The not an Evo anymore Redemption Reef - Meet Hector

[mipster]

52 minutes ago, gena said:

If you're still looking for something to grow on that vertical rock, maybe branching GSP?  I'm not exactly sure how it would branch in a vertical position, but I'm assuming it would grow out away from the rock and toward the light and maybe give you an interesting look.  Plus you are sticking with a softy that will have lots of movement and the encrusting mat will provide less surface area for aptasia to grow ;).  

I've always been afraid of GSP because the idea of trying to control it scares me since I still haven't tried fragging anything lol 

 

But I have a bunch of interesting things coming over the next week so we'll see what it looks like once I get it all in and what room there is for other pretties!.

 

Also, the berghia have already started making a dent in the aptasia (I was not expecting a noticeable difference in one night but where I put them in is already clear for the most part.)

[A.m.P]

4 hours ago, mipster said:

I've always been afraid of GSP because the idea of trying to control it scares me since I still haven't tried fragging anything lol 

 

But I have a bunch of interesting things coming over the next week so we'll see what it looks like once I get it all in and what room there is for other pretties!.

 

Also, the berghia have already started making a dent in the aptasia (I was not expecting a noticeable difference in one night but where I put them in is already clear for the most part.)

If it makes you feel better branching briarium is delicate enough that you can pop branches off of it by gently pulling them.

[gena]

4 hours ago, mipster said:

I've always been afraid of GSP because the idea of trying to control it scares me since I still haven't tried fragging anything lol 

 

But I have a bunch of interesting things coming over the next week so we'll see what it looks like once I get it all in and what room there is for other pretties!.

 

Also, the berghia have already started making a dent in the aptasia (I was not expecting a noticeable difference in one night but where I put them in is already clear for the most part.)

I understand that completely.  My plan is to let things run amuck and survival of the fittest.  We'll see how that goes LOL.  I'm sure I'll be kicking myself later with some of my additions LOL.

That's good news about the berghias!

[mipster]

I have been very bad this weekend... 

 

 

 

 

I lost I LIIIIITTLE bit of control... But I say it's not my fault. I say it is the coral store's fault and my budget will have to forgive me to caving to their peer pressure.

 

For you Canadians around here, Thang at GTA Reef has such great selections and prices, it's dangerous. And for those of you in the GTA area who can go to his place and shop in person... go with strong self control, don't be like me who caves at the sight of a pretty coral.

 

I don't have pictures for you, I will take some once everything is done being pissed off at me.

 

I've also started calling my large female clown Queen B, not after Beyonce. It stands for Queen Bi*ch. She has been going hard at my hands whenever they are in the tank. She's getting good chunks too lol And I had alot of corals to glue in today so I started using my feeding tube to keep her away with one hand while glueing with the other lol I'm becoming ambidextrous via clown defence apparently lol 

 

I was recently reading through @TatorTaco's IM20 thread and fell completely in love with his stunning cabbage coral and I know the PERFECT spot for it. So now I need to go hunting lol

 

 

 

 

[mipster]

So I went mad, I'll start with the old and then show the new!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the new

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mipster]

 

 

 

 

[gena]

Ohhhh...love all the softies.  Those cloves are awesome.  I need to find me some of those.  What type of leathers are those?  I really like the one on the far right...the biggest one.

[mipster]

3 minutes ago, gena said:

Ohhhh...love all the softies.  Those cloves are awesome.  I need to find me some of those.  What type of leathers are those?  I really like the one on the far right...the biggest one.

I bought it from a local who sells from his basement - my fave place to shop! He calls is a green fury kenya tree, I'm not sure if that is a common trade name or not though. I wasn't going to get it but he offered a price I couldn't refuse lol I have zero will power and he knows it the little bugger 🤣😋

[gena]

Just now, mipster said:

I bought it from a local who sells from his basement - my fave place to shop! He calls is a green fury kenya tree, I'm not sure if that is a common trade name or not though. I wasn't going to get it but he offered a price I couldn't refuse lol I have zero will power and he knows it the little bugger 🤣😋

Wish I could get one of those!!!!  I'll try googling green fury kenya tree LOL.  Who knows, maybe I'll find one!!!!!  

[mipster]

5 hours ago, gena said:

Wish I could get one of those!!!!  I'll try googling green fury kenya tree LOL.  Who knows, maybe I'll find one!!!!!  

If you ever make it up to Toronto and want to try smuggling one across the boarder, let me know and I'll cut you a piece lol 

[gena]

36 minutes ago, mipster said:

If you ever make it up to Toronto and want to try smuggling one across the boarder, let me know and I'll cut you a piece lol 

haha...you got it!  I googled that name and nothing quite like it showed up.  But I'll keep looking for it.  It looks green with purple-ish polyps in your photo.  Are the polyps purple or more brown? Or the same color as the rest of the coral and it's just an illusion in the photo?

[mipster]

I would call them a purple-ish brown polyp more on the brown side and the body is the most shocking neon yellow-green colour. I've never seen one like it. It really takes focus off the other leathers lol

[mipster]

So what do you all do about bristle worms? I have ALOT and some are very large and I didn't mind until I saw this F#$Ker IN my acantho skeleton.

 

My acantho suffered when my tank was neglected but it's really been bouncing back but I worry this will hurt it further. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Tired]

Normally they're harmless, only going after dying corals. That one might irritate the coral, though. I'd yank it out with tweezers. 

[mipster]

6 minutes ago, Tired said:

Normally they're harmless, only going after dying corals. That one might irritate the coral, though. I'd yank it out with tweezers. 

I tried but I couldn't get it and I'm out of Dip but I'll go get some tomorrow and dip it. I'm wondering if this is what happened to my other acantho - it had a little recession from the neglect time but I got back on track with maintenance and it was looking great and then it was dying and dead 1 and 2 days later.

