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Coral Vue Hydros

Hypo's Underwater Garden - I am alive!


hypostatic

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Hmm this black sand is much much larger grain than the white sand I had previously (like 5x-10x larger). It never really kicks up and sinks really quickly if you raise some up.

 

I was thinking of mixing a 20lb bag of premium black aquarium gravel with this black sand as a base, something more so the baby rock flowers will attach and I can siphon easily. Wonder if that would be ok. Seems in this larger tank I need to have the pumps on higher due to the length of the tank and I don't want white sand going everywhere and leaving me w/ bald spots here & there.

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I was thinking of mixing a 20lb bag of premium black aquarium gravel with this black sand as a base, something more so the baby rock flowers will attach and I can siphon easily. Wonder if that would be ok. Seems in this larger tank I need to have the pumps on higher due to the length of the tank and I don't want white sand going everywhere and leaving me w/ bald spots here & there.

 

 

Well, the sand I use is deffinitely heavier/larger and doesn't kick up nearly as easily as the white stuff. I really think what I have is the arag-alive stuff, looks very similar to the image on brs:

 

207428_hawaiiblacksandl-b_1.jpg

 

I think what you're looking for is more on the size of this though:

 

s-l1000.jpg

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Then go for it! I like the arag-alive because it adds bacteria, and I believe it also increases the buffering capacity of your tank.

 

oh, and here's the sizes of the arag-alive particles:

  • Hawaiian Black - 0.25 - 3.5mm
  • FL Crushed Coral - 3-5.5mm
  • Special Grade - 1-2mm
  • Fiji Pink - 0.5-1.5mm
  • Bahamas Oolite 0.25-1mm

I think what I had before was the bahamas, which was much smaller.

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Then go for it! I like the arag-alive because it adds bacteria, and I believe it also increases the buffering capacity of your tank.

 

oh, and here's the sizes of the arag-alive particles:

  • Hawaiian Black - 0.25 - 3.5mm
  • FL Crushed Coral - 3-5.5mm
  • Special Grade - 1-2mm
  • Fiji Pink - 0.5-1.5mm
  • Bahamas Oolite 0.25-1mm

I think what I had before was the bahamas, which was much smaller.

 

Thanks. We'll see what happens after I'm done siphoning every 3 days. I do love the way it looks and I bet it would look stunning w/ 47-50 rock flowers (and babies, working on that)

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I've been contemplating blastos these days. Hmmmmm..... they would fit into my "flower" theme.....

 

Indo_Red_Blasto_PB242882-550x420.jpg

 

 

Thanks. We'll see what happens after I'm done siphoning every 3 days. I do love the way it looks and I bet it would look stunning w/ 47-50 rock flowers (and babies, working on that)

 

Yeah, black sand really makes the colors in any tank pop. I think you're gonna have to set up your own store for all those babies lol. theflowermama.com haha


or OR, you should set up another tank or two for F1 and F2 breeding =D

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Those blastos look like red carnations right there.

 

reefgen has niceee stuff. But I'm always SUPER hesitant about any corals I see online. Here's another pic of the same strain from their website, but with different acquisition settings:

 

indo%20blasto%20colony-499x346.jpg

 

I was watching a docu on animal planet or something on the great barrier reef, and they showed these red blastos with black centers that were stunning

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reefgen has niceee stuff. But I'm always SUPER hesitant about any corals I see online. Here's another pic of the same strain from their website, but with different acquisition settings:

 

indo%20blasto%20colony-499x346.jpg

 

I was watching a docu on animal planet or something on the great barrier reef, and they showed these red blastos with black centers that were stunning

 

Yeah, just watched that last night or 2 nights ago. Saw the same shot of acans & blastos. Didn't you love the coral warfare time lapse!!!! I was just so excited seeing things I knew.

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oh yeah, that was crazy. I also really liked the part where the corals were in low tide. The colors on some of those SPS were pretty sick. All I could think of was that if those guys were put in out reef tanks they'd glow like the sun haha

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oh yeah, that was crazy. I also really liked the part where the corals were in low tide. The colors on some of those SPS were pretty sick. All I could think of was that if those guys were put in out reef tanks they'd glow like the sun haha

 

There were beautifully bright yellow sps in there that I've never seen.

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Yeah, they must be from like, super protected areas or something. Shame really, since those corals are all basically space-limited and can't really grow anymore. You could totally snip a few tips here and there without any consequence. Sell the tips and use the proceeds for conservation or park management or something lol

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You are right, buying stuff online can be a gamble. But, you should totally find some Blastos for this tank! I have some Wellsi in my 8 and they are super happy and easy to take care of. (Ironincally, I bought mine online from Exotic Reef Creations and found their photos to be very faithful.) Merletti are super cute too though, its just easier to find more colors in the Wellsi.

 

Where did you get that sparkly Goniopora from? I've always avoided Gonis since back when I was a reefkeeper 15 years ago, everyone said to avoid them since they would always die. Seems like that isn't the case anymore, so I'm interested in trying my hand at them.

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Love me some Blastos. They will change color depending on the spectrum. Ever since switching to Nanobox mine have really brightened up and brought out a lot of their red.

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Where did you get that sparkly Goniopora from? I've always avoided Gonis since back when I was a reefkeeper 15 years ago, everyone said to avoid them since they would always die. Seems like that isn't the case anymore, so I'm interested in trying my hand at them.

 

 

I got it from POTO; I highly recommend the vendor. I don't know if he has any more of the sparkly one I actually saw maybe the same one at cherry corals, but not sparkly -- http://www.cherrycorals.com/fresh-cherries/aussie-goniopora-1/

 

I'd say go for the gonis. Most of the ones that come in nowadays are much hardier. I think as long as you feed them every once in a while they should be fine. If you can keep SPS and have some reef roids handy I'd say you're golden.

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oh yeah, that was crazy. I also really liked the part where the corals were in low tide. The colors on some of those SPS were pretty sick. All I could think of was that if those guys were put in out reef tanks they'd glow like the sun haha

My book by Eric Borneman has pictures of SPS in low tides, some even get completely exposed to the sun. They develop intense pigment which it their natural UV block and sunblock. So cool.

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PRETTY SURE the blue frogs are breeding. Also fairly certain that they are laying their eggs somewhere I can't reach... grrrr....

More film containers!

 

Do you usually raise the tadpoles? There was someone in my area who was giving azureus tads away because they didn't want to raise them. I would have gone for them but I'm not too into all that work alongside the reef.

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Naughty frogs!

 

All the frogs are singing.... except the mantellas. Soon though, I hope.

 

 

More film containers!

 

Do you usually raise the tadpoles? There was someone in my area who was giving azureus tads away because they didn't want to raise them. I would have gone for them but I'm not too into all that work alongside the reef.

 

These guys are too big for film containers I think lol. Raising tads is easy. Put em in a tupperware bowl, keep em warm, feed them every few days lol. Frogs are super low maintenance. I'm planning on setting up an aquarium with lots of food for tads so it can be even LESS maintenance lol.

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