Live Free or Reef

[Beer]

If I see that bag tomorrow, I'll be sure to say hi.

[MainelyReefer]

FFM was the best! I was literally 3rd in line as we got there really early.  Free copepods(thanks ocean nutrition) and so many other free goodies made it worth being early.  But it was so stacked you could get there in the afternoon and find fire corals(although my buddy may have bought all the Walt Disney acros by then haha(he bought 2 what a nut)). Without further ado here’s the pics of my Gold torch, rainbow acan, JF strawberry shortcake, green fungia plate, CLAM!!!!, and I also got an Oreo alveopora that isn’t opened yet.

some of this FFM greatness may find its way into the reef bowl, but maybe once the light is upgraded next month.

[Beer]

Didn't see the bag, but I also wasn't paying attention to too much outside of the tanks or talks. Had some work stuff come up, so I didn't make it until about 1:00. Almost thought I wasn't going to be able to be there at all (after specifically saying I wasn't going to be available :/)

 

If you can hold out the whole day, there are some serious deals to be had towards the end of the show. I'm not into all the high dollar named stuff, so a lot of what I am interested in sticks around for a while. I do definitely pick up a few things throughout the show, but most of my purchases end up being during the last 45 minutes of the show. Though you were home and had your corals in the tank an hour before I got home and had close to twice the drive.

 

Looks like you got some nice pieces.

 

I was looking at some of those clams too, but I'm not set up for them yet. Almost got one on an impulse, but thought better of it.

[Clown79]

Tank looks awesome. Love it.

[MainelyReefer]

WC performed yesterday, will try to do another today to do a big flush as the tank was building nutrients up due to neglect and increased bioload and feeding.    

Some rastas under high actinic and aquariclip filter, the smaller Rasta is the one that was almost entirely eaten by those pods and it made a nice recovery!

 

[ChristopherDido]

Looks great! I wish my Rastas were looking straight at me... They were till I had to move a rock because of a roaming RFA that plopped on to of a whole colony of Zoas :-( 

Great tank!

[Felicia]

The contest is coming to a close!  March 31st will be the official end of the competition and then the voting will begin.  In order to help the community decide what tanks to vote for, each remaining contestant will need to do the following:

1. PM me three (3) final photos that you think summarize your container reef.  The composition for two of these is up to you, but one of them should be a final FTS taken sometime during the month of March.
2. PM me a written summary of your container reef build and experiences throughout the competition.  This should be no more than 250 words.
3. These items must be private messaged to me by midnight (Pacific Standard Time) on March 31st.

[MainelyReefer]

WC day, so I fed Fritz and Weatherbee some flakes and shrimp pellets, thus enabling me to finally catch a photo and even a little video after a lot of waiting for the shot, I felt like a planet earth camera man except I'm in my kitchen.

In the close up you can see a metallic blue Bristleworm in the background, this is one of the bowls janitors but Weatherbee hates him.  I happened to catch the tail end of the scuffle that ensued and included the video.  It's hard to see but in Weatherbee's right claw he has the worm held down and he gives it a good snapping with his left claw.

You can also see some new slimy algae that has begun between the Rics, easy to remedy but I've been watching it as it's likely a phase.  Also the killer pods are still rampant and cause damage to random corals as they please, the latest victim was the acan behind the trumpets and they eat the flesh between the heads nightly.  This is a difficulty as I don't know how to address the issue further.  Maybe take out the corals they eat and put in ones they don't but they have been pretty indiscriminant in their taste.  It's what's stopping me from adding the bounce as I couldn't handle it if they ate it.  I've also been on the market for an A80 but am now thinking come April I will rob the one off my pico 4, put my AI prime from the 40 onto the pico 4 and upgrade the 40 to a new kessil a360.  Dreaming.

[MainelyReefer]

WC today, I am upgrading the lid with a silicone inner lip and am using a bowl as a makeshift lid in the mean time.

I removed all the corals that were being eaten/had previously been eaten as in my 40 none of that tomfoolery happens likely because the mandarins wipe out the pods.  This is a slippery slope though because then I'm letting the pods win and decide what stays in the bowl.  I also moved a bunch of corals, some on purpose others I knocked of in the process.  I also chipped the top of my lift pipe but it doesn't affect its operation it only makes it look even more unnatural.

Here's the hammer after being out of water for ~5minutes and having to be reglued, I'll try posting a photo of how happy it may get in the next 2 hours before lights out

and here's the new head forming on the blue trumpet which I also had to reglue by accident.  Notice the mouth with poop in it, that poop has been there for awhile and even with persistent turkey basting it doesn't flow away, I'm thinking the low flow environment of my bowl has my trumpet slightly constipated!

Finally I zip tied the temp probe to beside the heater to keep it in one place as it's been free floating this whole time since the suction cups it came with were incompatible with the curvature of the bowl.  The two have been right besides each other before so I'm not worried about "short cycling" the temperature and it constantly turning on and off the heater.  The look is much cleaner.

