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Blenwood's Reef - 1st attempts at focus stacking


Cannedfish

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Cannedfish

Some quick and deliciously mediocre pictures ahead of tomorrow’s monthly update. 
 

Blenwood, First of his Name...

31AA1831-D74A-4E6D-BD0D-38B2239022F6.jpeg

 

Starting to get its encrust on!

6D302E12-7C85-4E4F-8991-CA878D9B50E4.jpeg

 

After Party...

7E06DA47-5EA9-40A3-A608-0263D239C030.jpeg

 

This thing is sooo pink (picture taken with DSLR without gel filter)

1FB96C46-E60F-4A0A-BB45-B1EEFE6220E1.jpeg

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Cannedfish

Welp, it's that time again! National Throw Ham into the Garbage Disposal Day! Monthly reef tank update time! That's right folk, like the rebel I pretend to be I do mine on the 13th!

 

What a month it has been... if you enjoy justifying drinking excessively in your back yard on the quarantine...Or like having nothing to do but tank maintenance. That being said, what has changed in the last thirty days? Turns out a bunch:

 

1) I have grown the longest and grossest beard of my life. It's a weird feeling stumbling into the bathroom, all groggy (from a long night of drinking excessively in the back yard fighting crime) in the morning and not recognizing yourself. After all the all-nighters I pulled in "college" while studying, I'm pretty sure I'm well down the road towards dementia-ville, and the last month has really given me a taste of what my twilight years will be like;

 

2) I put the 2 part doser back online, and have been religiously testing alkalinity every morning (right after figuring out who was staring back at me in the mirror). I even got a green notebook to record the numbers in, because Steve from Blue's Clues is and always will be my idol. I'm now up to dosing 10ml of two part (a & b combined) a day.;

 

3) I shuffled a basket full of biscuits worth of things around, including: a) ripping up and reorganizing the acan garden, b) moved a balonphyllia, a moti setosa, and blasto colony, c) moved the birdsnest to its historical home, c) got rid of the dull trachy in the front of the tank, d) transplanted a zoa colony from the dumpster tank to the big league tank. For extra credit I did a rip clean of the rear chamber and scrubbed all the equipment;

 

4) I added a few new corals, since like the sociopath I pretend I'm not, I like lists, so here is a l• Vivid's Confetti

• RMF's Diabo

• CF's Booger Sugar (I also named it, so that's double points)

• WWC After Party

• Ulton Favia

 (and the fantastic corals that arrived today from the venerable @mitten_reef, that I will do a write-up on tomorrow):

• Green tipped black sun coral (that I am honestly, to an unhealthy degree, in love with)

• the @mitten_reef yellow acro... he needs to come up with a better name... suggestion: Booger Sugar Yellow Snow

• Unknown Indo that has the potential to be insane

• JF Fire Dragon Acro (I'm really excited about this acro)

 

That's a rather quick and painless month's summary. Anyways here's the FTS (taken in relatively low K lighting):

 

May 2020:

977957387_FTSMay.thumb.jpg.a7d966b6117c397594d30690afdcb26d.jpg

 

April 2020:

421FEC0B-5A0F-42B0-A1D5-EB9E15CA661C.jpeg

 

 

 

 

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mitten_reef
20 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

Welp, it's that time again! National Throw Ham into the Garbage Disposal Day! Monthly reef tank update time! That's right folk, like the rebel I pretend to be I do mine on the 13th!

 

What a month it has been... if you enjoy justifying drinking excessively in your back yard on the quarantine...Or like having nothing to do but tank maintenance. That being said, what has changed in the last thirty days? Turns out a bunch:

 

1) I have grown the longest and grossest beard of my life. It's a weird feeling stumbling into the bathroom, all groggy (from a long night of drinking excessively in the back yard fighting crime) in the morning and not recognizing yourself. After all the all-nighters I pulled in "college" while studying, I'm pretty sure I'm well down the road towards dementia-ville, and the last month has really given me a taste of what my twilight years will be like;

 

2) I put the 2 part doser back online, and have been religiously testing alkalinity every morning (right after figuring out who was staring back at me in the mirror). I even got a green notebook to record the numbers in, because Steve from Blue's Clues is and always will be my idol. I'm now up to dosing 10ml of two part (a & b combined) a day.;

 

3) I shuffled a basket full of biscuits worth of things around, including: a) ripping up and reorganizing the acan garden, b) moved a balonphyllia, a moti setosa, and blasto colony, c) moved the birdsnest to its historical home, c) got rid of the dull trachy in the front of the tank, d) transplanted a zoa colony from the dumpster tank to the big league tank. For extra credit I did a rip clean of the rear chamber and scrubbed all the equipment;

 

4) I added a few new corals, since like the sociopath I pretend I'm not, I like lists, so here is a l• Vivid's Confetti

