Rehype Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Congrats boo it looks fantastic! On 1/2/2015 at 11:45 PM, ReeferBoo said: This tank is now a year old! Â And here's a New Year FTS Â Â Apologies for the reflections on the glass Quote Link to comment
ReeferBoo Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Thank you mate! still a long way from the look of your tanks but it's getting here Quote Link to comment
ReeferBoo Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Anniversary photo somehow got lost in photobucket here it is again 8 Quote Link to comment
Weasel Baron Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 looks great! love the rainbow brain 1 Quote Link to comment
ReeferBoo Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 looks great! love the rainbow brain Thank you Weasel Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Beautiful! This has grown into one of my favorite tanks Do you have things attached to the bottom glass, like the GSP? Or do they just go where they want to? 1 Quote Link to comment
kimberbee Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Very pretty clam!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Spenseriana Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Your tank is looking absolutely stunning. Also, could you share some of your rock-scaping expertise? I bought this cardiff a while back and want to do a vertical scape up the back wall. I've never scaped at all, so everything is new to me. Did you cement several pieces together to make your current scape, or did you just look around until you found the shapes you wanted? Do you have a favorite brand of glue? Also, if you could find time (I know I'm being a pain here), would you mind sharing some of your wisdom on your current coral placement? It seems like you have a really good layout, and judging by the coloration of the pieces, everybody in the tank is getting optimal light. Thanks from your novice friend across the seas. Quote Link to comment
ReeferBoo Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Beautiful! This has grown into one of my favorite tanks Do you have things attached to the bottom glass, like the GSP? Or do they just go where they want to? Thank you so much! They're all resting on the sand, the GSP pretty much lays a mat and grows on the sand but it never attaches so I can easily move it around. That bare patch on the front is where the flow from the AC-110 bounces off the bottom of the tank so no matter how much sand I put on it, it's bare again the very next day The plate coral seems to love it though Very pretty clam!! Thank you! It's my latest addition and the current favorite critter Your tank is looking absolutely stunning. Also, could you share some of your rock-scaping expertise? I bought this cardiff a while back and want to do a vertical scape up the back wall. I've never scaped at all, so everything is new to me. Did you cement several pieces together to make your current scape, or did you just look around until you found the shapes you wanted? Do you have a favorite brand of glue? Also, if you could find time (I know I'm being a pain here), would you mind sharing some of your wisdom on your current coral placement? It seems like you have a really good layout, and judging by the coloration of the pieces, everybody in the tank is getting optimal light. Thanks from your novice friend across the seas. Thanks a lot Spenser! I am no expert by any means but I'll try my best to help you out... That looks like an awesome tank! Lots of potential for a tall scape! You could do a pillar of sorts with lots of staggered ledges jutting out around it and I'd suggest that you make it a free standing scape, not touching the back wall, to prevent dead spots and accumulation of detritus where the scape meets the back wall. The shape of your tank would facilitate a really good flow around the scape too, if you put it in the center. I pretty much took a hammer to some pieces of rock and assembled them in a way that they were not only unique and natural looking but also stable and able to handle substantial weight and flow. I used a 2 part epoxy-based putty similar to commercial reef epoxy putty, it's called "selleys aqua knead it". You could also use large scallop shells as shelves by carving a notch on the rock and securing it in place with epoxy. With regards to coral placement, they DIY LEDs that I use on the tank is quite powerful so initial coral placement was based purely on past experiences and research on the different corals' specific light intensity preferences. And even then, it was still mostly observing the corals on how they react to the light and positioning them in areas where their coloration or growth is best. For example, that pink birdsnest in the center started out as yellow but as I gradually moved from a slightly shaded area to it's current place, it shifted to pastel pink, some of the zoas also tend to have smaller more intense coloring but smaller polyps in high light but grow bigger and faster in the shaded areas (like the watermelon zoas under the pulsing xenias on the upper left). One mistake that I made though was to place the rainbow trachyphyllia front and center on the sand ( I mainly wanted it there to showcase its colors), this caused it to lose some of its color so I've now relocated it to a shaded zone on the sand (lower right, where the GSP is on the pic). Sorry for the veeerry long post, but I hope it helps! 2 Quote Link to comment
Spenseriana Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 No need to apologize! That was very helpful for me! I hadn't considered the freestanding scape, and it's something I definitely think I'll try now. Does that epoxy mixture you used cure underwater? I've been thinking about ordering some gulf rock, and this is a concern. And thanks for elaborating on the coral placement. I am nervous/excited about it. I'm obviously a cycle and another soft-cycle away from even putting any coral in the tank, but hearing your experience gives me a better idea of what I'm getting into. A local reefer who is a chemist and works at a LED manufacturer told me a while back that when coral color up, what they're really doing is reflecting radiation that they don't need to photosynthesize and that will harm them if they absorb it. Your coloration vs. growth balance makes sense if what I understood my local reefer friend to be saying is true. Like I said, I'm pretty nervous about frying or starving a coral. I have a cheap light that has great color but isn't intensity-adjustable. I'll have to seek advice on it once I'm at the stocking phase. Anywho, I'm living vicariously through your reef. Keep the photos and the info coming. It really is lovely. All the best. 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Thank you so much! They're all resting on the sand, the GSP pretty much lays a mat and grows on the sand but it never attaches so I can easily move it around. That bare patch on the front is where the flow from the AC-110 bounces off the bottom of the tank so no matter how much sand I put on it, it's bare again the very next day The plate coral seems to love it though Thanks, Boo! That's what mine does too, but my cerith snails keep moving my GSP around and pushing it into other corals. I've never figured out a way to get it to stay put 1 Quote Link to comment
