Marc Levenson
March 17th 05, 06:07 AM
I know I've been absent lately, but I can't seem to catch up
with everything and stay on RAMR too. I'm so far behind
with my email that is pathetic.
If any of you are within driving distance of Dallas, Tx,
please consider spending the day here on March 26th. Our
club is hosting its annual "Next Wave" conference, and
everyone that wants to come is invited. It costs $45
(non-members) to attend the all day event, which includes a
hot meal at lunch time. 4 speakers are being flown in, and
you can check out all the details as soon as you enter the
club's site: http://www.dfwmas.com If you're coming, be
sure to fill out the reservation form so everyone will have
a seat and a meal.
Now, here's an update about my tank, along with a whole
bunch of pictures I took two days ago.
Lots of changes, with Nathan's corals now out of the tank,
and a few pieces either sold or dying. :rolleyes:
Let me focus on the negative first. As some of you know,
I'm stepping off the Oceanic salt Bandwagon. I have a
couple of images of items that I directly correllate to the
use of this salt, as both corals were perfectly fine for
some time. I did a water change, and both were either
bleaching or the new tips covered with a brown algae that
apparently smothers the life. Once I used a turkey baster
to blow off the brown, it exposed white skeleton. :(
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/brown_tips.jpg
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/brown_tips2.jpg
This only seems to affect some of my SPS, an not all
indescriminantly. A. millepora doesn't seem bothered at
all, nor does A. humilis. However, A. tenuis RTNed in 10
hours (100% loss), A. yongei, A. rosetta, and some others
do. M. digitata and capricornis seems fine. My larger
Pavona looks great, while another one has a few 'sores' on
it. If it matters, the pavona up near the lights is the one
affected, unlike the other down near the substrate.
Now this coral is a fuzzy green Pocillopora that I got about
20 months ago. It looked like this orginally.
http://melevsreef.com/id/fuzzy_pocillopora.jpg
Later it was gorgeous, and 3x larger, pictured from above.
http://melevsreef.com/pics/0105/td_pocillopora.jpg
About 10 weeks ago, it took a turn for the bad. It closed
up quite a bit, but polyps extended within the core. It
took me a month to figure out that the current was hitting
the coral too hard. I rerarranged the returns a bit, and
the coral recovered some.
Then about 2 weeks ago, it started getting worse again.
I've moved it three times since, trying to find a good spot.
Tonight:
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/older_pocillo.jpg
As you can see, it is brown, not green.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/polyps.jpg
I don't believe this is Oceanic-related, btw. I think the
coral was already weakened for some time, and now doesn't
have the energy to fight back. I'm not giving up, but the
future for this piece is bleak.
Here is a new frag I got from Peterlin, who gave me the
first piece almost 2 years ago. Just mounted, so it is still
closed up quite a bit.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/new_pocillo.jpg
As I've mentioned before, my tangs tend to snack on my SPS
from time to time. I've watched my Hippos nibble on the
blue torte, the tricolor acro, the green slimer and others.
So my blue torte frags have white tips where they've been
munched upon.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/blue_torte.jpg
I'm seriously considering changing my feeding schedule.
Maybe if I feed earlier in the day, the tangs will be full
and less prone to forage for food in my SPS colonies. I
already offer Nori around noon, but maybe waiting until 9pm
to feed is my mistake. Maybe feeding them the dinner around
4pm would assure the corals some peace and quiet. Perhaps
by the time the tangs get hungry again, lights will go out.
The drawback is that my corals won't be able to feed like
they do currently. By feeding the tank around 9pm, the food
is still in the water when the lights kick off and the
corals filter feed.
The Powder Blue Tang has been snacking on the Toadstool
leather, Devils Hand leather, and Green or Neon Star Polyps.
It recently dedided to chow on some orange zoos, but I
think it was trying to get at the micro feather dusters. I
moved the zoos in question, and it stopped bothering them.
I do see less featherdusters in the tank. The Toadstool is
recovering. :)
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/toadstool.jpg
The Montipora foliosa (usually this piece is called a
capricornis, but it is ridged and not smooth) is doing well.
