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

[Ebn]

Approximately 3 months since acquisition. Still wants to continue encrusting, as noted by the white encrusting border, but the branches are lengthening as well. They're on the horizontal sides so it's not as apparent in this picture. Slower growing than its neighbor the recovering RRC Pink Cadillac. Currently considering moving the microlados and freeing up that space for the RRC JD instead. TBD.

 

[Polarcollision]

I was out of town for my last update and then life got too busy to add a late update. Since there's no way it will put on 1" in the next 10 days, I'm posting my potential final image 11 days early. (still need to get the final ruler shot)

 

A quick overview of my experience in my very first grow-out contest: Frag was almost dead when it arrived one day late in shipping... thank you mail carrier. One frag from the shipment didn't make it, but this one and the leng si cap pulled through. It took a full 2 months for the frag to start looking like everyone else's that arrived on schedule. So I never really had much of a chance to compete fairly.  Looking on the positive side, It's been enlightening to compare how corals respond to different stresses. I also really enjoyed discovering and correcting some water quality issues along the way as well as switching my reef over from Reefkeeper to Apex. So while the frag hasn't put on much height other than a small growth spurt a few months back, it has added quite a pit of bulk from thickening and encrusting. If I had time later this week I'll pull out the ruler since it's encrusted about as wide as it is tall.

 

Day 1

 

Day 6 months minus 11 days.

 

Frag is directly below blue german digi between the red and peach zoats, encrusting nicely!

 

The Leng Si Cap I purchased at the same time has grown like crazy in the last month. It's spreading out and starting to get frilly edges.

 

All acros except the one most relevant have grown like crazy too. The pro corals rainbow has added almost 2" in the last 3 months. It likes the new trace element dosing and lower phosphates.

[mitten_reef]

22 hours ago, Ebn said:

Approximately 3 months since acquisition. Still wants to continue encrusting, as noted by the white encrusting border, but the branches are lengthening as well. They're on the horizontal sides so it's not as apparent in this picture. Slower growing than its neighbor the recovering RRC Pink Cadillac. Currently considering moving the microlados and freeing up that space for the RRC JD instead. TBD.

 

love the color on this frag - I'd say your coloration is what I'll aim for eventually. Also, can you share an in-focus photo of the wolverine? 

 

 

[Ebn]

3 hours ago, Polarcollision said:

 

All acros except the one most relevant have grown like crazy too. The pro corals rainbow has added almost 2" in the last 3 months. It likes the new trace element dosing and lower phosphates.

 

You sure you got this as a PC rainbow? This looks like a MisID if you did pick this up as the PC rainbow.

 

2 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

love the color on this frag - I'd say your coloration is what I'll aim for eventually. Also, can you share an in-focus photo of the wolverine? 

 

 

I don't have the RR Wolverine in the tank at the moment. Had a tank crash that took out the bulk of my sps collection and only left me with two pieces.

 

Bucket of skeletons (HW, WD, Confetti, etc....).

 

When I had the RR Wolverine, it was still in frag form and only have this pic of it. Lineage of this piece is legit since I received it as a gift from the source, RR. 

 

The blurry pic that you are seeing next to the microlados is none other other the RRC (ReefRaft Canada) Pink Cadillac. It was one of two pieces to survive the crash. It's been slowly recovering and filling out the frag disk surface. You can see the tell-tale orangish pink body that's coming back. It also carries the bright purple polyps and the growth shape is hard to miss once you see one. 

 

The other piece that survived the crash is this piece. This is an unnamed piece from RR which is extremely slow to grow and impossible to color up. It's a bright yellow overall when conditions are right with red polyps, but it's currently in hibernation. 

 

I'll see if I can locate another wolverine when I'm back down in SoCal for RAP, but it's not on my current list of things to reacquire from the crash. Part of the reason is that Aussie has provided a similar looking piece that I'm currently growing in my tank.

 

This is a wild Aussie piece that has the same potential. Under high light and flow it reminds me of some of the "blue Floyds" that are currently out there.

