The MacGyver Slinky Dream Tank- Basic New Pics

[debbeach13]

That macro is so pretty. Wish I had some. Where did you get it?

[Weetabix7]

2 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

That macro is so pretty. Wish I had some. Where did you get it?

 

Isn't it???

I got mine from live-plants.com although he's out of it right now. 

Unfortunately, it's one of those plants that's harder to find, tho I think I may have seen smaller pieces of it sold under another name. 

Spotted Rose, maybe?

[RayWhisperer]

8 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

It also has some interesting and unusual growths on it. 

I don't know what this one is, but it looks cool

 

It's a tunicate.

[Lula_Mae]

3 hours ago, RayWhisperer said:

It's a tunicate.

Pretty rad looking tunicate!

[Weetabix7]

 

That pic above is exactly what I saw when I opened up the bag I got in the mail yesterday!!

I was lucky enough to see this thread from @Squared when he was breaking down his tank, and he was nice enough to send me this Cladophora for just the cost of shipping when he broke down his tank: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/383730-c-prolifera-and-h-pannosa-fsfree-lr-fish/

 

 

I was absolutely thrilled to be able to get this cause it was a Macroalgae that I had in my Planted Pico long ago & I figured I'd never find it again. 

I knew from my own experiences that this stuff is a great micro-habitat for Pods & all other kinds of little critters which is something that I also particularly want for this setup. As you can see in the pic above, this one came already loaded with at least 3 Brittlestars & I'm sure there's lots more good critters hiding in there. 

@Squared, please feel free to comment on how it did in your tank, growth patterns, lighting you had it under, etc. 

When I had it before, it came in as a much smaller hitchhiker on some Live Rock. 

This piece is pretty good sized and reminded me of those floating islands in Avatar. 

In fact, I immediately thought of @Mariaface and what she had tried to do with a floating island in her recent tank!!

The texture of this Macro reminds me very much of dense putting green or astroturf. 

Here's another closer-up shot of it:

 

 

 

And here's how it looks farther out in the context of the tank:

 

It's currently on the smaller left side of the tank, which I am in the process of moving the Macro out of so that I can put the Fiji Mud substrate in the bottom. 

That's why it looks a little more basic in there right now. 

I haven't decided for sure yet which side I'll keep the Cladophora on. 

 

Although he doesn't have any available right now, live-plants.com sometimes sells Cladophora here: https://www.live-plants.com/cladophora.htm

I am also pretty sure that this is what KP Aquatics is selling as "toadstools": https://www.kpaquatics.com/product/toadstool-algae/

13 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Pretty rad looking tunicate!

 

Inorite???

I've never seen a tunicate like this before. 

Thx Ray for the ID!!

[Squared]

It was @yoshii who originally gave me the cladophora, but I also ordered some from live-plants and it turned out to be the same thing. Cool stuff

[RayWhisperer]

Oh, that's not really much of an ID. considering there are thousands of different types. Best guess, by shape alone (not a good way to ID) would be a pleated sea squirt. Not much info out there on them. Could also be a sandy sea squirt, I guess.

[ReefWeeds]

I love this! How did I miss it?? 

[Weetabix7]

10 minutes ago, stellablue said:

I love this! How did I miss it?? 

 

I don't know, but I'm so glad you found it!!!!

12 hours ago, RayWhisperer said:

Oh, that's not really much of an ID. considering there are thousands of different types. Best guess, by shape alone (not a good way to ID) would be a pleated sea squirt. Not much info out there on them. Could also be a sandy sea squirt, I guess.

 

Thanks Ray!!

I love finding stuff like that.

[Weetabix7]

Picture time!!!!

Cause you can never have too many tank pics, amirite?? 

 

First up we have a pic of one of only 2 corals that I have in this tank (so far), a Green Sinularia:

 

 

 

This next one is a small "frag" of Portiera Macroalgae that I mounted the other day, may it Live Long, Prosper, and grow much!!

 

 

 

And next a shot of my Lush and Happy Sargassum, one of my favorite Macros out of all that I currently have. 

You can see the larger of my 2 RBTA's that I have behind it. 

 

 

 

[seabass]

Luv the sargassum.

[Weetabix7]

I also have a "FTS" of the larger, right side of the tank to share with you. 

I'm gonna do a little experiment of sorts with this pic though and show you 3 versions of it. 

I constantly have problems with the pics I take under my T5HO lights looking much more "washed out" than what it looks like in real life. 

This leads to me editing them to get them to look closer to the real life versions. 

I noticed something tho. 

The computer I use most of the time is a desktop, but I have to use a laptop to upload the pics, and I noticed that things look much more washed out on the laptop and if I edit pics to look good on that monitor, they look too saturated when I view them from my desktop. 

So, I have 3 versions of the FTS, please feel free to let me know if any of these look too faded or saturated. 

 

Original unedited FTS from the camera:

 

 

 

This next pic looks just right on my laptop but a bit on the bright side on my desktop:

 

 

 

When I look on my desktop, it seems to me that the tank in real life looks somewhere between the pic I just posted above and this one:

 

 

 

Oh, also, I should probably explain the plants in the netting at the top left. 

I improvised that to temporarily hold some of the Macros on the left side of the tank til I can get the Fiji Mud substrate in there, hoping to do that soon. 

[seabass]

I kind of like the unedited version.   The laptop version might be just a little too saturated.  But they all look nice.  The tank is beautiful.

