Today's Experiment

[KOFP]

Beauty of a set-up!

 

BTW, how do you like the berlin skimmer?

[MrAnderson]

omg thanks!

 

it works, i can say that much! early on i got very dark thick skimmate, but lately it's just been pale and not a lot, honestly. i think the tank has been cleaned out a bit. i love the way it fits so neatly in the back. also, the suction cups that hold it in place could be bigger - or i could clean them more often lol.

[adinsxq]

http://awesomeaquatics.com/spscoral.html

 

!!

[MrAnderson]

i think i'm going to take that rock out, and stick a big 3-4" coral right where the bare rock is at the upper left quadrant of the tank:

 

[ezcompany]

too much rock !! ! !!!!! !

 

[MrAnderson]

i agree aesthetically; i'd love to have a very bonsai-ish, single-rock structure type tank.

 

but biologically, nooooo. it's a good amount. i like never ever ever detecting nitrate.

[Caesar777]

Yah good amount of rock. People do too little rock in their tanks. (Naysayers, see my tank thread and tell me it's too much rock!) And crappy quality, at that. Gray boulders that look like a stack of stale bread loaves, instead of really nice, shapely rock all meshing together into one flowing form.

 

I like the idea of the large coral at the top left. Are you thinking SPS, LPS, softy? I'd assume a tall, branching type; a branch of zoanthids would be cool but that space needs something flowy.

 

Also how much has that fingery pink macro grown since you got it? Like original size compared to now?

[MrAnderson]

I like the idea of the large coral at the top left. Are you thinking SPS, LPS, softy? I'd assume a tall, branching type; a branch of zoanthids would be cool but that space needs something flowy.

 

Also how much has that fingery pink macro grown since you got it? Like original size compared to now?

 

yeah, i WAS thinking a very thick-based M. samarensis, white with bright orange polyps, about 15-20 branches. but it's gone now

 

but something along those lines... SPS, and I like oddball Montis - they're usually still pretty hardy and don't require crazy light, and they grow FAST. i'm going to keep checking the divers den for that gotta-have-it specimen - i want a pretty, WHOLE colony.

 

and for the pink macro - this is the tank on sep 13 - what you see right now grew in about a month.

 

 

[Caesar777]

Wow, it rly grow-ded! And it's even cuter than the Halimeda.

[spanko]

My favorites are Montipora peltiformis and Montipora spumosa. Real beauties. I also like the tabling Acropora Cytherea. Like this http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemD...5&siteid=20. Would probably fit well in the spot you are talking about and table out more flat to fill that corner up.

 

Love this experiment Mr. A. Hope you keep posting to show the growth of your slice of the ocean so we can continue to enjoy it.

[MrAnderson]

ohhhh that Acro is PURTY!

 

they DO have a lot of very nice acros... but they're soo sensitive. i had a couple acros in my last 6 gallon, and they were sensitive to both my salinity swings - i'd notice a change in polyp extension or coloration if i didn't top off for a day, or if carbonate got depleted too quickly.

 

the montis never seemed to notice anything, and always grew fast. i'd LOVE to get a very fine-corallite acro, but i'm going to exert a little willpower!!

 

HOWEVER, i'm flexible regarding considerations, so if anyone comes across anything in the Diver's Den that might fit and be kinda different, feel free to let me know - you'll get a flower:

 

I also want to get a coral specifically from liveaquaria.com right now. why? for one, the corals are quarantined and inspected, IDs are positive, and they sell WHOLE colonies, particularly their maricultured specimens. I really don't like the look of a tank littered with tiny frags, and having to wait a year for colonial growth morphology to become evident. I want to keep a natural look, so that means a natural looking coral colony! If anyone sees nice med-large specimens of unique SPS anywhere else, please let me know!

[BustytheSnowMaam]

I also want to get a coral specifically from liveaquaria.com right now. why? for one, the corals are quarantined and inspected, IDs are positive, and they sell WHOLE colonies, particularly their maricultured specimens. I really don't like the look of a tank littered with tiny frags, and having to wait a year for colonial growth morphology to become evident. I want to keep a natural look, so that means a natural looking coral colony! If anyone sees nice med-large specimens of unique SPS anywhere else, please let me know!

 

Just be careful- I lived 40 minutes from F & S and would often buy corals at their retail store. I purchased some beautiful zoas from their "divers den" tank. About a month later they were closing up and looked like they were "melting", and I started seeing these little guys on the glass:

 

 

I know they came from F & S because I had not introduced any other corals for about 6 months previous, and F & S has acknowledged problems with these nudis (I don't think anyone can be completely immune). So if you purchase anything, make sure you quarantine and/or FW dip them. 2 FW dips seem to have cured my problems.

[MrAnderson]

buzzkill!

