Upscales Microlados Acro Grow-Out Contest sp. by Cultivated Reef

[teenyreef]

@Cannedfish, after carefully examining the six month picture I took yesterday, I guess maybe I was sandbagging a little bit.

 

 

 

Oh, wait. That's the Katropora, not the Upscales Microlados. Oops. Well, um...

 

Here's the contest frag. As you can see there's been some good growth. If you count horizontal encrustation, that is.

 

Since I've been measuring height from the base of the frag, and it's encrusting downward, there actually has been some vertical growth. Just not in the upwards direction.

 

The ruler is a little in front of the frag, so I think it's really about 21mm high now. Which gives me a blistering growth rate of a third of a millimeter per month! At this rate, my frag will grow out of the tank in about 30 years.

 

Congratulations to everyone who participated, for better or worse. This has been a fun contest, and I got some good frags out of it!

[tanacharison]

I did not read anything at first and only looked at pictures.... instantly raged out at how fast acros settle and grow out for @teenyreef  😂😂

[teenyreef]

1 hour ago, tanacharison said:

I did not read anything at first and only looked at pictures.... instantly raged out at how fast acros settle and grow out for @teenyreef  😂😂

Hahaha, the ironic part is the Katropora did nothing but encrust for at least a year before it started to grow up. So I don't expect much real action with the contest frag for months to come still. 

[Cultivated Reef]

What’s interesting about all of this is that the microclados is one of the fasterst acros we have in our farm. The trick is waiting for it to reach a certain size and then grows like a weed. I’m guesing golf ball size or a little smaller is when it will take off. 

[spectra]

1 hour ago, teenyreef said:

Hahaha, the ironic part is the Katropora did nothing but encrust for at least a year before it started to grow up. So I don't expect much real action with the contest frag for months to come still. 

I have a few like that also. Just encrusted about a 2" circle then all of a sudden bang shoots start to pop up all over.

 

36 minutes ago, Cultivated Reef said:

What’s interesting about all of this is that the microclados is one of the fasterst acros we have in our farm. The trick is waiting for it to reach a certain size and then grows like a weed. I’m guesing golf ball size or a little smaller is when it will take off. 

I agree on that one mine has really taken off all of a sudden.

 

[teenyreef]

I agree, that's the way most of mine go. I can't prove it but I feel that when they have a larger encrusted base before taking off, they seem to avoid stn much better. 

[spectra]

51 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

I agree, that's the way most of mine go. I can't prove it but I feel that when they have a larger encrusted base before taking off, they seem to avoid stn much better. 

Yep I have a frag I picked up a tear ago I think. Glued it down to the rock and its probably 2" tall but hasnt grown at all..........but there is a 3" circle on the rock where it has encrusted.......just waiting.......

[This guy is extra salty]

On 9/1/2018 at 2:54 PM, Cultivated Reef said:

What’s interesting about all of this is that the microclados is one of the fasterst acros we have in our farm. The trick is waiting for it to reach a certain size and then grows like a weed. I’m guesing golf ball size or a little smaller is when it will take off. 

 

Well why didn’t you give us the golf ball, instead of the shaft? 😂 

 

im not going to bother with a ruler picture, since mine is definitely “broken” or still drunk from Labor Day..

and yes @Cannedfish mine is going through puberty, with that hair algae. And that acro frag in the forefront is all yours!

[Cannedfish]

Ooh, I like nubs, though I'm not sure I have room... What is it?

[This guy is extra salty]

8 hours ago, Cannedfish said:

Ooh, I like nubs, though I'm not sure I have room... What is it?

A pink millipora it will look good on the back wall!

 

it looked like this a month ago

 

I have been trying to get the microlados to train like this one does..

 

so far I haven’t had any luck

[Ebn]

Likes to encrust so far as others mentioned; very similar to RR The Vinh. I've been comparing the two and while they are different in colors, their growth speed has been about the same (both glued to the rockwork on the same day). Waiting for this one to hit the golf ball size territory to see if it does indeed take off.

