Efflo/Soli--From baby to monster

[Big E]

Thought I'd post some pics of this coral as a tribute since I have been fragging it down to fit it into a smaller tank. I purchased this for $28 mis-labeled as a cup coral at a LFS. Grew from 5" to about 20x16". I've fragged it several times over the 7 years I've had it.

It has changed it growth as I changed the flow over the years.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/101_0111-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/102_0251.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/108_0807.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/103_0371.jpg

[Big E]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/103_0368_2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/105_0581.jpg

The Butterfly was full grown at 6" in the first pic. Both pics give a size perspective.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/104_0474.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/100_0032_2.jpg

[Big E]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/Efflo-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/100_0002.jpg

[7Dragons7]

[violation]

[Whisperer]

OT, what do you feed your copperband? Very plump!

[JamesJR]

OT, what do you feed your copperband? Very plump!

That is not a copperband butterfly. It is Muelleri. Very closely related though.

[ice2fire11]

nice piece.

[Whisperer]

Ok, what do you feed your Muelleri then?

[DonDraper]

Beautiful piece, where did you find that Muelleri? I have never heard of that fish before, does it bother your corals?

[JamesJR]

Muelleri's typically run at around 4-8X the cost of your typical copperband and only come from australia so they are definitely harder to get. Check LA diver's den as they get them from time to time.

[Whisperer]

Ok, what do you feed your Muelleri then?

[dvanacker]

Looks like a very nice soli...

[jimroth]

My thunder, what a whopper!

[cwegescheide]

aww man I cant see!!

[Big E]

Ok, what do you feed your Muelleri then?

The Muelleri Copperband is about 7 years old...........purchased him from the Marine Center. I feed it fresh clams, shrimp, & scallops from the grocery store.......... freeze & then chop up bite size pieces for him. I rotate these & feed that 95% of the time. The other 5% consists of some Formula 1 or 2, IO marine blend (because it was free & he eats it) & mysis.

These guys come from mud flat areas in Queensland, where acros & corals aren't abundant. He hasn't touched anything Sps, LPS, Rics, anenome ect. Hardier than the common CBB & he devoured all my aiptasia. They don't have as long of a snout & can eat larger chunks of food.

[cmbspd]

I saw this one in person a few weeks ago - impressively large! It reminded me of an underwater bonsai the way it dominated the tank.

I think BigE is being modest about his fish too. They were all fat and healthy - I forget the exact age but he has had that purple tang for many, many years.

[SaltwaterAdict]

Your tank looks incredible. What type of lighting are you running and how big is your tank? I actually am going the basically barebottom route because I feel as if the sand traps a bunch of debris and left over fish food. Much cleaner that way. Do you have a fuge attached? Tim

[mnswreefer]

Man, it's huge...........

[Big E]

The tank is a 48" 120g. The full tank shot is from 5 years ago. I sold most of those corals & whittled it down to about 7 or so giant colonies. I fragged most of them down over the last few years except the efflo since I'm limiting sps to a smaller tank & focusing on a FO biotope tank. Sps got old & boring after 10 years.

Anyways I ran 400w 20k and then switched to Reeflux 12 k which I liked the best.

No fuge, just 10% water change, weekly with a skimmer & kept up calcium & alk at required levels. No other additives. No carbon, phosban, vodka, ozone, macro, ect.

[OneReef]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1899437

[werdlone]

Impressive soli!! It had to be hard to chop it down to fit in a smaller tank.

[rogerwilco357]

so off your initial investment of 28 dollars how many time over has it paid for it self? 50 times i bet ...awesome piece the largest pic just looks stunning the way it umbrella's over everything very nice..
Roger

[Big E]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/103_0368_2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/Soly.jpg

When I first got it as a wild colony about 10 years ago. It was small maybe 4" around.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/101_0111-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/108_0809_zps9b14b5b8.jpg

When it got hit with a lot of flow from the top it really umbrella shaped downward

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/100_0002_2_zps06b16385.jpg


Max size I let it get was around 22 x 24"

[Arkayology]

Wow, that is quite a colony you have there!

[discocarp]

How cool is that. An update to this thread after 4 years and it still looks great. Well done. Awesome piece.

[hreef]

Beautiful!

[Big E]

thanks..........I sold the main colony a few years ago and kept some pieces to grow out again.

Those pics were meant to post on Chicago's thread. I was going to link this old thread to show pictures, but I forgot to move over back to his thread.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2448964

[jdamon]

[QUOTE=Big E;23174283]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/103_0368_2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/Soly.jpg

When I first got it as a wild colony about 10 years ago. It was small maybe 4" around.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/101_0111-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/EdFink/108_0809_zps9b14b5b8.jpg

When it got hit with a lot of flow from the top it really umbrella shaped downward



Does this mean that if I want the typical straight out shape, that the flow needs to be more level with horizontal? And if the flow is from low to high, it will grow upwards? Very curious as mine stuff is small and I can potentially "steer" the growth pattern. Thanks!

Also, i read above in this thread that you were using halos, but I swear you have led's now? The post was a few years old :). Did you notice a color change with the led's? (On the efflo)

[cugly]

Great Job that's a great looking colony after so many years