I guess it's prolly considered bad form to post so much in a thread, but I just took a picture that absolutely blew me away....

This is obviously a macro shot of my Area 51 favia under just actinic lighting....


I just had to post it....

Mitch, I want that sunburst Monti!

I only have a TINY piece of it. The whole frag is akabryanhall's. I nursed it back to health for him and got a little piece for my efforts. Then it fell on my stupid Tyree blue lamellosa chalice and got stung. Now my frag is like 3/16' X 5/16 inch....pissed me off in a big kinda way....that stupid chalice has zapped a few pieces. I moved it recently.....

My urchin overturned my pokerstar monti right onto an acro and scorched a line right through it. The pokerstar healed in about a week. When my BTA barely touched my blastos though it was pure destruction...

wow, mitch -- that area 51 favia is fantastic.

never been a favia fan, but that one is something great!

The area 51 isn't near as amazing under full light, but it's amazing under the blues....

but I still like it.

Thanks Mitch do u ever go to he frag swap/events at the orca? I was thinking of joining I met a memeber said it was pretty cool. I have not frags to swap just yet due to my D&D aquatics expoxy incident. Not a good epoxy at all. Ruined a table top of mine and which in turn stressed it put so much I began to bleach. Switched back to Boston aquatic expoxy but had to drive to daytona to get it. Using brightwell amino acids to help it recover.

Also your favia looks great!

I am at basically all of the ORCA meetings, partially because I'm on the Board of Directors. I'm Mwentoring Director. The quarterly Frag Events aren't swaps, they are more like an auction like format. Last month somebody got a frag of genuine BubbleGum Monster chalice with EXTREMELY short lineage for $55. They are a really good time. This month we are hosting Roer of Roggers Foods, who will be doing a homemade fish and reef food demo with samples. It should be really good from what others who have seen his demo say.

You should come out....

I added a two head frag of PPE Blastomussa wellsi to my tank last night. The frag was part of a little grow-out buy and my frag came to me at our Club Meeting. It was really cold (for Florida) and by the time I got the coral home the water was frigid so I wasn't sure how they would do. I gave it a nice long float and then into the tank! Here are the first pics taken after I powered up the lights this morning....


Just for reference, the frag disk is an inch and a halfer.....now....grow grow grow grow....let the chant begin...

Ohhhhh mmyyyy gooosssshhh. Gimme.

Let's grow Blasto *clap....clap...clapclapclap*

Let's grow Blasto *clap....clap...clapclapclap*

Let's grow Blasto *clap....clap...clapclapclap*



Sweet Blasto Mitch!

Okay, so I opened my email a minute ago and looked at a message, just to find that they were accepted and the name Pinwheels for these zoanthids....

http://www.coralpedia.com/index.php?module...;g2_itemId=9368

MITCH IS FAMOUS!!!

That's awesome, and those zoas are beautiful!!!

Thanks, you also need to see:

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gall...;g2_itemId=9236

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gall...;g2_itemId=8849

and just for fun....

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gall...;g2_itemId=5012

That's really cool stuff bro... I never knew!!!

Congrats Mitch, those pinwheels would be great if they weren't so tall! You know how I feel about tall zoanthids...

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gall...;g2_itemId=9236
These guys are SCARY in person. Thought they were going to eat me. PS: your purple death polyp is open, now we just need it to make a twin.

Sweet...I will have to come up with something to trade.

The Green Men From Mars would look like Beach Umbrellas in your tiny tank!!!!!

And would probably eat my tiny clowns.

Actually I believe that clowns are naturally invert proof. I believe it's the same mucus that protects them from nems....

Soooooooooooooooo.................

SCHG and I swapped some pieces last night and I got some really Schweeeeeeeeeeettttt frags..........

I got three polyps of really nice Purple Death palys....

they opened up within a couple hours of going in!!!!

I also got a couple of Blue Ice zoanthids (I think that's what they were called).........

these opened even faster than the PD's...........

A sweet grow-out frag of Tyree LE Ponape Seriatopora...........

I need to get this one down into lower lighting from what I have read.............

There is a nice solid inch or more of GARF Bonsai but I couldn't get a presentable picture of it......it's a bit brown, but we aren't afraid of a little thing like that!!!!

I also snapped a few nice new pictures tonight.....













Sorry about the poor quality on some of these pictures......

That's killer.....

Thanks so much Bill........

That view is through the tank from the end....it's looking back 43 inches.....I love the peninsula setup.....

Your tank is so nice looking. I am setting a 75RR and thinking out doing the same thing.
Can I do peninsula tank a with a 75RR tank with a MegaFlow? The MegaFlow is more at the end, then in the middle of the tank.
Click to view attachment

You could certainly black out the outside of the overflow area and do it, but it would steal a chunk of the overall effect.....

Hey Mitch,

Can't see it in the thread... what kind of lights are you using? I love the look!

One effect that my lighting has is being in a peninsula tank with nothing limiting distance in the appearance....but....the lighting is Phoenix MH 150W over the low light area (called Softie Island) and 250W over the higher light area (known as Stonie Island). There are also 2 T5's one along each edge, Geiesemann Actinic Plus bulbs kicked by a Workhorse 5 in TEC 2 reflectors (the ones with 29 bends). The Phoenix bulbs are fired with an old EVC Electronic ballast for the 250 and a Coralvue for the 150.

Here are a few I snapped today.......
this one was actually taken last night....taken from "my seat" in the evening....22 feet away from the tank....


and some more....












and the GARF Bonsai is already getting a bit of color.....


Enjoy.....
Mitch

Frags for meeee???? PM Me when you gots the goods to sell!!!

