Fragging

Trying out Reef Welder in my reef

melev — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 12:27:57 +0000

Trying out Reef Welder in my reef melev Tue, 01/09/2018 - 15:27

Several years ago, I got a coral from the LFS that I thought was a green slimer. Turns out, it was a Lime In The Sky, so I call it a Limer. It grew from a 1.5" frag into a decent colony about 12" tall over the years, despite what the Shadowcaster tried to do to it. A couple of weeks ago, I saw a white spot on the colony; clearly something/someone had broken a piece off. Looking beneath, I found it perched in the rockwork behind the Sebae anemone, doing quite well.

My concern of course was that if I ignored it, the sebae would just touch it to death which was a waste. This was the perfect time to try out Reef Welder, a plastic polymer that Marine Depot had sent me to try out. You pour the beads into a cup of nearly boiling water, and the white ones turn clear while the purple ones add color. It's easy to knead this in your hand once it has cooled off slightly, then I pressed it around the frag, and placed it on the rockwork. Unlike glue or putty, this stuff is more of a wedge (it isn't sticky), but has no negative effect on the two corals I tried it with, since there's no chemical reaction.

If you work too slowly, just reheat the polymer and try again. I placed the Limer in a new spot in my reef, away from the main colony. This helps diversify the look of the tank, putting the same coral in a couple of spots to keep it interesting. I also mounted a blue tort that was placed in a handy hole a couple of months ago - it's in a better spot now.

The only mistake I made was using tongs with the rubber plastic tips. This stuff stuck to it, and I've not figured out a way to clean it off. Should have used bare metal, or a wooden disposable stirrer perhaps. I didn't think that one through when I grabbed my tongs. Oops. ;)

This was placed on the rock four days ago, and hasn't budged since. That's all I care about. And the coral looks healthy, with polyps extended. Purple may be a little vivid, but if you are a person with blue lighting primarily it doesn't matter. And once the coral gets bigger, you probably won't notice the Reef Welder at all, especially if the coral encrusts over it.

Reef Blog

Macros - some frags

melev — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 21:43:48 +0000

Macros - some frags melev Sat, 03/05/2016 - 00:43

The new frag system has captured my attention recently. Watching the clean up crew decimate the algae in one day flat was impressive, and the corals pop against the stark barren rock and black background. New tanks can really recharge your motivation, as you set up new clean gear and get everything just the way you like it.

Here's a closer look at that frag. I love all the dots that make me feel like I'm staring into the universe.

Montipora hispida, I believe.

Montipora setosa

A lovely A. millepora

These pictures were taken with the Nikon D90 and a macro lens. I didn't change the colors in post processing; these are "as shot" under what I'd call 10,000K lighting.

Someone stopped by today to get some snails and some frags. Within minutes I realized I'm totally unprepared to bag up goodies, so I need to get a bunch of bags & rubber bands. I really need to get some frags on to frag plugs this month. I have plenty of things to trim from the 400g that could be placed into the frag system, and I have over a dozen new frags that I got recently that need to be affixed in my reef to grow out and add somewhat of a new look.

Reef Blog

Frag Tank Stand - completed

melev — Sun, 22 Nov 2015 21:15:00 +0000

Frag Tank Stand - completed melev Mon, 11/23/2015 - 00:15

I've been talking about a new frag tank system all year. It's November and I'm finally getting it done. The frag tank was made a month ago, but I needed a stand. I'd considered a steel stand to match the rest of my setup, but the cost just didn't justify itself.

Yesterday, a friend came over and offered to assist (translation: made me) with the stand build, so we ran up to Home Depot for the necessary items:

1x3 Red Oak boards
A box of Wood screws
Gorilla Wood glue
Glossy Black oil-based paint
Oil-based paint brush
Countersink drill bit

Everything including tax was $103. It could have been made for less money, but I wanted something durable, reliable and good looking. $103 for a stand is definitely still affordable.

I used 1x3 boards because this project weighs 600 lbs and that didn't warrant 2x4 construction. So often I see stands overbuilt, robbing the space beneath where equipment needs to fit. This stand will do exactly what it needs to do for many years to come.

