It's on my SPS intensive Frag Rack. There is a T5HO Geisemann Actinic Plus about 7 inches above it, then about 2 1/2 inches off the water, Then about 10 inches above the water is the Phoenix 250W light. For flow it's about 3 feet out directly in the path of a K4....it seems to be doing well there.....My friend's piece was showing skeleton and now it is looking good again.....

October 3

This is what it looked like ....a bit pale, but getting there....

December 4....took it a couple months, but I feel good about it.....

I just moved the new zoanthids into the tank, but they hadn't opened when the MH's went off.....they are starting to open under the T5's.....Here they are all PI$$ED off.....


I had to shoot these next two after I dust a bit of Coral Vibrance in the tank....Like ringing the Dinner Bell!!!!!


Closeup....Just a couple minutes later....

were the skirts always that long or is it the flow?

Those are actually Green Implosions which typically has a VERY short skirt, the convex topped ones. They are in Monster flow....they nearly went away and there were like 8 of them, then I added 2 chromis and now they are thriving.....fuge still keeps up with the wastes okay....it's healthier now.....

These are the new zoanthids that I added to the tank just last night....


Here are a few other of the zoas and palys I have in my tank....










This is half of my JC Ancient Earth chalice...it has now been determined to have come from the same source that Tyree got his original "Area 51" chalice from, so I guess it's an Area 51 chalice...I cut it in half during my sale, then the person I cut it for didn't come through on the buy....It's healing well....


A few sticks....






My Acro Crab....he's much bigger and bolder than he was...


Another Before and After....this was on October 24....


December 17....

Purty!!

wish my sps had that kinda polyp extension...

Thanks a lot....I seem to be having another growth spurt in many of my SPS....I think they did well for the pruning....here are a few random shots I took this evening....check out the PE on some of these Pismo....
ORA Chips acropora


Purple polyp pink Stylophora....


ORA Blue Acropora tortuosa


A nice green Montipora digitata


ORA Rose Acropora millepora


Fiji unknown Acropora (I turned it around and supported it better)


JC's Quadricolor Acropora in front of the bottom of the ORA Chips


Potato Chip Pavona


I also wanted to show how a couple of my LPS's were doing....
Area 51 Favia (what's left after the Frag-O-Rama)


AA Meteor Shower Cyphastrea (finally coloring up and looking healthy again)

My family and I would like to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of Holidays....

God has blessed all of us with a love for the reefs and the means to bring them into our homes....we should all be joyous for this and all the pleasures that are bestowed upon us.....

Mitch

Merry Christmas Mitch.
<3 W7

And now it's time to welcome in 2010...I hope everyone had a great night last night, and not too many hangovers today.....

My Bride and I actually went to a New Years party for the first time in our 4+ years together...we really ought to get out more....

On another note, my slave-driver boss was let go two weeks ago, and things have become much calmer and we actually go home at a reasonable hour every day...it is souch a joyous change....I will actually be able to bond with my family again....

Thanks to all my freinds here, you have all helped me stay sane through these challenging times....

Mitch

I got a little bit of money for Christmas and decided that a new frag was in order....soooo....I made a little trip across town to visit WorldWide Corals....They have so much nice stuff that it was a very tough decision, but I finally settled on a frag of Oregon Blue Tort....this is the bluest coral I've ever seen....here it is right after going into the tank....


After 1/2 hour in the water it was showing some PE....


and at an hour and a half.....

looks Happy to me....

I wanted to post the Cali Blue Tort, just for comparison....

I used to consider this one REALLY blue....now I know better....

Just for fun I did a couple shots comparing my Blue-Green Acropora echinata to the Hawkins Blue Echinata....here is the Blue-Green....


and the Hawkins.....


The other night I was getting ready to feed the tank and noticed one of my Green Implosion Palys all freaked out....had to grab a couple of pictures....these were after I started feeding.....



I've seen LPS's do that when fed, but never a paly....odd....very odd.....

Nice new frag!!!

Thanks a bunch Weetie....I actually went in for a platygyra that I saw on their website, but quickly changed my mind when I saw this one....their colony is amazing...I just hope I have that kind of luck with it....

agreed, badass frag

Thanks a lot LandO...I have managed to pull together a few nice pieces...the reef is starting to really come together...I'm at the stage of having to get rid of things to make space for better stuff now...what a terrible predicament...huh????

i love ur hawkins echinata and the new tort.

wow that mouth thing is crazy..

nice frags btw!

Mitch, Everything looks great!!!! 5.0???

Yup Jon, I still gotta do a bit of a grow out....you already have almost everything....they say the Oregon Tort is really slow growing, we gotta see just how slow it is for me....I have a couple of things you might be interested in though....PM me when you are interested in checking them out....

I am always amazed when I see the growth that some of these corals do....I snapped a picture of the Blue Green Acropora echinata a couple nights ago and was looking at some recent pictures and my jaw just plain dropped....

1/8/10:


12/17/09:


That's 22 days! I hope a few of the others will turn on like that....but I guess they really have....it still blows me away....

Pretty much sums it up for me.

I am pretty sure you said this yourself once, but...

You flat out sure can grow some SPS!

MitchReef is the SPS King!

I like to say the corals do all the work, I just try to give them an acceptable place to do the work....