 

This is another similar piece to the wolverine. This one actually carries a more purplish/blue body than the true wolverine.

[mitten_reef]

30 minutes ago, Ebn said:

 

You sure you got this as a PC rainbow? This looks like a MisID if you did pick this up as the PC rainbow.

 

I don't have the RR Wolverine in the tank at the moment. Had a tank crash that took out the bulk of my sps collection and only left me with two pieces.

 

Bucket of skeletons (HW, WD, Confetti, etc....).

 

When I had the RR Wolverine, it was still in frag form and only have this pic of it. Lineage of this piece is legit since I received it as a gift from the source, RR. 

 

The blurry pic that you are seeing next to the microlados is none other other the RRC (ReefRaft Canada) Pink Cadillac. It was one of two pieces to survive the crash. It's been slowly recovering and filling out the frag disk surface. You can see the tell-tale orangish pink body that's coming back. It also carries the bright purple polyps and the growth shape is hard to miss once you see one. 

 

The other piece that survived the crash is this piece. This is an unnamed piece from RR which is extremely slow to grow and impossible to color up. It's a bright yellow overall when conditions are right with red polyps, but it's currently in hibernation. 

 

I'll see if I can locate another wolverine when I'm back down in SoCal for RAP, but it's not on my current list of things to reacquire from the crash. Part of the reason is that Aussie has provided a similar looking piece that I'm currently growing in my tank.

 

This is a wild Aussie piece that has the same potential. Under high light and flow it reminds me of some of the "blue Floyds" that are currently out there.

 

This is another similar piece to the wolverine. This one actually carries a more purplish/blue body than the true wolverine.

Wow, sorry about the last crash casualty. The new pick-up’s are all nice looking. Maybe u can help me with my mystery yellow/red acro from previous page?

[Polarcollision]

7 hours ago, Ebn said:

 

You sure you got this as a PC rainbow? This looks like a MisID if you did pick this up as the PC rainbow.

 

I don't have the RR Wolverine in the tank at the moment. Had a tank crash that took out the bulk of my sps collection and only left me with two pieces.

 

Bucket of skeletons (HW, WD, Confetti, etc....).

 

When I had the RR Wolverine, it was still in frag form and only have this pic of it. Lineage of this piece is legit since I received it as a gift from the source, RR. 

 

The blurry pic that you are seeing next to the microlados is none other other the RRC (ReefRaft Canada) Pink Cadillac. It was one of two pieces to survive the crash. It's been slowly recovering and filling out the frag disk surface. You can see the tell-tale orangish pink body that's coming back. It also carries the bright purple polyps and the growth shape is hard to miss once you see one. 

 

The other piece that survived the crash is this piece. This is an unnamed piece from RR which is extremely slow to grow and impossible to color up. It's a bright yellow overall when conditions are right with red polyps, but it's currently in hibernation. 

 

I'll see if I can locate another wolverine when I'm back down in SoCal for RAP, but it's not on my current list of things to reacquire from the crash. Part of the reason is that Aussie has provided a similar looking piece that I'm currently growing in my tank.

 

This is a wild Aussie piece that has the same potential. Under high light and flow it reminds me of some of the "blue Floyds" that are currently out there.

 

This is another similar piece to the wolverine. This one actually carries a more purplish/blue body than the true wolverine.

Well I certainly hope it's not a misID cause I paid hefty cash for it. Cuttlefish and Coral in Portland sold me the piece; I understand they're a highly reputable shop. When I google frags, a lot of them have the green base before it turns more pink. It's possible that I've misremembered which of my two corals is red planet and which is pro coral rainbow. This is the other one (center). The one I posted above is at the far right edge of pic. Thoughts?

 

Sorry to hear about the bucket of bones. That sucks. 😞 You got some nice pieces to replace them though!

[mitten_reef]

Ok someone else’s time is up this week, who’s gonna be posting update?

per my recollection, only @TheBig053 and @pal completely lost their frags. So we got a few ppl that need to post their final shots. 

