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Blenwood's Reef - 1st attempts at focus stacking


Cannedfish

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On 10/9/2017 at 4:01 PM, Cannedfish said:

Here are a couple shoddy pictures of some acans (I think). The acan echinata is a recent pick up and to my untrained eyes seems to be happy (although this could just be a ploy to lull me into a state of comfort only to quickly die, crash the tank, and dropkick my spirit into the 'Infinite Pit of Despair' (where cable is included, but you only get grainy re-runs of The Real Housewifes & Rock of Love with Brett Michaels... its a grim place).  The second is what I think may/could be an acan lord? I am no expert when it comes to just about anything (apart from maybe my strong personal opinions on futility of the cummerbund in modern society and the general awesomeness of Carhartt overalls and Swims loafers), and acan identification is certainty in my 'not-an-expert' category. Whenever I see acan lords (or what I think are acan lords), however, they don't seem to look like this. When I asked the the lady-friend for her opinion, she shrugged, said it looked like an enflamed b***h**e, and went back to watching the Real Housewifes (valid comment, but no real help). Furthermore, unlike the aforementioned echinata, this coral is out to break hearts; always looking for the first opportunity to shrivel, pout, and get all dramatic. Basically, it's the middle school girl of my tank. 

 

Either way, feel free to disparage the photographic quality or help confirm the identity of this thing. Just avoid the pit of despair, because unlike fine wine Brett Michael's has not gotten better with age, however, his wig-game is strong (I bet you didn't plan on reading that sentence today). 

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I think your estimations are correct: the top is echinata and the bottom is lord.  Echinata shows great colors, and the Lord is showing hints of green around the edges. 

Great photo quality, clear and bright! Don't short change yourself.   

 

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i would love to be able to take pictures like that but all i have is my iphone....

 

acans are the best.  i have a bunch of lords and one bowerbanki.  i like feeding them. 

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On 10/12/2017 at 9:21 AM, micoastreefing said:

I think your estimations are correct: the top is echinata and the bottom is lord.  Echinata shows great colors, and the Lord is showing hints of green around the edges. 

Great photo quality, clear and bright! Don't short change yourself.   

 

Thanks for the verification! I'm trying to decide if it's worth going the whole 'acan garden' route or whether there is a better use for that space (like a bubbling treasure chest or awkwardly posed old timey diver (I would name her Kevin)). 

 

On another note, I'm originally from the tip of the mitt, and could totally go for some fall whether about now... They say New Orleaneans live in the swamp, however, on a day-to-day basis the only swamp is in your pants. 

 

On 10/12/2017 at 10:28 PM, gone_PHiSHin said:

i would love to be able to take pictures like that but all i have is my iphone....

 

acans are the best.  i have a bunch of lords and one bowerbanki.  i like feeding them. 

An iPhone is way classier than the burner phone (long story), I'm rockin' at the moment. With a total of three pixels this phone  camera is about as effective as a three-year-old trying to color within the lines. Basically, this camera phone produces pictures that looks like the morning after Crayola decided cheap tequila was a good idea. Luckily the lady like photography...

 

BTW, feeding LPS(ish) corals is the 5th best thing about this hobby (full list to come later). 

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Reason 8, why I love the Disco Biscuit: it is the embodiment of flamboyant gluttony (that is, gluttony with jazzy green wigglers to lure in its tasty snacks). 

 

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Regarding a tank update: 1) there has been a relative lack of drama on the high seas, 2) a lack of pithy commentary from the ship's captain to atone for the lack of drama. Thus, here is less-than-stellar picture of rastas looking unhappy after being relegated to "unloved zoa island."  

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It was a big day in tiny tank land. New corals, new pump, and a gluttonous fish feast. What I'm trying to say is that this 10 gallon box of chaos was an incest scene and some white walkers away from a Game of Throme expisode ("Hodor!").

 

It all started when I woke up not entirely hung over enough; bored and out of breakfast stouts, I decided to take a morning drive to check out the LFS(s) in Baton Rouge. Fast forward an hour and a half later (plus some Garth Brooks) and I'm driving home with a Aqamai KPS pump, a bag full of live mysis, and pods of every shape and size. I also had a regrettable belly full of Taco Bell 7-layer burrito. As a result of the ill informed burrito decision, I was feeling feisty and decided to stop on the way home some of the NOLA LFS(s) (in an apparent attempt to prop up the Amex stock price) and buy some acros. 

 

 So now I sit here, restocked with breakfast stouts, with a greatly increased tank flow rate (somewhere in the in mid 50x), and an already chubby Blen-Daddy who has eaten so many mysis this afternoon he may be eligible for a handicap plate. Oh, and a weird baby blue with whit poly acro and a strawberry shortcake(ish) milli. 