• RMF's Diabo

• CF's Booger Sugar (I also named it, so that's double points)

• WWC After Party

• Ulton Favia

 (and the fantastic corals that arrived today from the venerable @mitten_reef, that I will do a write-up on tomorrow):

• Green tipped black sun coral (that I am honestly, to an unhealthy degree, in love with)

• the @mitten_reef yellow acro... he needs to come up with a better name... suggestion: Booger Sugar Yellow Snow

• Unknown Indo that has the potential to be insane

• JF Fire Dragon Acro (I'm really excited about this acro)

 

That's a rather quick and painless month's summary. Anyways here's the FTS (taken in relatively low K lighting):

 

May 2020:

977957387_FTSMay.thumb.jpg.a7d966b6117c397594d30690afdcb26d.jpg

 

April 2020:

421FEC0B-5A0F-42B0-A1D5-EB9E15CA661C.jpeg

 

 

 

 

DANG! Those sun corals are out and about in the afternoon?  my frags made it just in time for the monthly update, woop woop 🙌!

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On 9/14/2017 at 11:37 AM, Cannedfish said:

I wish, so many tanks on here are simply incredible.

 

The daily water change idea stemmed from my other tank, a 'high tech' (planted tank term) planted tank. Basically, I'm running a really powerful light on a small tank (3.7 gallon) with a high bio load, lots of fertilizers, and pressurized CO2,  and (no surprise) was having difficulty balancing the tank and thus having algae issues. All of my problems went away after talking with a planted tank guy (@shrimpery on IG - awesome tanks), and following his routine of three 40% water changes a week. This worked so well I decided to try a modified version of this routine on the saltwater tank, and things DRASTICALLY improved within just a few days. The Jedi Mind Trick Monti's colors started to explode, the birdsnest has almost visible daily growth, and I have nearly zero algae of any type and my parameters are right were i need them. Furthermore, I don't have worry about the consequences of slight overfeeding.  As result, I can now feed the dendros twice a day, and  B-Money is living large. 

 

I seems like a lot but, each water change takes about 30 seconds, I just scoop out (with a cut gallon jug) and refill.

 

Here's a crappy pic of my nano (pico?) planted tank.  That red and blue SOB is Murderburger, named because he a dick who loves to show off and eat his expensive shrimp friends (only when people are watching). 

 

Planted tank.jpg

Beautiful!

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mitten_reef

Btw, now that they’re directly comparable, I do notice some changes related to coral placement. And I like the new one. Can’t believe you’re keeping the birdnest around. Ever consider some sort of tight tabling acros (like TDF or an efflo) to put there instead?

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Cannedfish

To pick up where I had left off...

 

”It was late and the room was full of the stench of foreign cigarettes and the sharp aroma of amaro. Through the haze I could see the barkeep lazily polishing glasses. As far as the cards, it had been a mostly up and down night, as if Lady Luck couldn’t choose sides. But I hadn’t flown to Argentina and ventured into this underground speakeasy to lose. I slowly folded up the corner of my cards... two aces.. and exhaled...I knew I finally had @mitten_reef...”

 

Yup, you read that right. After an intense and largely illegal underground poker game in Buenos Aires @mitten_reef owed me a frag pack which arrived yesterday.
 

So @mitten_reef was kinda enough to send me a frag pack, which arrived yesterday! Here is a real life and really poorly done re-enactment  documentary of receiving the pack.

 

VIDEO!

 

Anyway, Mitten sent four really amazing frags:

 

A green tipped black sun that I’m absolutely in love with: 

F1D1F472-3DB0-4609-9806-A52032DAA241.thumb.jpeg.026df74ac9096ffdc50bf3d2db8e3d02.jpeg
 

A nub of some incredible indo:

B4E83A16-B199-4460-8BDA-094A97B8234D.thumb.jpeg.446e7383cf6cc2f83b4f27adde161418.jpeg
 

JF Fire Dragon:

59AF317B-B61F-4831-913E-A0319800CC5D.thumb.jpeg.5b790a7f61e7eca628b675dd570462ce.jpeg
 

Wild Pink Floyd:

10CB8123-C277-4DDB-A58E-9B1C090E23A3.thumb.jpeg.eac22d189e7baa6660ee1e223eede680.jpeg

 

They are a bit brown after shipping, but these are going to be incredible once they settle in! Again, a huge thanks to @mitten_reef !!

 

 

 

 

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ECLS Reefer
On 1/30/2018 at 9:32 AM, Cannedfish said:

An Entirely-Too-Long Quick Update:

 

Went to Arkansas for the weekend in order to attempt to close duck season with a bang (pun fully intended). According to the guides, however, and inline with the rest of my experience this season, last Friday was the worst day of the year, and to summarize we shot less ducks then hours driven. I know they say life is about the journey not the destination, however, when the journey involves driving the entire length of Mississippi, a little destination wouldn't hurt. With that being said, the number one item on next duck season's to-do list is an appointment with Sallie Ann Glassman, the Voodoo Priestess. I need to get this bad juju out of my system, like whoa. Either that, or find a new hobby. 

