jcolliii's IM25 Lagoon journey - MASTERTRONIC up and running!

[TheWB]

Put a couple of pieces of the cycling rock in my display and epoxied a couple of my corals on top. Look pretty good except the really pale epoxy. Ordered some grey epoxy, will see if that looks better.

I did finally manage to get some 'bigfoot quality' pictures of my yellow coral banded shrimp performing cleaning duties on Starsky (the starkii damsel). Really ungreat quality (saw this out of the corner of my eye, grabbed a couple photos, 10 seconds later it was done), but you can see the damsel opens wide for a cleaning and then lingers for a good side scratching. Neat behavior, never seen a CBS do cleaning duties before. Maybe this is more typical of the smaller Stenopus species?

Nice. I forgot you had a Starkii Damsel. I’d like to get one. LA has had them recently but the price has been a little steep and I don’t really know that I trust them to send me a healthy fish. Wish Biota would breed them. That I would happily pay for.

 

[jcolliii]

He's been a really great little fish. He's not super aggressive, but he will hold his own with the clown. Great little fish. I think I got mine from bluezoo, IIRC.

 

[TheWB]

He's been a really great little fish. He's not super aggressive, but he will hold his own with the clown. Great little fish. I think I got mine from bluezoo, IIRC.

I like them because they look like a Dwarf Angel without the coral nipping tendencies. Coloration is very nice as well. I’ll check out bluezoo.

 

[jcolliii]

Super active too. The other species that is really interesting is Corazon's damsel - but it's been put in the genus Pomacentrus, which makes me not want to try it. Really pretty also though.

 

[TheWB]

Super active too. The other species that is really interesting is Corazon's damsel - but it's been put in the genus Pomacentrus, which makes me not want to try it. Really pretty also though.

I like that one quite a bit as well. I’d probably try one if one turned up at the LFS near me that has a quarantine protocol, if I had a bigger tank and it wasn’t outrageously expensive.

 

[jcolliii]

Latest branches cut up awaiting a dye job.

Only got 5 branches out of this group, but... I have space for mounting 8 colonies on these 5 pieces, so I think I am pretty close to enough space. I also think a few of the pieces in my main tank will go to my office tank. I do need to think about an LED-bulb type light to supplement the lighting from the LED Biocube. Even zoas are having some difficulty under that light. I figure one of the older par 38 style reflector LED bulbs would probably supplement the stock LED's nicely.

Anyhow, the materials are almost all here. Two more square feet of delrin get here on Friday. I may start disassembling the aquascape this weekend, remove most of the colonies, and just stack the rock up in back for now, and frag off all of the corals that have grown in on the branch rock.

 

[TheWB]

Latest branches cut up awaiting a dye job.

Only got 5 branches out of this group, but... I have space for mounting 8 colonies on these 5 pieces, so I think I am pretty close to enough space. I also think a few of the pieces in my main tank will go to my office tank. I do need to think about an LED-bulb type light to supplement the lighting from the LED Biocube. Even zoas are having some difficulty under that light. I figure one of the older par 38 style reflector LED bulbs would probably supplement the stock LED's nicely.

Anyhow, the materials are almost all here. Two more square feet of delrin get here on Friday. I may start disassembling the aquascape this weekend, remove most of the colonies, and just stack the rock up in back for now, and frag off all of the corals that have grown in on the branch rock.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how this all comes together. Are you planning to mount fairly big frags on each column or smaller one so that can grow out around the columns?

 

[jcolliii]

I’m really looking forward to seeing how this all comes together. Are you planning to mount fairly big frags on each column or smaller one so that can grow out around the columns?

Each of my colonies will get a spot - either on top of one of the uprights, or on a branch end. I don't think I will have enough space for them all, so the overflow will go to the office tank I think.

The brains will all be easy as they have all grown around their respective 'rocks' that I crafted from rubble and epoxy to be 'brain shaped'. Those will completely cover the tops of even the thickest branches and look very Jetson's-ey (think a dome shaped brain atop a thinner column). I will probably have to craft some additional area along the edges of the colonies that might be more difficult to cut off of the current rocks - like the paly colonies - they are all growing down the branches. For those, I will have to cut the entire branch, and then add some epoxy around the edges to get the shapes right maybe? Dunno - it's be a process for sure! I will make sure to take lots of pictures!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

This is a crazy ambitious project, I can't wait to see the results!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I like that one quite a bit as well. I’d probably try one if one turned up at the LFS near me that has a quarantine protocol, if I had a bigger tank and it wasn’t outrageously expensive.