It has issues with too much flow as well, and sometimes
darkens as some type of brownish algae grows on it. For the
most part the coral is doing well, but I do have to watch it
for any signs of problems. Unfortunately, this picture
doesn't show it's 3-d look. It is growing almost like an
inverted dish, with a 1" lip hanging straight down all the
way around it.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/mcap.jpg
My little clam continues to be quite happy down in the
rubble at the center of the tank.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/clam_rubble.jpg
Gmacy gave me a frag of some of the fuzziest Acropora. It
is a brown frag, and I mounted it today so it would stay in
place. It is tough to focus on something so slender.
First a night shot.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/fuzzy_brown_digitata.jpg
And with the lights on
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/brown_montipora.jpg
The BTAs continue to grow quietly. I might need to target
feed them tonight, if they are opened up.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/clowns_n_btas.jpg
Here is my frag of Nathan's encrusting Montipora. It is
already coloring up along the edge where it was exposed
after being fragged.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/encrusting_monti.jpg
Fraggle Rock is less interesting currently, because I
relocated some corals. In the back is a new M. digitata
that Peter gave me. It is brown with blue polyps, but it
will take some time to get comfortable in my tank.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/fraggle_rock1.jpg
Neon Green Candy Cane.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/green_candycane.jpg
The Hammer coral is making a comeback. It too had to be
moved from here to there trying to find a good spot. One
head completely rotted away in the time it took for me to
figure out a location that it would like. It is now dead
center in the tank, near the cave opening.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/hammer.jpg
Some Mean Greens, as I've not posted any in a while.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/mean_greens.jpg
And here are some new zoos I got from a club member a few
weeks ago.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/new_zoos.jpg
I've gathered almost all of the orange Montipora digitata
into one section of my tank. It looks pretty cool. Look
closely, and you'll see the Orange Mandarin blending in.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/orange_digi.jpg
I can't remember when I bought these orange Ricordias, but
they really needed a better spot in the tank. So I moved
them out into the light where they could be appreciated, and
they stayed closed up. I moved them to a different spot
tonight. There are 5 on this piece of LR rubble. I hope
they fully open up soon, because they are beautiful.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/orange_rics.jpg
This is an interesting frag that Peterlin wasn't fond of.
So I asked for a piece. It is an encrusting M. digitata,
which has brown polyps but some green highlights. I'm very
curious to see how it does in my tank.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/peters_frag.jpg
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/peters_frag1.jpg
Oops, I skipped some zoos in my earlier post. Enjoy.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/plasma_zoos.jpg
The Psammacora is recovering. A few weeks ago, I retrieved
it from the clutch of some green star polyps. It is doing
well, but has a long way to go before it will look 100% again.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/psammacora.jpg
Another member gave me some heavily encrusting Purple
Montipora foliosa. It is 1" thick, and he took some heavy
tools to it to frag it out for a few club members. It is
about 3.5" x 2", and seems happy where it is.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/purple_capricornis.jpg
This is another piece that Peterlin gave me. It is a large
piece of Montipora capricornis, and it may or may not be the
kind that has a purple rim. Recently, his 210g acrylic tank
cracked suddenly, and he had to remove all the livestock.
This piece suffered from the sudden move, but I'm hoping it
will recover nicely.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/purple_rim_mcap.jpg
Smiller gave me a yellow Pavona that would not color up in
his tank. My tank is notorious for turning corals green.
I'm still batting 1000. ;) (Btw, this is the piece that had
some of that brown algae issues that seems Oceanic-based.)
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/smillers_pavona.jpg
The Green A. humilis is doing great. This frag is a good 4
months old, and now the puddle is starting to make new tips,
and the main trunk is branching out. Behind it to the
right, the fuzzy brown/red A. millepora is also doing very
well, same age.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/two_frags.jpg
If you've been following my site for a while, you've seen
images of this Acro slowly making some twigs. It is really
taking off at last. To the right you can see a little of my
blue A. millepora.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/visible_progress.jpg
So now you are all up to date. :)
Marc
--
Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com
with everything and stay on RAMR too. I'm so far behind
with my email that is pathetic.
