Blenwood's Reef - 1st attempts at focus stacking

[Cannedfish]

On 8/27/2018 at 8:41 PM, tanacharison said:

I have the icecap k2 on the cube and hate it. Maybe the updated one is better but that gate valve falls off for no reason and the air line disconnects from the pump if you pull the lid off to fast. Also assembly screws are plastic not titanium.. I’ve snapped 2 while deep cleaning.

I really appreciate the input! I had high hope for this skimmer, but it seem these aspirations were unfounded. This mirrors what people have said on IG, unfortunately most everything I’ve heard about this skimmer has been from schmucks. I’m not trying to say anything bad about Instagram reef tanks some of them are beautiful, but there is a large contingent of overly confident accounts that in all honesty don’t seem to have the skills to back up there aggressive opinions. But I think you experience backs up what I’ve heard so to you our new national slogan, Icecap K2, “you’re fired!”

 

23 hours ago, teenyreef said:

The Eshoppes Nano works, but I don't think it's the best possible skimmer for this tank. I had high hopes for the Icecap, but sounds like it turned out to be crappy. And the Aquamax looks too much like the IM Ghost with the square body, which scares me. But Aquamaxx skimmers generally have a good reputation, so I think you should try it and let us know how it works 

 

PS: I'm glad your tank didn't STN and die on you. Now just don't bleach everything with the new tanning bed setting. Oh, and we're still waiting for the tragic conclusion of the story of the two chickens...

 

ON SKIMMERS: Hmmm, I may just jump the shark and go with the Aquamaxx... for research and posterity purposes. When it fails, I’m obviously going to deny culpability, claim it all a fish hunt, and denounce all y’all, preferably on cable news! FIN NEWS!

 

ON STN: Honestly, I think the leading cause of the STN at this point was my salinity levels. I don’t think I’m out of the woods yet, but I’ve been burning llama fetuses just in case!

 

ON SAND BAGGERY: When it comes to this frag contest, I'm still not convinced you haven’t been sand bagging all this time and are going to show up the last minute with a four foot frag and in your best Jersey guido voice mutter, “yooo, eh, I’m a grower not a shower!” And the promptly grab a handful of some little girl’s birthday cake, kiss her mother on the mouth, and drive away in your slightly rustly and non-registered 1989 Camero IROC—Z. Yeah, pretty much nailed that metaphor. 

 

CHICKENS: don’t worry it coming and the story only gets weirder. 

 

9 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Wow two AI Primes, nice! Good call on borrowing the PAR meter, even at those rates 😄 

 

Do you have any photos of the new aluminum mounting bracket you created for them?

Absolutely! I’ll try to post a write-up on it tomorrow. After Teeny got me all hot and bothered about Guido’s and IROC-Z’s, I ran out of juice (ironic, I know!).

 

———

 

Bad photos!!

 

 

[Cannedfish]

On 8/28/2018 at 12:29 PM, Christopher Marks said:

Wow two AI Primes, nice! Good call on borrowing the PAR meter, even at those rates 😄 

 

Do you have any photos of the new aluminum mounting bracket you created for them?

 

Here's a brief summary of how I mounted the duel AI Primes over my tank. I probably should have documented the process and made a short video, but the the temperature in workshop was hovering around Hades and well maybe next time. Overall I think the bracket is a success: it is much much sturdier than the AI flex arm, does not take up space in the AIO sump, is very clean looking (hides cords), the mount arm is adjustable, and the swivel brackets allow for independent control of each Prime.  Most importantly, adding the second Prime will allow for a significant increase in PAR and reduction in shading. The bracket consist of the following components (I have hyperlinked some of the materials to give you a better idea what they are): 

 

Materials:

2 - camera/flash swivel mounts

2- M5 threaded rods

1- 10" camera flash mounting bracket

1- M5 hex bolt

1 - 3/8" aluminum rod (2" length)

1 - 3/4" aluminum angle bar (only need  about 3")

2- 3/8" rubber grommets (I bought these at Lowes for like a $1)

4- regular screws (whatever you want to use to attach to wall... dealers choice)

- Black Spray paint

- zip ties

-super glue

 

Tools:

- Drill

- Hack saw

- M5 tap

- some sort of vice (I just used a series of precarious clamps)

 

Step 1: Modifying the swivel mounts:

— Camera mounting systems work using 1/4" hardware, unfortunately the screw at the base of the Prime is a metric M5. Therefore I had to cut of the 1/4" male screw on the mount, drill a hole and glue in a M5 bolt. Originally I wanted to tap the ball joint, but the ball is made of awful metal and I would not work. Instead I just drilled a slightly larger hole than need and relied on super glue. 