Consistency is the key.....my lighting is all going on a year to a year and a half old, I have algae problems and I virtually never do water changes, but the parameters are locked in.....

I wanted to do a quick one week update on the new Oregon Tort....

1/3/10


1/11/10


Please excuse the exposure difference, but notice the reduction in green coloration and the excellent PE....when I got it Victor at WWC said it takes on the green color in too high of lighting, so I put it over on Softie Island....it appears to like it there!

Ah, dats pretty Mitch!

Thanks Richie. Unfortunately all that I hear about the Oregon Tort is how slowly it grows......I will have to track the growth and see just how terrible it is in my tank....

I wanted to show the pronounced difference in the California Tort and the Oregon Tort. Both are Blue Acropora tortuosa, but the colors are oh so very different. I just grabbed these shots today, right after lights came on....

Cali Tort


Oregon Tort


These frags are both traceable to original ORA pieces. I always heard how much richer the blue is in the Oregon, but until both were living in my tank I couldn't really compare them.

I helped a friend with some fragging tonight and got a nice frag for my work. This is a piece of WWC Gold Digger Chalice.


It's kinda ugly now, but will have to settle in and grow out a bit before it gets its regular color. I'm pretty happy about this one.

hi - i just found/made it through your thread for the first time. outstanding read, and a really beautiful tank!

how is everything looking in the tank? any SPS fragging in your immediate future, or are you letting some stuff grow back out for a while?

Most of them need some growth time but there are a few items I could frag. I will always frag stuff, but the last big fragathon knocked a lot of stuff down. If you are interested in some things, let me know what items you are curious about and I can let you know the status. I have everything needed for shipping.

are those the wagon wheels i sent you? if so they look great!!

Looking good Mitch

Yup, those are the same....I let the frag get up near the glass (Stupid snails) for a few days, and just put them where they belong. I will get a fresh picture when they settle down.

you still got that eye buster tort?

If you mean the big encrusted cali tort from earlier in the thread then no....Unfortunately one day I looked at the tank on my way out the door to work and all was well, and by the time I got home it had RTN'ed away to a dead white skeleton

Dunno what got that one, but it was the only thing affected....

I have been looking at a couple of Z's and P's in my tank lately and decided to pop up pics of them. I think the first ones would be considered GB Packers. Anybody able to confirm that or give me a better ID?



The second ones are some of BibleSue's teal palys that I put back in full shade just for the great spot to have something growing, and they have started reaching out toward the light. The stalks are over an inch long now.



They look perfectly healthy and have nice color, they are just growing really cool.....

Yup, I think those are Green Bay Packers.
I didn't realize you had some of Sue's Teal Palys, cool to see them in someone else's tank.
I actually really liked the pic of that Chalice you fragged.
Speaking of Chalice's, you figure out how you're gonna spend your WetThumbFrags winnings?
I saw them at a Swap a week ago and we had fun talking bout the Baboon Butt Chalice.
It's alrdy up on their site, btw.

Sue's teals are growing like GSP in my tank....they are really spreading out.....may have to pull some up soon....

As for the WTF prize, I am going to see what they bring to the Coral Farmers Market in May. I'm sure I will find something worth my efforts....I a really curious what the Baboon Butts are going to go for. I know I have no chance of owning them, butt really would love to!

When you see them in May, just know that their prices aren't set, they are open to bargaining.

Always nice to know.....

Well surprise surprise....I got another SPS Frag!

Swapped for this one, it's an ORA PearlBerry frag. Came from a friend's HUGE colony. It's a bit dark in color, but it came from the bottom branches of the colony which is at least 8 inches across!



We will have to give it a few weeks and see how it looks, but, like I said it came from a known colony and is definitely the real deal!

As we approach my tank's 2nd Birthday I want to post up a few more pics....

Dragon Soul Favia:


Purple Alien Eye Favia, starting to get purple again:

it won't be long now that it's in LOW light....

Pink Monkey Butts Chalice:


AA Meteor Shower Cyphastrea:


Pinwheel zoanthids:


BubbleGum WaterMelon Alien SwampGas Monster or BGWMASGM....Chalice:


Enjoy,
Mitch

NICE!!!

Your tank seems to just grow and grow and grow, even though alot of corals were chopped they seem to bound back like wildfire. Are you apart of orca? I'm about to join orca, when I get alittle time to fill out app. Heard about the frag events by a member and seems pretty cool. Also heard about you from some reefers at the Ocean's Direct x-mas party, good times. Sorry never got the chance to come by when you fragged your corals. -- car engine problem. Now fixed so whenever you decide to frag something, let me know.

Those pinwheel zoas are the coolest zoas I have seen so far.

Thanks BTA....I work at it....

neuwave, I did chop up a lot of corals but they have pretty well rebounded. There are still quite a few that have lots of growing before I can cut them again but I still have lots of things I could frag. Drop me a PM and we can see if I have anything you need!

violinist, thanks. I just submitted them to Coralpedia tonight! I love them too.

great as usual, mitch!

I just try to do my best........

My silly little Male Ocellaris in his "Host" Trachyphillia:


Here is a closeup of my Tyree Dragon Soul Favia:


I just wanted to pop those two up for everybody....hope nobody took hits from the weather....