 

On the tank front, I have been lambasting about my chronically low alkalinity. I think in part it is due to the premixed saltwater from the LFS. I don't know if it sits for awhile or what, but the alk is reading significantly lower than freshly mixed saltwater and there is always a bunch of brown flaky deposits on the bottom of the jugs (with seems unacceptable at $1.50/gallon). As a result, I will be attempting (failing) to mix my own. I haven't sprung for a RODI machine yet, so I have been using the fill your own DI water Whole Foods (which is always a great place if your also looking to lower costs (If anyone has any opinion on this water, please share)). The only issue I have had is nailing down the correct salinity. I don't know if my bad duck juju extends to mixing salt, or whether you have to be an effing wizard to do it quickly and correctly, but the struggle is real. Thus, the tank's salinity has been swinging a bit (1.26-1.29 (yikes!!)) the last few days.  

 

Additionally, since the only thing I can't resist is temptation, on my way home from not-shooting-ducks, I picked up some pale SPS clipping (1. strawberry shortcake, 2. unknown Aussie milli, 3. pink birdsnest) . I definitely don't have room for them, but when has that ever gotten in the way of a bad decision. I will take some pictures when they don't look like they just finished watching the next Adam Sandler movie. 

 

That was more bad writing then anyone should should be expected to read so here are some pictures of coral (& more bad writing!). The first is the tip of the sunset milli that broke off when being glued to the LR. Being the half the size of a grain of rice I didn't expect it to survive, but it's thriving, and may be the fastest growing coral in the tank. Similarly, the second picture is a chuck of red setosa that broke off being glued to the LR, and was unceremoniously stuck to the back glass. Apparently, in addition to having unenviable juju I am blessed with ham hands.

 

 

Milli clipping.jpg

setosa.jpg

That red setosa is mouth watering 🤤

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ECLS Reefer
4 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

you got bitten by the sps bug...🤣

I would have to say yes but wow the color

on that is truly red!! I love red. 

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mitten_reef
15 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

YAS !!! I want a Red Dragon SO bad. I'm excited to see he progression of that piece. 

Wait til you see the little surprise this guy has in store.  I don’t send just plain old red dragon to Mr Acropora connoisseur. 

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Cannedfish
15 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

That’s amazing 

Thank you; thank you! I'm just doing my best not to crash this car!

 

14 hours ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

That red setosa is mouth watering 🤤

Man, those pics were from so long ago, it's funny to see that despite having the same LR basically everything in the tank has changed, but weirdly still looks pretty similar... Also, you don't want to catch acro fever... Like any proper STD, it's difficult to get rid of and can be super expensive.

 

16 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

YAS !!! I want a Red Dragon SO bad. I'm excited to see he progression of that piece. 

I love the Red Dragon, it looks amazing in the day light, grows pretty quickly, has an interesting growth pattern, and is relatively easy to find at a reasonable price. I would put it in the top 10 classic acros and the top five acros for a beginner to tip there toes into acro-land with (you're obvi not a noob, but if any beginners are cursed enough to read this journal...). Unfortunately, the one downside to the RD is that I disappears under actinic lights. This is the reason I didn't put one immediately back into my tank when I did the soft reset: I want everything to glow under all types of light (exception made for the OG Oregon Tort, the blue is so good under daylights that I forgive its nighttime indiscretions (OG OT definitely a top five classic acro)). Luckily, @mitten_reef solved this problem with the JF Fire Dragon, if it does what it's supposed to, this thing should look amazing in the daytime, and be super cool and contrast-y at night. Best of both worlds.

 

This gets me thinking, we need to some sort of thread about the top five acros: if you could only have 5... top five classic, top 5 new school, top five recommended for starting off with... something... I'm looking at you @pokerdobe...

 

17 minutes ago, SliceGolfer said:

@Cannedfish is the bright pink acro the Vivid’s Confetti?

I think you are talking about this one?

 

1FB96C46-E60F-4A0A-BB45-B1EEFE6220E1.jpeg

 

This is actually a wild that has been sitting in a huge display tank for a couple of years. Here's the quick story: I was in my favorite LFS (located in BFE Louisiana), looking to pick up some designer sticks. This LFS owner has a pretty fantastic stock of high end acro his personal display tank. While checking out some of the other tanks, I got on a ladder and was looking down on the store's huge display tank (not the acro tank) and saw this colony.... by far the brightest pink mille I have ever seen. I asked what it was, and he said he didn't know, it had come in a few years back he had put in the large display and kinda forgot about it. So immediately grabbed a nub (jokingly calling it the Coral Fever Booger Sugar). So yeah, that's the CF Booger Sugar. The tank it was in had had it's share of ups and downs, and this think was still colored up, I'm excited to see if I can pull even more pop out of it. 

