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Aquatic Obsessed + Joe Knows Reefs mini growout

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FishofoutWater

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Curious, how did this growout come together? I would like to give this a go with our locals out here. Details on what the 'buy in' and how the grow out time would help. Really nice pieces you have going here, following along.
 

cryptics

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I had bought from Frank before and was getting another piece. We started talking and he asked if i wanted to do a growout with him. We started with a few pieces and kept adding on. I think this growout is working because of a few reasons.
1- There is just two of us so it won't last a year +.
2- We are friends and i know Frank is a great grower so when a piece fails I know he did everything possible. Most growout fails because of trust.
3- Frank is great with updates. I always know what is going on. Communication from your grower is key to a successful growout.
4- I do not have unreal expectations. A growout is a gamble and like any other gamble in life assume you will lose. If you can not afford to lose then don't bet. Odds are good with a growout because you are splitting the cost and usually get the coral cheaper since you are buying in bulk. Even if only a few survive chances are you will at least break even. You will lose some. Go in with realistic expectations chances are you won't get out the other end with everything you tried for and now will have a killer collection. If it happens great. If you break even that works too. If the grower has a tank crash and loses everything so be it. Don't blame the grower he/she didn't crash their system to screw you. If you can't afford the loss don't play. Manage your expectations.

I forget what the initial buyin was but after all the add ons and stuff I believe we are at between 1000-1500 each now. Time depends on how many people are in the growout and the pieces themselves. Some are slower growers than others.

Billy,

Thank you. I love that piece also. Can't wait to get it :)
 
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fab1971

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Thanks for the nice words!

Melting sunset and Criminal Minds have been cut in half and all the pieces are looking good. I'll definitely meet up with you and give you them on Monday. Once they are in your hands I'll strike them off the growout list and mark them as completed. Nice to see some progress after the couple of deaths we incurred. Especially since it's only been 3 months since we started. The ones I think can be fragged next time are flash bomb, captain america and firball chalices. Most likely in 3 or 4 weeks. The ones I think will take a long time are the rainbow crush, msb (if it survives) and blue crush.
 
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Dang, Frank you are doing an amazing job! Glad to see this growout is a success thus far..
Everything looks sick!

Thanks!

Updated growout list with a really nice big chunk of fireflies from Mike at Sexy corals. Thanks again Mike! This one will be ready to cut in a couple of weeks easily. Gotta love when pieces are shipped to you and you can eliminate from the growout in under a month :) I cut a couple of pieces and will give them to you on tomorrow. They will be the first to be knocked out of the growout:bigsmile: I added pics of the frags that were cut below so you can see what they look like.

RMF Fireflies
Trop's Overdose chalice
JF Crazy Fox
Flash Bomb
Tyree EE Merlins chalice
Jkr's Captain America chalice
JKR Melting sunset cut and ready to be distributed
AO's melting pot dead
AO's MSB chalice sorry, looks better but still not 100% sure on it
CB Blue Crush (looking better)
JF Biohazzard
WWC Fireball chalice
AO's Red eye surprise dead
KLR Cosmic fire
KLR Fruit bomb
KLR Criminal Minds cut and ready to be distributed
Rainbow Crush
AO's hawaiin punch

Rmf Fireflies from sexy corals still coloring up (nice big mini colony!)

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frags that have been cut from 2 of our colonies.

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nothing new to report on the rest of the pieces except for the flash bomb which looks like it's popping out an extra couple of small eyes. Not sure if you can see them but I'll post the picture anyway. I'll post a picture update in about 2-3 weeks once I cut a couple of more pieces to knock out of the growout and give to you. I estimate the next ones that are ready to be cut will be around the 3rd week of August.

flash bomb So glad we invested in this one! It is by far one of my faves in the tank right now. Very colorful, great grower and a healthy piece. I hope it takes well to cutting because it's next on the list :xd:
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KLR

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I am happy to see that this growout is going so well, and that the Criminal Minds has already been fragged! I hope the others you got from me will start showing some nice growth for you all soon.
 
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fab1971

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Thanks Kelby. Might be another 2 months for the other two but they are both doing well in my system. And thanks Billy, I appreciate that. Sometimes I feel that growing is my second job, lol. Thankfully this growout has only suffered 2 insignificant deaths (freebie and a wild piece) and because John is very helpful and patient, it's made for an easy growout so far.
 