Step 2: mounting swivel mounts to mounting bracket extension bar

—This step is pretty much self explanatory  

—I then attached the lights to the swivel mounts (and mounting bracket extension bar in order to see how far the mounting arm would need to extend from the wall)

 

Step 3: making the mounting arm wall brackets:

—Cut two 3/4" inch sections of aluminum angle

—In each section drill a 3/8"  hole for the rubber grommet (will hold mounting arm) and two smaller holes to screw to wall. I also used an angle grinder to round off the corners

—Spray paint the bracket black after drying insert the rubber grommets

 

  

 

Step 3: making the mounting arm 

—after having mounted the lights to the swivel mounts and extension bracket I held them where I wanted them over the tank and measured the distance to the wall (it was something like 10" in my case). I then added 8" to this length and cut the aluminum rod (the extra length will be mounted to the wall, I wanted extra so I could adust the light up and down)

—Next drill a pilot hole in the end of the rod, and using the M5 tap, tap the hole. (you will be bolting this to a hole in the center of the mounting bracket extension so you don't have to use an M5 tap, but I thought if I every wanted to attach a single Prime to the bracket (ie two lights didn't work) I wouldn't have to make a new mounting arm)

—After this tapped bend the rod 90 degrees at the mounting distance measurement (as aforementioned it was 10" for me). I used a blow torch to heat the rod in order to make it easier but you don't have to. 

— Spray paint the mounting arm black

 

Step 3: Install

—Attach the two mounting arm brackets to the wall several inches below where you want the light (just in case you ever want to lower it), I spaced them about three inches apart. 

— Slide the mounting arm through the two brackets (it should be a tight fit)

— Attach the light swivel and extension arm bracket to the mounting arm using an M5 hex bolt or similar. 

—Zip tie and otherwise hide the wires

 

I'm pretty sure this write-up is at best confusing and at worst completely useless but I hope it helps. Here are some pictures of the light and mount in attempts to aid any misunderstandings. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. 

 

 

 

 

Swivel mount and mounting bracket extension

 

Mounting Arm (sorry I hung the picture and can't get it off)

 

Terrible wall mount picture

 

Light from the front

 

Swivel mount

 

How the mounting arm attaches to the swivel mount extension bracket via M5 hex nut

 

 

[TatorTaco]

What are those polyps at the bottom right of the tank in the July 18 picture (page18)?  They disappeared in August 18 picture.  I believe I have one too and I don't have a clue what in the world it is, so I just leave it alone in case it's cursed. 

[Cannedfish]

16 hours ago, TatorTaco said:

What are those polyps at the bottom right of the tank in the July 18 picture (page18)?  They disappeared in August 18 picture.  I believe I have one too and I don't have a clue what in the world it is, so I just leave it alone in case it's cursed. 

Green and yellow? I think you are referring to some zoas that reside on unloved zoa island in the back right corner. I am sure they have some sort of trade name, but for the life of me I can't remember what they are. 

[TatorTaco]

8 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

Green and yellow? I think you are referring to some zoas that reside on unloved zoa island in the back right corner. I am sure they have some sort of trade name, but for the life of me I can't remember what they are. 

I was given a freebie at a LFS that he called a button polyp. Thought it looked similar to what you had.  Seems to enjoy sticking itself to the tank bottom in the middle of the sand.  Was just curious if we had the same thing or not.  

[Cannedfish]

13 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

I was given a freebie at a LFS that he called a button polyp. Thought it looked similar to what you had.  Seems to enjoy sticking itself to the tank bottom in the middle of the sand.  Was just curious if we had the same thing or not.  

Sorry, I was way off! No, that weird little creeper is definitely not a zoa! It is a walking dendro, which I refer to as a worm powered duncan. The reason it wasn't in the other photo is that it moves around. Seriously one of the goofiest things in the ocean if you asked me. 

[DaveFason]

Great DIY work. You should share with AI. 

 

Tank looks wonderful. Watch the meteor shower as it can grow quickly. 

 

-Dave

[Cannedfish]

2 hours ago, DaveFason said:

Great DIY work. You should share with AI. 

 

Tank looks wonderful. Watch the meteor shower as it can grow quickly. 