[MainelyReefer]

WC day, I'll get some more photos later as everything is just waking up.  Crazy the competition is over one week from today.  Rather than stealing the kessil A80 off the Poopico for this tank(Xenia are well acclimated to that lighting now and it's silent as not to distract poopicoers).  I have purchased a kessil a360 for my 40 and I will rob the AI prime(non HD) for this tank and run it at low intensity.  The AI's array is more spread out which may help with lighting penetration/evenness due to the bowl's strange glass refraction.  Also in the picture you can see my PJ reefs Artemia feeder off to the right(my friend pulled the wall magnet so it sunk to the bottom to be rescued later) but I saw some Artemia hatch this morning. Figured Fritz may like the live food and with no filtration it should just circulate in front of him all day.  

[MainelyReefer]

Broadcast fed some nutramar Ova to feed Fritz and Weatherbee and also evoke feeders to come out on my corals(it works).  Corals then got pipetted a slurry of thawed Ova and Hikari's Coralific Delight, this makes a nice thick paste.  Once the air pump came back on(20 mins) and everything was circulating I was able to get some decent photos and a short video of Fritz and Weatherbee!

 

this is their main entrance to their tunnel under the single rock in the pico and of course it is right against the back wall providing poor visibility.  

[MainelyReefer]

Low Quality Top down shot from Sunday.

Procrastinating on writing 250 words, and instead daydreaming of a nice white AI prime strapped to this tank.  Must be patient like a Jedi.

[MainelyReefer]

3 days until I can wake up and install an AI prime! But that's not the only upgrade I have planned! I have purchased the smallest, cheapest canister filter I could get and will be finding a way to install it. I got the Sun Sun 602b,  I may need a new lid if the In/outs can reasonably enter the tank through its existing hole on top, otherwise I was considering drilling it with an underwater dremel(safe to do for this type of glass).  First the filter needs to arrive(early April) so that will give me time to get the prime dialed in.

purple coralline is growing well on the rocks in here unlike all my other tanks.  Not an issue on the viewing portion of the glass yet.

[vlangel]

Those sound like nice upgrades.  Mine is moving into my AIO 5.5 g.

[MainelyReefer]

This is a cool shot I got through the glass lid where it dips in the water making a viewport, in real life it’s much more crisp and like being in an underwater submarine/glass bottom boat.  Bubbles off of course.

Short of using an alternative light source off to the side I have yet to figure out how to get a decent top down shot with everything illuminated like normal but without the insane glare like showcased in the next shot.

Choosing 3 photos to sum up the tank is difficult too(it’s not these 3 haha) but I’m thinking an angled shot like this next one gives a decent perspective and insight into the fact that this is in a jar you would be offended to have as a cookie jar as once the cookie is in your hand it’s too wide to fit back through the mouth of the jar.  My grandma had a cookie jar like that and I hated it as a child, it was actually in contention for becoming the jar for the competition as she gifted it to me last year(EPIC) but the bowl I chose was a no brainer comparitively.

Here is my Reflector Reflecting. Oh WOW

Tomorrow I will attempt to capture another FTS with Fritz and Weatherbee in it but that has proven to be a challenge.  I may have to use the one I posted halfway through the month, back when weatherbee brawled it out with that bristleworm.  My final FTS I really want them in though.

And finally this is how We feel about the competition being over 

[Felicia]

Just a friendly reminder that your write-up and three photos are due to me by private message by midnight (PST) tomorrow night (3/31).

[MainelyReefer]

Good Morning on the final day of the Competition! I woke up early and scrubbed off some GHA from the walls and did a quick WC.  Hoping to grab a few last minute shots with the tank in prime condition.  Here it is 10seconds after lights on and right after a WC.

blasto polyp extension comparison 

Morning

Afternoon

[vlangel]

1 hour ago, GraniteReefer said:

Good Morning on the final day of the Competition! I woke up early and scrubbed off some GHA from the walls and did a quick WC.  Hoping to grab a few last minute shots with the tank in prime condition.  Here it is 10seconds after lights on and right after a WC.

blasto polyp extension comparison 

Morning

Afternoon

Very nice!

[fishfreak0114]

I’m a sucker for blastos, and yours are stunning!

[MainelyReefer]

Totally spaced it on the picture front and lights are off already so I will just use some pics from earlier this week.

[teenyreef]

What a great finish! Fritz and Weatherbee are my faves 

[MainelyReefer]

Happy Easter on Live Free or Reef.  Up early installing the AI Prime before lights on for the day.  Good Bye CFL!

Luckily the bracket that holds the gooseneck was bolted from two pieces and removing those bolts made it so the portion where the gooseneck seats could be isolated and easily fastened with screws to the wooden base of my tank stand.

  Now to go get busy designing a lighting schedule that maxes out at 15w and runs bluer so I can see the colors I have really wanted.  I will be changing the setting from Auto in my Reef Keeper to always on as the AI Prime won't need the timer function on its outlet like the CFL did to turn on and off.  I will also put on acclimation mode starting at 50%  reduction on all channels for a month or so too.  I have a little extra play to raise the light but once lights are on I just want to minimize the spill so will lower intensity to match the desired height of the light.  Assuming I can nail the spectrum and not piss the corals off expect many more photos later.

[MainelyReefer]

Lights just Turning On

so glad I get to enjoy the tank like this now! And during peak spectrum it will be whiter too

[MainelyReefer]

Early Morning Blues

[teenyreef]

It's amazing the difference a good light makes. I like the mount, and the pictures are beautiful!