Elos Mini build thread (new photos page 14)

[Anonymous]

Sympodium shots. The ones closest to the front are the original frag I bought from Wet Thumb, the smaller numerous bluer colonies are the rock purchased from liveaquaria. I'm not yet sure if the differences stem from environmental conditions or if these are two different morphs.

 

[Anonymous]

More...

 

[Anonymous]

More...

 

[Anonymous]

Last ones for now.

 

[Anonymous]

Coming together, coming together

 

[Anonymous]

Coming together, coming together

Well, yeah. Now it's in "sit back and wait a year" mode

 

[Anonymous]

Though it's looking pretty good even now! And I'd imagine you'll see a difference a lot sooner than a year won't you?

I'm playing with the idea of investing in a Clavularia or Tubipora musica for the tank at some point, but am finding the tendency of local vendors to only take shots for their website under very blue lighting to be very frustrating - I want to see how it's going to look in my tank. But I'm envying you the movement you must have in your tank right now.

 

[Anonymous]

Looking great!

 

[Anonymous]

Though it's looking pretty good even now! And I'd imagine you'll see a difference a lot sooner than a year won't you?

Yeah, almost everything in the tank is a pretty fast grower. And the blue snowflake polyps are hermaphroditic self-brooders; given time and good conditions they'll actually spawn and release a bajillion larvae.

I'm playing with the idea of investing in a Clavularia or Tubipora musica for the tank at some point, but am finding the tendency of local vendors to only take shots for their website under very blue lighting to be very frustrating - I want to see how it's going to look in my tank. But I'm envying you the movement you must have in your tank right now.

I hear ya on the blue lights, same nonsense here. To me movement is a big part of my reef tank aesthetic. Hell, my favorite SPS are acropora millepora and hydnophora just because they get bushy enough to actually provide some movement in the current. Clavularia would be a good choice for that in your tank, particularly if some of the more attractive morphs are available to you.

Most of the stuff in my tank moves and a great deal of it pulses, but the giant bali xenia up near the top is the real eye catcher. It pulses weakly, but it's polyps are over an inch across and on stalks 2"-4" long... in the current it puts on an amazing show.

 

[Anonymous]

Looking great!

Thanks Dan

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, almost everything in the tank is a pretty fast grower. And the blue snowflake polyps are hermaphroditic self-brooders; given time and good conditions they'll actually spawn and release a bajillion larvae.

You'll let me know if they show signs of being intelligent alien life that plans to destroy us won't you? I'd hate to be caught on the hop again.

I hear ya on the blue lights, same nonsense here. To me movement is a big part of my reef tank aesthetic. Hell, my favorite SPS are acropora millepora and hydnophora just because they get bushy enough to actually provide some movement in the current. Clavularia would be a good choice for that in your tank, particularly if some of the more attractive morphs are available to you.

Most of the stuff in my tank moves and a great deal of it pulses, but the giant bali xenia up near the top is the real eye catcher. It pulses weakly, but it's polyps are over an inch across and on stalks 2"-4" long... in the current it puts on an amazing show.

I think that bali xenia is my favorite in your tank. I don't know if it's the way you've shot it or just the shape and form of it. It looks like it's going to be a really impressive show piece for the tank.

For your interest, here's a link to the place I'd likely end up buying Clavularia if I did.

http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~greenp/soft1.htm

If I go for a T. musica, I'd likely try and get one of the Fiji varieties with the green centers as well.

 

[Anonymous]

You'll let me know if they show signs of being intelligent alien life that plans to destroy us won't you? I'd hate to be caught on the hop again.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, they're tiny. Could fit 40-50 of'em on my thumbnail, so the odds of them waging an effective campaign of terror seems minimal

I think that bali xenia is my favorite in your tank. I don't know if it's the way you've shot it or just the shape and form of it. It looks like it's going to be a really impressive show piece for the tank.

Thanks. I keep meaning to take a video of it but it's going to be tricky... it's so close to the LED fixture (within 4") that trying to get some vid that isn't washed out or full of glare will take some doing.

