Ryan S March 14, 2012 Author Share March 14, 2012 I really like the rock scape. Great job! Thank you Steve! We made it that way with the future in mind, and what it will look like down the road! The plan is to have a "Zoanthid Arch" at the front right there; the torch has island to the front left; behind him his the florida ric area. The far back will have the tall leathers; and top of the 2 tallest pieces will have monti caps growing on the sides, and acros/mille's on the top. We're hoping it grows in and looks nice down the road! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf March 14, 2012 Share March 14, 2012 Looks great Ryan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novi March 14, 2012 Share March 14, 2012 Lookin real good DD Brotha! Loving the Powder Blue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy357 March 14, 2012 Share March 14, 2012 That is looking great. I love the DD tanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schenktank March 14, 2012 Share March 14, 2012 this is one of the best rock scapes ive seen on here. nice work. looks really natural. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S March 16, 2012 Author Share March 16, 2012 (edited) Here are some better 1 month old photos and a video. Funny how an iPhone takes better photos than my kodak digital camera. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAjF4ugeaDQ 1 Month Old FTS: Right Side: Left Side: Zoanthid Arch - Front Right Corner of the Tank: Florida Ricordea Haven - Left Side of the Tank: Current Fish List: 1 McCosker's Flasher Wrasse, Male 1 Blue Sided Fairy Wrasse, Female 1 Powder Blue Tang 1 Sailfin Tang 4 Lyretail Anthias, Female 4 Dispar Anthias, Female 1 Lyretail Anthias, Male 3 Blue Eye Cardinalfish 3 Banggai Cardinalfish Edited March 16, 2012 by Ryan S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S March 16, 2012 Author Share March 16, 2012 Thank you Steve, Frank, Chris, Muddy357, and schenktank! Moving forward, I really want the tank to become SPS dominated. Hopefully I can get the frags to start growing out or find some small colonies somewhere that are affordable. SPS colonies always seem so darned expensive (especially since I want to put like 10 in the tank!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishie March 16, 2012 Share March 16, 2012 Looks great Ryan...like the rics and glad to see the pbt doing great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella March 16, 2012 Share March 16, 2012 Thank you Steve, Frank, Chris, Muddy357, and schenktank! Moving forward, I really want the tank to become SPS dominated. Hopefully I can get the frags to start growing out or find some small colonies somewhere that are affordable. SPS colonies always seem so darned expensive (especially since I want to put like 10 in the tank!) For the price of a bunch of little frags you could easily buy a whole colony. Sean sells colonys for $75 (67.50 after your wamas discount). 1 whole colony looks better than 7 little frags IMO. I get the idea of growing them out, but in your tank, they will look tiny for some time. Spending 75 a month on 1 colony doesnt seem so crushing, considering you easily will spend that amount on a bunch of frags. Not to be over critical, but thats a lot of fish quick in that tank. Slow and steady wins the race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S March 16, 2012 Author Share March 16, 2012 Looks great Ryan...like the rics and glad to see the pbt doing great Thanks Nick. I am glad the PBT made it too. The only weird thing is, he won't touch the nori? Hopefully he'll try it soon, but right now he just ignores it. So does the sailfin tang. For the price of a bunch of little frags you could easily buy a whole colony. Sean sells colonys for $75 (67.50 after your wamas discount). 1 whole colony looks better than 7 little frags IMO. I get the idea of growing them out, but in your tank, they will look tiny for some time. Spending 75 a month on 1 colony doesnt seem so crushing, considering you easily will spend that amount on a bunch of frags. Not to be over critical, but thats a lot of fish quick in that tank. Slow and steady wins the race. Thanks Travis. Your advice, critical or not, is always welcome. No more fish for a while. I want a few more, but I am going to wait a while to add any more. As for Sean, that's the only LFS I haven't hit up yet, so I'll probably come home with a colony next month when I make it out his way! Does he have bright colored colonies? I don't really know SPS names yet, I just want a "rainbow" of colonies in the tank. (I hope to grab a colony or two from wamas members selling stuff for the April meeting as well.) And you make a good point on frags. I think what I may do, moving forward, is add 1 colony a month, and let the frags grow in around them. I think the tank will look 50x better with colonies than the 1" nubs, thats for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella March 16, 2012 Share March 16, 2012 Sean gets in a nice variety of colors. I recently picked up a nice bright yellow millie, but he definitely gets in some nice colonies. Trust 1 whole colony does do a lot more for your tank than a few frags. Not to mention you can always cut a few frags to trade for other peoples frags, save your cash for bigger things. Sean usually posts when he gets in a large SPS shipment, but he usually has a nice selection in all the time, and he has frags as well.