Sexy Corals Favia / Reef Odyssey Acan Blow-Out Grow-Out 2011!

[thewackyreefer]

Haha I forgot about winter! Honestly the favias just have me nervous, they're really not growing and they're sensitive so I'm hesitant to do anything in the tank and well, that kinda sucks for a reefer.

 

[Tabasco1]

thanks for thinking of that. It is something that I am concerned about. I've talked to some other reefers in CO and they said they haven't had too much issues as long as the shipment is timed right. I.e. no storms coming through or extreme temps. Last winter was the worst in my 10 yrs up here. There were about 3 weeks of -22. It was brutal. But as long as shipment takes place when temps are in 20s+ I think it will be ok if packed well.

What do we have left as far as favias go anyway?? I'm still interested in the favias. Anybody else want to take a shot at growing them?

 

[thewackyreefer]

We've got everything but the blue angel and the angel eye. 3 of them look pretty good, the others decent but little to no growth. I got a frag of that mayan sun that we lost right off the bat but it's super tiny and I haven't noticed much growth.

 

[Tabasco1]

Are any of the favias ready to be fragged? I think I remember you mentioning that the war coral could be, any of the others? I would suggest that if nobody else would like to have all the favias moved to their tank to try to grow out that we just divy up what we have now. Frag what we have into as many pieces as can be safely done and then just distribute that way. For example, if the dark vampire can be only fragged into two, let's do that. Then we can run distribution like a football draft system? How does that sound?

 

[thewackyreefer]

I took a pretty good look at the favias last night and here's what I think. I apologize as I don't know the name of all of them anymore and some quite frankly don't look like they do on the retailers site at this point.

I would not suggest fragging them into any pieces smaller than 2 eyes / frag, just because they've been so so delicate.

In this picture there are 5 favias, one is the war coral, the sc vampire, 2 unknowns and one of the ones that was lost recently. As you can see the eyes on the war coral are SUPER tiny, we can probably get 3 (maybe 4) frags out of this one. It seems like it's the most hardy out of all of them. The dark vampire can probably be cut into at least 2 pieces as well. The other one in the top left and top right can get MAYBE 2 frags out of each I think.

The others are spread around the tank so I need to get some shots of them at some point for you guys. It's hard to get a shot of them top-down with the LED's over the tank and I've been reluctant to move them. I don't think any of them can be cut to be honest with you as they haven't grown at all since I've received them.

I'm totally down for whatever you guys want to do with them but to be honest with you I don't think everyone will get more than a few tiny frags and the shipping may not be worth it at this point...

 

[thewackyreefer]

As I've said before I'm going to be cleaning out most of the acans in my tank fairly soon and I'm not a huge fan of favias in general at this point. It doesn't seem like most of you are really that much into the favias so I've got an offer for you guys and feel free to shoot it down if you don't like it.

Rather than me getting rid of my personal acans I'm offering to swap them with the favias in the growout. That way we don't have to worry about cutting/shipping any favias and when the time comes to chop the acans you guys will have twice as many as before and no favias to worry about. I've got quite a few acans that would blow your mind and more than make up for the favias that would be removed. If you guys want some pics of what I'm willing to swap feel free to let me know and I can post some up for you. Again, this is just an idea I'm throwing out there which would give you guys more acans (and less favias) so feel free to shoot it down if you don't like it. I basically just need some space at this point and if you guys would rather have the acans than favias I'm down with that.

I'm here for you guys so whatever you want to do is fine, just throwing some ideas out there!!

 

[Beerman]

Personally I prefer acans and would rather have them. There's something with my tank that has a hard time growing favias and zoas. I'm not sure what but I do keep my alkalinity higher so that may be it. Acans and SPS grow nicely in my tank though.

 

[thewackyreefer]

Anyone else have an opinion?

Nothing really to update you guys on, everything is looking good.