Either of you have experience with Springeri damsels? Like the Starcki they also have a bit of that angel look. I keep getting tempted but I don't want to cause tank drama.

 

[jcolliii]

I've not had one, but the thread here seems to indicate that they are model citizens for the most part. As long as you get a true springeri. I did look into them when I was looking for a dwarf angel substitute, and the possibility of getting an aggressive non-springeri soured me on the idea. I would imagine LA or Bluezoo would know the differences between species though.

 

[jcolliii]

This is a crazy ambitious project, I can't wait to see the results!

Well, it's a mess right now. I broke down the rock work so I could frag some things off. I did manage to get that baby torch exposed too - that was some kind of surgery getting that guy out of his crevice. It does seem to have characteristics of both torches. It may be the result of sexual reproduction. It also could just have weird coloration from being in a low-light crack. Will take a couple pics later when the lights are on and it stops being mad.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I've not had one, but the thread here seems to indicate that they are model citizens for the most part. As long as you get a true springeri. I did look into them when I was looking for a dwarf angel substitute, and the possibility of getting an aggressive non-springeri soured me on the idea. I would imagine LA or Bluezoo would know the differences between species though.

Very interesting! The Starcki seem to be pretty rare find but now I wonder if the Springeri seems more common because they aren't all Springeri. That Starcki really is a centerpiece fish for a smaller tank.

 

[jcolliii]

Very interesting! The Starcki seem to be pretty rare find but now I wonder if the Springeri seems more common because they aren't all Springeri. That Starcki really is a centerpiece fish for a smaller tank.

Never ordered from them before, but live rock n reef seems to have Aussie starki's and Springer's in stock. https://www.liverocknreef.com/catalog/damsel-and-chromis-657-1.html

 

[TheWB]

Either of you have experience with Springeri damsels? Like the Starcki they also have a bit of that angel look. I keep getting tempted but I don't want to cause tank drama.

I’ve never had one. It’s the right kind as far as rep for being a good tank mate but you never really know until you get it.

 

[jcolliii]

Wow, I had more corals than I thought I did. Broke down rockwork today. Barely room for the colonies on the bottom of the tank!

 

[TheWB]

Wow, I had more corals than I thought I did. Broke down rockwork today. Barely room for the colonies on the bottom of the tank!

I can see the vision starting to take shape. This is going to be pretty cool when it’s done. Your flow is going to be phenomenal. Are you at all worried about having enough rock for filtration?

 

[jcolliii]

Thanks man! I still need to sculpt the tops where the corals attach to the uprights so that the transition is smooth.

No, not worried at all. Tonga branch is super porous stuff. I'm going to keep my current pile of rock in the back for as long as I can, and these four pieces will have the benefit of colonizing the same bacteria in the display. The second batch of rock will start seasoning in the bacteria stew with the remainder of the other pieces in the large bucket in the basement. I have center chamber bacterial mulm in there as well as half a bottle of aquavitro bacteria. I figure when all is said and done, I will have a similar mass of rock in the new aquascape as the old one. And, that Seachem matrix is in the corner chamber as well (I also shook that out in the tub with the seasoning rock).

It is a good idea to shake that out in some waterchange water occasionally as it will get choked with sponges and bacterial grunge.

I am honestly amazed that I did not destroy the digitata today when removing the corals from the rock. I was being super careful, but it's digitata! It breaks just by looking at it! I broke off two tiny little tips each less than half an inch. Not out of the woods yet, but step one safely done anyway.

 

[TheWB]

Now that I think about it you did have a fairly minimal scape, didn’t you. Probably not as much rock removal as I was thinking.

That’s a good reminder for me as well. I have two bags of matrix and one of gems that’s really could use a rinsing out.

You didn’t break the Digitata, you’ve just started the fragging process for your good friend on the other side of the country lol.

 

[jcolliii]

I will have stuff that will need new homes! For sure there will be some cap, some anacropora, some of the big green palys, probably a whole bunch of stuff!