I guess this wouldn't be considered a nano. My display is a 75 gallon AGA, salvaged from trash. I had to reseal it, and rubbing compound it before I could even start drilling and going nuts. I guess I could post some pics, but I'm at work just now. I will do that when I get home tonight I guess, but......

The real reason I started this thread was to show off some new corals I scored in a swap last night. I traded a nice frag from my tank, (and threw in a little bonus), with SeeDemTails. I will get pics of these new frags when I get home, as well. Suffice it to say I think we were both happy with the little road trip. It's great, we met at a freeway exit gas station, and it was one of those rare, bugless, cool Florida evenings. Great people, and beautiful corals,

Tune in later for pics.
Mitch

Thanks again Mitch the corals look great! I plan to snap some pics later too!

I just popped a couple of pictures of some nice frags I addae to my tank last evening.

The first piece is a really pretty, delicately branched and colored a really pretty green-apple green Montipora digitata:

The green is MUCH nicer in person, but let's wait and see what it turns into after a while in different lighting and water...

The next one is a piece of really nice Tyree Idaho Grape Montipora capricornis:

This piece is one day in my tank and already a nice purple.

The next shot shows several pieces.

This picture is hideous, but the acro in the foreground is a SWEET baby blue "Blue Torch Acropora". Just above it is a wicked deep purple with bright blue polyps Montipora capricornis. To the left of that piece is German Blue-Polyp Montipora digitata. It's got sweet blue polyps indeed. The tiny piece just beyond the others is a little incidental chip of Rainbow encrustion Montipora.

These guys are brand new in the tank, and already looking healthy as can be. I can hardly wait for them to start growing out and fragging up! I'm not a frag farmer (I don't have anything but respect for Frag Farmers, I just don't have the resources to set up frag tanks) but I do love sharing the wealth.

Here is an example of a frag I recently cut:

The polyps are fully retracted, but duh! I'm holding the thing!

I will put up some more info about my tank over a bit of time, but it would just be obnoxious to blast the last year and a half up here at once! I will spare everyone the details!

My full build thread is:
http://www.thecoralnet.com/my-75-95-gallon...d-show-t82.html

Enjoy,
Mitch

Looking good Mitch. Didnt get home early enough to snap pics but the sunset and the tort are both looking awesome.

This is what that rainbow will turn into. My whole colony is on the rocks so tube worms are the only way to get frags.

That's really pretty....

I guess I could put some other pics up here.

I have over 70 varieties of corals in my 75, with softies, polyps, zoas, palys, mushrooms, acros, montis, birdsnests, chalice, Blasto wellsi, Trachyphillia, milleporas, favias, duncans, pavonas, and goodness knows what all else stuffed in there.

I will just put up some random snaps. Some of these are months old, and just grown out since then.













I apologize for my crappy photography. The best I can do. I guess I'm better at growing them than at taking pictures of them. This really was a random grab of shots from my Photobook.

Enjoy,
Mitch

FTS or GTFO.


edit: Please?

You got it....I'm a terrible photographer with a trash camera, but here ya go. A little bit of history first. I am the world's MOST impoverished reefer, but by patience, excellent DIY skills, ability to scratch for good stuff has proven well for me. I started with a leaking tank that had some kind of white deposit around the top 3 inches. Vinegar, even soaked for 4 days with the glass panel flooded, nothing, that includes with a razor blade. All that with Muriatic acid, then even C-L-R....nothing...I finally got out some 3M Extra-Duty rubbi ng compound and an old towel. I resealed the tank and end drilled it down low. Made my overflow wallfrom black acrylic with a built in frag shelf. Modified Herbie overflow which works silently. Return is by a QO4000HH, but just until I happen upon the right deal, and the time to have some money for a Little Giant 3MDQX-SC, I kick stuff around with a MJ900 mod, a Koralia 4 and a couple of old (I mean older than some of y'all)regular powerheads. In the fuge there is a Minijet 606 and a MJ 1200 just to keep the chaeto free of cyano and growing, and a few mangroves kicking the trates in the butt.




The stand was actually a throw away too, but I tore it apart, carved out some wood rot and put it back together the way I wanted it (Including HAVING a back)

Built the hood to match:

Okay, it wasn't finished then (but it still isn't!)
Here is an early shot of the basement area:

A loth has changed undr there since then. I went up to a decent sized Rubbermaid for my sump after realizing I was just a couple gallons shy of holding a pump stop.

