Oceanic Angles

[Weetabix7]

Lots of nice new pics!!

What kind of pups are those?

[varanus37]

Thank you! We were told the mom is a peka-poo and the dad is a jack russell. They look a bit boxer-ish to me but I'm taking their word for it. They sold the lady the pekapoo and I guess her neighbors jack russell got in there at the right time. Good pups. They'll follow Milana anywhere and already come when beckoned.

 

Bill

[Nick's Reef]

great pics bill! And those puppies are so cute!

[varanus37]

Thanks. I'm still working on getting the white balance dialed in. I've also got a new 10x macro lens for this cam that I'm working with. Nothing worth posting yet but I'm getting better with it.

 

Bill

[c est ma]

Bill, what wonderful pictures! I can't even imagine having all that room and all that variety. I would just be riveted to the tank...

 

Your orange & green caps have gorgeous shapes. I love the galaxia & the strawberry patch. Oh, and the mystery coral--ever think of posting it on Borneman's forum at Marine Depot? And the CBB...Dang, you've just got too much to comment on individually!

 

And what adorable pups! Hades? Is he/she really that bad?

 

Great shots, all. Kudos!

 

--Diane

[varanus37]

Hahaha, well we wanted names from Mythology. The pup we named Hades was feisty from the start. They're both boys and I liked Hector but his brothers name is a bit strange so that was a no-go. The Hades thing came up when we were looking at a site that had a list of gods from greek and roman beliefs. Hector and Hades. Just sounded good together. Still not sure if it will stick. It took us a week to name Polar if I remember correctly. Oh, and he's doing really well with the pups. Gets a bit jealous at the attention but not aggressive. Kinda like the ferret. He jumps around when they do but when they get close I think he gets confused because they're so small. He gets in trouble when he jumps on small dogs at the dog park so I think he holds back for the same reason at home.

 

Bill

[divecj5]

Amazing 55 Bill. As others have mentioned, the variety of corals is awesome and the growth is stunning. I am really liking all of the different kinds of montis you have in there, especially the caps and the strawberry. Very nice.

 

Those new pups look great and love the new names. With a new snake, reefs to take care of, and new pups...sounds like someone is a busy man

[spanko]

Mystery coral looks like some type of Millepora to me. Just a guess though.

Here is a picture of one:

[varanus37]

divecj5- AND we're having another little girl in June! Critters are the family hobby for us. Milana feeds the dogs and knows it's her job already. She's not even 2, ha. Train 'em young.

 

spanko- I had considered that but I don't think so. This coral seems to be growing by encrusting. I think the spikes you see are anomalies much like the spikes in some encrusting montis. I also don't see the white or colored tip of the stalks as you would see in a branching SPS like that.

 

 

Thank you all for the input.

 

7000+ views!

 

 

Bill

[Greenstar]

going with pavona or psammacora on the mystery.

[varanus37]

Thanks Green.

 

Some more pics. I took a few more today but the battery died on the cam so it's charging. Probably get those up tomorrow. Good sized update on the 1/2 10 thread today though.

 

Engineer peeking.

 

My superman.

 

Thanks for lookin'.

 

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So here are some more pics and another update. For those of you following the snake tank, we lost the male vine. I think it was simply cumulative stress. c7 had lost the other 2 snakes of that trio in the month prior to shipping me this guy. Something could have been, and probably was, wrong with him. Whatever it was that caused those 2 to die before him. He actually ate and was acting perfectly fine. Then I find him dead in the morning. No idea why to be honest.

 

Update on the puppies as well. We've decided the names are Zeus and Apollo. Keeps with the mythology thing Teresa liked and fits the names of the 2 dobermans on Magnum PI, for those of you that remember that show. Got them to the vet and checked out. All is well.

 

For the tank update. I moved the mystery coral in between the superman and the green cap. I also moved the Colt coral into the back corner while the rock with the meat coral was moved to that front corner. The rock that was next to the meat was moved forward, away from the huge green mushroom, to make room for that mushroom to move forward and grow as it seems to be doing. Don't want polyps getting blanketed by that monster. This created a nice valley there and opened up the back of the rocks which are full of holes and whatnot for the fish to explore and hide in. Good fit all around i think and I shouldn't have to move anyone again for some time. The current 'scape allows for the maximum amount of growth without corals touching for at least 3 months. That's assuming the growth rates I've been seeing. Some frags are new so we'll have to see if they grow faster or not.

