d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build

d2mini · Sep 3, 2018

Rattzreef · Sep 3, 2018

Beautiful..

Janci · Sep 4, 2018

Looking great Dennis.
What is the growth rate of the sea fan in the middle of the picture? It is a photosynthetic one right?

d2mini · Sep 4, 2018

Rattzreef said:
Beautiful..

Thanks!

Janci said:
Looking great Dennis.
What is the growth rate of the sea fan in the middle of the picture? It is a photosynthetic one right?

Thank you. There are two gorgonians in the center... a big fatty on the left and the thin wispy one on the right.
Both are brown photosynthetic kind and both are slow growing but the thin has grown since I got it. Sometimes if my water chemistry gets a little out of whack some of it will die off but then it grows back that tissue fairly quickly.

Janci · Sep 4, 2018

d2mini said:
Thank you. There are two gorgonians in the center... a big fatty on the left and the thin wispy one on the right.
Both are brown photosynthetic kind and both are slow growing but the thin has grown since I got it. Sometimes if my water chemistry gets a little out of whack some of it will die off but then it grows back that tissue fairly quickly.

I believe I have the same thick gorgonian and also mine seems to be a slow grower.
I do not feed them in particular neither. Maybe it would help?

d2mini · Sep 4, 2018

Janci said:
I believe I have the same thick gorgonian and also mine seems to be a slow grower.
I do not feed them in particular neither. Maybe it would help?

I dunno, i don't feed them either. I just want them to survive and look healthy... not worried if they grow or not.

maevepotter · Sep 4, 2018

d2mini said:
I like them. IMO they make the lights look more finished and they do diffuse it better. No disco.

Sorry, I don't have much. I seem to either take an FTS or extreme closeups most of the time. lol
Some sps grow fast, some very slow. And there's more to that than just lighting so hard to quantify unless you ran two identical tanks next to each other.
If I was betting money I'd bet that you wouldn't get as much growth as you'd get with MH/T5 but that's just a guess. Growth speed isn't really something that matters to me all that much since I'm not in the coral biz. I just want everything to be colorful and healthy.

Here's a couple examples though...

ORA Frogskin less than 4 months apart.

6 months growth on the Paletta Pink Tip

And 7.5 months on this one.

I'm very new and learning, your tank is amazing as are your photography skills! How do you get the coral off the plugs and attached to the rock? Or did these grow naturally from "the package"? Thanks for any tips you can share.

d2mini · Sep 4, 2018

maevepotter said:
I'm very new and learning, your tank is amazing as are your photography skills! How do you get the coral off the plugs and attached to the rock? Or did these grow naturally from "the package"? Thanks for any tips you can share.

Hi, thank you.

I will try not to use the plugs if possible because even if you dip the frags, you can have eggs on the plug. So if I can I will pop off the frag and glue/epoxy it directly to the rock.
If it has overgrown the frag plug I will just cut off the stem of the plug and glue the now flat disc to my rock.
The gorgonians came with "The Package" from TBS and they are glued/epoxied to the rock. Nothing has actually grown out of the rock. It was all placed there.

revhtree · Sep 4, 2018

Those sps corals have really taken off huh?

d2mini · Sep 4, 2018

revhtree said:
Those sps corals have really taken off huh?

Ya, I'd say they are on par for my tanks.... some grow decently... others grow sloooowwwww. haha

The Twilight Dragon on the right is one of the fastest growing for sure. And then a couple of stags on the left including the WWC Yellow Tip are doing well.

d2mini · Sep 9, 2018

This was a loooooong time coming.
Rainy day today so finally got off my butt and did something about it.

Uploaded in 1080p

Victoria M · Sep 9, 2018

I just had the best part of my weekend. Dennis as the music swelled I found myself smiling. Amazingly enjoyable. Thank you.

bubbaque · Sep 9, 2018

The bounces on the mushroom are crazy big!!

Brew12 · Sep 9, 2018

d2mini said:
This was a loooooong time coming.
Rainy day today so finally got off my butt and did something about it.

Uploaded in 1080p

Wow... just wow.... I'm not sure I even blinked while watching it. Absolutely amazing!

Rattzreef · Sep 9, 2018

Simply amazing reef. Great work, man. Beautiful!!

Brew12 · Sep 9, 2018

Have you considered submitting this video to the AHA? I think watching this video could stop a heart attack in progress if viewed early enough!

d2mini · Sep 9, 2018

Victoria M said:
I just had the best part of my weekend. Dennis as the music swelled I found myself smiling. Amazingly enjoyable. Thank you.

Thanks, Victoria ;Joyful

bubbaque said:
The bounces on the mushroom are crazy big!!

haha, yeah but overall it's not as spread out/large as it is at other times.

Brew12 said:
Wow... just wow.... I'm not sure I even blinked while watching it. Absolutely amazing!

lol, thanks.

Rattzreef said:
Simply amazing reef. Great work, man. Beautiful!!

Thank you

Brew12 said:
Have you considered submitting this video to the AHA? I think watching this video could stop a heart attack in progress if viewed early enough!