I added a fan over the fuge, DIY ATO, DIY two part dosing system:



Here's the fuge:


I'm not sure how this site does with big posts, so I will follow up with a second edition of this, WITH FTS's in just a couple of minutes.....maybe I'll show you my tank move, a few months ago....

Mitch,

Some of those frags are awesome....

You know what, they would look awesome like this....


Can't wait for the delivery!!!!

Okay, so brain damage, old age, not enough sleep and probably a few mental ports clogged up with old bong resin, but I obviously forgot to finish the pictures the other day.

I guess I owe y'all some FTS's and area shots so here are a few of those:















Gracious, these guys are ugly when they are asleep:







Just a few more random pictures. There are between 75 and 80 varieties of coral in this 75 Gallon display.

And counting....
Mitch

Sometime in the near future, when your ready, we need to work out a deal for a frag of your blastos.....

I will keep you at the top of the list when I cut them. I gotta do it soon I guess, just been really hesitant about it. It's about the only plocoid colony I have and the fragging will be weird, because the polyps just shove everything up from the base and the older polyps are really stacked against each other. Hard to figure where to cut them.

There will be a line when I finally decide to do it. I guess it must be coming close. Just not quite ready to try that yet. I need a few more babies before I start that idea.

Here are a couple of old pctures of my Blasto(s):

That was when I first got it. Just one little polyp on a 2 inch frag disk
Then it started growing and before long:


Then it started making babies:



It went a little crazy, but one thing I find interesting is that IT SEEMS like every time it makes a new "brood" of babies that it is 4 at a time. I have to watch for this pattern as time goes on.

Well, as a few people found out I decided to cut up my Tyree LE Sunset Montipora.



I decided to go from a tile to a big ole' nasty rock. Here is my new colony to be:

I just looked tonight and it's already starting to drool down the side of the cuts.

I made a few of these:


SeeDemTails, JKUNZ and a couple of local reefers spoke up and got the frags. I still have one additional frag left, but I would be hard pressed to part with it at this point.

I also chopped up my Superman:


and made myself:


I ended up with one additional BIG frag and two little ones. One of the little frags is seen on this pic:

Here's the big one:

It's getting a tan along with the big Sunset frag in JKUNZ' tank right now

The third Superman frag fell sacrifice to the impossible to reach under the LiveRock gods...I have too many really fine items to think about pulling it all down for a frag like that....

Anyway, now I have two pieces of Sunset held for a couple of friends, a little stock frag of each and my colony starts of each, and the rest are gone....I NEVER HAD TIME FOR THEM TO ENCRUST!!!!!

These were all fresh cuts.....I expected to sit on all of these and let em encrust and grow a little before letting them go....oh well....the best laid plans of mice and men.....

Here is a shot of a few of the frags:

So, A buddy of mine came over to get a frag of the Steve Tyree LE Sunset Montipora and brought his camera with him. He also has a top down photo box. I think I'm going to build one of those this weekend.

Here are a few shots of the Stoney Corals area of my tank:
My insane Blue tort:


Acropora desalwii:


Green Slimer Acropora yongii:


clockwise from top left corner; blue Acropora millepora, Montipora confusa, Acropora chesterfieldensis, green Acropora millepora:


Electric Pink and Green Acropora millepora:


Count 13 corals and a Clownfish:


Another "group shot" featuring my poor smashed tricolor Acropora valida at the bottom of the pic:


These were all shot under 250W Phoenix, adjusted for exposure ONLY.

Hope they aren't too mundane. I really like them. Somebody recently had a "favorite coral" thread, and honestly I don't think I have a favorite.

Mitch

Thanks for the FTS. Very nice looking tank, very colorful. Great looking frags.

wow mitch, looks amazing, i can't wait for my sunset frag to magically appear at my door! i'm almost ready, justa few more weeks. I want to see how christel's stuff does once i get it, before i get the sunset.

Just a few new pictures taken over the past couple of days:

a new little piece. I think it's some sort of favia:


my stupid clowns wouldn't take care of their anemone, but they just LOVE this big ole' Trachy brain....they both bunk in it at night:


my smashed Tri-Color Acropora valida is really looking tri-color again, and I tink it's about to start growing upward again:

I dropped a live rock right on it on August 3, smashing it to a stump. It's starting to go crazy again.