 

More discussion to come in regards to the pump. 

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INTRO & DISCLAIMER

As I mentioned yesterday, I picked an Aquamai KPS and wanted to share some initial thoughts. Hoewever, If I learned anything in grad school, it's that Thursdays are the best nights to go out, never under-estimate how far you can run in loafers, and you should always add a good disclaimer to everything, so... Disclaimer: as amply mentioned above, I am no expert nor even an underpaid semi-pro, for that matter. On the contrary, I'm partially convinced my tank is being held together by second hand duct tape, a sizable, amount of luck, and some good ole WL Weller (and a generous portion of advice from the good people on NR). So take my opinions with some grains of salt... a lime and shot of tequila would hurt either. 

 

BACKGROUND

I was initially set on getting a MP10, however, despite all of the other money I have generously donated to the saltwater tank hobby-gods, it's been a struggle pulling the trigger on the Ecotech $250 credit card charge.  Although, I had looked breifly at the Aquamai, I thought the MP10 was much better looking, cooler, and if price is the best indicator of quality (it's not), much better overall. So I have waited, and waited, and waited. However, at the LFS yesterday, while making small talk with the owner, I asked his opinion about putting  an MP10 in my IM 10. He said, unless I'm an idiot, it couldn't hurt, but if I was hesitant start with the Aquamai because of the price point. After expressing concerns about its look and size,he pulled out both pumps to compare, and I was shocked how close the were in size. He told me he would take $30 off the Aquamai, and thus I walked out with a new pump. 

 

MEAT & POTATOS

Ok, that was a lot of words for admittedly little substance, so here are my initial thoughts. So far I'm really happy with it; on the absurdist scale between a taxidermied squirrel holding a beer can and Barbie's dream car, it's a strawberry pop-tart (8.5/10). 

 

Pros:

-It's really small and quiet. I have been able to tuck it under the spin stream and it's pretty unnoticeable. Additionally, with the placement, the cord (which was a huge concern) is hardly visiable. 

-The suction mount has allowed me to mount to off of the back wall, meaning I don't take up vital viewing real estate. 

-The cup mount means the power head is highly adjustable, which seems to be an advantage over the Vortech, especially in a small tank with a lot of rock. 

-It come with a wireless receiver built in, and has a pre built app. Which is nice since I don't have a tank controller. 

-The app is reasonably self explanatory, and seems to do a decent job allowing you to specifically control flow and customize a 24-hour program. 

-I don't know for a big tank, but for 10 gallons, the flow seems adequate. 

-Dollar. Dollar. Bills. I have extra 150 Sacajawea's to judiciously make hail on hookers and blow (Blendaddy put on your best bowlin' shirt, we going out!).

 

CONS

-Slight loss of cool points because I don't get to say I have an MP10 (Blenwood said I'm cheap, I told him I'm not sharing either the hookers nor the blow). 

-The instruction manual is like the Louisiana educational system, basically useless. I'm certainly no mathemagician (thanks aforementioned educational system), but I honestly have no idea how the percentages of power correlate to GPH flow, and to hell if I'm getting out my abacus.

-It's early, but after using the AI Prime app, this one seems a bit clunky.

 

Again, up to this point I have been surprisingly  happy with it, and will give another update after spending some time with it. 

 

 

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That aquamai seems like a quality piece of kit.

Hope it holds up for you, as I have also been eyeing them.

 

Also I am 98.9% sure your posts are funnier after a few glasses of ale. :D

Please keep them coming!

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On 10/22/2017 at 6:52 PM, Droy008 said:

That aquamai seems like a quality piece of kit.

Hope it holds up for you, as I have also been eyeing them.

 

Also I am 98.9% sure your posts are funnier after a few glasses of ale. :D

Please keep them coming!

I'll certainly cheers to that!

 

A few more days in, and I continue to be pretty happy with the Aquamai. I only have a few additional minor complaints. First, I wish the app made it easier to quickly shut the pump off (for feeding and such). I take that back, I wish I knew how quickly shut it off. I'm sure there is a quick way and it's probably quite simple, however, I'm basically from Hasel from Zoolander when it comes to the computers. That being said, I may have to revise this complaint later. Next, I think my snails might be rotating the power head slightly in the mounting cup. I haven't got any proof yet, and because the tank runs by the code of the streetz ("snitches git stitches"), I also don't have any leads. But mark my words, I will get to the bottom of this!

 

On 10/22/2017 at 7:11 PM, Rene said:

I am rarely this excited about something being smaller than expected. 

 

I know, right? I wish that happened more often... I feel like I would have had more fun in college.

