Not very rare. I have some that keep growing and dying off.

Can I enter ?
Please ?
Sorry about all the shots,each one shows more color,
since i use sunlight it's hard to render the real colors into photos.

No not really, it is very common. I have some too. We don't sell it because as you can tell when you see the plant it defies collection without touching the protected rock. Maricultured rock (how I got it) may have it, it can be aquacultured too, but it grows a little slow for a profitable turn around. I have some growing and have managed to get around 200 plants, but at this rate I think I would need an acre or so to get away with $10 a frag. Which is why despite its popularity in the hobby, (people knew about this one even before the new interest in more than 10 species of macro algae came up - it was one of the big 5 kept by hobbyists in the 80s), it isn't regularly available. Same thing with mermaids wine glass, (another one of the big 5). (A. crenulata), common - but impossible to collect when it is attached to its natural protected habitat - live rock. We used to get it aquacultured, but that guy has byropsis contamination now, and we don't mess with his stuff. Shame, he gets a lot of unique things, I would have done a tank breakdown if I were him.... In the summer we collect the smaller version acetabularia calyculus, which is more often found on shells, rather than rocks. (Well rather we can find it on shells). Neomeris can grow on shells, but we don't usually find it this way. Algae like that tend to be fast growers, as they need to go through life before the shell gets flipped over, and Neomeris doesn't seem to match that profile. I think that is why we don't find them on shells in the wild.

The other big 5 were chaeto, cauelrpa, and gracilaria. They grow fast and are commonly available through aquaculture.

hi jm, the contest ended last week, so it is a little late. Thanks for sharing with us though, I really like all the colors in that shot. Green, pink, purple, red and yellow is a pretty wide variety. You said you are using natural sunlight, like through a window? Or is the tank outside? I always wanted to put a tank on a covered patio, but I was worried about rain splash's and possible roof runoff. Normally not a problem, sometimes if the wind picks up, a covered patio doesn't really mean much.

it's ambient light all day with 2-3 hours of somewhat direct sunlight.
I had that piece in a one gallon pico that got an hour of direct sun with strong ambient lighting,
but the quarter inch blenny didn't stay that size for long.
The gallon jar was on a patio,the current 7 gallon tank is inside and gets light from a window,
it's normally cloudy here but according to waikiki aquarium I'm getting like 500 PAR.
I started out with a slightly green piece of rock,but in 3 months it's turned into what i showed.
If you wanted you could do a nano with an air pump,with a lid to prevent runoff.
All I had was a airstone in the one gallon,and I sustained a blenny,hermit crab and a few nerites

WHAT! More story I want to hear about this. I love these low machinery tank setups. To do it with a pico is amazing I think.

Here is my 1 gallon pico thread,
it shows that I've had this piece of Lr and it's grown more colorful
(not as bare as I remembered,but still it's gotten much better) in time I've had it.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...175660&st=0
Here is the same blenny that was in the pico with his temporary tankmate,a grape sized puffer.

I have some puffer fry too, I have to check that thread out. Love these I spent $15 and got a full tank setup threads. Awesome. No 240w metal halide for you huh?

Yep no MH
But I have a problem,I'm moving(for a few months,I just found this out) to an area that rains 120+ inches(no sun) so I bought 10 24 inch 14 watt slimpaqs from current off of ebay for $80. They have no reflectors(I'll get some if I feel like it) and are Normal output not HO but for that price shipped to hawaii I couldn't pass the deal up. So until the/my(I'm 16) house is built on the sunny Hamakua coast I'll be using T5 for sometime.

I can't think right now,this doesn't tie in well with the above paragraph but here it is :

My friend has a one gallon he setup this xmas(saw my two 1 gallons),I'll get a pic of it since I'll be watching it(he will be gone for 2 months,the contents will be in my 7 since it will be with me until he is back). It's like a little ecosystem. The sun makes the algae grow,blenny eats the algae,the hermit eats the algae and nerites eat the algae then the poo grows the algae and the waterchanges fix the water every once in a while.

I know I'm late for the contest (sorry!), but I just wanted to post this pic of some cool Blue Corralline that I've had growing on my Live Rock:

oooh... that is nice.

Dang! More blue than mine

Need camera soo bad.

Mine was $100,it takes good macros and normal photos and okay aquarium pics.

I think this could be a good thread. I wish I had some cool hitchhikers right now, I got nothing but a neon orange sponge that is nicest sponge anybody has every had but I am too lazy to take a picture.