For your interest, here's a link to the place I'd likely end up buying Clavularia if I did.

http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~greenp/soft1.htm

If I go for a T. musica, I'd likely try and get one of the Fiji varieties with the green centers as well.

Those are some nice clavularia... but you're right, with the lights on them as blue as they are, I can't even tell if they're green striped or orange striped, could be either. Very nice looking though.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I'd ask him to take a shot under normal lights, but according to a friend of mine that's actually been there, those are his normal lights. :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

Got a question for you all. The corals from my last order are all great and in wonderful shape... but I need to do something about the frag plugs they're on, they're just Too Damn Big for me to work into rockwork. Removing the corals from them isn't an option (I have, for exmaple, no clue how I'd even go about trying to remove several hundred blue snowflake polyps individually from their frag plug)... so I think the answer is going to have to be cutting down & trimming the plugs themselves.

Thing is, I really don't know how. Any suggestions? What tool is appropriate for this job? I have a dremel, but it's fairly bare bones in terms of accessories. The frag plugs are of multiple types... ceramic and aragacrete, I believe.

In other news, my hi-fin goby and my pistol shrimp appear to have finally found each other yesterday, resulting in my goby spending the whoe day hanging around the burrow in the front of the tank... and getting fed like a pig

 

[Anonymous]

tungsten carbide tip for your Dremel - it'll whittle those plugs down right quick
[rimg]http://pics.towerhobbies.com/image/r/robr1610.jpg[/rimg]

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, that sounds like a plan. Jeebus knows I'm not a tool guy, but a dremel I can manage

 

[Anonymous]

just make sure you're wearing eye protection at the very least- best would be a full face shield - that bit is gonna kick stone particles up at ya pretty hard.

 

[Anonymous]

I will.

My xenia predator struck again last night. An entire stalk of xenia elongata, at least four inches long.... just gone. What the hell prefers to chow down on xenia while leaving snails, fish (including a bottom dwelling goby) and sexy shrimp in peace? I'm at my wit's end with this one. Traps haven't worked, feeding the tank heavily hasn't worked, sneaking observation time of the tank in the middle of the night hasnt worked.

 

[Anonymous]

I will.

My xenia predator struck again last night. An entire stalk of xenia elongata, at least four inches long.... just gone. What the hell prefers to chow down on xenia while leaving snails, fish (including a bottom dwelling goby) and sexy shrimp in peace? I'm at my wit's end with this one. Traps haven't worked, feeding the tank heavily hasn't worked, sneaking observation time of the tank in the middle of the night hasnt worked.

the only thing Ican think of is what Ikeep finding reference toas a Shag Rug Nudibranch - supposedly prefers to eat anenomes, but annecdotal evidence suggests it will take to Xenia right quick, and often lives in among the branches(it itself has cerata(gills) on its back, making it look like part of the xenia)

[rimg]http://northislandexplorer.com/molluscs/seamousenudibranch2.jpg[/rimg]

Its known to eat its weight in food daily.

 

[Anonymous]

the only thing Ican think of is what Ikeep finding reference toas a Shag Rug Nudibranch - supposedly prefers to eat anenomes, but annecdotal evidence suggests it will take to Xenia right quick, and often lives in among the branches(it itself has cerata(gills) on its back, making it look like part of the xenia)

[rimg]http://northislandexplorer.com/molluscs/seamousenudibranch2.jpg[/rimg]

Its known to eat its weight in food daily.

Thanks, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to turn out to be a nudi. I've been through all my xenia with a fine tooth comb multiple times, going through them for syllid worms and xanthid crabs. Quite a number of them have received freshwater dips as well. I'm pretty sure at this point nothing else is living within the colonies. But more than that, there have been a number of occasions where I've found bits of the ripped up xenia elsewhere in the tank. I'd expect a nudi to eat them where they're at, not tear them lose and drag them off somewhere.

Honestly, I'm starting to think Tracy's earlier guess of a decorator crab is right. I saw some sympodium where it wasn't supposed to be the other day. It was only an inch or so away from the rock it should have been on, behind it and below it. At the time I figured a mound just came lose probably from the stress of the extended shipping time that colony went through... but now I'm seriously wondering.