Weetie's Zen Learning Experiment, Random Stuff

[natalia_la_loca]

Coralline algae starter cultures would be kind of neat.  I would consider trying to seed some in my reefbowl, as it has no coralline algae at all.  But when it's come in on frags, it just disappears.  I theorize that my relatively large (for this system) snails are eating it, but I don't know.  I would think there is enough calcium and trace elements for coralline to grow, given how much SPS and LPS growth I have.

[Weetabix7]

1 minute ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Coralline algae starter cultures would be kind of neat.  I would consider trying to seed some in my reefbowl, as it has no coralline algae at all.  But when it's come in on frags, it just disappears.  I theorize that my relatively large (for this system) snails are eating it, but I don't know.  I would think there is enough calcium and trace elements for coralline to grow, given how much SPS and LPS growth I have.

 

Huh, that's interesting!!

I would think that you have enough calcium and trace elements as well. 

 

I'm gonna try to get a pic up of the coralline on my tank glass, just to show how much there really is. 

One of the cool things about this tank is that in the entire year+ I've had it set up, in spite of the fact that I've done very minimal maintenance, I have never once had pest algae of any kind. No hair algae, no bryopsis, no cyano, no film. 

Just the normal green algae you get on the glass if you don't clean it and coralline, it's pretty nice. 

And since it's a barebottom tank, there's a decent bit of coralline carpeting on the bottom as well. 

[natalia_la_loca]

That's really cool. I could see from your top-down pic on Sunday that you have loads of coralline

[Weetabix7]

12 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

That's really cool. I could see from your top-down pic on Sunday that you have loads of coralline

 

Yes!!!

Here's a pic of one of the side panes I need to scrape off:

 

[Weetabix7]

Ok, so I got my package with algae scrubber and bulb and have realized a couple of things. 

1.) Getting the glass clean on this thing is something that is gonna happen in stages. 

 I put alotta elbow grease into it and managed to clean off just a small area on the front pane, a porthole, if you will. 

Normally, when you clean the glass somewhat regularly, you just get a light film of green algae on the glass in between. Well, it turns out that       when you don't clean glass for several months, it's just a leeeeetle bit different.  

In addition to the circles of coralline (which are actually kinda pretty, depending on your perspective), the green algae is deposited in tiny little hard dots all over the glass. 

You gotta really WORK to get 'em off. 

So.... this tank is gonna have the Super Natural Look for a bit, lol. 

 

2.) I am gonna need to learn how to edit pics to get them to look just as nice as the tank looks in real life. Cause it's actually looking really pretty right now, I feel like I have a Real Reef again!! 

I messed with the following pic a little bit in a Photobucket editor, but it does still look prettier than this in real life. The Maxi Mini and corals on the right in particular look much more intense in their coloration IRL. I'll get better!!

 

Here's the best pic I have so far:

 

[wimby]

Why not try an old credit card to clean the glass?  And when people come by to get corals and such They always ask for coraline scrapings  LOL  

[natalia_la_loca]

Have you tried a razor blade? That's the only thing that's really worked on thick coralline for me.

 

re: photo editing...I love Snapseed. Is this closer to what the tank looks like in real life?

 

[Weetabix7]

5 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Have you tried a razor blade? That's the only thing that's really worked on thick coralline for me.

 

re: photo editing...I love Snapseed. Is this closer to what the tank looks like in real life?

 

 

It's better, yes!! The colors on the 2 coral frags on the front right are still more intense, but that's an improvement.

I looked at snapseed briefly, but it looked like it was harder to use on a PC. I plan on checking it out further tho after reading of your experience with it. 

 

Believe it or not, the tank also looks less "messy" in real life. I guess maybe it's cause of what I focus on, but in pics it just picks up everything, of course!!

I honestly forgot I had stuff setting behind the tank and no tank background. 

 

Hey folks, the truth is that with me you get "Real Life Reefing", just as messy as real life!!

[natalia_la_loca]

I use the iPhone version of Snapseed. It may be more intuitive than the desktop version, which I've never used.

 

Messy? All I see are happy corals and a cute fish Beyond that, there are lots of tricks for drawing focus away from the background, like cropping, lens blur, and vignette effects.

[Weetabix7]

1 minute ago, natalia_la_loca said:

I use the iPhone version of Snapseed. It may be more intuitive than the desktop version, which I've never used.

 

Messy? All I see are happy corals and a cute fish Beyond that, there are lots of tricks for drawing focus away from the background, like cropping, lens blur, and vignette effects.

 

 

 

Those pics were taken with a camera and uploaded on a PC. 

I don't have an iPhone, I have an LG smartphone, and the pics from my camera are better than the pics from my phone, so far. 

I actually still haven't figured out how to post pics from my phone on here, lol. 

I'm still looking into snapseed to find a way I can use it. 

Thx much for the help, greatly appreciated. 

[TinyOcean]

Ok I just love this! The coralline looks like patterns that were purposely put there and it just looks super cool! Your corals really pop! I'm stealing for my phone background haha!

[Weetabix7]

9 minutes ago, TinyOcean said:

Ok I just love this! The coralline looks like patterns that were purposely put there and it just looks super cool! Your corals really pop! I'm stealing for my phone background haha!

 

You just made my night. 

[Christopher Marks]

The cheetah spot coraline algae really is pretty neat! I've always been fascinated when things in reef tanks grow against the glass, it's a unique perspective.

 

Since it's a glass tank, I'd use a razor blade to clean the glass, just be sure to very carefully wash the mineral oil off the razor blade first using dish or hand soap. Most any hardware store should sell plastic safety handles you could use for better leverage as well.