 

-Dave

Thanks Dave! Alway appreciate the love! I’ll shoot AI an email, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else do this yet, so they may find it interesting.

 

Yeah, unlike wearing a one-piece ski suit after a hearty lunch of chili and prune juice, that cyphastrea is definitely a problem! It has particularly enjoyed stinging the WWC Plum Passion acro, however, has definitely gotten its comeuppance in other parts of the tank, most notably from the unusual but dynamic WWE reigning coral tag-team champion of the tank: *Vince McMahon voice* Chalice.... and... Pectinia!!!!  Looking back, gluing the meteor shower to the main rock is squarely my third biggest regret of my build thus, which in order are:

 

1. Terrible rock scape

2. Blue Clove Polyps

3. Cyphastrea on rock

4. Not buying Amazon stock in 2000

 

Anyways, next time you wander down yonder, bring your fly rod and hit me up. Our flatboat not only has a mud motor but also a sight fishing platform, so we’re now able chase bull reds deep into the swamp!!

 

————

 

As always, less than great photos:

 

This weirdo:

 

My buddy with a small red: 

 

Right side under blues:

 

Digi:

[FISHnChix]

35 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

Yeah, unlike wearing a one-piece ski suit after a hearty lunch of chili and prune juice, that cyphastrea is definitely a problem

Man I love that coral. I think Dave has one in his tank too. I was making a coral wish list and was going to ask Dave what that coral was called. Funny I ran across this post today and noticed his comment. when I realized that you both had the same coral a quick Google search and bam I have my mystery coral..😋

[Cannedfish]

On 8/31/2018 at 11:39 AM, Weikel said:

Man I love that coral. I think Dave has one in his tank too. I was making a coral wish list and was going to ask Dave what that coral was called. Funny I ran across this post today and noticed his comment. when I realized that you both had the same coral a quick Google search and bam I have my mystery coral..😋

Cyphastrea  are definitely a cool looking coral, and come in some pretty great color combinations. I really like the skittles bomb and WWC Peppermint varieties. While on one hand they look great, however, in the other hand, they are a bit like the hot bi-polar girlfriend you met met at a seedy bar in Tampa. Sure, most of time she’s really fun and looks amazing in cut off jean short (obviously, this overly drawn-out hypothetical analogy happens in Florida... because, Florida), but she also has the scary crazy side, which at some point will accuse you of cheating because you had dinner with your mom at Shoney’s and forgot to tell her. In this case, obviously she writes “cheater” with your house key down the side of your 1989 Camero IROC-Z, pees in the drivers seat, and smashes the windshield. Yeah, that’s kinda like cyphastrea. Put it on your main rock, and it begins growing like a weed and nukes everything in its path, and unfortunately, like McKenzie-Lynne it’s difficult to control. So I would suggest: 1) staying away from girls from Tampa, 2) isolating it on its own rock. Better yet, put in one of those nude girls statues like WWC (or someone) did and really juice the Florida essence. Mmm, I can almost smell the gold chains and crab claws...

 

———-

 

Pictures, to wash the sunshine state off of you... btw... GO GATORS!!

 

Toxic Monti up close:

 

Terrible picture of the Walt Disney (much brighter in person):

 

Tank under 11K:

[Cannedfish]

A few new pictures to kick off this shorten week, as the gulf coast stares down our first hurricane of the season...

 

Cali tort:

 

Walking dendro:

 

Blenwood:

 

A booger of Walt Disney:

 

SC Orange Passion:

[FISHnChix]

Looking good! How is the contest frag doing?

[Cannedfish]

8 hours ago, Weikel said:

Looking good! How is the contest frag doing?

Thanks!! Friday (when I take progress pics) I’ll post a progression update!

 

That leads me to this tenuously related tangent: The contest frag was looking terrible for a couple weeks but it has bounced back and recently it has looking remarkably well. I think it has something to do with fixing my salinity issues and adding the second light. What’s odd is over the last two-plus months my alk has been been holding pretty stable between 7.8 and 8.3 while doing  four ml of two-part per day. When I checked my alk two days ago it had dropped to 6.5. I upped the dose by another ml, and check again today and while my alk hadn’t dropped it hadn’t really risen either. I say this odd, but I don’t think that it really is... Since upping the light coverage and PAR, I have significantly better PE and color amongst my acros, which I believe is also resulting in increased growth leading to the drop in alk. It’s only been a week or so and I’m still running the lights at a reduced level but things so far have been promising. 

