Mitten_reef’s WB55.2

[jservedio]

10 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

Especially when you go solely by “the looks” of things more often than not like me. 😂

Is there any other way? It's worked for me for years!

[debbeach13]

10 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

 Especially when you go solely by “the looks” of things more often than not like me. 😂

Your not alone. That's the way a lazy reefer like me judges how things are going.

[A.m.P]

Damn, sorry to see the losses, the shipping bit is so screwed up, things seemed to be getting a bit more normal around February but we've suddenly returned to non-stop delays over here too.

Do you still have the parent colonies in the older setup to pull from?

[mitten_reef]

On 4/28/2021 at 9:07 AM, jservedio said:

Is there any other way? It's worked for me for years!

lol, I was just trying to be "better"

On 4/28/2021 at 9:11 AM, debbeach13 said:

Your not alone. That's the way a lazy reefer like me judges how things are going.

If there was a lazy reefer club, I'd like to join one 

On 4/28/2021 at 10:59 AM, A.m.P said:

Damn, sorry to see the losses, the shipping bit is so screwed up, things seemed to be getting a bit more normal around February but we've suddenly returned to non-stop delays over here too.

Do you still have the parent colonies in the older setup to pull from?

nope those were the parent colonies - the IM was shut down a while ago (months now?)

 

Immediately after the sps death - the tank was hit with a big dino bloom, just about coming out on the other side of it now.  while heavily dosing and feeding the tank with phyto, I also discovered a lot of bubble algae popping up in the tank no idea where they came form. They started popping up all over the main branch rock.  I grabbed 2 emerald crabs who seem happily picking away at the rock, so good sign.  I'm down to a handful (or two) of larger bubbles now.   Despite all types of planning and preparation, new tank issues exist no matter what - life of a reef tank.

 

and....obligatory pic

 

 

[mitten_reef]

Just a clean glass shot from this afternoon…

 

[jservedio]

1 hour ago, mitten_reef said:

Just a clean glass shot from this afternoon…

 

Man, that scape looks SO good. That clam is looking awesome, too. How has it been, I've never had one myself?

[Zer0]

I love the red goni! It’s gorgeous! I think goni’s are my favorite coral, I started with an ORA red and all of a sudden I now have 5 different types lmao

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, jservedio said:

Man, that scape looks SO good. That clam is looking awesome, too. How has it been, I've never had one myself?

Thanks. The clam has been in the tank for just a little over a year and a half.  Probably put on at least an inch in length and width.  It’s an awesome animal, if you have a spot for it, recommend giving it a try.  You shouldn’t have trouble with your lighting 😉

 

1 hour ago, Zer0 said:

I love the red goni! It’s gorgeous! I think goni’s are my favorite coral, I started with an ORA red and all of a sudden I now have 5 different types lmao

Thanks for stopping by. I’ve always loved goniopora, red is a classic.  I’ll probably keep this one til it out grows the tank, I like its color enough lol.  there are a bunch of new “rainbow” out there that I’m somewhat interested in. and of course if you get a chance, you should get @pokerdobe’s atomic ball goniopora, I’d put it up there among the must-have’s with the amazeball (check out his tank thread for pics). 

[mitten_reef]

Feeding time for these two last night.  For scale, the smaller one is on a standard square tile (1.25”?).
 

The big one sucked in the food and get all puffed up, while littler one turned inside out to grab as much food as possible with those feeder tentacles. 

 

[jservedio]

16 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

Thanks. The clam has been in the tank for just a little over a year and a half.  Probably put on at least an inch in length and width.  It’s an awesome animal, if you have a spot for it, recommend giving it a try.  You shouldn’t have trouble with your lighting 😉

Awesome - I am definitely interested in giving one a try once everything is off my sand. Maybe I'll wait until I have two more Primes just to be absolutely sure there is enough light 😆

 

What kind of clam is that? I didn't see in the build thread what kind it was and I know basically nothing about clams! If you have time, do you do anything special for it? Pretty much everything I've read about them is more than 10 years old now.