If any of you are within driving distance of Dallas, Tx,
please consider spending the day here on March 26th. Our
club is hosting its annual "Next Wave" conference, and
everyone that wants to come is invited. It costs $45
(non-members) to attend the all day event, which includes a
hot meal at lunch time. 4 speakers are being flown in, and
you can check out all the details as soon as you enter the
club's site: http://www.dfwmas.com If you're coming, be
sure to fill out the reservation form so everyone will have
a seat and a meal.
Now, here's an update about my tank, along with a whole
bunch of pictures I took two days ago.
Lots of changes, with Nathan's corals now out of the tank,
and a few pieces either sold or dying. :rolleyes:
Let me focus on the negative first. As some of you know,
I'm stepping off the Oceanic salt Bandwagon. I have a
couple of images of items that I directly correllate to the
use of this salt, as both corals were perfectly fine for
some time. I did a water change, and both were either
bleaching or the new tips covered with a brown algae that
apparently smothers the life. Once I used a turkey baster
to blow off the brown, it exposed white skeleton. :(
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/brown_tips.jpg
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/brown_tips2.jpg
This only seems to affect some of my SPS, an not all
indescriminantly. A. millepora doesn't seem bothered at
all, nor does A. humilis. However, A. tenuis RTNed in 10
hours (100% loss), A. yongei, A. rosetta, and some others
do. M. digitata and capricornis seems fine. My larger
Pavona looks great, while another one has a few 'sores' on
it. If it matters, the pavona up near the lights is the one
affected, unlike the other down near the substrate.
Now this coral is a fuzzy green Pocillopora that I got about
20 months ago. It looked like this orginally.
http://melevsreef.com/id/fuzzy_pocillopora.jpg
Later it was gorgeous, and 3x larger, pictured from above.
http://melevsreef.com/pics/0105/td_pocillopora.jpg
About 10 weeks ago, it took a turn for the bad. It closed
up quite a bit, but polyps extended within the core. It
took me a month to figure out that the current was hitting
the coral too hard. I rerarranged the returns a bit, and
the coral recovered some.
Then about 2 weeks ago, it started getting worse again.
I've moved it three times since, trying to find a good spot.
Tonight:
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/older_pocillo.jpg
As you can see, it is brown, not green.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/polyps.jpg
I don't believe this is Oceanic-related, btw. I think the
coral was already weakened for some time, and now doesn't
have the energy to fight back. I'm not giving up, but the
future for this piece is bleak.
Here is a new frag I got from Peterlin, who gave me the
first piece almost 2 years ago. Just mounted, so it is still
closed up quite a bit.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/new_pocillo.jpg
As I've mentioned before, my tangs tend to snack on my SPS
from time to time. I've watched my Hippos nibble on the
blue torte, the tricolor acro, the green slimer and others.
So my blue torte frags have white tips where they've been
munched upon.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/blue_torte.jpg
I'm seriously considering changing my feeding schedule.
Maybe if I feed earlier in the day, the tangs will be full
and less prone to forage for food in my SPS colonies. I
already offer Nori around noon, but maybe waiting until 9pm
to feed is my mistake. Maybe feeding them the dinner around
4pm would assure the corals some peace and quiet. Perhaps
by the time the tangs get hungry again, lights will go out.
The drawback is that my corals won't be able to feed like
they do currently. By feeding the tank around 9pm, the food
is still in the water when the lights kick off and the
corals filter feed.
The Powder Blue Tang has been snacking on the Toadstool
leather, Devils Hand leather, and Green or Neon Star Polyps.
It recently dedided to chow on some orange zoos, but I
think it was trying to get at the micro feather dusters. I
moved the zoos in question, and it stopped bothering them.
I do see less featherdusters in the tank. The Toadstool is
recovering. :)
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/toadstool.jpg
The Montipora foliosa (usually this piece is called a
capricornis, but it is ridged and not smooth) is doing well.