 

For prosperity's sake here is a picture of my Confetti (which I also really love):

DSC_0626.thumb.jpeg.15c5e399dc5969af117f08e874b8f873.jpeg

 

The Confetti is just a tiny nub, but it has been a champ. It's encrusting quickly, has great PE, and never lost a bit of color. 

 

 

 

..................

 

A few quickies for the road!

 

My new love:

DSC_0004.thumb.jpeg.a9081f760e32e2de8a975e7434b84565.jpeg

 

The grumpiest little fish cake:

DSC_0013.thumb.jpeg.4b4295e53a9ae1bd1f734f34e8456b51.jpeg

 

After dark is when the Balanophyllia party:

DSC_0023.thumb.jpeg.c5cc1a590f2c495cb0ae28c85ff4ef9a.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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mitten_reef
27 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

This gets me thinking, we need to some sort of thread about the top five acros: if you could only have 5... top five classic, top 5 new school, top five recommended for starting off with... something... I'm looking at you @pokerdobe...

that might be fun...are you starting a new thread?  

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Cannedfish

After several weeks of “hemmin’ and hawin’” (whatever the hell that means) the coral bug finally sunk its teeth in and I brought home some fun. Unfortunately, I’m pretty terrible with LPS, and based on the extreme alk and lighting differences from the LFS’s tank to my tank, I’m pretty nervous it will melt (I’m being super conservative with acclimation: 2.5 hr drip and probably a week with lighting... compared with my usual policy of “welcome to the thunderdome...” aka zero). Furthermore, I’ve had terrible luck with trachy’s. Therefore, I’ll just show a teaser til I’m confident it’s going to make it... fingers extra crossed. 
 

.........

 

45646596-A0A2-4445-AE1E-4BD479CC0900.thumb.jpeg.d9d0d07f3da35d977383522a6c614f2c.jpeg

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mitten_reef
22 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

After several weeks of “hemmin’ and hawin’” (whatever the hell that means) the coral bug finally sunk its teeth in and I brought home some fun. Unfortunately, I’m pretty terrible with LPS, and based on the extreme alk and lighting differences from the LFS’s tank to my tank, I’m pretty nervous it will melt (I’m being super conservative with acclimation: 2.5 hr drip and probably a week with lighting... compared with my usual policy of “welcome to the thunderdome...” aka zero). Furthermore, I’ve had terrible luck with trachy’s. Therefore, I’ll just show a teaser til I’m confident it’s going to make it... fingers extra crossed. 
 

.........

 

45646596-A0A2-4445-AE1E-4BD479CC0900.thumb.jpeg.d9d0d07f3da35d977383522a6c614f2c.jpeg

Skittles Trachy - taste the rainbow!

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ECLS Reefer
33 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

After several weeks of “hemmin’ and hawin’” (whatever the hell that means) the coral bug finally sunk its teeth in and I brought home some fun. Unfortunately, I’m pretty terrible with LPS, and based on the extreme alk and lighting differences from the LFS’s tank to my tank, I’m pretty nervous it will melt (I’m being super conservative with acclimation: 2.5 hr drip and probably a week with lighting... compared with my usual policy of “welcome to the thunderdome...” aka zero). Furthermore, I’ve had terrible luck with trachy’s. Therefore, I’ll just show a teaser til I’m confident it’s going to make it... fingers extra crossed. 
 

.........

 

45646596-A0A2-4445-AE1E-4BD479CC0900.thumb.jpeg.d9d0d07f3da35d977383522a6c614f2c.jpeg

That is astonishingly gorgeous. I’m so jealous.

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4 hours ago, Cannedfish said:

After several weeks of “hemmin’ and hawin’” (whatever the hell that means) the coral bug finally sunk its teeth in and I brought home some fun. Unfortunately, I’m pretty terrible with LPS, and based on the extreme alk and lighting differences from the LFS’s tank to my tank, I’m pretty nervous it will melt (I’m being super conservative with acclimation: 2.5 hr drip and probably a week with lighting... compared with my usual policy of “welcome to the thunderdome...” aka zero). Furthermore, I’ve had terrible luck with trachy’s. Therefore, I’ll just show a teaser til I’m confident it’s going to make it... fingers extra crossed. 
 

.........

 

45646596-A0A2-4445-AE1E-4BD479CC0900.thumb.jpeg.d9d0d07f3da35d977383522a6c614f2c.jpeg

 

 Wtf that is schexy !!! 

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