 

Microlados

 

The Vinh

[Cannedfish]

Welp, it’s that time of the week again! That’s right, Sh$t Talk Saturday!! Sadly, or maybe not, depending on how much you like terrible un-proofread writing and worse jokes, it’s one of the last Sh$t Talk Saturday’s (I think, I’m still a little fuzzy on how and when this hullabaloo ends). With that being said, I would like to thank everyone that participated, as well as, @Nola Bear and @Cultivated Reef for organizing this shindig. It has been, honestly, a lot of fun, and really interesting and to see the same frag grow out in different systems. Despite being out of real estate for new frags, I hope we can do it again. 

 

Anyways, I’m kinda short oh Sh$t Talk this week. Maybe because I’m glowing in the relief that @teenyreef‘s frag isn’t two feet long and that @This guy is extra salty despite possessing some insane coral growing wizardry hasn’t been able to, thus far, cast a spell that would transform his frag from looking like a turd. Or maybe that was the spell... turning the Microlados into a turd... we may never know. 

 

That all being said, the extra light over the tank has really begun to bring out the purple in the polyps, even if there hasn’t been any real discernible growth. Without further ado: (Also when is the final measurement date? September 30th?)

 

 

[Cultivated Reef]

On 9/8/2018 at 4:53 PM, Cannedfish said:

(I think, I’m still a little fuzzy on how and when this hullabaloo ends)

I had to reread the first page of this thread to remind myself of how this ends as well 🙂  Here is the way the contest was outlined...

 

The contest will officially end September 30th. The variability of start and end dates is determined by the delivery of your coral. For instance, if you purchase and post your initial photo on March 20, then your end date is September 20. This means it will be a 6-month contest from start to finish. We wanted to give everyone time to get their corals happy in their tank give ample time to grow before choosing the winners.

 

It would be helpful on the final picture entry post that you would include your original entry picture and then the final 6 month picture for comparison purposes.  Remember, the contestants' frags will be evaluated by considering the following characteristics: Overall Growth (Height, Branching and Encrusting) & Coloration.

[mitten_reef]

8 minutes ago, Cultivated Reef said:

I had to reread the first page of this thread to remind myself of how this ends as well 🙂  Here is the way the contest was outlined...

 

The contest will officially end September 30th. The variability of start and end dates is determined by the delivery of your coral. For instance, if you purchase and post your initial photo on March 20, then your end date is September 20. This means it will be a 6-month contest from start to finish. We wanted to give everyone time to get their corals happy in their tank give ample time to grow before choosing the winners.

 

It would be helpful on the final picture entry post that you would include your original entry picture and then the final 6 month picture for comparison purposes.  Remember, the contestants' frags will be evaluated by considering the following characteristics: Overall Growth (Height, Branching and Encrusting) & Coloration.

I think mine is coming up in the next few days.  I'll post start/finish no later than this weekend!  

[Cannedfish]

34 minutes ago, Cultivated Reef said:

I had to reread the first page of this thread to remind myself of how this ends as well 🙂  Here is the way the contest was outlined...

 

The contest will officially end September 30th. The variability of start and end dates is determined by the delivery of your coral. For instance, if you purchase and post your initial photo on March 20, then your end date is September 20. This means it will be a 6-month contest from start to finish. We wanted to give everyone time to get their corals happy in their tank give ample time to grow before choosing the winners.

 

It would be helpful on the final picture entry post that you would include your original entry picture and then the final 6 month picture for comparison purposes.  Remember, the contestants' frags will be evaluated by considering the following characteristics: Overall Growth (Height, Branching and Encrusting) & Coloration.

My frag arrived March 20... but my first measurement photo was on the 31st? Which date should I go with? Does it matter? What's the chances I kill it in the meantime? 

[Cultivated Reef]

36 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

I think mine is coming up in the next few days.  I'll post start/finish no later than this weekend!  

