joker palys. I really like the look of the AOGs that I have in my tank now and I remember when those were a hot item for a while as well.

I'm with you though...I just can't see how you could justify $200 for a single polyp or 1/2 eye of some really small chalice. I know that some are really slow growers (Setosa, Icefire, some chalices) but I just can't see it with Zoas. My luck, I would scrape together my funds, and the stinking thing would die a week later

I agree with you about colonies...I might have a line from someone on some Tyree WM at a more than reasonable price because they have a large colony they are trimming up.

I may be interested in a some of your Miami Hurricane when it gets big enough. You know what I have for trade I hope it's a fast grower for you.

**Again, I'm not sure why these pictures are being attached. Makes no sense since I don't even know who these pictures are Guess I better PM the Admin and see what the deal is***

I guess this is the explanation for the random attachments...I am going to see if Chris can remove them from your thread. Don't want to clutter it up with random junk.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry2331805

I'd be happy to frag an eye of the MH for ya, Adam. Let's see how quickly it can grow in a month's time. If not, we'll have to exchange something later on down the road. No worries at all about the random pics. You are as much a part of this thread as I am!!! Which is cool. If you didn't post anything, I don't know if anybody else would! LOL

Awesome. I'll make sure that the corals you're interested in are all ready to go when it's time to trade. Grow Hurricane Grow!!! Never thought I would say that considering I live in the SE and it's hurricane season

It looks like the random attachments were removed...just didn't want some random pics cluttering up your thread

Maybe we could work a trade when my new Watermelon get big! and eye for an eye

looking great!

-Dave

Sounds like a fair trade, Dave. How many eyes does your new WM have now? Got any pics?

Thanks! Good to hear your Udata is doing well under your T5s. *I still owe you a pic of the main frag.

****
So I got some cool zoas yesterday. Not absolutely sure what the ones on the bottom-left are called, but those are EVERLASTING GOBSTOPPERS on the upper-right. They're still a bit annoyed after a mixture of Revive and FWE dip.


DEVIL'S ARMOR?


Couldn't get a good pic of the Gobstoppers. They're insanely bright. I'll try again tomorrow.

Nice new additions....both the Gobstoppers and the others look like they crazy colorful. I'm sure they add a nice bright fluorescence to your tank.

here's a pic..



just check my thread out on my link below too

-D

LIGHT ACCLIMATION ISSUES WITH FRAG BIN

Right now, most if not all of my frags are kept in my 25G display. Corals placed in my frag bin still haven't been able to acclimate to the lighting. It's been 2 whole months of multiple failed attempts. And I know it's the lighting bc SPS are colored up brightly in the display, which is plumbed into the frag bin. I've used 5 layers of screening and removed one sheet every 4 days, but after the 3rd layer is lifted I immediately notice coral either beginning to burn or bleach. So I'm suspecting it may have to do with inadequate UV shielding. The hang-on light to the frag bin does not have a glass cover to shield the reflected light - only glass to protect the bulb from water exposure. Tough to explain. So I rigged up this quick experiment, using precut 8x10 glass and UV protected acrylic underneath. Hopefully it makes a difference. If it does work, I can probably cut UV protective glass to fit directly underneath the bulb. If it doesn't, I'm completely out of ideas. I'll have no choice but to swap out the Phoenix 14k with something else.

Great DIY solution, well attempt at this point, to resolve your UV issue. Hope it works out for you because it's going to be "watch out, look who has frags" once you get that thing going.

Haha. I'm doin by best to get it goin. Even emailed Oceanic about their Coralife Aqualight fixture. Here's how support responded:

"The Coralife bulbs do have UV shielding on the bulb. I’m not familiar with that bulb but I would guess it does not. If your going to use bulbs that are not Coralife you’ll want to make sure they are UV shielded."

Didn't think I'd have this issue with Phoenix bulbs bc *everyone* and their momma uses them. But everyone else must use a different fixture. Also, checked online and saw that other people experienced immediate bleaching when upgrading their Coralife bulb to a Phoenix 14.

So it has only been 2 light cycles since, but my tester zoas are opening up widely again. Could be a good sign. I'll see how things progress as I continue to lift screening from underneath.

Well of course "their" bulbs are perfect for the fixture I don't remember having any issues when I used a Phoenix 14k with my Sunpod but then again, there is a piece of glass that shields the bulb that I imagine shields UV.

