Battlecorals Snipes Blue Discussion Thread

[bubbaque]

Probably was just a wild colony at one point and once it settled in the aquarium life it started to take off.

 

[justingraham]

Probably was just a wild colony at one point and once it settled in the aquarium life it started to take off.

Aren’t all Corals a wild colony at some point?

 

[bubbaque]

Yes but corals like red planet have been aqua cultured for so long now that they instant grow in someone tank. This coral may not of been around long when it was first posted. That's just my guess as to why it could transition from hard to easy to grow. Also, some people can't grow corals well and so they will instantly say a coral is a slow grower and when someone else gets it, has no issues with it growing.

 

[Mark Gray]

Can't wait do we have any Idea when this will start, I know in September I will be away for a little while

 

[Caravanshaka]

Can't wait do we have any Idea when this will start, I know in September I will be away for a little while

I believe it starts in about 10 days!

 

[PSXerholic]

@bubbaque
Paid!

Also ordered an Aussie Echinata
and a Copps Calicali ;-)

 

[MTBake]

Probably was just a wild colony at one point and once it settled in the aquarium life it started to take off.

After reading that thread many months ago, I realized that I remembered this coral from my old RC days (member since 2006 on that forum). SniperSPS(Hugo) was a common place name when I was actually using that forum several years ago.

 

[MTBake]

I turned my frag into part of a Battlebox. Only 3 I asked for were; Firecracker table, Greg C Effo, and the contest frag of course. No idea what else will be in the box. Can't wait to get this started!

 

[WWIII]

This is an interesting read about the Snipers: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hugo-what-the-heck-is-this.195526/
From what Adam and Hugo describe early in the thread, this was a finicky, hard to keep, slow growing coral. But the more recent entries reflect that it is now a fast grower and hardy ('bullet proof' I believe one poster said). That is fascinating. How does this transformation happen?

I'd say we will have a definitive answer to all of these questions about this coral within the next months/years! Will be really cool to have such a large "test" pool on the same acro in many different tanks all starting from the same spot!

I'm for sure in, just debating how big I'm gonna make the box for next week. Looking forward to my first order from Adam!

 

[ESH]

Going to be a fun grow out battle! Will be interesting to hear and see what changes, if any, people make to their systems over the course of the next year. Hopefully I’m
Able to stick to my less input to the system is more plan as it seems to be working with frags I’ve picked up over the summer. My tank will hit 1 year on Oct 14, seems like the less I do the better things are.

 

[bubbaque]

I turned my frag into part of a Battlebox. Only 3 I asked for were; Firecracker table, Greg C Effo, and the contest frag of course. No idea what else will be in the box. Can't wait to get this started!

I have seen several people wanting the Firecracker table lately. Someone posted a pic of it recently that blew me away.

Going to be a fun grow out battle! Will be interesting to hear and see what changes, if any, people make to their systems over the course of the next year. Hopefully I’m
Able to stick to my less input to the system is more plan as it seems to be working with frags I’ve picked up over the summer. My tank will hit 1 year on Oct 14, seems like the less I do the better things are.

I am hoping to not make any changes. I think the less is more that you are doing would benefit you in the long run for sure.

 

[bubbaque]

I think for each update pic I do, I will also note my system parameters. If others want to also, it will give an idea of the average parameters people who have success run.

 

[Muttley000]

Made my entry into a $300 battle box and left the other frags up to Adam after describing my system. Anxious to see what he does!

 

[MTBake]

I have seen several people wanting the Firecracker table lately. Someone posted a pic of it recently that blew me away.
I am hoping to not make any changes. I think the less is more that you are doing would benefit you in the long run for sure.

That thread is what drew my eye to the Firecracker. Looks really good! Just hope I can pull it off just as nice.

Only change I've been contemplating is a lighting change. Still in the fence though. I've gotten some good advice about the light I do use and it seems to be paying off so far. Thought I had too much light, turned out to be the opposite.

 

[Norcalreef]

I think for each update pic I do, I will also note my system parameters. If others want to also, it will give an idea of the average parameters people who have success run.