[mitten_reef]

4 minutes ago, jservedio said:

Awesome - I am definitely interested in giving one a try once everything is off my sand. Maybe I'll wait until I have two more Primes just to be absolutely sure there is enough light 😆

 

What kind of clam is that? I didn't see in the build thread what kind it was and I know basically nothing about clams! If you have time, do you do anything special for it? Pretty much everything I've read about them is more than 10 years old now.

It's a blue Maxima.  The clam has been around since IM30 tank (I did think ahead and added the link to the IM30 journal in my first post, go me!).  It was purchased around Nov 2019.  I've seen mentioning of air trap inside and injured "foot" being the big concerns during introduction and moving.  other than the introduction, it's only been out of water 3 times, when we moved the house (out into the bucket and back in), then when moved into the WB - so 3 for 3 for me.   the WB move was the most scary as it had anchored itself to the old IM scape really tightly.  I ended up clipping/chipping ~1.5" chunk of rock to free the clam.  

 

I've done nothing special for it relatively speaking, considered most of its needs are similar to acroporas, strong-good lighting and stable parameters.  I did start feeding some bottled phyto somewhere along the way since i got the clam - these are the shelf-stable bottled kind, either Brightwell from Marine Depot or seachem stuff from LFS.  But that's mainly to benefit the acros, but the clam has shown some feeding reaction on those as well.  

 

 

[mitten_reef]

Go vote for my ric island in this month photo contest

🤣🤣

 

https://www.nano-reef.com/competition/entry/553-ric-island/

 

[mitten_reef]

from this wknd...

 

 

 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

I like the top down shot! Looks really good man 

[mitten_reef]

9 hours ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

I like the top down shot! Looks really good man 

Thanks bud. 
 

this is my favorite viewing spot right now

[ninjamyst]

thats $100 worth of utter chaos there =P

[mitten_reef]

4 minutes ago, ninjamyst said:

thats $100 worth of utter chaos there =P

I can probably ask for that at LFS.  I'm literally down to two zoas types in this tank, UC and Rastas, they both give nice color contrasts to everything else in the tank atm

[Zer0]

I see most prices at like +$20/polyp for UC, so it’s a heck of a lot more than $100. But I doubt you’d get anything close to its actual worth from a LFS, unless you’re a really good costumer or are friends with them lol

[Melfy77]

I like those zoas but they don't like me...always melting under my watch, one polyp at a time...oh look another dollar just melted away😬

[mitten_reef]

6 hours ago, Zer0 said:

I see most prices at like +$20/polyp for UC, so it’s a heck of a lot more than $100. But I doubt you’d get anything close to its actual worth from a LFS, unless you’re a really good costumer or are friends with them lol

I can easily get $50 in LFS store credit for that mound, maybe a little more, but you're right $100 will be pushing it, lol.  I traded in, or even gave away, many corals to this shop, and get some really good prices on livestock in return.  So I'd say i'm fortunate to have that relationship.

 

 

2 hours ago, Melfy77 said:

I like those zoas but they don't like me...always melting under my watch, one polyp at a time...oh look another dollar just melted away😬

sorry to hear that, i never had any of them melted yet.  mine mostly lost colors and/or slowed down on growth when they aren't happy with nutrient level, apparently they really need N&P to have their vibrant colors.  also they like decent amount of light, more so than most tend to give them credit for.  

[mitten_reef]

Just a random record of the acros topdown tonight. While I won’t say I’m out of the woods yet, the acros are starting to color back up. yes, most of these were either plain green or brown.  Even the ones on the rack came from @Thrassian Atoll full of colors, then proceeded to go dull in my tank 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Bonus content scoly topdown and sideshot 

 

 

 

[mitten_reef]

 

[mitten_reef]

Turned out my dead WD has one corallite and polyp left. 🧐 the whole frag has been dead for at least a week. So the fact that this one is glowing today, it must have hung on for quite some time. 

 

if you don’t read about its recovery in the future, can assume it doesn’t make it. 
 

[ninjamyst]

Wish you were closer.  I can cut you a big frag of Walt Disney.  Mine is still mostly green...sigh

[mitten_reef]

15 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

Wish you were closer.  I can cut you a big frag of Walt Disney.  Mine is still mostly green...sigh

you need more light, that or better nutrients management. But I’d try light first.