It sounds like you may have fixed your issues with the piece of glass you installed since your tester zoas are opening up. Can't wait for you to get this frag tank going...might have to take out a small loan soon

ToTM ... wow ... this tank is absolutely stunning ... really ... the blend of colors ... better then Monet One of the best nanos (any tank for that matter) that I have seen! I love the ADA tanks as well ... I thought about purchasing one for the bedroom ... then the 120 showed up and I said ... eh ... I will focus on one tank ........................ for now.

BTW I didn't put those pics there ... I don't know what the heck that is?!

Thanks for the huge compliment! I definitely hear you on maintaining only one tank. I couldn't even handle 2 nanos, or even 1 pico and a nano, let alone a 120G! How much I wish I could afford one. I figure it's 3 times the cost (with 3 times the lighting, pumps, salt, water, coral, EFFORT, etc). I'll live vicariously through your tank instead. lol

*Those pics are likely connected to the past database error. Perhaps an issue from restoring the backup.

I went to my LFS in Roseville, YourReef, with the intent to buy a six-line wrasse. Instead I came home with a 2-eye Tyree Bubble Gum Monster frag. This piece comes from a 1st generation frag of a mother colony held by Victor at World Wide Corals. Apparently, Steve Tyree got his original frag cut from the same colony ON THE SAME DAY. Interesting how the lineage was explained to me, but I have learned to trust John with every piece he sells.

The craziest thing about this purchase is that my frag is only a wee bit larger than HALF the size of a pinky nail! This definitely takes the prize for the smallest frag I've ever bought. It's so small that I'm too embarrassed to post a pic. I pray it will survive in my tank. I don't know how well this thing eats, but if I could feed it mysis every day, I most certainly will.

The miami hurricane that I purchased no more than 1 week ago is already developing what looks to be a new eye. And 1 big eye has successfully split in two!@#!

I'm excited about my new chalices, if you can't already tell. Never thought I'd be nuts enough to buy smaller-than-a-pinky-nail frag. Strange though, I don't feel a tiny bit guilty about it - which is scary.

Here's my want list for anyone willing to trade:

• Bazooka Joe
• Tyree Pink Watermelon
• Oregon (or whatever) Mummy Eye
• Rasta Watermelon

Not too much to ask, is it?

Congrats on the teeny tiny, intsy winsy frag Go ahead and post a picture...we want to see the little guy.

Must be nice to have a place like Your Reef right around the corner from you. The closest place that I can go and know that I am getting the real deal is Aquarium Specialty in Columbia. I have met the owner, Scott, twice now and we went over to his house to check out his personal stock the last time I was there. It's nice to have a contact where you know exactly what you're getting...especially when you're dropping a fair piece of cash on something.

Best of luck with keeping it and getting her growing...I'm sure you will be highly successful with it.

Not a problem my friend ... this tank is ridiculous ... I am modeling my 120 after it ... I am getting tired of so many SPS, love them ... but quite frankly just a pain in my butt ... lol ... I want to focus more on my LPS collection!!! Acans, chalices, favias, etc.etc.etc.



No need to feel guilty unless you find all the locks on your house changed one day ... Oh man ... what a collection you are going to have! Keep in mind your east coast friends ... eh hem ... lol ... when you are ready to frag! I want to place an order from Yourreef maybe in the next few weeks ... just not home enough to collect the package ... that's the problem!



Soooooo lucky to have a place like Yourreef in the neighborhood ... wish we had the same!!!

Sweet. I'll be keeping an eye on your thread. LPS is where it's at, but as you can see with my tank, I can hardly decide what I want! One thing's for sure, you won't be running out of space. Even with my frag bin, I've got to limit my collection to only those pieces I absolutely must have.


Locked out? It's happened once before. lol. I don't know John personally, but I can tell he maintains the highest integrity in the business. If he says that's what you're getting, you can expect nothing less. More importantly, if you think you might be buying a rare/collector's piece, he'll quickly let you know if it's not (i.e. no lineage or faux). *ScottyReef will quickly vouch the same.

He's got the most impressive setosa I've ever seen. Fluorescent reddish/orange and the size of a Holy Bible, if not BIGGER.