The frag tank is 48" x 18" x 16" tall, which adds up to a 60g tank using outside dimensions. It will hold a little less, but should be a great way to test products when those requests happen. Here are a series of pictures of the construction. Red Oak is very hard wood, and every hole had to be pre-drilled for the screws or the lumber would crack or split. The drill bit got hot, dull, and even smoked at times. Having two of the same sized bit would be wise. Once the hole was drilled, I followed up with a countersink bit so the screws would be flush with the surface (or deeper in this case, as I was not precise for this particular project). Once ready, glue would be applied between the joint, then the pieces would be screwed together. Over time, the glue is what holds it together, the screws simply hold the joint tight until the glue cures.

The top piece of the stand is MDF lumber. Properly sealed with multiple coats of paint, it won't be a problem.

The red oak boards weren't uniform in thickness, requiring me to notch where the legs would butt up to the frame. In addition, since the concrete floor in the fishroom isn't perfectly flat, the legs were cut to be the proper height on all four corners.

A small block of oak is used to tie the legs to the top section, as you'll see below.

Each leg is L-shaped for strength. Glued and screwed, they are rigid and reliable.

The inner block of wood is glued and screwed securely. Then the leg is glued and screwed to the block. The weight of the top section will sit on the legs, and the rim of the frame is fully supported this way.

Once all four legs were attached, a couple of cross braces were installed as well.

Once done, it was ready for the paint. At Home Depot, I discussed with the employee that this would be in a wet environment and she recommended glossy paint rather than flat, so that is what I used. The can was shaken at the store to mix it well, and with the matching 3" sash brush painting was done relatively quickly.

While not important, I like seeing the grain of the wood. The boards I'd picked were straight, and the entire project feels sturdy.

The next day, I flipped it over and painted the underside to protect it from water damage. The most important area is the MDF, so I've already given that two coats. The foot of each leg was well painted as well since they would be most likely to get wet. Additionally, I'll likely put a small piece of acrylic under each foot to lift the wood off the concrete in the fishroom as a preventative measure.

Reef Blog

Securing & pegging frags

melev — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 04:09:00 +0000

Securing & pegging frags melev Fri, 01/30/2015 - 07:09

You end up with some loose frags. Here's how to secure them to frag plugs. If you haven't heard of pegging, you'll find this interesting.

Reef Blog

The frag tank needs an upgrade

melev — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 08:03:00 +0000

The frag tank needs an upgrade melev Wed, 10/22/2014 - 12:03

For about 3.5 years, I've run a small frag tank tied into the main reef to hold small coral fragments, interesting NPS corals and other recent acquisitions. It's badly in need of being replaced. Not only is it full with corals from end to end that have grown into serious colonies, but there's an onging algae issue that I'm attributing to the aged light fixture hanging above. A new one will replace it, and it will be stand alone with all the filtration that entails. Each day I see this mess and I can't wait to replace it, but I need the time to build... but customers are waiting for their orders so I have to put them first. Hopefully in the next couple of months I'll find the time to get this done.

Reef Blog

A few frag tank pictures from April

melev — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 01:03:00 +0000

A few frag tank pictures from April melev Tue, 04/23/2013 - 05:03

As time goes by, corals grow in. Even in a frag tank. My little frag tank holds some special pieces for me, obtained by local hobbyists as well as local events. I've been waiting for the new 400g to arrive, and the corals are crowding each other in anticipation. This tank was built by me, and holds 10g of water. It is tied into the main filtration of my reef, and is lit with a Evolution LED fixture from Reefkoi. These pictures were taken under only white LEDs, with the blues turned off.

Acropora sp. from Sea World San Antonio

Teardrop Maxima

Montipora vericosa from Sea World

Favia coral

Unknown Acropora sp.

A few black suncoral polyps

Dendrophyllia

Peppermint shrimp stealing food during feeding time.

Last weekend, I picked up some new frags, including this one below. It's a red acropora, which was just dipped for parasites before being placed in the frag tank. The safest spot? On top of the montipora. lol

Montipora vericosa

Psammacora sp.

Mini carpet anemones, way smaller than "maxi minis".