I wish I could capture the sweet purple with red that this Superman is taking on:


my beautiful tabling Acropora. The guy I got it from thinks it is a desalwii, but I don't think the growth looks right. I dunno what it is, besides awesome:


Just a tiny update,
Mitch

Your tank looks awesome Mitch!!

That crazy green and pink acro is beautiful!!! Frag that sucker up.

Keep up the good work, expect a package tuesday or wed. You know it's 150w, right???

I cannot wait for the package. Please do not mark signature required. Safe neighborhood, may not be anybody at home.....

Thanks for the kind words about the tank....things are growing well....I claim no credit, it's all just in the stability. I just try to keep things as steady as possible and the corals do all the work!!!!

I did notice that the bulb is a 150W...I have a 250W over "Stoney Island" and a 150W over "Softy Island". If you notice in my FTS there is a gradient to the lighting. I have the two rock piles with one for high light corals and the other for lower demand.....But, they are BOTH Phoenix bulbs....

Oh, By the way, I will cut the Pink/Green Acro mille this week and get a frag started encrusting....are you interested in the green one too? Here is a pic of the last hunk I busted off of it:

It is really nicer than it photographs. If you want I will get a frag of it started too, there is a great mini-colony growing off the side of it.....bunch of branches....

I could also try and cut a hunk of the Acro desalwii if you are interested....I may end up needing the cooler back!!!!!

I want your Electric Pink and Green Acropora millepora....what's the small frag next to it in the top down view, it looks like it could be the same acro, but then again...

Regardless, what is it? I like it. Can I have it?

But seriously, quit wasting time and frag some more stuff.

That is the same acro, but that frag is gone from the tank. I will cut a nice one and get it mounted.....Let me know about the others too.....
I should be able to put together a nice acro frag pack....do you have green slimer? Mine really is green, not that pale bleached out stuff a lot of people have:


I could even lop off a frag from my insane Blue tort...

but that one would be a little frag....gotta see what all you want me to cut.....my frag shelf just has grow out stuff, and almost nothing else....

I'd definately buy a pack with the Electric Pink and Green Acropora millepora, green slimer, and insane blue tort, but PM me, we'll talk about it. I want to wait til after thanksgiving atleast before adding, maybe even the holidays. That way the frags could atleast fully attach also.

You have some great stuff...I need to a bigger tank asap

I got some cutting to do this week!!!

Pics pics pics!

I will snap some during the fragging party, and will post them and a few of the frags when finished here and the appropriate ones to your tank thread too.

Mitch

This tank is amazing, thanks for sharing it with us!

Thanks a million. I try hard to keep stuff right and to let the Residents do what they do best. I've been blessed with a lot of good friends, and a few great frasgs and it's the best I can do. PLEASE visit my tank thread and see the build. It was amazing. Virtually everything involved in the build was other peoples' junk.

I did a bit of fragging yesterday....just wanted to send the genetic lines out to different areas for the good of the species....Took some pics, just to illustrate the process....




That was actually cutting these two pieces:


shown here:

and here:


I also cut this:


producing this nice piece:


One that I couldn't cut because it's grown onto one of my foundation rocks, so I had to break off limblets as possible:


Here are the two frag setups from it:



They are small, but long enough to put on upward growth soon!

I also cut off some of this one:


giving these two nice pieces:

and:


These pieces, as well as a couple of little pieces of some nice stuff, just to make the package more like a present, are going to be headed to a couple of friends in Michigan and Kentucky....gotta get those genetic strains out there all over the world...that's part of what makes Happy Corals happy in the first place....

Mitch

Nice visual documentation Mitch!!! Can't wait for the delivery now! Stop teasing me like that.

never.................................

Oh....and BTW....everyone (yeah, that includes you too Kunz) notice the end of that sick Green Slimer has a BUNCH of new growth tips.....

That's going to be a SCORE!!!!

A "Happy" score???

Gotta say....yup....looks Happy to me!!!!

now, if I could just get somebody to stumble through this thread it would be nice too!!!!

Ha...well I'll just keep bumping it until others come calling.

just wrote on your thread too...I got both open....read my update there....some advice on the wounded frags....

Just read PM....nevermind....

Hey, I will check back here later, gotta go cook dinner then rig my new T5 actinics in my hood....getting rid of these hot nasty PC's that do NOTHING....