I like this idea and will try to do the same. I do ICP test every couple months. Will try to do one when I get it and then share them as I get the results.

 

[ecam]

Hey guys. Can you shoot me. Pm ( don’t want to hijack this thread ).

Of the setups used for these

@PSXerholic im coming for ya I’m loaded up for the next year and dialing in my alk dosing to consumption getting closer every day

I also have this one book in my stash that is going to bring me to the top

What u know about that sir

@bubbaque
That is some sort of an "improved filtersock"

Did assemble the LEGO kit right away and installed it yesterday on one of the two return lines.
Will see how it works out, I definitely do not want to go back to traditional filtersocks !!!

 

[thaveteran]

Is there a colony shot anywhere of this coral? Do we know the growth pattern?

 

[MTBake]

The linked thread probably has as much info about this coral as you can find;

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hugo-what-the-heck-is-this.195526/page-4

 

[kurtp]

I think for each update pic I do, I will also note my system parameters. If others want to also, it will give an idea of the average parameters people who have success run.

Good idea. I'll do that here and include some detail about my system for my initial entry photo but then include the bare-bones (current parameters) info as briefly as possible with subsequent pic posts in the photo thread.....

Backstory: I have a 10+ year old 120 g DT that I am trying to rehab after a few years of neglect led to slow but steady collapse. It went from an SPS dominant to an algae and aiptasia dominant system. In its heyday it was LNS with continuous GAC/GFO and skimmer, but I never did any dosing. A few months ago my life became less complicated and I had a renewed interest in reefing mixed with a generous dose of guilt for letting my marine wards suffer and I decided to try to rehab my tank. I started reading forums again, discovered R2R and was shocked to learn that ULNS was not the gospel that it had been when I entered the SPS game.

Current Setup:
6 bulb ATI (3 blue+, 2 actinic, 1 purple +) with a single ReefBrite XHO actinic strip. Skimmer and Algae Turf Scrubber in sump, no GFO or GAC (although I do still have the reactors in case the need to run some GAC should arise). Major element dosing remains BRS 2 part. I am now also testing for Nitrate and Phosphate which I stopped doing years ago cuz they were always undetectable. I like the idea of trying to achieve the Red Field ratio so in addition to heavier feeding I am even dosing Neo Nitrate now. I ran my first ICP test a bit over a month ago and discovered many trace elements were low, which makes sense since I never did any dosing and my formerly solid water change routine had been practically non-existent during my tank's dark years. So currently I am trying the Red Sea Colors route with trace element dosing based on my tank's calcium consumption. I plan to send another ICP test to triton in a few weeks to see where the numbers are.
Algae issue improving nicely with robust CUC and the ATS. Aiptasia issue improved, but definitely still present. I zapped all the ones I could with hot RODI or hot tank water after 20 peppermint shrimp and an aiptasia-eating file fish failed to make a dent. (although they still leave the mature ones alone, I think this crew is keeping baby aiptasia at bay because there has been no return of aiptasia where I was able to eradicate them from accessible crannies in the rockwork--I have come to peace with the remaining ones, preferring to think of them as 'flow indicators' rather than pests).
10-15% water changes weekly with Frtiz's RPM salt, using the wet skim over 12 hours method

Current parameters:
Alk - 7.6 - 8.0 (Hanna test almost daily)
Calcium - 425 (Salifert every 3-4 days)
Mg - 1500 (Elos usually every 2 weeks, but more often now as I stopped adding Mg to my ATO water until it comes back down to goal of about 1250)
SG- 1.026 (calibrated refractometer before water changes and random spot tests)
Po4 - 0.00 (Hanna), 0.02 ppm via Triton ICP
Nitrate - inching up from 0, currently 1.5 ppm (Red Sea kit every 2 days as I am just starting the Neo Nitrate dosing)
temp - 78 -79 degrees

So there you go, more info than you'd ever care to know about my tank (unless I happen to win the contest, at which point this stuff will be golden)

Kurt

 

[ESH]

Made my entry into a $300 battle box and left the other frags up to Adam after describing my system. Anxious to see what he does!

Did the same thing! Excited!