Mitten_reef’s WB55.2 - 4/30 top-down pics

[mitten_reef]

2 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

well back when i had the gold maxima, LED lights were super mid. Basically consisting of royal blue and cool white LEDs. blue maximas just didn't do well under those lights. The gold one did, I had it for like 3 years. I think it was because the blue clam reflected a lot of the blue light? maybe. I dk. But I never was able to keep a blue for longer than a few months back then, and then I never tried again.

 

I also feel like the clam trend kinda died.

can the same thing happen to the overpriced acros plsnthnx

huh, i've been around a while, and don't recall that clams even had their own trend, lol.  but i don't doubt it, everything goes up and down in popularity with this hobby.  

come to think of it, maybe it had a blip when PEA was going strong as an online vendor; their clams are pretty nice but still stupid pricey https://pacificeastaquaculture.com/collections/clams-2.  i honestly can't recall the last time I heard anyone mentioned them as an online source.  I got all 3 for 150 shipped.   

 

I don't think the acros trend is gonna slow down any time - it might shift to a different species of acros, like granulosa, speciosa seem to be getting a lot of attention right now, despite being very hard to keep (and hard to obtain $$$$) for most hobbyist.  but premium tenuis aren't coming down in prices much either.  

 

 

[TheKleinReef]

19 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

huh, i've been around a while, and don't recall that clams even had their own trend, lol.  but i don't doubt it, everything goes up and down in popularity with this hobby.  

come to think of it, maybe it had a blip when PEA was going strong as an online vendor; their clams are pretty nice but still stupid pricey https://pacificeastaquaculture.com/collections/clams-2.  i honestly can't recall the last time I heard anyone mentioned them as an online source.  I got all 3 for 150 shipped.   

 

I don't think the acros trend is gonna slow down any time - it might shift to a different species of acros, like granulosa, speciosa seem to be getting a lot of attention right now, despite being very hard to keep (and hard to obtain $$$$) for most hobbyist.  but premium tenuis aren't coming down in prices much either.  

 

 

 

I think the acro trend will die, but slowly. remember when red dragons were $500 an inch?

the more hobbyists or smaller coral venders that aquire a coral the cheaper they'll get.

This is the thing I hate most about this hobby, the coral prices are so stupid and people just pay it so it gets worse and worse.

[mitten_reef]

4 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

 

I think the acro trend will die, but slowly. remember when red dragons were $500 an inch?

the more hobbyists or smaller coral venders that aquire a coral the cheaper they'll get.

This is the thing I hate most about this hobby, the coral prices are so stupid and people just pay it so it gets worse and worse.

I'm sure you have other hobbies.  there are always those who chase rare and collectible *things* at all costs in every hobby.  so there'll always be a market. 

homewrecker debuted at 1000, i think?  it probably is still above 300 a frag a decade later, I never bother looking for one.  also, these nicer acros tend to be more finnicky to keep, so an average hobbyists that think they can just make a quick buck aren't able to reproduce them as much as you'd think.    

 

with the exception of a handful pieces, all my frags/pieces came in 50-80 per nowadays.  It used to be closer to 30-70 range, with most below 50.  but eh it's been over 10 years in the hobby, everything changed.   

 

   

 

 

[TheKleinReef]

1 hour ago, mitten_reef said:

but eh it's been over 10 years in the hobby, everything changed.   

 

some for the good but a lot  for the bad imo.

1 hour ago, mitten_reef said:

I'm sure you have other hobbies. 

not like this. running, hiking, fishing, photography all have pretty reasonable standards for prices. corals for some reason perform like clothes and shoes.

 

but tbh there's very few of the new corals that I like. gemme a green slimer, myagi, oregon, and hawkins and i'll be content.

[A.m.P]

Could be a source thing with the Maxima, I rarely see golds getting dry-shipped or otherwise abused like the tahitian blues do, and quite a few of those die from stress months after shipping.

[joshthebox]

On 8/29/2023 at 11:14 AM, mitten_reef said:

I did a thing, the deal was too good to pass up. 

 

Nice! They're going to grow fast! Beautiful and easy Tridacna!! 

[mitten_reef]

welp, one more sps bit the dust.  the paletta pink tip colony had been looking unhealthy for months and after a long holiday wknd, it gave up.

 

Fall can't come soon enough, look forward to spending more wknds at home and, hopefully, more time with the tank maintenance and other things.

 

On 8/31/2023 at 5:07 PM, joshthebox said:

Nice! They're going to grow fast! Beautiful and easy Tridacna!! 

great to hear!! 