 

[Cannedfish]

Welp, you know what time it is! That’s right, it’s the end of the road! This is it, the last Sh$t Talk Friday, the last weekly update, the end of the contest for yours truly. And hot Rhubarb pie! What a contest it’s been! It’s unbelievable that it’s actually been six months, and to continue the hyperbole it’s super-duper unbelievable that my frag is still alive! Although, I thought on several occasionsi thought it was going to parish, the little frag that could somehow fought on! So now that this whole tomfoolery is over, I have officially given it permission to die! So what has it done in six months? From the first measurement photo til today, it has grown from 2.4cm to little over 4.2cm for a total growth of 18mm! I’m sure that’s not a lot of growth for the big SPS tank guys, but to honest I’m pretty proud of each and every mm!

 

So I would like to thank @Cultivated Reef and @Nola Bear for hosting this contest, as well as, each and everyone one of the contest participants! It was a lot of fun! And may the best frag win the 14,053 Cape Verdean Escudos!

 

And with that here’s my evidence!

 

 

 

[mitten_reef]

17 hours ago, Cannedfish said:

Welp, you know what time it is! That’s right, it’s the end of the road! This is it, the last Sh$t Talk Friday, the last weekly update, the end of the contest for yours truly. And hot Rhubarb pie! What a contest it’s been! It’s unbelievable that it’s actually been six months, and to continue the hyperbole it’s super-duper unbelievable that my frag is still alive! Although, I thought on several occasionsi thought it was going to parish, the little frag that could somehow fought on! So now that this whole tomfoolery is over, I have officially given it permission to die! So what has it done in six months? From the first measurement photo til today, it has grown from 2.4cm to little over 4.2cm for a total growth of 18mm! I’m sure that’s not a lot of growth for the big SPS tank guys, but to honest I’m pretty proud of each and every mm!

 

So I would like to thank @Cultivated Reef and @Nola Bear for hosting this contest, as well as, each and everyone one of the contest participants! It was a lot of fun! And may the best frag win the 14,053 Cape Verdean Escudos!

 

And with that here’s my evidence!

 

 

 

I see no growth here, that doesn't look like contest frag.  I'm still in the lead.  😄

 

OK, who's left?  

@teenyreef, @tanacharison, @This guy is extra salty, @Figster, @LeoB?

 

I think those are a handful other names that had posted the updated shots during the contest, hope I didn't miss anyone.

 

 

[Ebn]

On 9/19/2018 at 3:31 PM, micoastreefing said:

Wow, sorry about the last crash casualty. The new pick-up’s are all nice looking. Maybe u can help me with my mystery yellow/red acro from previous page?

 

Looks like one of the wild "Floyds" that has been coming in from Aussie. Take a look at the RR Pink Floyd for reference in regards to "Floyds". 

 

On 9/19/2018 at 10:07 PM, Polarcollision said:

Well I certainly hope it's not a misID cause I paid hefty cash for it. Cuttlefish and Coral in Portland sold me the piece; I understand they're a highly reputable shop. When I google frags, a lot of them have the green base before it turns more pink. It's possible that I've misremembered which of my two corals is red planet and which is pro coral rainbow. This is the other one (center). The one I posted above is at the far right edge of pic. Thoughts?

 

Sorry to hear about the bucket of bones. That sucks. 😞 You got some nice pieces to replace them though!

 

Is this piece in low light and flow? You can differentiate the two of them in the shade of green/yellow in the main body. 

 

Here's a PC Rainbow grown from a 3/4" frag (eggcrate is 1/2"/square). The PC rainbow will have a greenish base that will transition over to a mustard yellow base as it settles in and if it's getting enough light. Blast it with more light and the body goes full red/purple and you lose the rainbow effect. It also branches out like a stag. 

 

 

This is the Rainbow reboot after it's been in my tank for 3 months (frag was a tiny 1/4" tip). 

 

The ORA red planet carries the green base unless it gets blasted with light and then it goes full red/pink. Red planet tables out as it gets larger. 