ReeferBoo Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 No need to apologize! That was very helpful for me! I hadn't considered the freestanding scape, and it's something I definitely think I'll try now. Does that epoxy mixture you used cure underwater? I've been thinking about ordering some gulf rock, and this is a concern. And thanks for elaborating on the coral placement. I am nervous/excited about it. I'm obviously a cycle and another soft-cycle away from even putting any coral in the tank, but hearing your experience gives me a better idea of what I'm getting into. A local reefer who is a chemist and works at a LED manufacturer told me a while back that when coral color up, what they're really doing is reflecting radiation that they don't need to photosynthesize and that will harm them if they absorb it. Your coloration vs. growth balance makes sense if what I understood my local reefer friend to be saying is true. Like I said, I'm pretty nervous about frying or starving a coral. I have a cheap light that has great color but isn't intensity-adjustable. I'll have to seek advice on it once I'm at the stocking phase. Anywho, I'm living vicariously through your reef. Keep the photos and the info coming. It really is lovely. All the best. Yup, I've tried different rock-scapes before and aside from the benefits I mentioned earlier, it's just easier to maintain a free standing scape, specially when you're at the early stages of the tank when algae is a pain and you have to resort to manual pruning of the stuff that fish wouldn't eat. Yup, it cures fairly quickly and can even be applied underwater, I've never tried it in a tank with an already established livestock though. You're right! That actually makes sense! haha , I don't know what happened to my trachyphyllia though if that's the premise that we will base it on. I did some reading and there's a lot of people who've had theirs bleach in high light and recover colors in the shade. I guess Trachys are just weird that way. You can always set-up a rig to raise/lower your light even if it's not adjustable, at least you'll have some control over the intensity. Thanks! Ask and you shall receive Here's the hermit doing some housekeeping on the sps ledge Thanks, Boo! That's what mine does too, but my cerith snails keep moving my GSP around and pushing it into other corals. I've never figured out a way to get it to stay put You could position it next to a heavier rock and it'll soon attach to that, or leave a bare spot on the bottom of the tank where you want it and put it there. The GSP will stick to it eventually 1 Quote Link to comment
Rehype Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Wow that clam is a beauty boo! 1 Quote Link to comment
Spenseriana Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 there's a lot of people who've had theirs bleach in high light and recover colors in the shade. I guess Trachys are just weird that way My best guess is that if they're reflecting harmful radiation, white pigmentation would reflect all light wouldn't it, whereas black would be absorbing almost all light? Maybe a bleached trachy is trying to shield itself from a significant amount of light. My local friend also said that coral reflects light back at a slightly different wavelength than what is being directed at it, which is what makes certain corals appear to glow: like they're absorbing light we can't see but reflecting it back at a wavelength we can see. Stunning blend of colors in that photo, btw. 1 Quote Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Nice aquascape and tank! 1 Quote Link to comment
ReeferBoo Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Wow that clam is a beauty boo! She's a stunner alright, Thank you Hype My best guess is that if they're reflecting harmful radiation, white pigmentation would reflect all light wouldn't it, whereas black would be absorbing almost all light? Maybe a bleached trachy is trying to shield itself from a significant amount of light. My local friend also said that coral reflects light back at a slightly different wavelength than what is being directed at it, which is what makes certain corals appear to glow: like they're absorbing light we can't see but reflecting it back at a wavelength we can see. Stunning blend of colors in that photo, btw. That sounds really interesting..and makes a lot of sense. Hopefully what I did would help the trachy regain its colours. Thanks! Yeah, I was about to do a WC and noticed the nice contrast of the hermit's blue on the red monti, so I just had to take a pic Nice aquascape and tank! Cheers man! 2 Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Clam is stunning! congrats on the anniversary the tank is looking very nice. 1 Quote Link to comment
ReeferBoo Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Clam is stunning! congrats on the anniversary the tank is looking very nice. Thank you Kat!, And belated Happy Birthday! 2 Quote Link to comment
ReeferBoo Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Some of the "easier" SPS have been showing good growth ever since I cut back on water changes, go figure 4 Quote Link to comment
Spenseriana Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Oooo, so beautiful. 1 Quote Link to comment
ReeferBoo Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Oooo, so beautiful. Thanks Spenser Quote Link to comment
4x5 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Looking good. Love that clam. 1 Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.