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S March 16, 2012 Author Share March 16, 2012 Sean gets in a nice variety of colors. I recently picked up a nice bright yellow millie, but he definitely gets in some nice colonies. Trust 1 whole colony does do a lot more for your tank than a few frags. Not to mention you can always cut a few frags to trade for other peoples frags, save your cash for bigger things. Sean usually posts when he gets in a large SPS shipment, but he usually has a nice selection in all the time, and he has frags as well.. I was told he gets in shipments on like Tuesdays? I usually couldn't get out there until Saturday, so the best colonies, in theory, will be long gone. I wish I could get out to a LFS such as his and cherry pick the colonies from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella March 16, 2012 Share March 16, 2012 He said most people dont co in until the weekend, and he usually gets a lot of nice pieces, and colonies never sell as fast as frags bc people dont want to spend the money. There are perks to going right away, you get your choice, but some of the corals take time to color back up good after shipping so often cherries get over looked. Honestly, last time I was there (sat at closing time) there were lots of REALLy nice colonies there.. Marine scene gets in some nice colonies too from time to time. Oh, and sean has a really nice orange acan he has been aquaculturing, I know how much you like orange acans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S March 16, 2012 Author Share March 16, 2012 He said most people dont co in until the weekend, and he usually gets a lot of nice pieces, and colonies never sell as fast as frags bc people dont want to spend the money. There are perks to going right away, you get your choice, but some of the corals take time to color back up good after shipping so often cherries get over looked. Honestly, last time I was there (sat at closing time) there were lots of REALLy nice colonies there.. Marine scene gets in some nice colonies too from time to time. Oh, and sean has a really nice orange acan he has been aquaculturing, I know how much you like orange acans. Awesome. Well I'll head his way soon for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S March 20, 2012 Author Share March 20, 2012 In the mean time, I have some more frags on the way. Next month I'll grab my first colony from Sean. But first, let's see how many of the sps frags I can keep alive this time! On the way: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der ABT March 20, 2012 Share March 20, 2012 got some nice potential there, really like the first 6 pinkish acros/milli's... hope they end up being the first true thriving corals for ya. that last pics the eflo/soli looks like its in trouble already though on the bottome edges, may just be from fraggin but showing some skeleton nice acans too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S March 20, 2012 Author Share March 20, 2012 got some nice potential there, really like the first 6 pinkish acros/milli's... hope they end up being the first true thriving corals for ya. that last pics the eflo/soli looks like its in trouble already though on the bottome edges, may just be from fraggin but showing some skeleton nice acans too. Last time when I lost a couple, I think they got RTN, and they were gone very very fast. (I don't know if the cause was too much light/too little light/tank was still too new, etc.) 1. Assuming I don't get RTN again this time, how can I tell the SPS are doing ok? Bleaching = too much light; and browning means too little light? Is that all I should watch out for? 2. Should I put the frags on the sand bed for a week or two, then mount them on my rocks, or go ahead and mount them from the start? (The radions are currently set at 50% intensity, so on the rocks should be okay I think - they were at 100% when I lost the first ones). 3. Should I use revive on the SPS? I had a "thin tissue" SPS last time that the revive killed. I honestly don't know which SPS frags are thin tissue or not, by looking at them. Should I still dip all - or just the softies above? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der ABT March 20, 2012 Share March 20, 2012 (edited) i dip everythign that can be dipped before it goes into the tank...it takes one time not following good QT procedures to ruin alot of work... not sure on LPS never kept alot of them and dont know much about the pests etc.. for the sps....you can always try dipping in revive (used that for a long time until i started using coralrx which i think is not as harsh) and just not full strength...then float them in a tupperware for a day and dip again...look at the bottom of the container very carefully for any pests and inspect the coral.. Dont leave it in the dip for more then 3-5 min (least thats what i do) then spin the frag in the dip to try and get anythign clingy on and put in a jar some fresh tank water.. I usually trade the frag plug it came with for a new one in case of any hitchhiker or algea i dont want (but admit i dont do this often enough) for the sps just keep looking at the skin...if you can see the outlines of the skeleton (usually shows lines...look at the last sps pic at 6 oclock on the rim of the efflo...see how the white lines are starting to show and it almost looks fuzzy)..while this sometimes happens when fraggin and you squeeze the coral too hard it can also be a sign of unhappyness.. I wouldnt worry about polyp extension, i have some that extend with in minutes of addition and others that take days/weeks to really look happy. RTN sux and it happens to us all, heck i have one piece that RTNs everytime i frag it...of course i really like the acro and its the slowest grower i have but what can ya do...just hope... i dont know about others, but i usually just temp aclimate mine and then dip, CLOSELY inspect and as long as nothign looks suspect they go in the tank (mainly because its from someone i trust/bought from many times)....if i had a QT tank they would go in that but my nudi's took that over... You can always slowly acclimate them to your water...BUT NEVER ADD SOMEONE ELSES WATER TO YOURS..... ok rant over Edited March 20, 2012 by Der ABT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella March 20, 2012 Share March 20, 2012 Couldve bought 2 colonies for the price of all those frags.! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S March 20, 2012 Author Share March 20, 2012 Couldve bought 2 colonies for the price of all those frags.! YES, but... if my tank isnt sps ready... i'd rather lose a $10 frag than a $75 colony... :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella March 20, 2012 Share March 20, 2012 I also think you need to be very cautious of how close together you put those frags. 2" apart seems ok when there tiny frags, but once they encrust and grow they will be very close, not allowing them to spread out without touching. And after there encrusted, well moving them is a little more diffucult. Just my $.02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella March 20, 2012 Share March 20, 2012 YES, but... if my tank isnt sps ready... i'd rather lose a $10 frag than a $75 colony... :( But what if you lose 8 of those, more costly. I also think colonies tend to be healthier than somewhat fresh cut frags.. Im really just giving you a hard time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 March 20, 2012 Share March 20, 2012 Whether your tank is ready or not be prepared to lose some of those frags. At less than 1" and fresh cut they won't all make it ime. Nature of the beast. I don't mind small fresh cut monti caps or encrusting monti since they seem to be so hardy (and fast growing), but with branching acro's my luck has not been so good. My best success with fresh cut acro frags have been from other members tanks, or encrusted frags from stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S March 20, 2012 Author Share March 20, 2012 I also think you need to be very cautious of how close together you put those frags. 2" apart seems ok when there tiny frags, but once they encrust and grow they will be very close, not allowing them to spread out without touching. And after there encrusted, well moving them is a little more diffucult. Just my $.02 That thought has crossed my mind. On the one hand, won't it take a year before the 1" frags grow into $75-sized colonies? And what happens if they grow into each other? Would I need to trim them / remove some of them / or will they grow up and around one another, and look crowded/full? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella March 20, 2012 Share March 20, 2012 Nope, they will grow into to each other and atleast one will die off there most likely, sometimes both. Not to mention many SPS have different growth patterns. I think it would look crowded, which I view differently than full... Use the sides of the rocks and other areas than just the tops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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