[Militant Jurist]

The frogspawn and that nem look great! Does your rfa move around much?

[Christopher Marks]

While you're working on your photos, I thought I'd share this article that Jeremai wrote  

 

[Weetabix7]

7 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

The cheetah spot coraline algae really is pretty neat! I've always been fascinated when things in reef tanks grow against the glass, it's a unique perspective.

 

Since it's a glass tank, I'd use a razor blade to clean the glass, just be sure to very carefully wash the mineral oil off the razor blade first using dish or hand soap. Most any hardware store should sell plastic safety handles you could use for better leverage as well.

 

Thx!!

Yeah, it's looking like I do need to get a razor. 

Just now, Christopher Marks said:

While you're working on your photos, I thought I'd share this article that Jeremai wrote  

 

 

I'd forgotten about that, thx for sharing!!!

I miss him. 

 

On a totally different note, when are you gonna add a Zombie Emoticon?? 

I'm pretty sure we need one for all the BRAAAAIIIINNNS, between tinyocean's Brain coming back from the Dead and the Brain Corals I wanna add in here. 

[Weetabix7]

5 minutes ago, Militant Jurist said:

The frogspawn and that nem look great! Does your rfa move around much?

 

I have only had the RFA for a few days, but it hasn't moved at all in that time. 

I kept it on a very small piece of LR overnight in a cup for the first night. It attached to the rock overnight and has stayed on it. 

 

[Militant Jurist]

The one I have doesn't move much at all, but I wondered if it was unusual. The person I got it off of had it walk around when his light system was on the fritz, and ended up with a dozen new nems!

[Lula_Mae]

4 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

Ok, so I got my package with algae scrubber and bulb and have realized a couple of things. 

1.) Getting the glass clean on this thing is something that is gonna happen in stages. 

 I put alotta elbow grease into it and managed to clean off just a small area on the front pane, a porthole, if you will. 

Normally, when you clean the glass somewhat regularly, you just get a light film of green algae on the glass in between. Well, it turns out that       when you don't clean glass for several months, it's just a leeeeetle bit different.  

In addition to the circles of coralline (which are actually kinda pretty, depending on your perspective), the green algae is deposited in tiny little hard dots all over the glass. 

You gotta really WORK to get 'em off. 

So.... this tank is gonna have the Super Natural Look for a bit, lol. 

 

2.) I am gonna need to learn how to edit pics to get them to look just as nice as the tank looks in real life. Cause it's actually looking really pretty right now, I feel like I have a Real Reef again!! 

I messed with the following pic a little bit in a Photobucket editor, but it does still look prettier than this in real life. The Maxi Mini and corals on the right in particular look much more intense in their coloration IRL. I'll get better!!

 

Here's the best pic I have so far:

 

That damsel is so cute!!

 

I'm just throwing this out there since I've never tried it myself, but I wonder if Brandon's method of wiping the glass (when the tank is drained for a water change) with a paper towel soaked in peroxide might help with the algae?  Might have to take other stuff out of the tank which might make it more of a pain than it's worth lol.  Just spitballin'.  Maybe you can work on the front pane first and then slowly tackle the sides.

[Justind823]

Good to see you back around town! Tank is looking great already.

 

What kind of damsel is that in there?

 

 

[gena]

11 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

One of the cool things about this tank is that in the entire year+ I've had it set up, in spite of the fact that I've done very minimal maintenance, I have never once had pest algae of any kind. No hair algae, no bryopsis, no cyano, no film. 

Just the normal green algae you get on the glass if you don't clean it and coralline, it's pretty nice. 

And since it's a barebottom tank, there's a decent bit of coralline carpeting on the bottom as well. 

Maybe the key is betta food .

[Weetabix7]

1 hour ago, Justind823 said:

Good to see you back around town! Tank is looking great already.

 

What kind of damsel is that in there?

 

And how did you get that much coralline in there already? Isn't this tank super new??

 

It's nice to be back!!

 

I think the LFS sold it as a Black and Gold Chromis or something like that. 

 

This tank has actually been set up for something like a year, but I did almost nothing with it. If it were possible to ignore a tank and keep it alive, I did that. 

Surprisingly, it has been pretty stable, with no bad outbreaks of any kind. 

Unless you count rampant Coralline overgrowth, lol. 

Mebbe my lack of messing with it actually helped. 

 

At any rate, when I decided I wanted to "get back in the game", I started with what I had, which is this little tank. 

I did Water Changes and some clean up, and added 3 frags and a Rock Flower Anemone this last Sunday. 

I don't know yet where I'll end up (although I have a couple of ideas), I'm just taking it one step at a time. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

49 minutes ago, gena said:

Maybe the key is betta food .

 

Oh my goodness, maybe that's been the secret all along!!!!!! 

 

Funny thing is, I still feed the Damsel betta food, although I now supplement with frozen Mysis. 

[Militant Jurist]

2 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

Oh my goodness, maybe that's been the secret all along!!!!!! 

 

Sounds like you should repackage it as Weetie's Magic Food!

[Lula_Mae]

51 minutes ago, gena said:

Maybe the key is betta food .

 

2 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

Oh my goodness, maybe that's been the secret all along!!!!!! 

 

You could bottle it up and sell it as Weetie's Secret Supplement--guaranteed to grow great coralline even where you don't want it!

Just now, Militant Jurist said:

 

Sounds like you should repackage it as Weetie's Magic Food!

Jinx!  Kinda...lol

[Weetabix7]

5 years down the road....... 

 

Serious newscaster voice over.....

 

"Little did this inventive Reefkeeper know that her secret formula based on Betta Food would change her life forever...."