[Cannedfish]

On 9/24/2018 at 9:10 AM, micoastreefing said:

I see no growth here, that doesn't look like contest frag.  I'm still in the lead.  😄

 

OK, who's left?  

@teenyreef, @tanacharison, @This guy is extra salty, @Figster, @LeoB?

 

I think those are a handful other names that had posted the updated shots during the contest, hope I didn't miss anyone.

 

 

That is 100% photoshop... Man, it's getting down to the wire... The collective silence of the other participants is making me nervous. Someone is going to come in at the last minute with like 3" of growth.

[Cultivated Reef]

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

 

[Cultivated Reef]

Sorry, I was having some technical difficulties above lol!  I think I'm drinking decaf by mistake or something.

 

 

[Cannedfish]

5 minutes ago, Cultivated Reef said:

Sorry, I was having some technical difficulties above lol!  I think I'm drinking decaf by mistake or something.

 

 

Decaf! Heresy! Boo!

[LeoB]

Mine hasn't really changed much since last update so I will not be winning any prizes. I enjoyed being part of the contest, though. Seeing how much worse my frag did (esp in terms of color) has prompted me to think about upgrading lights in the near future. Also I liked buying stuff from cultivated reef and will be order more frags in the future. 

[Cultivated Reef]

26 minutes ago, LeoB said:

Mine hasn't really changed much since last update so I will not be winning any prizes. I enjoyed being part of the contest, though. Seeing how much worse my frag did (esp in terms of color) has prompted me to think about upgrading lights in the near future. Also I liked buying stuff from cultivated reef and will be order more frags in the future. 

Thank you @LeoB!  

[mitten_reef]

44 minutes ago, LeoB said:

Mine hasn't really changed much since last update so I will not be winning any prizes. I enjoyed being part of the contest, though. Seeing how much worse my frag did (esp in terms of color) has prompted me to think about upgrading lights in the near future. Also I liked buying stuff from cultivated reef and will be order more frags in the future. 

We all know that one guy in the lead uses some NOLA voodoo magic and saltwater steroid to induce growth unlike any other competitors have seen.  Glad that you enjoy the contest, please post pics if you can.  At least we can wallow in the no-growth growing contest altogether.  

[Christopher Marks]

By my count, these are the members who have made it to the end of the competition, in alphabetical order:

• @Cannedfish
• @micoastreefing
• @Polarcollision
• @teenyreef

Everyone else has either tapped out or not posted updates since July. Names listed here are their last post or checkin. Let me know if I missed anyone!

• dmw913 - No check in
• Figster
• LeoB

• Okinawa_Reefer - No check in

• pal
• Tanacharison
• TheBig053
• This guy is extra salty

[teenyreef]

8 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

We all know that one guy in the lead uses some NOLA voodoo magic and saltwater steroid to induce growth unlike any other competitors have seen.  Glad that you enjoy the contest, please post pics if you can.  At least we can wallow in the no-growth growing contest altogether.  

Dang, I forgot about the whole voodoo thing, that explains it all!

 

My final picture will be coming up on Sunday. Mine is still going for horizontal instead of vertical growth.

 

 

[Cannedfish]

What?! You thought you knew what time it was until I just jumped out from behind the couch dressed as an obese Macho Man Randy Savage and yelled “surprise!” That’s right y’all! Time for some extra innings! Roll up your Capri pants, because till @teenyreef finally stops milking the clock, and sends in his final measurement, it’s gonna keep raining, and we wouldn’t want your knickers getting moist! That’s right!!! It’s Sh$t Talk Friday: The Overtime edition, and being such, I would like to direct you eyes to the leaderboard that @Christopher Marks posted earlier this week. Moreover, I would like to direct you eyes to the first name. That’s right, according to his list, I’m in the lead! Now I know someone like @micoastreefing is going to point to the fine print, and say the list is alphabetical, but I would like utilize all the skills I didn’t learn in law school. First, “Objection! Hearsay!” I can’t read whatever he wrote, and even if I could he probably meant that the list “could be alphabetical, but actually isn’t and that I’m in the leader.” That’s pretty clear if you ask me. Second, even if he meant it was alphabetical, he probably meant it was alphabetical by who is winning. Thirds, whatever, fake news, the whole fine print thing is a giant nothing-burger. So with that all being said here’s this week’s crappy progression photo!! (For all of our’s sake let’s hope this is the last time I do this!)

