Through the Looking Glass

[reefmutt]

Love that darth maul!!
And I like Z even more, now!
Mark, what kind of lighting does your blueberry wine receive?

[watchguy123]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Love that darth maul!!
And I like Z even more, now!
Mark, what kind of lighting does your blueberry wine receive?

I have the blueberry wine up pretty high. When I got my frag, my friend's colony was pretty high in his tank and it looked great.

I usually place a frag where it makes me happy. The only exception is if I am told it's truly a low light

[reefmutt]

Thanks Mark. I'm relocating a frag to full light. My colony is doing well in a slightly out of full light spot but I want to see what it'll do in a bright spot..
I usually do the same.. frags go where I want a specific colour or where I have space but sometimes, if I know for sure the lighting requirements, I'll act accordingly.

[watchguy123]

Returning home tonite after a three plus week absence.

Hopefully my corals will have survived my absence. The fish are being fed daily by someone and the ato is being replenished as needed. No one at home though really understands coral so I don't exactly know what I'll find. Being away from home is always challenging. I had a great trip but I am missing that darn tank and its inhabitants. I guess that's a sign of a crazy reefer, getting homesick for the reef tank.

[reefmutt]

I'm the same way! I start itching to get home after a week away. 3 weeks would be impossible for me..
Hope everything is fine.

[Pife]

Let us know with photos either way. Hope you had a good vacation.

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[watchguy123]

Originally Posted by Pife

Let us know with photos either way. Hope you had a good vacation.

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Well the display is great, surprisingly no issues on my return from vacation. I finally decided to pull out one of my colonies because it got too big, Wet Thumbs Mother of Pearl, and donated it to one of my LFS. That gave me room to relocate my Purple Monster which was stuck behind a large colony of JF Flame. Now I can get better pictures of the Purple Monster. There are a few abrasions to the purple Monster from me yanking on it to get it out, but nothing that a little bit of time will resolve. Lighting for the picture is Metal halides and t5's.

Purple Monster

[Oldude]

You have an amazing sps collection. Absolutely stunning!

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by watchguy123

Well the display is great, surprisingly no issues on my return from vacation. I finally decided to pull out one of my colonies because it got too big, Wet Thumbs Mother of Pearl, and donated it to one of my LFS. That gave me room to relocate my Purple Monster which was stuck behind a large colony of JF Flame. Now I can get better pictures of the Purple Monster. There are a few abrasions to the purple Monster from me yanking on it to get it out, but nothing that a little bit of time will resolve. Lighting for the picture is Metal halides and t5's.

Purple Monster

I am totally in love...
Pm... will you marry me??

[watchguy123]

Originally Posted by Oldude

You have an amazing sps collection. Absolutely stunning!

I have adored your photos and acros for many years. We need to touch base and see who is the oldest between us.

Originally Posted by reefmutt

I am totally in love...
Pm... will you marry me??

Purple Monster is amazing because, well because it is so darn pretty for just a single colored coral. Plus it has amazing history in the hobby. I love it as well.

A while back I was able to get two frags of Reef Raft Canada Wolverine. One took off and the other was a little slower to grow. Surprisingly the fast grower, RTN'd on me. I was able to save a small portion of it, placed it in my frag tank and it survived. I then placed it back in the exact spot and it is doing quite well. It is not real big yet, but it certainly seems happy and thriving.

I don't see RTN too often but if you have enough SPS it seems that you ultimately will see it now and again. I still find it strange that this frag started to RTN and the small portion that didn't is now thriving back in its old spot. The other frag that was the slow grower, is still doing well.

Reef Raft Canada Wolverine




This next frag has some promise but I can't quite tell yet if it will be a beauty or not. A little more time maybe

[codydemmel4]

what is your export system? Do you run gfo or anything?

How often are you feeding your fish and what do you aim to keep alk at?

[watchguy123]

Originally Posted by codydemmel4

what is your export system? Do you run gfo or anything?

How often are you feeding your fish and what do you aim to keep alk at?