Hello boys n girls....can you say Geisemann Actinic plus?????

I have the same T5's....love them.

I got them finished and everything GLOWING LIKE BAD PARTY DECORATIONS UNDER BLACK LIGHTS....and enjoyed about 10 minutes and the lights timed out!!!!

Oh well, I will have many more chances to see em pop!!! OMG what a difference...I just love those TEC II reflectors....

Mitch, you can send me those frags! But man the corals i recevived from you wedensday are doing great! The sunset has full PE already, I promise pics tomorrow, now the digi just needs to color up.

WOW those are some nice frags you got there

Thanks a lot Atomic....Unfortunately, for just about my entire tank I'm back in a grow out stage....

I am in the final stages of working out a trade for a really sweet item....another Steve Tyree Limited Edition piece...A friend of mine got 2 eyes of this coral and it grew for 4 months and he had 16 eyes....Well, he let my other buddy get hold of it and he sawed it into tiny little frags...The Lineage on this one is truly amazing...Here it is:


That's right, I'm getting a piece of Bugglegum Monster chalice....and it's the REAL DEAL.....Obviously I will not be getting that entire colony, that's a picture from my buddy Juice's site, just used for reference...I will get one tiny eye piece....But it will grow....

I will be cutting my Blasto up for this and will have a couple of really nice frags of it growing out after that...

Dunno just when I will be cutting the Blasto up, but it will be a big thing....that's the FIRST really nice coral I ever owned....the one that started it all!!!! Here is one view of the Big Momma and some of her babies:


And with the Duncans...that's like 15 or 18 heads of Duncans and a nice rock of acan echinatas, just for size reference....

Those were obviously taken under the actinics....my camera doesn't have a raw file out, and it beats the pics to death in processing them to JPEG...I really have to work at getting good pics with it...there is VERY LITTLE adjustment available...I HATE MY CAMERA!!!!

I came home from work today and when I looked at my frag shelf I nearly cried....


Look how EMPTY it looks!!!!

Mitch, I forgot to ask, what is this acro called? Deffinatly wanna swap some pearlberry for that one and some superman! Oh and the frag shelf looks so damn empty, start cutting. lol.

That piece nick, is my Blue Acropora tortuosa, or Blue Tort....I dunno the history of it, except to say that when I got it, it certainly wasn't as happy as it is now...

I started out with this miserable little piece, bought on the idea of what it could turn into...her is the start frag:


and then became Happy Coral:


Another amazing transition is my great Trachyphillia brain. I got it as a beautiful, but little and very pale specimen:


and became this:


Some of these guys just freak me out, especially when I look at the "Before" and "Happy" pictures.

Enjoy,
Mitch

Okay everyone...I got tired of being over in the Big Tanks area and got this moved here...now y'all can see my stuff without venturing out of the safety of nanoworld!!!

I want some "Before" and "Happy" pics like that!!!
I actually have a Blue Tort that looks like your Before pic right now.
How long of a time frame was there between your before and after pics?

I am almost embarrassed to say how long it took these corals to grow, but they have been involved in one tank upgrade from 29 G to 75 G, including not doing a real cycle on the new tank (I loaded it with working Live Rock and never saw a real spike) and then a move from one home to another in a cooler that got WAY too cool....

But, the Tort was 9/30/07 to 11/10/08, and it has given up MANY frags, just due to my clumsy hands.

The Trachy was 11/19/07 to 10/3/08...

Mitch

Hey Mitch havent seen your thread in a while, corals look great!

Great before & after shots Mitch! You've got some really nice stuff!!

BTW hows that blue torch doing for you? Any growth? Mine looks great as always but is super slow, I have yet to recover your frag in growth even!

that trachy is incredible....im droolin'

Everyone, thanks a million for the considerate words...

Christal, the torch is a beautiful color, the pale blue iridescence is sweet...NO GROWTH!!!! That baby is SLOW!!!! But, that's cool.....

pismo, that brain was so pretty even when little and transparent that I had to badger my LFS for like 2 months to pull it out of a display tank for me....It went NUTS when I started bombarding it with light and pummelling it with flow...

So I was just flipping through some pictures looking for something and I happened upon this great shot of my Acropora chesterfieldensis, Montipora confusa and Acropora tortuosa and felt like I had to post this one:


The tort shows a few white spots from fragging off individal little branches...It's all better now...

Enjoy,
Mitch