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fab1971

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Good to hear John! Here's an updated list and a couple of pics of the pieces I had on the sandbed, that haven't been photographed in a while. The msb is still alive (hurray) and has finally started to color up a bit. There hasn't been any growth and I'm still very nervous about it but the coloration is a good sign. Even though the BLue crush hasn't colored and hasn't grown much, it is sprouting a new small eye so that is also encouraging.

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How many eyes does this bad boy have, lol. I didn't even notice until I took the better pics.

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fab1971

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Well, here's the crazy fox that got stung early in the week. The rim was gone for a couple of days but has already grown back. In a couple of more days it will be back to a full rim and you won't even know it happened in the first place. The culprit has been sent to a corner in my frag rack until it learns to play nice with it's neighbors. other pieces included the flash bomb (2), fireflies and the trops overdose. Trops overdose showing some growth and I still haven't found fireflies a sweet spot yet (I'll most likely put it next to the blue crush and take it from there). It still hasn't colored up so I'll be moving it to a different spot tomorrow and see if it starts doing better. Everything else is doing the same as last week.

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fab1971

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updated list with a couple of pics. not too much has changed though so no real picture update for another week or two.

RMF Fireflies
Trop's Overdose chalice
JF Crazy Fox
Flash Bomb cut into 2 pieces, both still being grown out
Tyree EE Merlins chalice
Jkr's Captain America chalice
JKR Melting sunset grown out and split up, off the list
AO's melting pot dead
AO's MSB chalice sorry, looks better
CB Blue Crush
JF Biohazzard
WWC Fireball chalice
AO's Red eye surprise dead
KLR Cosmic fire
KLR Fruit bomb
KLR Criminal Minds cut grown out and split
Rainbow Crush John bought me out, it's his now and off the grow out list
AO's hawaiin punch

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fab1971

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Figured I'd give you an idea on when these pieces can be cut. It's taking a little longer than I expected but so far our cuts are yielding more than 1 eye each. I'll do a full picture update this week or next to show each piece and it's progress. that's it for now :)

rmf fireflies looking good and will be ready to cut in a few weeks (3-4 weeks)

trops overdose is only one eye but slowly growing and should be ready a little later (6-8 weeks)

crazy fox only one eye this one will be a little later also (8-9 weeks)

Flash bombs should be ready soon (4-5 weeks)

Merlins chalice growing in 2 new eyes (total of 4) should be ready soon (5-6 weeks)

Captain america a little tricky since it's one big eye and a few smaller ones. (6-8 weeks)

Msb (no time soon)

blue crush looking good but slow grower (8-9 weeks)

Biohazzard (5-6 weeks)

Fireball (5-6 weeks)

Cosmic fire starting to see growth (6-8 weeks)

Fruit bomb small frag and only one eye, it was my mistake that I thought another was growing. (8-10 weeks)

hawaiin punch slow grower but I see a 4th eye growing in (6-8 weeks)
 
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fab1971

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Here's a couple I took pics of that have changed since our last update. Not the best pics, sorry but as you know I've been in pain :( The msb though looking colorful might have receded a little more and is just not growing at all. Such a shame since it's starting to look like a nice piece. Who knows, we might get lucky and it may turn around. A few extra eyes and some growth on others but no big changes. I'll have a better and more complete update next time.

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fab1971

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Okay here's a huge update and the new pieces that we added from Joe and Darren. I think that's it though. Definitely running out of room now :) Once I get all the names I'll create a new list. the first two pictures are the rmf fireflies chalice I cut in half for us. We can knock that one off the list once I see you in a week or so. Enjoy.

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Here's the new ones (I didn't get all of them but I'll update again soon) + the tiny one I've been growing out for you and the zoas you got from Joe.

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(your zoas from Joe, terrible pic but they are starting to open up )

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fab1971

fab1971

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Remember that these just got here yesterday so they are still stressed. This one is definitely hurting but I think I can bring it back and Darren said not to worry, he's got us covered if it doesn't make it. very nice sized colony.
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Here's the little guy I've been holding for you.

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Polyp polynomial: How many heads do you start with when buying zoas?

  • One head is enough to get started.

    Votes: 27 10.6%
  • 2 to 4 heads.

    Votes: 145 57.1%
  • 5 heads or more.

    Votes: 65 25.6%
  • Full colony.

    Votes: 10 3.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 7 2.8%
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