 

Sun Corals a bit hungrier. Crazy bright.

 

Opposite side.

 

Superman is growing very nicely. And so is that tiny piece of cap stuck to the frag plug.

 

Strawberry Lemonade, huge fan of this coral. Growing right down the frag plug.

 

Elkhorn digi. Growing up and out everywhere. This one is covered in polyps and is already growing onto the LR.

 

A bit blurry but you can still tell the neon of the NG polyps.

 

Urchin messin' with the flow. When the urchins are up high like that it makes some craziness in the flow pattern of the tank. The Koralias are aimed up and across the tank at each other and hit a bit over halfway right at the surface. Makes great flow in the tank and I've got the coral set up accordingly. It's nice to get the random flow patterns though when a big snail or the urchins get in the path of the water. Ruffles the feathers of some of the pieces that get less flow. They don't like it constantly but I think it's good for them to catch a blast every now and then.

 

Hydno. Growing onto the LR and expanding vertically as well.

 

M. undata from mvite. Spreading nicely onto the LR. That frag I put in that has its face perpendicular to the tank floor has grown enough that I can't get it out now. Pretty happy about that.

 

Random hermit.

 

New placement of the mystery coral. Gets good flow here and is fully extended and flapping in the breeze.

 

New valley that was created to make some space around the big mushroom.

 

Sorry about the blue on the last 2 pics. The actinics are the only lights on this late.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So I've been a bit concerned about chemical warfare recently. I really enjoy the look of the mixed reef like I have but I worry about the negative interactions of the coral. In an effort to counteract this I've moved the Doobisberry frag, the Orange Crush frag, and the red&white micro clump over to the left side of the tank. The red&white is now on the sand nearer the sun frag. The Doobisberry and Orange Crush are both on the rock that the meat coral lives on. The meat expands out and away toward that left glass panel and the frags are toward the center of the tank and below. I've also moved the Duncan in between that rock and the clam. The Duncan was catching too much flow where it was over by the birds nest. Extends much farther down there on the sand with a bit less flow. I've moved 2 different frags of pink zoa types up onto the rock shelf where the LPS were. The zoas don't seem to mind close proximity to anyone they just don't like to be touched it seems. I'll give this new arrangement some time and check out how everyone extends tomorrow with the halides on. The reason for moving these 2 pink frags is also to make them more visible. They were previously making up the zoa carpet around the duster but were in the back by the undata. This way they're more up front for viewing purposes and there's no chance of them growing into the undata.

 

Pics tomorrow if all goes well.

 

Bill

[spanko]

Could the mystery coral be Hydnophora?

[varanus37]

Ya know, I've got a hydno piece in the tank and that's not a bad call. They really resemble each other alot. I have noticed though that the piece I have that I know is hydno seems to have ridges where it extends from and then somewhat smooth areas in between. At full extension that's not visible but it is when a fish bothers it or something. The mystery piece has the same type of growth but that smooth portion is much slimmer as compared to the extended portion. It's also not as, thick, I guess is the word I'm thinking. Hard to explain that but when the green hydno extends and even when not it just looks thicker. Don't know if that makes sense or not. Maybe fuller is better?

 

Thanks for the input,

 

Bill

[varanus37]

New montis! Just won and paid for. Hopefully here Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday though.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So the green digi mini colony got here this morning! Looks great and is in the tank chillin' now. I'll get pics up when I can as the lights are already off for the night. Many thanks to Prop for this piece. Looks exactly like it did in the picture. Very kewl piece. For a visual, it's on the rock to the right of the clam and just above the mystery coral. As it grows it'll probably start to block the galaxea cluster from view but they're both green so the color effect in that area will be the same. This green is just deeper instead of neon-ish like the galaxea.