 

Overhead shot:

 

[Cannedfish]

Some pictures for Thursday:

 

 

Blen-$$:

 

Still unknown frag:

 

Pedersons Shrimp:

[Christopher Marks]

Killer shots as always @Cannedfish! That's great to see all the SPS responding so well to the second light, the colors are so vivid! I think you're right about the increased growth dropping your alkalinity, @markalot sure knows a lot about that!

On 9/3/2018 at 5:06 AM, Cannedfish said:

Toxic Monti up close:

😵

[TatorTaco]

@Cannedfish are you still happy with your spinstream?  Seems like 50% of the reviews are folks fussing about the noise.  Is yours quiet? 

[Cannedfish]

Welcome to hypebeast... 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

44 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

Welcome to hypebeast... 

 

 

 

 

Fancy! 

[mitten_reef]

On 9/6/2018 at 9:52 AM, Cannedfish said:

 

Looks like you’re about to lose that miniature acro frag on the right, getting covered/smothered by the big green one. 

52 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

Welcome to hypebeast... 

 

 

 

Well, some might say, go big or go home. In this case, go little or go broke. 

[Cannedfish]

21 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

Looks like you’re about to lose that miniature acro frag on the right, getting covered/smothered by the big green one. 

Yep, that is the allegedly RMG

Gila Monster devouring the Bali Shortcake. The BSC had all the chances in the world, best placement, good flow, private school and much like me

did nothing with with it. Therefore much like the harsh reality of adulthood I’m letting nature take its course. If it can’t  pay rent, get eaten by a better acro. Life, man. 

21 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

Well, some might say, go big or go home. In this case, go little or go broke. 

Or in this case:

 

Go little AND go broke. 

[spectra]

1 hour ago, Cannedfish said:

Welcome to hypebeast... 

 

 

 

 

Booger bounce ?

 

It will grow it just takes time........what are they going for now if you dont mind saying.

 

I picked this one up a year ago or so.......and it was close to your.

[Cannedfish]

Wha wha we wha! If I could get that I would be elated! That thing looks magical! To be honest, I have thought bounces to be really dumb and overrated, but seeing this one in person in the tank I kinda get it... and that’s

saying something since I have snot rockets bigger than this thing. 

[mitten_reef]

40 minutes ago, spectra said:

 

Booger bounce ?

 

It will grow it just takes time........what are they going for now if you dont mind saying.

 

I picked this one up a year ago or so.......and it was close to your.

Dammit @spectra!  Stop hanging out in the lounge so damn much and post some pics on your journal/thread. I’d follow that shit, and I don’t follow many ppl.

Every f-ing time u dropped a photo, it’s the bomb!  Good stuff man. 

[spectra]

26 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

Dammit @spectra!  Stop hanging out in the lounge so damn much and post some pics on your journal/thread. I’d follow that shit, and I don’t follow many ppl.

Every f-ing time u dropped a photo, it’s the bomb!  Good stuff man. 

I do every so often.........and yes most of them are in the lounge

[Cannedfish]

As mentioned earlier this weekend (and surprising, even to me, that I'm coming through), here are some progression pics of the contest frag. For those who haven’t followed along, this is the acro growing contest sponsored by @Cultivated Reef,where the goal is to see which reefer can grow a frag of Upscales Microlados the most over a six month period. The contest started in March and ends (I think) September 30, so we are really in the home stretch. Overall, the contest has been a really good time and it’s been quite interesting to watch how identical frags develop in different systems. Maybe, we can hoodwink @Cultivated Reef into sponsoring another contest/. If so, I highly recommend everyone join! Also, I have to plug Cultivated Reef for delivering great contest frags. I also got a piece of their Oregon Tort and it’s doing fantastic (I would add a picture but like moron I put it in a place that’s near impossible to take quality photos of). So if you are looking to buy corals online, @Cultivated Reef is great. Alright plug over. 

 

To summarize my grow-out experience thus far in phases: 1. Brown turd 2. Brown-green turd 3. Shocking growth!!! 4. STN & anxiety 5. Color! Yup, that pretty much sums it up. So here are several progression pictures over the months. If this contest has taught me anything, it’s that it’s super fun to look at coral growth over time, and that you should make it a habit of taking pictures of corals from the same angle; it will shock you how much they grow! I have also started to do this with a Walt Disney Frag (which I have added picture of as well):

 

Bon appetite! (holy good god, was the lack of proofreading above painful, I need to stop writing these things on my phone whilst on the treadmill at the gym... yikes)