And finally, the late night jewel of my frag tank...

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Macro madness

melev — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:19:00 +0000

Macro madness melev Thu, 12/20/2007 - 15:19

Here's a nice picture from tonight: Orange Ball Anemone.

I added another Tubastrea colony to my suncoral tank in exchange for a couple of frags. I'll be feeding it along with all the other suncorals & Dendrophyllia, so that hopefully it'll be pretty again one day.

Reef Blog

Thu, 12/29/2005 - 02:40

melev — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:40:00 +0000

Thu, 12/29/2005 - 02:40 melev Wed, 12/28/2005 - 13:40

Out of curiosity, I thought I would do a little research on the thread that documents the adventures of the 280g reef on ReefCentral.com

That discussion thread was started on 7/20/04, when I announced I would have the tank set up in 14 days. Day by day, everyone was kept up to date with what was going on, and how the tank was progressing. As of today, that thread has split (RC automatically splits larger threads to reduce its impact on the servers) four times, with current posts being added to Section V. It has grown to 237 pages as of today, with over 5900 posts. The thread has been viewed 344,489 times. Pretty amazing, right?

The 280g tank had livestock transferred into it on 8/3/04, 512 days ago. The reef is doing quite well, although not perfect. There is always some fish or urchin nibbling on my little corals that I watch grow daily, impeding their progress at times -- to my disappointment. However, there is plenty of beautiful stuff to see doing very well, and I just have to remind myself of that when some tiny 1" frag gets 1/8" chewed off of it. ;)

Here's one little guy I check on daily. It's growing...

Reef Blog

Sun, 11/13/2005 - 23:38

melev — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 07:38:00 +0000

Sun, 11/13/2005 - 23:38 melev Sun, 11/13/2005 - 10:38

Yesterday was the DFWMAS Frag Swap, and 160 people showed up with coolers and coolers of coral frags and used equipment for sale. At last count, over 600 frags were brought and traded/sold to excited hobbyists.

I ended up with a bunch of new pieces for my tank, which is perfect because I was looking for new SPS to restock the tank. Many of the beauties I had earlier this year died during the PO4 (Phosphate) issues I battled for several months.

So here are the new additions:

Green Slimer (A. yongei) from two different sources:

Blue Torte (A. tortuosa)

Tenuis (A. tenuis)

Pink birdsnest

Pink Milli (A. millepora)

Encrusting Montipora

Acropora sp. ???

Orange Montipora capricornis

And I got this piece of Blue Ridge about a month ago:

Reef Blog

Sat, 09/03/2005 - 15:49

melev — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 23:49:00 +0000

Sat, 09/03/2005 - 15:49 melev Sat, 09/03/2005 - 03:49

The frag tank update. Recently someone asked for some pictures.

Here it is from above. Light reflection and all. All pumps and fan off.

From the front it looks much better.

Not only am I holding corals that were donated to the club, but I'm also housing a number of corals that will go back into my reef in the near future now that the water quality has improved.

Some of the corals have changed color, which is totally normal. Different Kelvin lighting, different temperature, treated with Flatworm eXit (100% success), different flow, dosing kalkwasser and adding supplements twice a week, no food whatsoever (imagine that!).... So the purple rimmed monti isn't purple at this time, and a orange cap isn't orange at all now. There have been no further losses in the past couple of weeks, and I try to top off with kalkwasser only. I did a 6g (25%) water change a few days ago, and sucked out the detritus for the first time today, which was easy with some rigid airline tubing, some flex and a 1g pitcher under the tank.

Here are my lovely zoos, safe from Tucker. I know, the color looks insane, but it really does look just that good from the front. Maybe the blue background (base) and 13000K/14000K (unknown) MH are doing it, but it is what it is.

Both plate coral babies were moved into this tank to protect them, but one floated into the ricordia. I tried to save it, but it melted away. So did the other. Ugh.

Here are three new SPS I picked up yesterday. The first is a Montipora. danae?

The other two were hitchhikers on the base of a leather coral at the LFS, so I took them home too. I don't know what they are nor if they will survive, but the price was right.

This one has a green dot at the center of each 'section'. Neat!

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