It has issues with too much flow as well, and sometimes
darkens as some type of brownish algae grows on it. For the
most part the coral is doing well, but I do have to watch it
for any signs of problems. Unfortunately, this picture
doesn't show it's 3-d look. It is growing almost like an
inverted dish, with a 1" lip hanging straight down all the
way around it.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/mcap.jpg
My little clam continues to be quite happy down in the
rubble at the center of the tank.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/clam_rubble.jpg
Gmacy gave me a frag of some of the fuzziest Acropora. It
is a brown frag, and I mounted it today so it would stay in
place. It is tough to focus on something so slender.
First a night shot.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/fuzzy_brown_digitata.jpg
And with the lights on
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/brown_montipora.jpg
The BTAs continue to grow quietly. I might need to target
feed them tonight, if they are opened up.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/clowns_n_btas.jpg
Here is my frag of Nathan's encrusting Montipora. It is
already coloring up along the edge where it was exposed
after being fragged.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/encrusting_monti.jpg
Fraggle Rock is less interesting currently, because I
relocated some corals. In the back is a new M. digitata
that Peter gave me. It is brown with blue polyps, but it
will take some time to get comfortable in my tank.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/fraggle_rock1.jpg
Neon Green Candy Cane.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/green_candycane.jpg
The Hammer coral is making a comeback. It too had to be
moved from here to there trying to find a good spot. One
head completely rotted away in the time it took for me to
figure out a location that it would like. It is now dead
center in the tank, near the cave opening.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/hammer.jpg
Some Mean Greens, as I've not posted any in a while.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/mean_greens.jpg
And here are some new zoos I got from a club member a few
weeks ago.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/new_zoos.jpg
I've gathered almost all of the orange Montipora digitata
into one section of my tank. It looks pretty cool. Look
closely, and you'll see the Orange Mandarin blending in.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/orange_digi.jpg
I can't remember when I bought these orange Ricordias, but
they really needed a better spot in the tank. So I moved
them out into the light where they could be appreciated, and
they stayed closed up. I moved them to a different spot
tonight. There are 5 on this piece of LR rubble. I hope
they fully open up soon, because they are beautiful.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/orange_rics.jpg
This is an interesting frag that Peterlin wasn't fond of.
So I asked for a piece. It is an encrusting M. digitata,
which has brown polyps but some green highlights. I'm very
curious to see how it does in my tank.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/peters_frag.jpg
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/peters_frag1.jpg
Oops, I skipped some zoos in my earlier post. Enjoy.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/plasma_zoos.jpg
The Psammacora is recovering. A few weeks ago, I retrieved
it from the clutch of some green star polyps. It is doing
well, but has a long way to go before it will look 100% again.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/psammacora.jpg
Another member gave me some heavily encrusting Purple
Montipora foliosa. It is 1" thick, and he took some heavy
tools to it to frag it out for a few club members. It is
about 3.5" x 2", and seems happy where it is.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/purple_capricornis.jpg
This is another piece that Peterlin gave me. It is a large
piece of Montipora capricornis, and it may or may not be the
kind that has a purple rim. Recently, his 210g acrylic tank
cracked suddenly, and he had to remove all the livestock.
This piece suffered from the sudden move, but I'm hoping it
will recover nicely.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/purple_rim_mcap.jpg
Smiller gave me a yellow Pavona that would not color up in
his tank. My tank is notorious for turning corals green.
I'm still batting 1000. ;) (Btw, this is the piece that had
some of that brown algae issues that seems Oceanic-based.)
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/smillers_pavona.jpg
The Green A. humilis is doing great. This frag is a good 4
months old, and now the puddle is starting to make new tips,
and the main trunk is branching out. Behind it to the
right, the fuzzy brown/red A. millepora is also doing very
well, same age.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/two_frags.jpg
If you've been following my site for a while, you've seen
images of this Acro slowly making some twigs. It is really
taking off at last. To the right you can see a little of my
blue A. millepora.
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0305/visible_progress.jpg
So now you are all up to date. :)
Marc
--
Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com