Mr. Microscope's Cube 2.1

[hey]

Thanks hey!

 

They do vary by morph, but in general quite fast. It didn't take long for all of them to go from, "hey, look! there's a new polyp" to, "I don't know, 20-30 heads?, whatever.." The smaller ones on the right are new.

 

right on, was curious as I only have 1 acan right now and its gone from 2 to like 20 heads in about a year and am considering more of different morphs. Thanks for the info!

[Mr. Microscope]

It's a slippery slope. Hard to stop at just two. Fair warning. Lol

 

 

[FlowerMama]

Holding tank is doing good I see!

[Mr. Microscope]

Holding tank is doing good I see!

It's alright. I can't say my acans look entirely happy and I'm sure all of my SPS will brown out when I add them, but it shouldn't take too long for everything to recover.

 

I'll be traveling again from the end of the week to the beginning of next week. So, things will again be delayed....sigh..hobbies come second to life...

[FlowerMama]

and then everything brighten's up under your care to the prettiest colors.

[Mr. Microscope]

and then everything brighten's up under your care to the prettiest colors.

I try.

[Mr. Microscope]

Just updated my frag experiment thread:

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/349319-making-lemonade-from-sps-encrustation-update-post-48/?p=4817058

[Mr. Microscope]

I went to south east Connecticut earlier this week and had some time to spend neat the coast. I really love the New England vibe. Everyone seems a little more relaxed, awesome seafood is cheap, and everyone drives a little slower (probably because everything is within and hour or two at the longest). Here's some pics of the area. I started out by grabbing a lobster roll and some ice cream at this Snack Shack and Twister in Mystic right on the harbor near sunset. It was a great way to end the evening.

 

 

Here's a view of the Mystic Seaport from the Snack Shack:

 

..and the sun setting over the harbor:

 

I went to Stonington for a little lunch and got a nice bowl of clam chowder and half a dozen Noank Oysters which were amazing!

 

Here's the view from the southern point off of Stonington near the lighthouse museum.

 

Of course I peered into the water to see what kind of sea life I could find. I just saw a bunch of macro algae and some blue crab molts. Nothing noteworthy.

 

Later that day, I went to the Mystic Seaport. This was a lot of fun! I'm really into nautical history. Especially mid 19th century stuff. They had a bunch of old boats, a town set up to be like in old whaling days, and several museums dedicated to nautical history and history of the time period.

 

The Kingston II, a harbor tugboat:

 

L. A. Dunton 1921 fishing schooner:

 

The Emma C. Berry 1866. One of the oldest commercial sailing vessels still in existence.

 

Joseph Conrad 1882, a square rigged ship used for training

 

 

 

 

and the crown jewel of the harbor, the Charles W. Morgan 1841. This is the last wooden whaling vessel left in the world.

The boat was really impressive. The deck oven still had a campfire smell to it after all these years. Apparently, they sailed this ship around New England earlier this summer.

 

 

 

 

Captain's quarters.

The bed was on a rocker, so that it stayed levels as the boat swayed to and fro.

 

Here's a view of the Morgan and the little village they recreated:

 

Some random old canon.

 

They had a cool little shop called Nautical Instruments. Though, it was more of a museum. Nothing was for sale. Check out this beautiful sextant.

 

In one of the museums were a few rooms full of beautifully restored figureheads off the front of old ships.

 

 

 

I hope I get a chance to go back with my family sometime in the future. The whole area was a lot of fun and would make for a really laid back holiday.

[hey]

Looks like a fun trip, I find myself oddly interested in ship figureheads now... kinda want a replica for my house lol

 

I have only been to greenwich, ct which while beautiful was startlingly expensive in every way. Houses the size of mine here going for millions there. That place has to throw off the nations mean income like woah.

[FlowerMama]

There's just something magical about harbors! And you just think of all the history, trade, etc. You just feel different when you're near the water.

[Mr. Microscope]

whew.....

Just finished removing all of my BTA's from the pillar. This was a monumental task. I think I only have one casuality of the eight. There was one that was tucked so far into a rock hole and it just wouldn't let up. The others I was able to tease off within an hour. Yes, I spent nearly an hour per anemone!

I've got them in a basket now. I just need to do some fragging of SPS and a few other things with the remaining corals. Then, I'll be ready to remove the pillar and shoot the tank a major dose of H2O2 into the water.

I've had the new rock in another holding tank with Dr. Tim's and some ammonia. It should be ready to go by tomorrow or Monday.

[HVani]

You aren't getting rid of the anemones are you ??

[Mr. Microscope]

You aren't getting rid of the anemones are you ??

No no. They are all in holding now.

 

In fact, it turns out that the nem I thought I might lose is going to be okay. In the end I really had to rip it out of the hole. There was definite damage to it and a major chunk taken out of the foot. I decided on some emergeny surgery. I took the damaged nem, and cut it in half as if I was going to manually clone it. I saved the good half and tossed the damaged part. By the next day, it looked great! I'm so happy that they all made it.

 

 

Update:

I had another extremely busy day. EVERYTHING is in holding now. I removed the rock pillar. Dosed the tank with about 300mL of 30% H2O2 (yes, not 3%, but 30%) and let that cook for about 45 minutes. Then I drained the DT and scrubbed out the inside. I'm going to let it dry out overnight.

 

Tomorrow will be another big day. I'll be putting the new rock in place. Refilling the tank, and transfering the livestock out of holding and back into the cube. I hope everything makes it okay and the clowns don't jump out of the holding tank overnight. I can't wait to see how everything looks in there after the transfer.