 

Photo time!!!

 

[Spencer7]

On 9/24/2018 at 2:22 PM, Ebn said:

Here's a PC Rainbow grown from a 3/4" frag (eggcrate is 1/2"/square). The PC rainbow will have a greenish base that will transition over to a mustard yellow base as it settles in and if it's getting enough light. Blast it with more light and the body goes full red/purple and you lose the rainbow effect. It also branches out like a stag. 

This is some extremely impressive growth for seven months!! Great job. I'm hoping to move out to Bay Area next year and (ofc) get a tank up. We should stay in touch.

[Cannedfish]

Time’s ticking @teenyreef...

 

(This is great, I feel like a Bond villain... *rubs hands together menacingly*)

[teenyreef]

18 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

Time’s ticking @teenyreef...

 

(This is great, I feel like a Bond villain... *rubs hands together menacingly*)

Bwahahahahahaha!

 

Funny you should mention my name, because I was just getting ready to post the final growth picture. And I have to say I have been amazed by the sudden growth spurt this month!

[teenyreef]

Oh yeah, and here's the picture. As you can see, there has been a real improvement this month. For the first time ever, my frag has grown! And it's by a full millimeter! Final height is 20mm for a grand total of 2mm from the original 18mm height! Eat that, @Cannedfish! In your face! 

 

 

Oh and here's the original picture for comparison, so you can see this incredible growth is for real. This is from the end of the first month, because the very first month was taken from a different position, on the frag rack. But trust me, there was no difference in height in that first month 

 

 

But seriously, there has been a ton of growth at the base. And there are all kinds of new branches getting ready to bust out.

 

In thinking about the differences in conditions between my tank and @Cannedfish, I think the biggest difference may be flow. After upgrading the stock pump in my IM10, my setup is nearly the same as his IM10 including the circulation pump and the wave pump. And I can tell you that I have way way way more flow in my IM40, with two MP-10's running at close to 100% most of the time, than there is in the IM10.

 

Corals that grow in higher flow tend to grow thicker, and will encrust more before going vertical. Corals in lower flow have longer, thinner branches. 

 

While our tanks are different in many ways, I think the amount and quality of light is comparable, as are the overall tank conditions, judging from the overall health of the corals in both tanks. 

 

So next time there's a growout contest, I'll have to remember that less flow == taller corals.

 

Congratulations @Cannedfish you've done an incredible job in this contest. But am I the only one savoring the delicious irony that after you get your free corals, you won't have any room left in your tank for them? 

[Cannedfish]

This is a great write-up, and judging by the similarities in our systems this would make an interesting topic/thread. I have also noticed all the corals that have faced the full brunt of the wave maker are much beefier. Weirdly, the spot where I placed the frag is unintentionally in the slip stream of the large Cali tort, so while the tank has significant turnover, the contest frag is relatively protected. Also, if you notice after I upgraded my return pump (mid August) the tissue between the branches sprouted polyps which are increasing the branches mass (maybe as a response to the increased flow). Furthermore, I wonder if my frag was encouraged to branch because that was less resource intensive. Unlike your system, mine is overrun by a plague of zoas and clove polyps, which make it difficult for SPS to encrust. They will grow over both zoas and clove polyps but it’s really slow going. Lastly, if I do manage to pull the rabbit out of the hat, and win, it will be a sad irony as you are correct, I am completely out of room. In fact, of the last three frags that arrived, one was glued straight up in the middle of my monti, and an other I just glued to a living branch of an acro I didn’t really like...