Those frags look hot! I just might go the peninsula route with my 75, but I'll have the overflow box issue too. Mine's already painted black, so that will help, and it's going near the end of the tank as well.

Soooo...I was on a weekend trip to South Florida and I pre-arranged a stop in the town of Fort Pierce, to visit with a Reefer down there who had something I really wanted to get hold of. I ended up leaving with 5 frags and I'm tickled to death with the items I got and the prices that they were offered for.

I got a real sweet 5 head Nuclear Green Paly frag...


and a little frag of Emma's Jedi Mindtrick undata....


a "Bonus Frag" of an original OPE, that will take a bit of TLC to get it good and healthy....


a nice frag of ORA Bellina Acropora....this thing is far more purple than it photographs....


and the item I actually went to get....an AMAZING new Blastomussa wellsii...by far the most beautiful one I have yet....

when it opens up it's supposed to have the wild pink and bright yellow that you see, but the center gets purpler and the yellow gets flourescent green specks.....

The amazing thing is this was one of three amazing ones he had when we first talked about them, and a favia fell on his colonies...this was the only head that survived....I would have been hard pressed to part with this one, but I'm glad my bud was ready to....

Here is a fresh shot of the Oregon tort....the green is going away and it's getting richer in color....


and one of my frags of Hiller's AquaDelight....

when I first cut it it turned all screaming green and just turned the darker color and the new limbs and base have gone aqua!!!!

I'm going to really enjoy that new fragtank once it's fully operational...

New Blasto Wellsi.... Check
ORA Bellina...... Check
AND PPE Blasto..... ......CHECK!!!!

Please add both of these my frag wishlists Mitch! Probably Frags 6.0 and 8.5 (maybe even 9.25) by the time they grow out enough to frag!

Hope all is well. We need to catch up sometime soon.

edit: I'm on Sanibel right now till wednesday, in case you want to do the unthinkable and do a hand-to-hand transaction!!!

If you had a chance to come up I would be glad to hook you up....the tank isn't looking great right now....I need to do a good water change or two....it's been quite a while....

It's all good. I have business to attend to anyways. But seriously, we need to work on Frags 5.5 is it??? Whatca got??? PM me.

So, I was on another site and put a name in for a sponsor's contest to name a zoa, and my name won a public vote for the sponsor's employees top 10....well, I won the public vote by a landslide with the name Mass Hysteria zoas.....

Anyway, I got the prize today and was completely blown away by the frag pack I got.....I am truly IMPRESSED and oh so thankful for this WONDERFUL Frag Pack...I had no idea how nice it was going to be...I got the package today right about 11:00, perfect condition...I opened it up and uncapped the jars so they could breath....now I'm home and have everything in the tank, so it's time for a few pics....

I got home and floated the frags for about 20 minutes...I then opened them and poured the water into a bowl for acclimation....


Here is the one that made it all possible....the Mass Hysteria!!!!


I'll take it out and show off the packaging....


I added 3/4 of the original amount from the tank over an hour....


The Envy Orange wouldn't even wait to get into the tank!!!


The Darth Maul wouldn't wait either....


I don't think any of them except maybe the Envy Orange is a single polyp and I'm not sure it doesn't have any babies.....They all made the trip to the tank with no issues of any sort...I threw a little hunk of eggcrate to stabilize them for a little while....


Here's my new Envy Orange...


Purple People Eaters....


And speaking of Purple....how about some Purple Hornets....They are colored down, but I was assured they are the real deal....


I will quote the words on the jar from these "Super Rare Purple Passion zoas"....


Darth Mauls....


This is a "Mystery" People Eater...We will have to wait and see how it opens.....


These shy ones are Rainbow Warps....


and finally the Mass Hysteria...I believe there are 6 heads!!!!


My little reef has had quite a week!!!!

Awesome!!! Quite the frag pack!!!!

Yup....even the Shipping was covered...Ya gotta LOVE a contest like that.......

Nice haul Mitch!

Grow da heck outta dem!

I'm hoping they take off...gotta see how they do...zoanthids can be funny in my tank.....

Holy chiz, that is an incredible frag pack. Unreal looking frags. Congrats.

I've found as well that zoa's are iffy in my current tank....yet everything else seems to thrive. Odd.

A friend suggested that I add some fish, for the poo factor....the zoas and palys are doing worlds better...I just hope these guys do well for me....

Very nice frag pack

Love the Envy Oranges and the Darth Mauls - nice haul!

Okay, it took 6 days for the Rainbow Warp to open all the way, and it was CERTAINLY worth the wait....

It has Green, Orange, Red Purple and Baby Blue....does that make it a 5-Color Rainbow!!!!

Here is a more recent pic of the Purple Passion Zoanthid....

It's like 1/2 inch across already!

And my Nuclear Greens already have 3 babies....at just 9 days in the tank.....


Sorry about some of the pics, I'm still using a hand-held P&S.....

VERY nice!!!
Congrats!
You sure seem to do well at the Coral Naming Biz, mebbe I should have you name some Coral Kitchen selections!

I work best when I can feel the vibes from the corals....If you want to send me a few I will give them a spin!!!!

They will prolly end up in the Frag System!!!

nice zoas

I am so envious. Those are beautiful.

Yup...I was and still am tickled to death over this....I never imagined that I would win something like this, and then I was absolutely amazed to see such a nice prize I got. I may have a few more to put some more up here soon.

I want more cool SPS though. That's what I truly love to grow. It's amazing to nearly see tham grow when they get going....nearly like watching them go....

Dude nice score...

Hey did they ship you the frags in those twist top tupper ware containers? I use those all the time to move frags or when I trade frags with locals but never thought to ship in them.