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Making lemonade from SPS encrustation, Update! post #48


Mr. Microscope

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Mr. Microscope

Hello All,

Before I moved, I had a huge mat of flat Palmer's Blue Milli encrustation on my overflow. I managed to remove most of the encrustation and I mounted the pieces to several frag tiles to save the coral since the tank would be drained and dried during the move. I decided to do a little experiment with one of the tiles.

encrustedtile_zpse63aa3eb.jpg
(Note, this is sitting on the bottom of my tank which is why it is green and not blue.)

I don't remember what this used to be, but as you can see it's a piece of fail.

donorfrag_zpsc662d7bf.jpg

Add a little glue, and we'll see what happens.
Lemonadefrag20140728_zps848db8cb.jpg

I'll be tracking progress in this thread over the next few months.

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You scientist, you. Negative/positive controls? I suggest GSP for the positive (bare plug for the negative, obviously) , as we know that shitake will grow on ANYTHING!

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Mr. Microscope

You scientist, you. Negative/positive controls? I suggest GSP for the positive (bare plug for the negative, obviously) , as we know that shitake will grow on ANYTHING!

I have other pieces of the milli on other tiles/plugs. The ones that I have sitting on my rack higher up in the tank are starting to shoot up branches from the corners (very nice blue tips BTW), but I just thought it'd be fun to see what happens with this one. The tile is very evenly covered and there's not much overhang. So, it doesn't have a lot of incentive to branch upward.
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Very cool!! I've thought about doing the same thing with encrusting monti's. How cool would an acro shaped rainbow, superman, or sunset monti be??

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It will take time (and more time then if it had higher light) but it will eventually grow over the dead skeleton (provided algae or something else doesn't take over the skeleton).... it will likely have a oddball shape to it (until it grows and branches out more like it normally would and likely will from the base anyways) and thicker branches over that area but yeah...... just as it would do if it was a piece of rock instead of a dead skeleton.

 

It doesn't surprise me it isn't branching up already in its current spot either ;)

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It will take time (and more time then if it had higher light) but it will eventually grow over the dead skeleton (provided algae or something else doesn't take over the skeleton).... it will likely have a oddball shape to it (until it grows and branches out more like it normally would and likely will from the base anyways) and thicker branches over that area but yeah...... just as it would do if it was a piece of rock instead of a dead skeleton.

 

It doesn't surprise me it isn't branching up already in its current spot either ;)

 

That's why I never really tried growing monti's over dead acro skeletons. The growth would likely not be what I would like it to be. Still a cool little experiment though. I'll definitely be watching this one as it unfolds.

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That's why I never really tried growing monti's over dead acro skeletons. The growth would likely not be what I would like it to be. Still a cool little experiment though. I'll definitely be watching this one as it unfolds.

Yeah, I've generally found skeletons are quickly overtaken by algae rather than the desired encruster.
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Mr. Microscope

Very cool!! I've thought about doing the same thing with encrusting monti's. How cool would an acro shaped rainbow, superman, or sunset monti be??

They have nice colors, but I've never really been a fan of the encrusting montis. I generally think their growth pattern is boring and ugly. I've often wondered what would happen if you had an encrusting monti and isolated it with huge overhangs. Would it try to branch or plate or something?

 

It will take time (and more time then if it had higher light) but it will eventually grow over the dead skeleton (provided algae or something else doesn't take over the skeleton).... it will likely have a oddball shape to it (until it grows and branches out more like it normally would and likely will from the base anyways) and thicker branches over that area but yeah...... just as it would do if it was a piece of rock instead of a dead skeleton.

It doesn't surprise me it isn't branching up already in its current spot either ;)

Yeah, I've generally found skeletons are quickly overtaken by algae rather than the desired encruster.

That's why I never really tried growing monti's over dead acro skeletons. The growth would likely not be what I would like it to be. Still a cool little experiment though. I'll definitely be watching this one as it unfolds.

Succeed or fail, I'll post results! :)

I have generally also had issues with algae and skeletons, but at the moment since I've been running biopellets, my algae issues have been going away. As long as I can keep the bloody bryopsis away from it, I should be good to go.

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You could always do a peroxide dip on the bare skeleton. That would knock out any algae that may grow on it. Just be sure not to get any on the live coral.

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If it encrusts you could make up some ridiculous name like "total zombie snot coaster" or "willy wonka wet dream" and sale it for like $400 bucks. Some noob with money on reef central will buy it.

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Mr. Microscope

You could always do a peroxide dip on the bare skeleton. That would knock out any algae that may grow on it. Just be sure not to get any on the live coral.

Yeah, acros and H2O2 don't mix. Although, I haven't had luck with bryopsis and H2O2. It kills the bulk of the plant, but leaves the roots in tact and it comes back.

If it encrusts you could make up some ridiculous name like "total zombie snot coaster" or "willy wonka wet dream" and sale it for like $400 bucks. Some noob with money on reef central will buy it.

It would go for a cool $1k on r2r.

Lol r2r they all run Elos tanks with uranium driven reactor core filters.

haha that would be to funny.

LOL! This thread just turned into something awesome.
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Mr. Microscope

Can you actually do this please :flower:

Well, it is a Palmer's Blue. Could sell it for something decent once it colors up nicely. I like atrox's Zombie frag idea. Could call it a zombie palmer's blue.
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I have had a sunset monti encrust over a failed frag of stylopora, though I can't be given any credit, it was all the monti's idea.

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Polarcollision

<3 this idea. There are so many gorgeous encrusting corals--what a beautiful way to get them up off the rocks.

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I can tell you exactly what will happen! It'll plate right up the side of the dead skeleton and leave a bunch of hollow spots - it won't hug the skeleton, but will make more or less a ball around it with a bunch of plates and branches coming off of it. I have an A. Valida about the size of my fist that receded about 60% during AEFW dipping that stopped receding after the dipping and it regrew over itself. It is a big nasty looking mess 8 months later. I can take a picture when the lights come back on tomorrow :)

 

Edit: Here you go - sorry for the crappy picture quality since it is at night and I was just cycling through the Radion presets and is something like 10K for auto-wb to work. It is much more purple than the picture. Anyway, you can see the multiple layers of plating over it's dead skeleton leaving behind large hollow spots. This is 8 months after the initial recession:

recrust_front.jpg

 

And from the side:

recrust_side.jpg

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