LPS are the sh!t for sure!!! Love the colors on all of them ... I need to load a photo of this Chalice that belongs to my girlfriend (although it magically found it's way into my tank ) I am like 15 ft away from the tank and this thing is an eyesore!!! lol.

I know Scottyreef offered to go and hand pick the frags when I decide to finally order from yourreef. Get a picture of that Setosa I want to see!

The 120 rocks ... man ... You have to find someone that desperately needs to move and selling their tank cheap ... one day you will have one!!! Don't worry I think to a certain extent we all live vicariously through each other!

I don't visit YourReef more than once per month, cuz I'll most definitely go bust if I do. His pricing is very reasonable and the quality and assurance priceless. I know I'm going back for a Bazooka Joe VERY SOON. Apparently, John acquired his piece from the original "sand dollar" back in '06. Ha, I can't get over how one can trace back the lineage to the actual parent colony found in the ocean. I used to laugh at it, but tracing lineage actually increases value. ScottyReef was telling me that John would verify all coral ever purchased from him if you wish to sell at some point down the line. If you ever get a chance to buy from his online store, don't hesitate.

So by your special request, here's a pic of my BGM: (not to scale, actual size is MUCH smaller than what you see here. lol)


It was fragged approx 10 days ago, so you can see it healing over in this pic. I hope this backside regains brilliance in the next few weeks. Critical time for this little guy. It's live or die!

I'll be watchin out for your chalice pic! I'm down to frag my acans for a decent trade. All fast growers. And the chalices? I buy them for trade. They should be ready in as little as 4mos. East coast to west coast is only $50 away!

Oh yeah, so I was browing eBay last night and found this closed listing. Couldn't believe how much it went for. My frag was cut from the SAME EXACT colony - which I think is pretty cool.

Sweet frag Randy and thanks for posting a picture of it. Like I said, I'm looking forward to giving your pink chalice frag a try when we trade. I can see myself splattering my sand bed and lower reaches of my tank with chalice and acans.

I'm with both you and DCG...SPS are definitely where it's at as far as variety of coloration, growth patterns, and just shear number of options. BUT, I have really been missing the movement of LPS in my tank. Colored sticks are all well and good, but you just need a little movement to spice things up.

Trade eh?! Hmmm ... let me see what I can do ... I love trading ... I hate selling ... lol ... $50 not so bad ... from personal collections



+1 ... gotta have variety ... i just found out a friend gave up on his SPS tanks ... a 120 and an 80G ... he had colonies growing out of his a$$ ... I am going to head over there Tuesday to check out what he has left. It's sad ... the tanks were absolutely gorgeous ... but the upkeep of an SPS tank especially at that size can be quite costly (then again what isn't in this hobby!)

The movement of acro polyps doesn't look too shabby either. Need an MP10 for better motion but I keep buying coral instead!

The pink chalice will be an excellent starter specimen. It won't die no matter what you do to it. HOWEVER, it won't shine bright if it's not happy. It's been upset with me ever since I cut it a few weeks back. Looks on the redder side of pink now. But I've been feeding it mysis lately, so that might have something to do with the coloration shift too. Pitty, I'll be making 6 more frags of it in the coming weeks. It looks like a half eaten pizza at the moment.

Adam, I know we have a big trade coming up, so perhaps I can get you on the LPS track?:


Hey Scott, you out there??? I needs me that dremel, Buddy! lol



Care for some acans?

LPS? Yes please. Let me know how much you want for frags of the above. Since I sold a bunch of those frags, I have some "coral" money in my pocket I was going to ask about the 'cans but didn't know if they were ready.

Cool. PM sent.


Believe it or not, gave one mysis shrimp to each eye tonight, and they swallowed em both. I'd say that's a clear sign of good health

Thanks for the PM Randy....can't wait to talk some 'cans

That's amazing that a frag that size would take mysis. Do they put out feeder tentacles just like Acans and other "feeding" corals? Must be pretty cool to see something that size eating something the size of a mysis shrimp.

Sounds like it's a healthy frag for sure.

Noticed the tentacles last night. Only about a cm in length. Turned off all pumps and carefully placed mysis. Took 30 mins to consume. As they grow larger the tentacles get longer. The miami hurr has sweeping tentacles 2-3 inches long. Damaged some of my palys.

Wow 2-3 inches long Guess you have to be careful in placing these bad boys, eh?

