Lou's 65G Hexcellent Hexagon

[louphoenix]

No, I'm not being sarcastic.

 

Your JTC looks like this.

 

Not really too much like this.

 

Hey Kraylen, it dawned on me that when I took this picture, I used both flash and macro in order to capture the details of the coral. Judging by the poor quality and blurriness of your picture, I'm guessing you didn't use either. Let's see a shot of that coral with the flash on for a fair comparison.

[louphoenix]

It's ironic how I always keep my camera near the fishtank, but the moment I take it somewhere else out of reach, something cool happens in the tank...this time a stomatella climbed on top of a Mexican turbo snail that was perched on a high spot in the rock and stretches itself out, then releases a bunch of (sperm/eggs?) into the water column. By the time I run back with the camera, the show's over and the stoma is gone...bummer.

[Chyendra]

Yay! Another hexagon owner! I like your GSP Lawn.

[louphoenix]

Thanks fellow Hex owner. I'm going to have to trim out the edges soon... it's starting to scroll out of the rock.

[louphoenix]

Okay... long time no update, but this one is worthy. It was time to replace my Ushio 14K DE, so after much deliberation I went with the Radium 20K. I am very glad I went with it, it's very bright, makes the colors pop and has a very pleasant tinge of clear blue. It's only been on for a week, so it's still burning in. Either way, I'm still working to get my camera to white balance accurately. Here we go so far...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[louphoenix]

And some recent random shots (with flash)...

 

 

 

[louphoenix]

Light is burning in nicely and the camera is beginning to get better accuracy.. here they are

 

 

 

Hawkins Equinata

 

Misc zoas

 

 

[louphoenix]

It's been around two months since I installed the Radium bulb and everything is eager to grow and colored up nicely. Here are some new shots:

 

Acan

 

ORA Duncans

 

Zoas

 

 

 

Dragon Eyes

 

ORA Hawkins Equinata

 

Brain

 

Blue Mille

 

Garf Bonsai

 

ORA Red Planet

 

ORA Joe The Coral

[RyanR1212]

wow those are some really nice corals you got there bro!! thats a nice tank you have set upp

 

and i like your wrasse a lot

[louphoenix]

wow those are some really nice corals you got there bro!! thats a nice tank you have set upp

 

and i like your wrasse a lot

 

Thanks Ryan! that wrasse is a ham. I've been lucky cuz he stays near the sand (if not in it) since I have an open top tank and wrasses tend to jump out.

[louphoenix]

Alright, I haven't posted any updates for sometime, so here we go. It's been about 5 months with the Radium bulb now, and i'm extremely pleased with the improvement of coloration in my corals... here are the latest shots. Enjoy!

 

Ricordeas

 

Orange Digi

 

Hawkins echinata

 

Yellow Acro

 

Feeding acans

 

Blue Mille

[violinist]

Yay! Another hexagon owner! I like your GSP Lawn.

 

+1 Just saw both of your hex's!

[louphoenix]

Blue Caribbean zoas

 

Blue Xenia

 

 

 

Bonsai

 

Duncans

 

 

 

Emerald Blizzard Palys

 

Joe the Coral

 

Orange Monti cap

 

Purple Haze monti

 

Radioactive Dragon Eyes

 

Pearlberry

 

Red Planet

[violinist]

Hey how did you mount those caps? I'm going to add some caps in my hex too, and was thinking they should have their back edge mounted to the rock but I don't want any putty showing - which it looks like you managed to avoid. Or are they glued on their undersides?

[Degener8]

Very nice hex.. those corals really came alive with the new bulb in there for a while.

[Markushka]

Wow thats an awesome hex you've got there, wish mine grows into something like that someday.

[louphoenix]

Hey how did you mount those caps? I'm going to add some caps in my hex too, and was thinking they should have their back edge mounted to the rock but I don't want any putty showing - which it looks like you managed to avoid. Or are they glued on their undersides?

 

I started that colony from a 2 inch frag, so I used superglue gel to carefully mount the edge of the cap into the rock. It showed a little bit for a couple of months, then the cap grew right over the glue and on to the rock.

 

Very nice hex.. those corals really came alive with the new bulb in there for a while.

 

Thank you! Yes, I'm glad I went with the Radium over the Phoenix bulb.

 

Wow thats an awesome hex you've got there, wish mine grows into something like that someday.

 

Thanks, you'll get there too... just remember that it's all about patience, moderation and consistency and you'll get great results in the long run.

[louphoenix]

Here's a couple of cool shots of the red planet. I really like the color combo and shape of this coral

 

[louphoenix]

This fellow came out for a peek last night...

[louphoenix]

and here is the latest FTS... it's so difficult to get a good FTS shot with a Hex... oh well, here it goes anyway.

 

[louphoenix]

I don't know if my macro lens is good enough for this, but as of lately i've had an explosion of serpent star fish, asterina stars, copepods, amphipods, stomatella, assorted snails, etc. so i'll try to capture shots of these tiny, tiny inverts tonight.

[violinist]

Awesome, pics are always welcome. I used to have a ton of amphipods but I think the dottyback has really put the hurt on them. Something has, he's the one always scanning and attacking the rocks so I assume it's him.

 

Tank looks great. I want to steal your cap!

[Kittysnax]

I cantr believe I missed this thread! This tank is awesome! You and violin are gonna have the nicest hex's I've ever seen! What is that slug/nudi/hare thing? Hes adorable! Please please please get some more pix! DSLR>PS anyday!

[louphoenix]

Awesome, pics are always welcome. I used to have a ton of amphipods but I think the dottyback has really put the hurt on them. Something has, he's the one always scanning and attacking the rocks so I assume it's him.

 

Tank looks great. I want to steal your cap!

 

Believe it or not, the majority of my copepods seem to come from the water column of my phosban reactor... I see them swimming there by the thousands. I don't think I stand a chance of capturing those in pictures.... they're so impossibly tiny. On the other hand, the amphipods are doing very well in the HOB refugium, along with chitons, worms and stomatella. I should be able to capture them via macro shots.

 

I will be doing a re-arrangement of the tank soon. That cap is going to the bottom, where the GSP lawn currently is. The problem with monti caps is that you never get to see their 'good' side if they're set too high in the tank. I'm thinking of putting in another cap with a nice color contrast next to the orange one, when I move it to the bottom.

[louphoenix]

I cantr believe I missed this thread! This tank is awesome! You and violin are gonna have the nicest hex's I've ever seen! What is that slug/nudi/hare thing? Hes adorable! Please please please get some more pix! DSLR>PS anyday!

 

Thank you! I'll definitely be posting more pics as I snap them.

 

That is a sea hare, best algae control there is. My microalgae is minimal thanks to good nutrient control, so I have mine to basically take care of the macro algae that inevitably makes its way to my main display and sprouts there. He usually doesn't like to come out when the lights are on, so it was nice to get a good shot of it then.