Polarcollision's Nuvo 24: March FTS

[Polarcollision]

Awesome! Thanks for the info . I was hoping it was just something the meteor shower I have would magically do one day LOL. It certainly adds interest to the look of it .

Gotcha. Well, if nothing else it could always grow over acro skeletons :-)

[gena]

Gotcha. Well, if nothing else it could always grow over acro skeletons :-)

Someone should do that...would look pretty sweet and be so confusing for those that like to ID acros all the time LOL.

[Polarcollision]

MAY 2016 FEATURED PROFILE (TOTM)

 

I purchased orange gel filters for the camera and then set the white balance through them. These are shot with all the blue and violet LEDs on full power so that you can share in my night-time tank glowing hour.

 

 

Sunny Ds. Been with me 3.5 years

 

Pink Zippers and Branching Cyphastrea.

 

Zoas: Dragon Eye, Micro Green, Red Hornet, Radioactives, Pinwheels

 

Oregon Tort. Approx 6 mos

 

Unknown. I was sold a tricolor valida so maybe that's what this is. Aprox 2 yr old

 

LFS sold as a wild tort. Approx 1.5 yr old

 

My favorite weed

 

Setosa and Sunset Monti battle lines. Colonies are approx 3.25 years old.

 

Bubblegum Monster chalice. Approx 3.25 yrs old

 

Miami Hurricane chalice. This piece has become a symbol for the reviving effects of diligent care and the spirit to survive. It started as a frag about the size of my thumbnail with no eyes. A local aquarist found it laying in the sand bed under a bunch of frags. It was bleached and he wasn't sure if it would survive so he gave it to me for free. Now look at that monster. It's been fragged to half this size once before and needs a trimming yet again.

 

Red and yellow chalice. Have wanted this little guy for years! Now I have my chalice trifecta. :-)

 

Forestfire Digitata, Bam Bams, Fruit Loops, Pinwheels and the Aptasia infestation

 

Zippers, Rastas, Bam Bams and a orange/green milli frag

 

Oxides, Blonde blue eyed bi***es, aptasia, and a cool red bubble algae

 

My favorite SPS - ORA green bird

 

top-town through the waves. Green slimer, pinsheels, forest fire digitata, bambams, fruit loops

 

Raptors Rainbow

 

 

[markalot]

So nice! Is that a Hawkins near the middle?

[FlowerMama]

I'm gonna have to get some of those gel filters. All your pics are so incredible.

[Polarcollision]

I'm gonna have to get some of those gel filters. All your pics are so incredible.

They're pretty sweet. It's the closest to capturing the true colors of the reef at night that I've managed so far. The oranges pop a little more than in real life and anything blue is less true to color, but overall I love them. I think most any kind of yellow/golden/orange clear gel can work, though different light have different color balances so keep trying different gels til you get a good fit.

 

So nice! Is that a Hawkins near the middle?

Thanks Mark! That's the oregon tort. It looks teal in the FTS pic mostly because of the blue filter gel. The macro is more true to actual color. Under daylights it looks more like cobalt blue glass, under blues it can shift a little warmer to look more deep sky blue. I used to have a hawkins growing really well next to the rainbow stylophora but it RTNd one day for no cause I could figure. One day I'll keep a hawkins alive.

[teenyreef]

Beautiful pictures! You've inspired me to get my old gel filter and try that white balance trick

[J-Ranko]

Congrats on the TOTM! Your tank is stunning and that GSP wall adds a unique, eye-catching look.

 

Your camera skills aren't too bad, either.

[smallreef19]

You had mentioned your tank started doing a lot better by dosing more frequently, around 12 times per day. Do you space out just the ALK 12 doses a day or the calcium as well 12 times a day? If you space both out 12 time how long in between alk do you dose calcium?

[Polarcollision]

Beautiful pictures! You've inspired me to get my old gel filter and try that white balance trick

Give it a go! Would love to see what you shoot. It's so nice to be able to share the intense colors in a photo.

 

Congrats on the TOTM! Your tank is stunning and that GSP wall adds a unique, eye-catching look.

 

Your camera skills aren't too bad, either.

Thank you J-ranko. :-) That's my favorite weed. It adds a great pop of color and that sense of water motion. Plus it uses up nutrients with the fast growth. How can you go wrong?? :-) It used to span the entire back wall until I noticed it choking off the setosa. So I pull it back in hopes that the setosa will grow over the back wall in it's place. That will take forever, but imagine a neon salmon backing...

 

You had mentioned your tank started doing a lot better by dosing more frequently, around 12 times per day. Do you space out just the ALK 12 doses a day or the calcium as well 12 times a day? If you space both out 12 time how long in between alk do you dose calcium?