 

 

Lastly, because pictures are more fun, and certainly easier to read, than words... Blenwood! And some of the members of his petty and unreliable street gang, "The Lookout Boiz," Whiskas II (porcelain crab) & Lil' Scrimpz (sexy shrimp). I keep telling him its a stupid name for a gang.

 

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Dude, you're off the wall with your comments. Keep 'em coming!  (Correct me if you're not a dude, HA) 

 

Took me a while to spot all the gang members.

 

I bought a KPS off a member here probably a month or so ago.  I have to say I've been happy with its performance so far.  I do have the same gripe about shutting it off, the whole doing direct-wifi reconnecting thing gets old fast.  What I haven't tried yet is just yanking the power supply, and see if all the settings stay when I plug it back in.  

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So things continue to progress: acros continue to encrust, dendro keep pooping out more little dendros, and Blenwood is doing his best 'past his prime' Elvis impression (calm down, he's just fat, he doesn't have a drug or peanut butter and banana sandwich addiction, yet...). I have been noticing despite small daily water changes that my alkalinity has been continually testing low, however, my calcium has been fine. I do dose daily a credit card statement worth of KZ products (Pohl's extra, coral vitalizer, LPS amino acids, another one, and sponge power (on a tangent, if you were bitten by a radioactive spider and developed sponge power... well that be rather an unfortunate and probably short comic book story arc)), and this, I believe probably just amounts to expensive carbon dosing, and  it's likely an uptick in bacteria lowering the alk (#runonsentence). Additionally, I'm still debating whether or not to get another fish, and would like to thank all the people on N-R that have been proving some really great advice. With all that useless nonsense behind us here the only thing anyone cares about, pictures. I leave you with mediocre shots of the JMTM and the Disco Biscuit. 

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I still love the Disco Biscuit and am not sure you are lagging behind on your coral naming game at all. Good detective work on the dosing, if you are happy with how your tank is looking and alk is slightly low but stable, I'm not sure I'd stress about it. 

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Although I went with the good intention of only getting fresh saltwater I came home humming a different tune.  Despite swearing off Pedersom's shrimp after the last one did its best Kurt Cobain impression (too soon?); one was there, and the only thing I can't resist is temptation.  So I now have another overly expensive one-inch see-through aquatic crustacean, ''tis life. Additionally, the LFS was selling frags of the mother colony of a nifty white with blue tip deep water acro that I had been ogling for several weeks. As thoroughly stated (and for that matter, demonstrated), I'm a complete noob, and had yet to see anything that looked remotely like this coral in person. And although it's not the coral equivalent of a Makenzie Child and Jeremy Scott love child like the Home Wrecker or Walt Disney, I think it's rather unique and striking (getting a picture has been difficult though). Plus I get sky miles on qualifying purchases. 

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On 10/26/2017 at 10:47 PM, Rene said:

I still love the Disco Biscuit and am not sure you are lagging behind on your coral naming game at all. Good detective work on the dosing, if you are happy with how your tank is looking and alk is slightly low but stable, I'm not sure I'd stress about it. 

As you know hilarious names are the most important part of a successful reef keeping experience. I read that on the internet. 

 

19 hours ago, Rene said:

That's a pretty nice stick you got there. 

Yet another comment that had it been said more, might have made college more... interesting?! Wait, were talking about corals, right?

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I am following.  Brother, you are completely off the chain.  I am still laughing.  Keep it coming.

 

Interesting dynamics with your fresh water planted tanks.  I use a modified version of co2 injection on my macro lagoon tanks. Calcium reactors work well on my large systems.  For someone just starting with marine ornamentals, you demonstrate advanced skills.  Kudos to you.  

 

Are you you originally from NO?  I have family in Algiers.  I used to work near Fat City where the Ponchatrain Causeway came in to NO.  Odeco had their corporate headquarters there.  I would work 14 days on, out of  the NO office, then I would go home to Denham Springs.  I was so naive on social events, one Sunday I drove down to the French Quarter.  I saw many with brown paper bags over their heads with eye and mouth holes cut out.  It was several hours later while watching Sunday football, I saw “the rest of the story”.  “Who dat gonna beat dem saints.”  We here in Austin have a motto, “Keep it weird”.  Well, New Orleans has Austin beat.

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23 hours ago, Subsea said:

I am following.  Brother, you are completely off the chain.  I am still laughing.  Keep it coming.

 

Interesting dynamics with your fresh water planted tanks.  I use a modified version of co2 injection on my macro lagoon tanks. Calcium reactors work well on my large systems.  For someone just starting with marine ornamentals, you demonstrate advanced skills.  Kudos to you.  