I'm heading out of town on Saturday for the holidays and probably won't be on much, but I'll try to snap a few quick pics before then for you guys. While I'm gone I have someone who will be checking on my dog and the tank 2-3 times / day and I've also got the ReefKeeper and Seneye keeping an eye on things for me so everything should be fine for the 10 days or so I'm gone.

 

[Tabasco1]

Don't know how I missed that in your previous email. That is fine with me. I am interested in the Mia's pot of gold, Girly Favia and mayan sun (which I guess isn't doing that great so not that big of a deal). I don't know if anybody else is interested in those or not. But whatever works out is ok with me too. Thank you for the offer to switch them out. So if we did that would they pretty much be ready to frag when you got back from your trip? No rush on this end, just know you are getting antsy to transition your tank.

Have a great trip! Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

 

[thewackyreefer]

Don't know how I missed that in your previous email. That is fine with me. I am interested in the Mia's pot of gold, Girly Favia and mayan sun (which I guess isn't doing that great so not that big of a deal). I don't know if anybody else is interested in those or not. But whatever works out is ok with me too. Thank you for the offer to switch them out. So if we did that would they pretty much be ready to frag when you got back from your trip? No rush on this end, just know you are getting antsy to transition your tank.

Have a great trip! Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

Okay, that sounds good.

I'm gonna double check on everything but I think everything is ready if not, very close. If they are I may cut the frags before I leave so they'll have plenty of time to heal and can be shipped after the New Year.

 

[Tabasco1]

You are on it! Before a trip, I am usually so cramped for time... sounds good though. If it doesn't happen til you get back, no worries.

 

[Nate82]

I'm definitely down with acans over favias. Seems like they're more hassle than they're worth anyway. Thanks for everything you've done so far!

 

[thewackyreefer]

Hey guys. Please PM me and let me know if you want your acans on plugs or not. I personally leave mine unmounted and attach them straight to the rock.

As soon as I'm back after the new year I'm going to start chopping, probably 1-2 people at a time depending on how fast I run out of rack space.

 

[jdreef]

Happy New Year!! Thanks for doing such a great job on this grow out!! I would enter another growout with you any time!!! I'm with you on the leaving them loose and or un-mounted. Please let me know when to send you some shipping costs or how it will work and if there is anything I can do to help. Thanks again

 

[thewackyreefer]

Ah you spoke too soon!

I just got home from Michigan and the green acan is receding pretty bad for some reason. I took a close look at it and give it a dip but didn't see anything bothering it. Everything else in the tank looks fine as well. Going to do some testing as well but nothing looks off. Leaving for Vegas for a couple days in the morning but I'll report back as soon as I'm home.

 

[Crooks]

What did you dip it in?

 

[thewackyreefer]

Alright guys, just got back today and unfortunately that green/purple acan doesn't look like it's going to make it. I tested my params both before and after the trip today and everything looks good. This one literally went from 5-6 heads on day to 1 the next. The 1 that is left is pretty tiny but I dipped in Revive before the trip and it doesn't look like it's getting any worse at this point so we'll see what happens.

Everything else is looking pretty good, will get some shots this week for you guys now that the holidays are over!

 

[thewackyreefer]

I'm starting to get a little worried about my tank.

I came home today to 2-3 of my pieces receding and the girly favia looking pretty poor. The rest of the acans are still looking alright but they're not fluffy at all today and I can see a little bit of the skeleton on them around the edges. I'm not too concerned about them as they tend to do that occasionally and it's only been one day that I've noticed them doing so. I normally wouldn't be concerned but you guys have $ invested in these pieces so I want to keep you in the loop and ask for any advice you guys may have.

I did another water change of 15 gallons last night and tested my parameters and I'm not seeing any issues.

Alk is right around 9, calcium 440, magnesium 1350, ammonia 0, phosphate 0.03.


Any advice or suggestions you guys may have would be appreciated.

 

[thewackyreefer]

Here's a quick phone pic. You can see what I'm talking about on the two acans on the left and the favia on the right.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lajz9/6632140025/

 

[Beerman]

Are they eating?