Mark's 40B and 46 bow

[markalot]

Big bird is gone. Well, except for the scraps I threw in the 46, the frag in the 29, the colony hidden behind the roick it used to be on, and the piece I left on the side. What a mess of trapped dirt, bubble algae, and the Tangs all time favorite red turf algae. Pics later tonight or tomorrow.

 

New lens makes great macros. Perhaps its time I upgraded from a 10x macro filter to a dedicated lens.

Thanks. This Tamron lens for both Nikon and Canon is considered one of the best reasonably priced true macros.

[markalot]

Here we go. The 40 without the big bird and a few corals re-arrange to make more space. Fatty the tang is munching on that red hair algae. Once he saw it I had to be careful not to get attacked.

 

The Razor is dimming down for the night so the colors are rather saturated.

 

[markalot]

46 FTS. Colors looking good again, not sure why.

 

 

I moved the slimer frag from my 20 into here to save it from the clown goby. ALso added a small ORA Elkhorn Montipora frag. I took a pic but it was blurry due to the bowfront.

 

 

On the right, in the frag rack, are 3 corals that all look good, but I'm not sure exactly what to do with them. A bright green poci, a bright green monti cap that's getting a purple edge and white polyps, and a red-orange/purple monti cap with a purple edge but has no fluorescing colors what-so-ever.

 

 

 

[GtTap]

Your tanks are awesome man wish mine could look that good.

[vlangel]

The colors in your tanks are amazing!

[metrokat]

^ never thought you would hear that eh Mark?

[markalot]

Someone who is not a sponsor here but should be is having a 19.95 shipping sale so I took advantage of it and purchased some corals I have always wanted but have been unable to find locally.

 

Strawberry Shortcake 3/4"-1" Stock Frag Acropora microclados
UC Super Blue Vermiculata Stock Frag Acropora vermiculata
ORA Phonape Birdsnest Stock Frag Seriatopora sp.

 

Arrives tomorrow morning.

[gena]

Still looks great even without the pink bird .

 

Who's having the sale?

[markalot]

Unique Corals

Still looks great even without the pink bird .

Who's having the sale?

[Polarcollision]

I cleaned the WP-25 in the 40, forgetting just how powerful it was when clean and now I have a pile of sand up on the front left side. I seem to be maxed at about 60X turnover without blowing sand around and I want more flow.

 

I still want a Ponape birdsnest but have yet to see one locally.

 

Am coming to the realization that my Wp25 is in serious need of cleaning. It's harboring two aptasia that have to go, too. Is it pretty obvious how to take it apart?

 

Was going to offer my ponape colony, but you beat me to it! Hoping to get my hands on a nice intense magenta pink bird to put in it;s place.

 

Also... CONGRATs on the macro lens. You're going to love it! Great pics already, especially the little fuzzy details on the fish. Wow.

 

You know, I have that exact same monti capitata. Bought i as a tiny frag over a year ago. It's never grown any bigger, and actually is shrinking down a bit now as the duncan shades it. Maybe I'll chip it out and give it more light. Bone cutters?

 

 

These are the last pics without a true 1:1 macro lens, which will arrive tomorrow.

 

Montipora capitata

 

[Roshan8768]

Unique corals is great, the two SPS pieces that I picked up for my tank in the last couple of weeks from the LFS were both from their shipments.

[markalot]

Unique corals is great, the two SPS pieces that I picked up for my tank in the last couple of weeks from the LFS were both from their shipments.

 

Good to hear, thanks.

 

Am coming to the realization that my Wp25 is in serious need of cleaning. It's harboring two aptasia that have to go, too. Is it pretty obvious how to take it apart?

 

Was going to offer my ponape colony, but you beat me to it! Hoping to get my hands on a nice intense magenta pink bird to put in it;s place.

 

Also... CONGRATs on the macro lens. You're going to love it! Great pics already, especially the little fuzzy details on the fish. Wow.

 

You know, I have that exact same monti capitata. Bought i as a tiny frag over a year ago. It's never grown any bigger, and actually is shrinking down a bit now as the duncan shades it. Maybe I'll chip it out and give it more light. Bone cutters?

 

 

The front of the wp25 twists off, but watch out for any Vermetid Snail tubes which will poke a hole in your hand when you grab the pump to twist! If holding the motor side of the pump in your left hand I believe the front twists off counter clockwise, like you would expect if removing a lid from a jar.

 

That capitata did not grow much for 6 months in lower light. I broke it accidentally and glued it back together, which healed nicely, then when I got my new LED's and moved the rocks around it was put in higher light, around 250 PAR, and it's taken off.

 

Thanks for the offer of the ponape, but yea, I pulled the trigger with the discounted shipping. My little pink bird chip, a chance survivor from my crash a year ago, is finally growing into a nice colony and is brilliant pink. I literally found this piece broken off in the sandbed that somehow survived when the main piece died. Now I've got to decide if I want to keep it up on that rock or move it down and place one of my acros up there. Birdsnests grow on me, literally, and are difficult to deal with when they get bigger. I have no idea how I'm going to frag that big green one in back.