[Mr. Microscope]

Ok..

 

The new rock is in place and new water is flowing in the tank. I'm just waiting for the water to clear and then I'll start adding livestock. Pics to come.. BIG CHANGES!!!!!

[neuwave]

New scape? New design? Can't wait to see it.

[gena]

 

 

Deja vu! Saw these pictures and I was like...I know this place!!!! Pretty sure it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives or one of those food shows, anyways. I remember it because I wanted to go there . Enjoyed the photos!!! Looking forward to these big changes .

[Felicia]

I am so behind! Attempting to get caught up. I love those vacation pics

 

Btw, have you ever posted a new photo of the tank after the re-scape?

[Mr. Microscope]

Looks like a fun trip, I find myself oddly interested in ship figureheads now... kinda want a replica for my house lol

 

I have only been to greenwich, ct which while beautiful was startlingly expensive in every way. Houses the size of mine here going for millions there. That place has to throw off the nations mean income like woah.

It's a beautiful area and very centrally located. I understand why people would pay a lot to live there.

There's just something magical about harbors! And you just think of all the history, trade, etc. You just feel different when you're near the water.

Absolutely! I just loved it.

Deja vu! Saw these pictures and I was like...I know this place!!!! Pretty sure it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives or one of those food shows, anyways. I remember it because I wanted to go there . Enjoyed the photos!!! Looking forward to these big changes .

Cool! It's such a laid back and easy area to get around. Definitely worth the trip. Only a 45-60 minute drive from Providence (same distance from Hartford too, but much easier to get there from RI).

I am so behind! Attempting to get caught up. I love those vacation pics

Thanks Felicia!

New scape? New design? Can't wait to see it.

Btw, have you ever posted a new photo of the tank after the re-scape?

Sorry all, I've been lazy on my updates here. I pretty much finished up mounting the last of my frags/colonies to the new scape yesterday. I gotta get busy on taking pics. Will post ASAP. Considering starting a new thread for it...

[patback]

i used to go to mystic all the time when i was younger. i never really appreciated it. i would like to go back now to give it another try.

[Felicia]

No worries about the lack of photos. I am definitely not one to speak on that front. We all get super busy at times. I was just curious if I'd missed them somehow

[Mr. Microscope]

Hello All,

 

Big update time. After months of planning and work, I've finally made the big change and a fresh restart: a new rock scape with completely new rock aquascaped with my existing collection.

 

Without further ado, I bring you Mr. Microscope's Cube 2.0!

 

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.

.

 

To go back a little since I've missed a lot of updates, here is one of the last FTS's I took before the big change. You can see the bryopsis was starting to get out of hand, but the colors of my corals were amazing. My anemones were getting especially intense color banding.

 

 

After removing all livestock, H2O2-ing, draining, drying overnight, etc. I installed the new rock and let that chill overnight before adding the livestock back the the DT.

 

 

After about of week of work fiddling with the corals and adding a few branch rock pieces, I came up with the new look. I'm really happy how everything turned out (same pic as above).

 

The whole process wasn't without loss however. During the change, I left some water in my sump. Even sitting overnight (lit by sump light) and being mixed with 25+ gallons of freshly made SW wasn't enough to render the remaining H2O2 innate. As a result, my delicate anemones were exposed to a highly oxadative environment for about 12 hours. My urchin also took a hit.

 

Fortunately, my anemones seem to be okay. I think they may pull though, but they lost a lot of color and tentacle extension. Their mouths are still closed for the most part. So, I think they're making a recovery, but it's probably going to take a long time for them to return to their former glory. This is especially frustrating considering the time and patience I put into carefully removing them from the previous rock. They were looking stellar in the baskets. Grr.

 

Here's how nice they looked even during holding:a

 

 

Also unfortunately, the urchin didn't make it... I had the nems and urchin in there before I realized what was going on. By that time, everything was firmly in place and I didn't want to risk stressing them out more by pulling them off the rocks again.

 

I waited a couple more days and performed a water change before adding the rest of the livestock back into the tank. Everything lost a little color during the holding period, but it shouldn't take too long for things to perk up again. I've been using Red Sea Reef Energy A&B along with Reef Chili to help moving things along and everyone is responding in kind. SPS has decent PE and LPS is nice and puffy.

 

For CUC, I'm starting from scratch with just two Trochus snails. I want to get a couple Nassarius Vibex or something to finish up left over food in there as well. Maybe a peppermint shrimp. I also picked up a new acro. Not sure what though, perhaps some sort of tenuis or valida. It was a big frag and good price. So, couldn't pass it up. Pics of that later.

[Chris!]

2.0 is looking like it will shape up nicely! Sucks about the urchin but atleast the nems are seeming to be ok other the the color loss..... did they split from the stress??

[Mr. Microscope]

2.0 is looking like it will shape up nicely! Sucks about the urchin but atleast the nems are seeming to be ok other the the color loss..... did they split from the stress??

Thanks Chris!

One split the day before I removed it from the rocks, but other than that no. I think I have a total of eight at the moment.

[Chris!]

Thanks Chris!

One split the day before I removed it from the rocks, but other than that no. I think I have a total of eight at the moment.

 

That's kind of surprising. I thought they tend to split with a good bit of stress.

[Felicia]

I like the new rockwork! That will fill in nicely

 

Sorry to hear about the BTAs and the urchin though. It sounds like the BTAs should recover, so I guess its just patience at this point while you wait for them to get their gorgeous colors back. Where are you planning to put them on the new scape?