[mipster]

I slept terribly last night, worried that my acantho would be nearly dead when I woke up but it's looking great, nice and fluffy! Still need to get some dip and give it a dunk.

 

Hey Nano Reef community, what is your favourite dip?

 

 

 

 

 

@gena Check out this toadstool frag I picked up last night. It's a purple body with these pretty icey blue polyps!

 

 

 

 

I also picked up a fishy friend - a captive bread orchid dottyback. This will be the last fish in, #4. This is the best shot of her I can get currently lol

 

 

My molly miller blenny went jumping, it was very upsetting. The next day I got another red sea screen kit and had my boyfriend make a really nice tight fit. Orchid is not getting out of this fit! How sexy is that!

 

 

 

 

My boyfriend, while not into reef keeping, he is into going handy things and he made me a custom dolly for my 5 gallon bucket for water changes! I love it! lol

 

 

 

[gena]

You're killing me LOL.  LOVE it!!!!!  

That water bucket dolly is awesome!!!  He's a keeper 😊.

 

Do you have any hydrogen peroxide and a dropper on hand?  Squeeze a little where the worm is hanging out (being careful not to get it on the coral flesh)....he'll drop right out of there!  Then rinse in some tank water in a cup/bowl before putting back in the tank.

[mipster]

16 minutes ago, gena said:

You're killing me LOL.  LOVE it!!!!!  

That water bucket dolly is awesome!!!  He's a keeper 😊.

 

Do you have any hydrogen peroxide and a dropper on hand?  Squeeze a little where the worm is hanging out (being careful not to get it on the coral flesh)....he'll drop right out of there!  Then rinse in some tank water in a cup/bowl before putting back in the tank.

It's just to add to your shopping list! lol It is a small piece but very pretty. I'm excited for it to grow out more.

 

He definitely is a keeper - he's always driving me around to my fave coral shops lol

 

I have peroxide but no dropper at the moment and the little bugger gets RIGHT up in there when I pick up the acantho so I worry I wouldn't be able to avoid hitting the flesh.

[gena]

8 minutes ago, mipster said:

It's just to add to your shopping list! lol It is a small piece but very pretty. I'm excited for it to grow out more.

 

He definitely is a keeper - he's always driving me around to my fave coral shops lol

 

I have peroxide but no dropper at the moment and the little bugger gets RIGHT up in there when I pick up the acantho so I worry I wouldn't be able to avoid hitting the flesh.

 

I've gotten full strength peroxide right on the flesh when I've treated incoming new corals and nothing bad has happened.  I just didn't want to suggest getting it on the flesh in case something happens to your gorgeous coral!!!!  I don't want to be responsible 😋.  

 

That's so awesome to have someone that WANTS to go to the LFS with you.  Mine will go but he doesn't want to go LOL.  At least he will go though.

[mipster]

21 minutes ago, gena said:

 

I've gotten full strength peroxide right on the flesh when I've treated incoming new corals and nothing bad has happened.  I just didn't want to suggest getting it on the flesh in case something happens to your gorgeous coral!!!!  I don't want to be responsible 😋.  

 

That's so awesome to have someone that WANTS to go to the LFS with you.  Mine will go but he doesn't want to go LOL.  At least he will go though.

Maybe if I can't get out to the store today for some dip I'll give it a shot! I do love this acantho and watching the death of the other was so painful, I don't want to go through it again 😭

 

Ya I'm very lucky! He got really curious about the tech and hardware aspect of reefing so there is hope there yet lol 

[mipster]

I haven't seen any sign of the mini berghia army since I first added them to the tank but I went to scrape the glass and look who I found! So not where I need him lol but at least I know they are in there somewhere working away at it.

 

 

 

But I still have lot of aiptasia in the tank, probably too many for the berghia to get under control on their own and I recently stumbled across this BRS video on Frank's F - Aiptasia which made me very curious about the product. Luckily, I have a good relationship with my LFS and they are being awesome and getting me some to try and I'll give them a full report on the product and document it for them. 

 

Have any of you tried this one yet? What's the good, bad and ugly?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTsKp8HnSiw

 

 

 

 

[mipster]

 

 

[horseysurprise]

On 5/27/2020 at 9:54 AM, mipster said:

So I learned. something interesting about my RODI unit. Earlier I posted about going through my DI resin crazy fast and I was concerned I bought a crap unit (yes it's not a super expensive one so I was really worried I wasted money). I posted about it here and on my local club's facebook page and a few people said the same thing happened to them and that the unit was junk but one of the reefers mentioned that because my unit was disconnect and sitting between uses, sediment can build up inside the unit and that I should disconnect my DI unit, run the filter with just the blocks and membrane for 10 minutes and then I can hook back up the DI unit.

 

I disconnected the DI and ran the filter and filled up a little cup. TDS came out as 920!!!! Which is crazy because just out of the tap the TDS is only 132. Ran it for 10 ish minutes and it's back down to a respectable 3 ppm before going into the DI resin to remove the last bit. I would have never thought to check that. It's super important for me to know that and has been a huge help in prolonging the life of my resin. 

I have the same RO/DI unit, thank you for sharing this!

[mipster]

8 minutes ago, horseysurprise said:

I have the same RO/DI unit, thank you for sharing this!

My pleasure! I'm also happy to report I'm still using the same unit and following the same process and not burning through DI and getting 0 TDS on the way out.

[gena]

17 hours ago, mipster said:

 

 

Hahaha...love the video!!!  The music is perfect LOL.  I just followed your IG page.  LOVE your stand for the tank.  I like the natural wood top with the white base!!!!