[metrokat]

Very interested in seeing what this looks like

UC Super Blue Vermiculata Stock Frag Acropora vermiculata

[markalot]

Very interested in seeing what this looks like

 

Yea, me too. Box has arrived and sitting in the kitchen. I will take the afternoon off since I can't take either Friday or Tuesday off due to interviews and a new employee starting. Grrr, piss poor scheduling on my part. The order description says Vermiculata but the web page says Acropora tenuis - UC "Super Blue" Aussie Vermiculata- 3/4" Stock Frag

 

hmmm,

 

store pic

 

 

[markalot]

Ok,

corals all arrived in fantastic shape, polyp extension in the bag. Re-scaped what I could, mounted, took pictures.

FTS (left to right: super blue, rainbow milli, ssc)



Super Blue





SSC





Rainbow Milli (This is really starting to color up)



ORA Ponape

[markalot]

Few more pics.

 

My first Poci spawn.

 

 

Really hoping this is something besides green. Tips just now starting to show some color.

 

 

I moved this one around so it's easier to get a pic. A very nice turquoise color with some purple near the base. It also came with a barnacle.

 

[Polarcollision]

Good to hear, thanks.

 

 

 

The front of the wp25 twists off, but watch out for any Vermetid Snail tubes which will poke a hole in your hand when you grab the pump to twist! If holding the motor side of the pump in your left hand I believe the front twists off counter clockwise, like you would expect if removing a lid from a jar.

 

That capitata did not grow much for 6 months in lower light. I broke it accidentally and glued it back together, which healed nicely, then when I got my new LED's and moved the rocks around it was put in higher light, around 250 PAR, and it's taken off.

 

Thanks for the offer of the ponape, but yea, I pulled the trigger with the discounted shipping. My little pink bird chip, a chance survivor from my crash a year ago, is finally growing into a nice colony and is brilliant pink. I literally found this piece broken off in the sandbed that somehow survived when the main piece died. Now I've got to decide if I want to keep it up on that rock or move it down and place one of my acros up there. Birdsnests grow on me, literally, and are difficult to deal with when they get bigger. I have no idea how I'm going to frag that big green one in back.

 

Thanks for the instruction. There was so much coraline caked on it that I wondered if it was coming apart or if I was going to break it. The holder is soaking in boiling water to kill aptasia. I just cleaned a 6 month-old wp25. So much goo and gunk growing in there I might need counseling. Hold me.

[markalot]

Ok, some real photos with a tripod and pumps off.

 

This macro lens makes me .... um ... I really like this macro lens!

 

FTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is from my nearest LFS and is a A&M Purple Fuzz

 

 

No idea what this is but it's showing some interesting colors. Bright turquoise tip (washed out in this photo) and yellow/orange/green/purple at the base. Still no clue how this will end up.

 

 

One other interesting thing. If you view the full size images you can see what looks like a haze of brown dust coming off a few of the rocks near the base of the acros. Looks like some kind of spawning event.

[Arkayology]

Nice new frags Mark! Congrats on the pocci spawn btw. Just wait until they are everywhere and you will be cursing them!

[markalot]

Nice new frags Mark! Congrats on the pocci spawn btw. Just wait until they are everywhere and you will be cursing them!

 

Ha, thanks. I'm sure there's more so we'll see.

[vlangel]

Wow, if I turn the pumps off, use a tripod, will I get "real" photos?

[markalot]

Wow, if I turn the pumps off, use a tripod, will I get "real" photos?

 

Lol, I suppose. It's a royal pain so I usually take what I consider snapshots. I learned this from photography snobs way back when I took, and did poorly at, a photography class in high school.

 

With no pumps and a tripod I can increase the aperture, increasing the focal depth. This allows the macro shots to have more of the coral in focus. Most of these photos are taken with an aperture above 16 and speeds around 1 second.

[markalot]

Had some time to take some pics. I removed all my SPS from my 20 gallon and put in my 46, so it's crowded but yet somehow looks pretty good.

 

Lighting on this tank is now 2 AquaticLife expandable 1W LED fixtures attached to each other plus one blue LED strip for morning/evening light. These fixtures are now going for up to 75% off original retail so I'm guessing they are being discontinued. PAR is 270 at the caps, 230 near the bottom of the Duncans, and low to mid 100's om the sandbed.

 

Once again the good color mocks my attempts to ignore this tank.

 

[Arkayology]

Grow grow grow!!!! Looks good! I can't help but think that you are going to run into space issues soon when they get settled and start to fill in the gaps.

[markalot]

Grow grow grow!!!! Looks good! I can't help but think that you are going to run into space issues soon when they get settled and start to fill in the gaps.

 

Thanks. The green birds nest is going to have to go at some point, and I'm guessing the anemone will somehow add to the fun.