 

Are you you originally from NO?  I have family in Algiers.  I used to work near Fat City where the Ponchatrain Causeway came in to NO.  Odeco had their corporate headquarters there.  I would work 14 days on, out of  the NO office, then I would go home to Denham Springs.  I was so naive on social events, one Sunday I drove down to the French Quarter.  I saw many with brown paper bags over their heads with eye and mouth holes cut out.  It was several hours later while watching Sunday football, I saw “the rest of the story”.  “Who dat gonna beat dem saints.”  We here in Austin have a motto, “Keep it weird”.  Well, New Orleans has Austin beat.

I appreciate the support and I'll do my best not to let you down. Regarding my advanced skills, don't trust the magic, of which I believe is best illustrated by an "analogy."  

 

I would compare my reef keeping skills to good Saturday night at your favorite watering hole (ideally Ms. Mae's or Snake and Jake's): you've just got paid, maybe your wearing a new shirt, almost assuredly you've had maybe a few to many sodas, basically your confidence is high. Much later on (2 maybe 3am), after a few more sodas and some quality time with Jimmy, Jack, or Johnny (or multiple Flaming Dr. Peppers, which mean, god forbid, you've ended up at the Gold Mine), a beautiful lass catches your eye; because of your aforementioned confidence, cool shirt, and a bit of luck, you are able to successfully slur your sales-pitch, make her acquaintance, and ferry her home in your freshly washed El Camino (in reality you Uber, this analogy doesn't support drunk driving). The next morning, you wake up smelling of cigarettes, Dixie Beer, and regret... and you have a pounding headache. Worst of all, that beautiful lass you had charmed last night, has washed her face and taken off her Spanx and now looks closer to Michael Moore than Demi Moore. To use my favorite Southern expression, "she looks like she been ridden hard and put up wet." Essentially, what I am saying is that my reef keeping skills are held together with a thick layer of foundation, artfully applied eye-shadow, and a lot of spandex. In reality, I'm a short El Camino ride away from a pounding headache and the need for a Penicillin prescription. I'm not sure if that was the right analogy, but I'm too far along to go back so... there you have it. 

 

Anyway, I do live in NOLA, and actually work across Causeway Blvd. from Fat City. New Orleans is definitely a.... special place. You know you live in an weird city when you have a closet solely dedicated to people costumes, dog costumes, and other outrageous clothing and props. I'm not saying a wear a dress often, but I'm not saying that I haven't either. 

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Now that Halloween is behind us, its finally time to fully embrace the Christmas Industrial Complex. So pull out the lights, dust of that terrifying Elf on the Shelf creep, turn on the Hallmark Channel, and pour generous amounts of schnapps into your hot cocoa (your going to need it), and remember you only have two full months to prepare.

 

Just in time for these festivities, I finally managed find some holiday-tree worms on live porites. Although not crazy colored, I find the commensal relationship really fascinating (hopefully I can keep them alive). 

 

 

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Went to the DU banquet in Lafayette the week (the best part was unmistakably the fierce bidding war over a butchered cow and the duck dog puppies (really made the six hour round trip worth it)); while there I couldn't resist a pit stop at an LFS. Where I was completely shocked by all manner of unusual fish, including a tank full of softball size nautilus(es?), and outrageously low coral prices. Anyways against my better judgement, I picked up a small acro frag (which he fittingly called Mardi Gras), some pinkish birds nest, and some dendros (the NPS addiction is real at this point). While the acro frag isn't super colorful at this point the mother colony was pretty awesome.

 

I really have to hand it to Cajun country, besides the fact you will literally put anything into a gumbo or turn it into sausage and have ridiculous accents, your LFS game is quite strong. +1 Lafayette.

 

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I am from Lafayette and do enjoy the food there.  It has been sometime since I have checked out LFS there.  In Metairie, there are two very good LFS.  Both are close to the airport, with one on airport industrial blvd,  In fact, the whole bottom floor was an electrical contractor with boom trucks.  The other shop was owned by two guys, one of whose name was Chip.   Chip had just come back from two weeks diving at Costa Rica and he smuggled in that cultivar of coral twenty five years ago.

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@Subsea Tank looks great! "Met-tree" (as they pronounce it oddly) does have a few good LFS's, but it's always fun stumbling on a unusual shop out of town. I am still blown away by the nautilus tank. And to be honest, it's hard to beat a good boudin, now matter what kind of strange has been ground into it (and usually something is). 

 

On 11/4/2017 at 8:42 PM, Rene said:

They really are like pets, aren't they?  So much fun. 

 Exactly, they're basically the same things as our dogs: don't move much, love to eat, somewhat demanding, and covered in stinging testicles. Now if I could just house train either species...

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