[supernip]

I have an A. cytherea! This one actually

 

I would stick to M. digitata. There are a wide variety of colorful ones that do better under PC

[spanko]

Hey Nip, (gosh I don't know if you are male or female and feel kinda strange calling you that if you are a female, but oh well ) How long have you had it? I am sure that you know it is a tabling Acro. I just love the way they gow out with the branches flat along the top.

[MrAnderson]

today i noticed that a large astrea was missing. after looking i saw it in the sand right between some rock and the glass. i think it could've easily gotten onto either from where it ended up, practically wedged between the two. anyhow, i pulled it out and it was completely clean, nothing in it, no bad smell - WHO ATE HIM?

 

i hadn't changed the water in at least a week, so then i got nervous about a possible ammonia spike - i tested everything. completely colorless zeros all the way across the board. except for phosphate, which was pure yellow, and purely undetectable. i'm happy that my tank has the capacity for buffering potentially adverse load additions like that snail death/consumption... and makes me convinced it's finally stable enough for coral additions.

 

(but why'd the snail die?)

 

I'm really thinking hard about that M. spumosa I linked above... sorry nips, no digitata for me when there are similar low-light Montis so much cooler!

[cmador]

I really don't like the look of a tank littered with tiny frags, and having to wait a year for colonial growth morphology to become evident.

 

I call that the Fruit Stand look - X2 on really not liking that kind of tank. I'd rather see a tank with a few coral colonies then a tank with 50 million frags, but I think we are in the minority with that way of thinking.

[spanko]

Nips is right, there are some cool looking digitata on liveaquaria.

[MrAnderson]

true, but my tank is so small that i don't like the wide, curving branching morphology in a small area - M. digitata looks like a "frag" for a long time before it looks like a full colony, and they also need to get big for that. i want something sort of "to scale"... i'm scared to lose that M. spumosa the way i did the samarensis... they were stunning, and had many, many branches. just gorgeous colonies...

[spanko]

Ever looked around on here:

http://www.reeffarmers.com/

[MrAnderson]

yeah... waiting lists for 2010 are open! (yay.)

[spanko]

Just amazing isn't it? Some nice stuff though.

[MrAnderson]

very show-doggy. also, once again, CAN'T BUY WHOLE CORALS. they, like so many others, need to chop "parent colonies" into 50 frags in order to..... SELL MORE.

 

I HATE FRAGS!

[MrAnderson]

actually, mr. coral has some competitive items, some maricultured:

 

gorgeous digitata COLONY!

 

http://mrcoral.com/catalog/popup_image.php...644ℑ=0

[supernip]

Hey Nip, (gosh I don't know if you are male or female and feel kinda strange calling you that if you are a female, but oh well ) How long have you had it? I am sure that you know it is a tabling Acro. I just love the way they gow out with the branches flat along the top.

Yes, Im aware of the coral's morphology. That picture is of Atlantis aquarium's colony. Mine is but a wee frag.

today i noticed that a large astrea was missing. after looking i saw it in the sand right between some rock and the glass. i think it could've easily gotten onto either from where it ended up, practically wedged between the two. anyhow, i pulled it out and it was completely clean, nothing in it, no bad smell - WHO ATE HIM? i hadn't changed the water in at least a week, so then i got nervous about a possible ammonia spike - i tested everything. completely colorless zeros all the way across the board. except for phosphate, which was pure yellow, and purely undetectable. i'm happy that my tank has the capacity for buffering potentially adverse load additions like that snail death/consumption... and makes me convinced it's finally stable enough for coral additions.(but why'd the snail die?)I'm really thinking hard about that M. spumosa I linked above... sorry nips, no digitata for me when there are similar low-light Montis so much cooler!

Is spumosa also an "elkhorn" type moti? I know that there are two distinct morphology for M. digitata and one of them got renamed about 5 years ago. Either M. spumosa or M. samarensis.I actaully believe digitatas will look like full colonies at much smaller sizes than comparable sps due to its thinner branches.Note that this is MIA moderator Gil Mora's minibowI could not pull up rick birdman's picture to show you his numerous digitatas in a minibow. NM, I just figured out it was M. samarensis I was thinking of. According to whelks, your spumosa forms thick bushes like a M. confusa. I only suggested the digitata/samarensis because of the abundance of colors. My favorites being the green/orange and blue/red.I don't have much experience with M. spumosa admittedly so to each his own I suppose. Another thing you might want to look at in that genus is actually the common capricornis. If you have a lot of flow in the vacinity of a small frag, it has a tendency to whorl and form small cups earlier on.p.s. montiporas grow fast, I think you'd get a more natural look if you bought a larger frag and waited a month or two; as opposed to a full colony. It will also help you gauge calcium drain.