[fishfreak0114]

OMG that sargassum is great!  Doubt I'll ever find any up here, so I'll just have to enjoy yours  I like the unedited and the desktop best.

[Weetabix7]

This Anemone is driving me nuts, over the last few days it has been wandering all over the tank and won't settle down anywhere, and I keep finding it in the weirdest places!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

I've even watched it turn loose and drift in the current, and once I flipped it over when it landed upside down in a large patch of Macro. 

Oy. 

It looks perfectly healthy, I just wish it would pick somewhere and settle. 

At least I've got things pretty well Anemone-proofed in there. 

13 minutes ago, fishfreak0114 said:

OMG that sargassum is great!  Doubt I'll ever find any up here, so I'll just have to enjoy yours  I like the unedited and the desktop best.

 

Thanks!!

I'll just have to bring you some when I sneak over the border to visit you. 

[Sharbuckle]

Whoa. Just stumbling onto this now! What a wicked start. Love all the macros. 

 

I just filled up my fuge today. I really appreciate the mounting of macros info you shared. Thanks  it will come in handy. 

[Weetabix7]

23 minutes ago, Sharbuckle said:

Whoa. Just stumbling onto this now! What a wicked start. Love all the macros. 

 

I just filled up my fuge today. I really appreciate the mounting of macros info you shared. Thanks  it will come in handy. 

 

You're welcome, glad I could help!!

If you ever have questions, feel free to ask. 

I haven't commented on your questions about plumbing your fuge to your tank cause I'm horrible at that kinda stuff. 

[Sharbuckle]

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

You're welcome, glad I could help!!

If you ever have questions, feel free to ask. 

I haven't commented on your questions about plumbing your fuge to your tank cause I'm horrible at that kinda stuff. 

Haha it's all good. I figured it out  

[Weetabix7]

I am still somewhat fine-tuning the lighting schedules for each side of this tank, and last night I ran the right side with a second "shift" of lights on during the late night/early morning hours with only 2 of the T5 bulbs. 

This meant that it was lit when I came out this morning, but with just 2 of the bulbs, and took a pic of it to show the difference, as compared to how it looks under 4 bulbs. 

Here it is this morning, under just an ATI Coral+ & a Giesemann Midday 6500k bulb:

 

 

As you can see, it really brings out yellow/brown and pink/purple/red colors. 

I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for a Reef Setting, but I kinda like it over a Macro tank. 

In contrast, here's how it looked yesterday under 2 ATI Blue+ bulbs, plus the Coral+ and Giesemann Midday from the pic above:

 

 

[Thunder Goose]

I like the more saturated pictures (on an iPad) but I'm a big color person, no pastels for me!

 

love a lot of these macros. How often do you have to prune?

[seabass]

58 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

Here it is this morning, under just an ATI Coral+ & a Giesemann Midday 6500k bulb:

Disregarding any impact on growth, I like that look for pictures.

[Weetabix7]

1 hour ago, Thunder Goose said:

I like the more saturated pictures (on an iPad) but I'm a big color person, no pastels for me!

 

love a lot of these macros. How often do you have to prune?

 

Thx!!

When I prune, I sell!! 

The amount of pruning depends on the Macro. 

It seems to me that usually the green Macros grow the fastest, with the red Macros growing at a steady "mediumish" rate, and of course the more rare Macros tend to grow on the slow side. 

It will also depend on the amount of nutrients they get and the lighting.

1 hour ago, seabass said:

Disregarding any impact on growth, I like that look for pictures.

 

I could see this working over a 20 long tank in a 2 bulb fixture. 

I like the look over the Macro tank, probably wouldn't like it as much over corals. 

Corals fluoresce and Macros don't, so lights in the blue spectrum enhance corals more than they do Macros. 

Those Blue+ bulbs do put out decent PAR though.

[teenyreef]

This is quickly turning into a fantastic macro tank!

 

As far as the pictures go, I don't think I would have noticed a difference between the two processed versions, but I'm looking at them on my cell. For me, I just edit on my desktop since it has the biggest and most color-accurate display. I figure the pics will be viewed on many different displays so I just don't worry about whether it looks right anywhere else 

[Weetabix7]

54 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

This is quickly turning into a fantastic macro tank!

 

As far as the pictures go, I don't think I would have noticed a difference between the two processed versions, but I'm looking at them on my cell. For me, I just edit on my desktop since it has the biggest and most color-accurate display. I figure the pics will be viewed on many different displays so I just don't worry about whether it looks right anywhere else 

 

Thank You !!!!!!!!!! 

[Lula_Mae]

On 8/4/2017 at 5:24 PM, Weetabix7 said:

Picture time!!!!

Cause you can never have too many tank pics, amirite?? 

 

First up we have a pic of one of only 2 corals that I have in this tank (so far), a Green Sinularia:

 

 

 

This next one is a small "frag" of Portiera Macroalgae that I mounted the other day, may it Live Long, Prosper, and grow much!!

 

 

 

And next a shot of my Lush and Happy Sargassum, one of my favorite Macros out of all that I currently have. 

You can see the larger of my 2 RBTA's that I have behind it. 

 

 

 

Your sargassum!

 

The macro in the middle of the tank, left of the BTAs--is that galaxaura?  Or a branching coralline?

 

I like the unedited pics too.  I have also found my laptop to be very bright/light as far as how pics look on it.

 

The tank looks so awesome!