 

Oh, and the 2 other montis from Mvite will be here in the morning.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

And they're here. Yellow w/blue polyps. So sweet. They almost look purple under my lights. The other is an orange cap piece that's on rubble. Growing in some insane shapes. Encrusting along the rock with really good texture and thickness and then growing right up off the rock in a fan shape. This will grow out awesomely. The orange cap is to the left of the hammer and in front of the green cap. The yellow is an encruster and it's above the green cap near the sativa clump. That clump may get moved in the future or I'll just cut each coral as it approaches the other. That's what's going to end up happening to the red/orange cap I have now. I'll just clip it to keep it growing the directions I want.

 

Coral Bonsai.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So here are the new montis! First is the green digi from Prop. Definitely not a frag on this one.

CBB doing a flyby.

 

On its own.

 

Closer.

 

And now the 2 from Mark. Wicked pieces.

Yellow w/blue polyps.

 

Closer.

 

And this kewl orange cap. Growin' all sorts of weird.

 

Kewl angle from the front of the tank.

 

Sweet orange with the flash.

 

So that's the new monti trio. Teresa says no more ebay for awhile and the family is coming to visit. Then I'll be in schools for work and then my daughter will be born. So we're looking at a solid 3 months or so of just growth on the tank. Should be fun to watch and then compare to now. Same with the 1/2 10.

 

Thanks for lookin'.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

7500 views!

 

Thanks for lookin' everyone!

 

Bill

[Weetabix7]

Nice additions Bill!!

Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I can get back in the Monti game myself, and maybe by then we can do some more trading.

The Purple Monti frag I got from you weathered the tank crash just fine, and the Green Confusa lost the neon green base color but still has great polyp extension. Once I get things set back up I think it should color back up for me.

[varanus37]

Another person posting on my thread besides me? Strange. Haha. Thanks, I like them too. I wasn't sure what that yellow w/blue polyps would look like in my tank but I love it. No worries on the undata or the kiwi. I've still got 2 frags of the undata in my tank and they're growing into one as we speak. Easy to snap that though. And that confusa is starting to take over the corner I placed it on. Anything ever happens and I can just cut ya some more pieces. My list of montis I want has extended a bit.

 

Here's the list right now:

 

Dshnarw purple encrustiplate thing

" " orange encrustiplate thing

Props red digi

" " orange digi

" " chocolate and purple M. spongiodes (sp?) I think thats what he called it. Wicked looking.

Sunset

Forest fire

Pokerstar

Rainbow

 

And those are just the ones I've drooled over recently. It will probably be a bit before I buy anything new though. Work, fam visting, baby being born, vacation and then deployment should keep me busy. I'm going to stick to trading and/or just watching the tank grow. The SPS are all really starting to take off so I'm excited to see what another couple months will bring.

 

Bill

[Needreefunds]

Another person posting on my thread besides me? Strange. Haha.

 

Hey, we are watching Bill!!

 

It's just that your posts are so thorough that we really don't have many questions.

 

Sweet new additions.

Even though you have been put on lock down, as you said it should be very cool watching them grow in.

 

Tank looks great and keep those pics coming.

 

7500 views ......

[varanus37]

Yeah, I'm a nerd like that. I do appreciate you checking in though. I kinda figure I'm doing something right since noone really flames about the mandarin and I haven't been told that something looks like its dying or some craziness like that. Ya know, the usual negative comments. I've never really had any in this thread and I'm pretty proud of that but at the same time I think maybe it's just alot of kewl people reading through my stuff. Either way thanks for lookin'.

 

And I'm actually excited about not getting anything new. Teresa and I were just talking about how things were growing in the tank so it should be kewl to see it in a few months. I'm still going with the coral bonsai theory of trimming the platers to grow how I want. We'll see if I can not kill them all.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Minor update. I moved the frogspawn from the 1/2 10 back into the 55. When I moved that rock forward, the one with the NG polyps and the Duncan on it, I created a valley between it and the tall rock with all the SPS. The spot that rock once occupied is now a large open area at the end of the valley. I decided to place the 'spawn in that open area. It's decent light since it's beneath the halide but it's at the bottom of the tank so it's not nearly as strong. It's also slower flow because the rocks surround it. So far the heads are extended and look alright but they're not full-blown extended yet. Everything is fairly on par for a move between tanks and another day or two should bring full extension.

 

Just so ya know.

 

Bill