Hey Cody,

For export: protein skimmer, chaeto in refugium, siporax in sump and refugium, 10% weekly water change. I use to run gfo but not currently

I feed the fish at least once and mostly twice a day, usually flakes and pellets but occasionally frozen food. In the display, my alk is around 7.5 managed by a calcium reactor

[abhishek@1985]

If someday you decide to frag the purple monster please let me know. I am looking for a healthy frag for ages .

Regards,
Abhishek

[watchguy123]

I really like chalices especially old school ones. this one is making a comeback. I believe I have enough nitrates but every once in a while, an lps will just slowly wither away. This one was on its way out and I placed it in my frag tank--it did better there and I just put it back in the display. I hope it does well.

[Oldude]

Originally Posted by watchguy123

I have adored your photos and acros for many years. We need to touch base and see who is the oldest between us.

Thanks for your kind remarks & I was born in 03/59.

[watchguy123]

Originally Posted by Oldude

Thanks for your kind remarks & I was born in 03/59.

You're just a kid, I started first grade that year.


Just got this baby yesterday. It is indeed a small frag but hopefully with a little patience and luck, it will do well. I appreciate most of you are not into named coral, but I have want this one for a while. These pictures are shot under metal halides with t5s.

Reef Raft USA Angry Bird


I have had these next two for a little while and I am optimistic that they will turn out pretty.

[Sam2832]

Thanks for the nice pictures.For my part i appreciate when you give the name of yours frags,it give me an idea of what said coral might look light in my tank (mh + t5).


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[Sam2832]

look like...


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[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by watchguy123

You're just a kid, I started first grade that year.


Just got this baby yesterday. It is indeed a small frag but hopefully with a little patience and luck, it will do well. I appreciate most of you are not into named coral, but I have want this one for a while. These pictures are shot under metal halides with t5s.

Reef Raft USA Angry Bird


I have had these next two for a little while and I am optimistic that they will turn out pretty.

Love these! I missed my chance on an angry bird earlier this year.. but those two others look really special. Can't wait to see them in a bit..
Well, you and olddude out do me by at least 7 years.. sorry, but thanks for making me feel a bit younger. Doesn't happen that often..

[Rakie]

My Angry Bird doesn't seem to grow. It's just chillin in stasis I guess. Hopefully one day it wakes up and starts taking off.

[watchguy123]

I have taken a gazillion pictures of this coral, but I somehow can not capture how beautiful the blue is in it. this coral was originally imported into Canada and I fortunately was able to get a piece a couple years ago.

Blueberry Wine

[reefmutt]

Probably one of the most underrated, under noticed corals out there!
And one of the hardest to photograph.
It is really unique in the metallic blue/purple tones it has.
I absolutely adore this coral.
And when it's happy, it's a very good grower.
Your colonie is getting big!

[watchguy123]

This coral is getting prettier. Photo is with metal halides and t5's.

Z's Prize



Just another branch of Z's Prize:

[markalot]

Love that Blueberry Wine. That light blue color is fantastic. Glad to see everything is going good.

[watchguy123]

Originally Posted by markalot

Love that Blueberry Wine. That light blue color is fantastic. Glad to see everything is going good.

Thank you, the tank is in a happy stage at the moment.

More metal halide photos from this morning (that means no led supplements were on):

Reef Raft Canada Ultimate Orange Passion






I know the next photo looks photoshopped but its not. Corrected to 20k temp and exposure corrected. Metal halides and t5's, no leds. When you get into the body color it transitions from pink tips to orangish. But the bright yellow polyps are everywhere.

Z's Yellow eyed jawdropper




I have taken lots of pictures of the following coral but have had a hard time capturing how pretty it really is. Its called Z1. This photo is also with metal halides and t5's but no leds. You can see the rock work and coralline algae at the bottom of the picture for color reference.

Z1


A great reefing buddy shared this frag with me a while back. It is showing some great color potential. My friend always has the best colored coral of anyone I know. I am using a new macro lens and so its fun taking pictures. The field of depth is certainly shallow. The purple haze at the base of this frag is my rock work.




The next one has really tight branching. It has awesome color. Its called Z's Favorite. You can see some of my rock work in the right hand corner.

Z's Favorite



I have two colonies of the Pink Floyd. One in high light and one much lower down in the tank.

Reef Raft USA Pink Floyd