Chris' Reef

chort55 · May 30, 2013

Dmmz said:
Really like the ornate the other two are nice too

Thanks! I really like leopards in general, which is probably why I have 4 now lol. I'll be honest tho, my meleagris leopard is the only one that really stands out in the tank (there are a couple others that stand out more coloration wise tho, I just don't have them yet and don't plan to in this current tank because I am out of room). The hooded's are super sweet and definitely a "stand out" kind of fish..... also, I have yet to get a good pic of the male, most of these shots are of the female. My male is still younger and not quite as bold but still quite nice looking and getting ready to be even nicer

chort55 · Jun 6, 2013

Well, I think my female hooded wrasse is becoming a male hooded as it is starting to flash at the original male, and is starting to get more coloration in the tail as well as the dorsal fin. Hopefully they will play nice as 2 hooded males would definitely stand out, especially when they are flashing each other lol

chort55 · Jun 8, 2013

Scored a killer new deepwater acro from TBG today. Super thin delicate branches, glowing hot polyps, I can't wait for it to fully color up but it appears to have bright blue or purple tips coming in

He just got it in so not 100% what it is going to do but its hot already, and will surely be a collector piece..... now if only I can get a pic LOL

chort55 · Jun 9, 2013

Heres a couple horrible phone pics, but best I could do tonight...
The 2 main chunks together to speed up the colony growth:

A small frag to grow out as a backup in another area:

The pics are fairly close as far as color goes, tips are brighter and polyps are more intense but the body on the main 2 chunks is darker in coloration then the smaller frag.

Dmmz · Jun 9, 2013

You have been getting some great stuff for your tank lately

chort55 · Jun 9, 2013

Dmmz said:
You have been getting some great stuff for your tank lately

Thanks

Poseidon · Jun 9, 2013

Good stuff Chris! If that 2nd hooded doesn't play nice, let me know.

chort55 · Jun 9, 2013

Poseidon said:
Good stuff Chris! If that 2nd hooded doesn't play nice, let me know.

Thanks Mike! So far so good, but it is still definitely early. Hopefully it goes good tho 2 males flashing back and forth all day eventho they aren't supers by any means is definitely a cool thing to watch. If it goes sideways I will definitely let you know

chort55 · Jun 10, 2013

RR Poison Ivy, taking her time coloring up but still a nice little gem:

TBG Solar Flare, yeah its ORANGE (and getting even Oranger!!!):

A paled deepwater I recently aquired, with my yellow tip deepwater bottom right, Tyree PL behind to the left w/ TBG Solar Flare peaking in behind the PL:

The new TBG score:

Did I mention I really like this rock?

chort55 · Jun 13, 2013

Picked up a sweeet new Turaki from The Blue Glow the other day. It is a really nice green with bright icy blue tips.

I am leaning towards adding ecobak biopellets soon.... pretty much just waiting for another guy to want to put in the order to split shipping up a little bit. If he doesn't end up deciding to go that route I will likely wait a little while longer and get the new media for the calcium reactor I have laying around and a few other odds n ends for the future.

Also, thinking about adding in some more blue, not sure if I want to try to find a decent retrofit type strip of LEDs, add in the 2 bulb 36" t5s I have (would need new bulbs and reflectors), or ????? Anyone with some suggestions? Current lighting is DIY LED's, 24 3w cree leds on each heatsink (total of 48 leds). I know most would say its underpowered for my setup but as you can see the acros have been growing just fine so far and were in my 180 (same set up just had one more panel with 24 more leds but the same 24 LEDs over 2' of tank.)