Yes to both. The total daily dose for my tank is about 20 mL of both ALK and Ca, plus 4 mL of Mg. When I originally set up the timers there were more birdsnest colonies growing which needed around 35 mL each per day. The reefkeeper timers run ALK and Ca dosers about 90 seconds every 2 hours. They drip into a small chamber in the back so I offset each dose by 15 minutes just to be sure Alk has a chance to dissipate before the Ca dose--just in case precipitation is ever an issue. The magnesium dose is all at once, one time per day since it is a much smaller amount. I believe increasing Mg more than 20 parts in a day caused my SSC acro to brown out so I'm not too worried about the single daily Mg dose of 4 mL. If it increases down the road I may divide it into 2 doses per day. HTH

[Polarcollision]

PUGET SOUND TIDEPOOLING

 

Woohoo! Summer low tides have arrived! Plus, the nudibranch gods were smiling upon me... found 6 different species munching away on bryzoans, tunicates and sponges last weekend.

 

Remember when you were waiting for your tank to cycle with sand and live rock? How you'd get so excited over finding hitchhikers and some of the basic microfauna? That's what it's like at tide pools now-- looking for the little things that run the world.

 

 

Opalescent nudibranch, Hermiddenda crassicornis

 

 

White line dirona, Dirona albolineata

 

Probably heath's dorid, Geitodoris heathi

 

Opalescent nudibranch x2 (L) and possibly Acanthodoris nanaimoensis ®

 

nudibranch eggs on woody chiton Mopalia lignosa, and acorn barnacles

 

Mossy chiton Mopalia muscosa, barnacles, tunicates

 

 

Ferry pylon for scale. Lots of tunicate colonies here.

[markalot]

Very cool!

[DaveFason]

Awesome stuff man. Curious do you have a link to the gel filter you bought?

-Dave

[ReefWeeds]

MAY 2016 FEATURED PROFILE (TOTM)

 

I purchased orange gel filters for the camera and then set the white balance through them. These are shot with all the blue and violet LEDs on full power so that you can share in my night-time tank glowing hour.

 

 

Sunny Ds. Been with me 3.5 years

 

Pink Zippers and Branching Cyphastrea.

 

Zoas: Dragon Eye, Micro Green, Red Hornet, Radioactives, Pinwheels

 

Oregon Tort. Approx 6 mos

 

Unknown. I was sold a tricolor valida so maybe that's what this is. Aprox 2 yr old

 

LFS sold as a wild tort. Approx 1.5 yr old

 

My favorite weed

 

Setosa and Sunset Monti battle lines. Colonies are approx 3.25 years old.

 

Bubblegum Monster chalice. Approx 3.25 yrs old

 

Miami Hurricane chalice. This piece has become a symbol for the reviving effects of diligent care and the spirit to survive. It started as a frag about the size of my thumbnail with no eyes. A local aquarist found it laying in the sand bed under a bunch of frags. It was bleached and he wasn't sure if it would survive so he gave it to me for free. Now look at that monster. It's been fragged to half this size once before and needs a trimming yet again.

 

Red and yellow chalice. Have wanted this little guy for years! Now I have my chalice trifecta. :-)

 

Forestfire Digitata, Bam Bams, Fruit Loops, Pinwheels and the Aptasia infestation

 

Zippers, Rastas, Bam Bams and a orange/green milli frag

 

Oxides, Blonde blue eyed bi***es, aptasia, and a cool red bubble algae

 

My favorite SPS - ORA green bird

 

top-town through the waves. Green slimer, pinsheels, forest fire digitata, bambams, fruit loops

 

Raptors Rainbow

 

 

 

AMAZING photos! What gel filters did you get for your camera, Polar? these are awesome.

Wow, those tide pooling photos are cool! It's amazing how low the tides get with all the tunicates on that piling!

 

I love the photos of the nudibranchs especially. I just think they are amazing creatures.

And I see the pink zippers! Mine from you are doing really well. LOVE them.

[Polarcollision]

Very cool!

I'll see if I can get a good shot of the sculpin pools next time I go out. There must be close to 20-30 fish literally on top of each other in the tiny pools sheltered by boulders. The clingfish are pretty cool too.

 

Awesome stuff man. Curious do you have a link to the gel filter you bought?

-Dave

Grab a set of the iphone gels off amazon to get an idea what colors work best for your lighting set up, then you can get larger version for DSLR. Mine came with about 15 different shades and tones. Lee, Rosco, any camera filter place or theatre lighting supply will have the thin gels at larger size.

 

 

AMAZING photos! What gel filters did you get for your camera, Polar? these are awesome.

Wow, those tide pooling photos are cool! It's amazing how low the tides get with all the tunicates on that piling!

 

I love the photos of the nudibranchs especially. I just think they are amazing creatures.

And I see the pink zippers! Mine from you are doing really well. LOVE them.