Yep I think you were one of the first 😎

[Cultivated Reef]

10 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

My frag arrived March 20... but my first measurement photo was on the 31st? Which date should I go with? Does it matter? What's the chances I kill it in the meantime? 

This is how Nola Bear had it written up as...

Monthly Shots

Each contestant is required to post a photo of his/her frag next to a ruler once per month for the duration of the contest in this thread in order to remain eligible. You must submit one "ruler-pic" per month, within a +/- 7 day window of your personal deadline. So, if you post your initial entry photo on March 20, then your next month's photo will need to be posted between April 13-27, and the following May 13-27, June 13-27, etc., etc. in order to not be disqualified. This built-in leeway should help with those people who may have travel or other extenuating circumstances throughout the competition.

 

 

[teenyreef]

So I still have 20 days for my frag to grow by 300%...or just wish bad things on @Cannedfish...wait, did I really say that?

 

[Christopher Marks]

LOL @teenyreef 😄 

 

I wanted to also note for our contestants: Please include a ruler in your 6 month photograph, similar to your entry photograph at the beginning. 📏✅

 

This has been our very first frag growout contest, it's been fun to follow along! Kudos to everyone who jumped in to try something new! I can't wait to see how it all shakes out! 🙂 

[Cannedfish]

Welp, you know what time it is? That’s right, quite possibly the last Sh$t Talk Friday! Can you believe it? It seems like only yesterday that we were all unpacking our frags with hearts full of hope and a head dreaming of all the coral we could buy with 1,413 Tajikistani Solomonis. But such is life and reefkeeping is a cruel mistress, and in the proceeding six months we have unfortunately lost many of our comrades. Yes, it’s been a long and arduous road, full of good time and bad times and sometimes both. On one hand, @Nola Bear fragged a small human (that’s how it works, right?!). Congrats! On the other hand, @micoastreefing took his light swimming. While that was a terrible time for his wallet, it was great for the rest of our chances! Personally, I (and most likely you as well) never thought I would make even half way to the end, and I actually will be losing some bets on that (frag arbitrage... fragbitrage?)

 

Anyways, it’s been a real swell time y’all! And the next time Sh&t talk Friday rolls around, it’ll be curtains for me (unless I have a growth spurt, then I’m 100% milking the grace period...)!

 

Anyways, here she is suckers! Also looks at he weird polyps growing at the base of the branches (those are new!)!

 

[mitten_reef]

OK, as promised, my oh my, have you grown my little frag.  While I will likely not win a growing prize from this contest, this before/after shots do give me some hope that soon this frag will embark on a growth spurt.

 

March 13 top-down

 

September 15 Top-down - you may think that I'm simply able to zoom in closer.

 

ruler shot 3/18/18

 

Ruler shot 9/15/18 - very little vertical growth.

 

 

Bonus: here's the frag to the right of the microclados from the very top pic

[teenyreef]

That's some pretty good encrustation!

[teenyreef]

Mine is just like yours. It stubbornly resists all vertical growth while focusing on building a strong foundation for growth. If you look around the base in this picture, there are a lot of buds getting ready to pop out all over, especially on the far side. In a couple more months I think it will be huge. But too late for the contest 

 

 

[teenyreef]

10 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

OK, as promised, my oh my, have you grown my little frag.  While I will likely not win a growing prize from this contest, this before/after shots do give me some hope that soon this frag will embark on a growth spurt.

 

March 13 top-down

 

September 15 Top-down - you may think that I'm simply able to zoom in closer.

 

ruler shot 3/18/18

 

Ruler shot 9/15/18 - very little vertical growth.

 

 

Bonus: here's the frag to the right of the microclados from the very top pic

What is that beauty to the right of the microlades? 

[mitten_reef]

5 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

What is that beauty to the right of the microlades? 

Thanks! I have no idea, but it sure is a beauty, picked it up from Pacific East Aquaculture's table at a frag swap 2+ years ago, probably from one of their broken wild colonies.