[PJPS]

The closed windows make my pH crazy, so that means my alk spikes every few days.  I may transisson to mainly  montis it my tank doesn't settle soon. It's mostly from neglecting my RODI for 14 (14!) months.  all my sticks started pulling tight at the same time.  Everything else seems happ.  So it's water change olympics for a few days... fresh kalk, ato, salt bin, all for reef, and a fe 20% WC

 

In short, I feel your summer acro pain;)

[TheKleinReef]

big sadge. 😞

[mitten_reef]

It isn’t all bad news. The rest of the tank has been looking pretty good, 🤞 

 

The goni’s have pretty good colors on them, just not much extension.  The clowns loving on them probably doesn’t help. 

the acros grow out zone

 

the right side of the tank, mainly trying to show the OG Oregon Tort on the top of the rock branch 

 

and the closeup of the clams and torch

 

[TheKleinReef]

What’s that green and purple sps on the rack??

 

looks good! Hopefully the lps continue to do well for you. 

[mitten_reef]

39 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

What’s that green and purple pa no the rack??

 

looks good! Hopefully the lps continue to do well for you. 

that would be the SC Orange Passion.  The orange polyps are still hiding, haha, even if they peak out they're mostly yellow these days.  If you look next to one of the light clusters, I have a nice chunk planted in the scape.  The one on the rack is my propagation colony, looking ready for a new round of trim.  

[TheKleinReef]

8 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

that would be the SC Orange Passion.  The orange polyps are still hiding, haha, even if they peak out they're mostly yellow these days.  If you look next to one of the light clusters, I have a nice chunk planted in the scape.  The one on the rack is my propagation colony, looking ready for a new round of trim.  

need me one of those. I have a few OG acros I want before I take up too much SPS space though.

[mitten_reef]

8 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

need me one of those. I have a few OG acros I want before I take up too much SPS space though.

make a list and see if any vendors will put together a pack price for you.  The older of an OG they are, the likely that the ppl chasing trends have been ignoring them, thus more surplus in frags for vendors.  dm me a list, I can check with Ty for you, he has some OG stuff that he probably doesn't post on the web site.

[tmc1313]

17 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

It isn’t all bad news. The rest of the tank has been looking pretty good, 🤞 

 

The goni’s have pretty good colors on them, just not much extension.  The clowns loving on them probably doesn’t help. 

the acros grow out zone

 

the right side of the tank, mainly trying to show the OG Oregon Tort on the top of the rock branch 

 

and the closeup of the clams and torch

 

Clams look great! Now you're really going to have to keep up on your alkalinity with those additions. I have a derasa in my tank that I bought at probably two inches and in less than a year it's close to 6 inches. I'm dosing 25mls each of two part and I swear the clam is using at least half that. 

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, tmc1313 said:

Clams look great! Now you're really going to have to keep up on your alkalinity with those additions. I have a derasa in my tank that I bought at probably two inches and in less than a year it's close to 6 inches. I'm dosing 25mls each of two part and I swear the clam is using at least half that. 

whoa, I had one maxima for a long while, it def took longer than that to gain some size....would be fun to watch these guys grow then!

 

 

[Elizabeth94]

Omg that orangey pink clam looks amazing. Is that how it looks in real life? And just saying- that green slimer looks super happy. Look at those polyps!

[mitten_reef]

On 9/7/2023 at 6:27 PM, Elizabeth94 said:

Omg that orangey pink clam looks amazing. Is that how it looks in real life? And just saying- that green slimer looks super happy. Look at those polyps!

The clams do look just like that in real life. The caveat is, to see those amazing colors on them, your light spectrum needs to be bright white, like freshwater plain full spectrum white. 
also, they’re only pretty from top view  so, to get maximum viewing benefit, they should be placed closer to the sand bed, so you can readily see them from top-ish angle. 

[mitten_reef]

Yup these still hit the spot. Same rainbow chalice. The left just happens to be a choice piece when i accidentally frag my last piece. The right side had been growing steadily, started with just red and orange. 
 

[mitten_reef]

Cleaned the glass really well on Sunday, and forgot to take pic 😂.  So here we go, kinda dirty now, but a current full tank shot. 

 

 

[mitten_reef]

Sticks might be cool, but 🌈 chalice is a whole different level on colors

 

[TheKleinReef]

oooOOoOOOh purty

[mitten_reef]

LFS posted some new maxima clams, guess which ones are coming to my tank, 😅

 

[TheKleinReef]

I want the far right one 

[Justind823]

Just caught up on the journey with all it's ups and downs! Things are looking really good. Loving the abundance of clams and that new maxima looks great.