See above on the gels. it's trial and error since each light is different. basically ambery-orange film gels

 

This was only a -2.7'. Later we can have -4'. sooooo looking forward to that!! Fascinated with nudibranchs. I'd really like to keep pink hearted hydroids and the 3-lined pink nudi some day. It's a frilly nudi like the opalescent, but in white and pink. Cold-water has such brilliant colors once you leave the intertidal zones. :-)

 

Glad they're doing well! They're strong growers, for sure.

[nathenvan]

Amazing tank.

[TeamIM24]

We haven't been on the forum in some time but we hopped on yesterday and saw you won TOTM. Congratulations! As a fellow IM 24 owner we are especially happy for you! Your tank is amazing and my wife is especially interested in your filtration and feeding. You have inspired us to reevaluate what we are doing in our 24. Congrats again!

[Polarcollision]

We haven't been on the forum in some time but we hopped on yesterday and saw you won TOTM. Congratulations! As a fellow IM 24 owner we are especially happy for you! Your tank is amazing and my wife is especially interested in your filtration and feeding. You have inspired us to reevaluate what we are doing in our 24. Congrats again!

 

Hey there! Good to see you around! And also to hear that your 24 is still up and running. Would love to see pics of it! Let me know if I can help with anything - always happy to share what is working for me.

[Polarcollision]

I'm quitting the fight against aptasia and rescaping the reef with new live rock.

 

Here's part of my sketch for the new left side.

 

In the bottom I'd like to try growing a plating monti. BUT only if I can figure out what the secret is to getting it to grow vertically and scroll-like. Is there a species I should be looking for? Lighting? Flow? Input greatly appreciated!!

This is what I want:

[FlowerMama]

I can see why you want them, pretty all spiraling like that. Where you getting your rock from? I loved my Gulf Live Rock order. I'm getting sponges still coming back that had died, like weird flat ones. I have yellow ball sponges, black, hot pink, tan and 3 bivalves & magenta coraline. Just awesomeness.

[Polarcollision]

I can see why you want them, pretty all spiraling like that. Where you getting your rock from? I loved my Gulf Live Rock order. I'm getting sponges still coming back that had died, like weird flat ones. I have yellow ball sponges, black, hot pink, tan and 3 bivalves & magenta coraline. Just awesomeness.

All those things sound awesome. How is the pest situation though? I'm kinda shell-shocked ATM

[FlowerMama]

None. I had no pest. Just limpets & chiton. He doesn't put water in w/ the shipment so there was a tiny mantis but it was dead.. I haven't even had any colonista snails pop up.

[Polarcollision]

None. I had no pest. Just limpets & chiton. He doesn't put water in w/ the shipment so there was a tiny mantis but it was dead.. I haven't even had any colonista snails pop up.

 

When you order from them, do you get to choose the specific rock shapes or sizes? I love the all the goodies that come in on those rocks. Limpets and chitons are the BEST cleanup crew.

 

It looks like there's a montipora granulosa species that makes great growth forms too. Almost forgot how fun it is to dream up an aquarium scape! Looking forward to improving flat areas for better light-fall.

[Felicia]

Sorry to hear about the pest issues. Been there done that and it can be so defeating. I had chronic issues with red planaria in my seahorse tank and it was so sad and frustrating. Hang in there and stay positive! Glad you already have a plan for moving forward.

 

I love the detailed scape sketch! Its great to plan it out in so much detail! I love my live rock from KP Aquatics, but if you're worried about pests, another great option is the Real Reef Rocks. I used those to add to the KPA live rock that I already had when I upgraded to the 40B. Its manmade rock that is colored with purple to look like nice coralline-coated live rock, then they soak it in water long enough to cycle it and make it live. I got about 10 lbs of that from my local store and plopped it right in when I did my tank transfer. It didn't cause a cycle and it matched with my natural rock really well. Now that its had time to mature, you can't tell the difference at all. Its great because its live rock and has a nice color, but comes with absolutely no risk of pests. It can just be a bit pricey. I believe it was like $8 per pound.

[mpad]

I'm quitting the fight against aptasia and rescaping the reef with new live rock.

 

Here's part of my sketch for the new left side.

 

In the bottom I'd like to try growing a plating monti. BUT only if I can figure out what the secret is to getting it to grow vertically and scroll-like. Is there a species I should be looking for? Lighting? Flow? Input greatly appreciated!!

 

This is what I want:

 

Hey, just love your tank + photos.

About the spiraling - fun is, I just read about this in a German forum before I came to this thread 10 min ago.

Consensus for growth pattern was like that:

low flow = vertical + thick (spiral)

high flow = horizontal + thin.

Also placing them low seems to ecourage the vertical growth pattern.

No proof at all, bu maybe that helps.