I like the new title of your thread....so is this going to be the new Chalice Palace

Yes, please! . I really like the red/orange varieties and you've got some beauties there!

Speaking of really small frags, I have had good luck with them. I bought a less than 1/4 pinky sized mini-mini Acan frag a few months ago. It had a tiny spec of orange in it, so I thought 'what the heck'. Now its a two head florescent orange beauty a bit bigger than a dime:

Good luck with your little frag!

Careful is right. One day their tentacles can barely be noticeable, the next day they could be lookin like Medusa.

Not sure if "Chalice Palace" (lol) will be a part of the existing rockscape OR another tank plumbed into the system. We shall see...



Thanks NS! Your monti frag should be ready in no time at all. Let me know if you want to do another trade for one of these acan heads.

Sounds great, message sent with a few pics of my Acans.

In a picture taking mood this morning...

My favorite acans at the moment


Imminent conflict


Devil's Armor


My favorite zoas at the moment: Everlasting Gobstoppers


Courtesy of Smiley from NorCal Reef Club: Fire and Ice (although they don't look like em?)


ORA Joe the Coral. Looks better from top down bc front side is shaded.


"Hollywood Stunner" or "Firefly" Chalices? These two look exactly the same but were traded as different names. Courtesy of "FragARack" and "ArtGuzman" of NorCal Reef Club.


The hungriest of all coral in my tank: Miami Hurricane. Bubble Gum (bottom-rt) is doing great too.


Blurry Pokerstar Monti on right. Rainbow (or Superman?) Monti on the left. I'm almost sure it's a rainbow, unless it doesn't shift in color soon. Bought them 1 year(ish) ago from a fellow NR member, but forgot where I placed them after they bleached out. Nice to have them back.


True Undata. Not a good pic colorwise, but you can see color shift from purple at the base to a greenish hue on top. More fluorescent in person.


Faux Emma's Jedi Mind Trick frag. Courtesy of reefdan. Not the real thing, but looks the same! Colors are wicked. Unfortunately, camera does not capture them well here.

Really!!!

WOW Randy....really starting to fill out both the tank and the frag tank. You're starting to get together a nice little chalice collection...some of those are REALLY big for chalice.

Ha! Thanks for looking, David. Uploading more in a few...


Thanks Adam. Chalices have definitely drawn me in, but they can get BIG fast. So I will be needing a new setup to accommodate them. I'd buy it today, but I simply don't have the fund$. So they'll have to co-mingle for now. lol

New Stuff! (and some old stuff. hehe)

RedBug Monti. Thought the name was appropriate, given the pests I've defeated in this tank. Turned out to be quite a prize though. I can frag this for anyone who wants to trade






2 new acan colonies with RAINBOW-like qualities. The ones in the pic below haven't quite opened yet, so I expect it to show more color tomorrow.


These opened up immediately. A little bit of every color in here, with red being the most dominant.


Can't remember if I snapped a pic of these Green/Purple Acans. Courtesy of Nano Sapien.


For those who follow my thread, Joe the Coral gets the limelight. That's because he seems to be the most challenging to keep. Colors are supposed to turn from bright green at the base to a deep blue on top. So far, I'm getting the green, but the tips are more of a sky blue.


Most of these are Courtesy of ScottyReef - all except the nuclear green polyp and purple birdsnest on the back far left.


FTS. I think I've got just barely enough room to mount ScottyReef's frags AND the ones on the way from divecj5! Lookin forward to it...

Filling up nicely! Many really nice pieces in there. Do you have any close-up pics of the red/maroon-ish Acan colony sitting smack-dab center of the tank?

Happy to see the green/purple Acan is doing well. I can see its getting a lot more light in your tank

Those rainbow acans are awesome.

that acan up top is awesome as are those gobstopper palys. You, scotty and I will all have to meet up and do some trading. I might have an acan or paly that are to your liking.

Thanks. Although the tank has been running for almost 2yrs in October, I consider this one a "do over" as of 10mos ago. My pest treatments almost wiped out most of the SPS. Because most of it is either new coral or rescued coral, it will still take a while to fill out.

The close-up of the red/maroon-ish acan is the 2nd of the "rainbows" mentioned above.

I'll take good care of your acans! Hopefully they flourish in here, as they did in yours.


Thank you very much. I think I'll be fraggin them for $25(ish) per head, since I have quite a few.

Looking sweet as always!