Rob’s 30g Tonga Shroom Garden

intricate_reefer · Feb 15, 2020

Some acan shots

The Holy Grail Babies are starting to get some color

intricate_reefer · Feb 15, 2020

Got a Midas blenny from a LFS yesterday. He doesn't have the brightest colors but the guy said he was a juvenile and should get a bit better. I was going to wait but he looked really healthy and when I asked them to see him eating, he ate like a champ. He did really good and ate well after I put him in yesterday. When I was making the scape I had a piece of rock with a hole in that I had put in a spot hoping when I got a Midas he would use as his hang out. When I put him in that tank he pretty much went right to it, I did let him go next to it though. Then he found a different hole and was hanging there all last night, it was towards the middle of the tank and not as visible as the other one. Anyway today he went back to the hole I originally hoped for him, its right in the front of the tank. Overall I'm really happy with this guy, I am hoping his color does get a little more vibrant though.

Don't mind the hair on the snail lol. Im going to pull him out and give him a good scrubbing today during water change. Also put 10 new astrea snails in the 30L and 30 in the 25 lagoon, I probably have close to 45-50 in the lagoon now lol. Thats ok I'm going to take them down school after the algae stabilizes.

TheWB · Feb 16, 2020

VaporCountry said:
Some acan shots

The Holy Grail Babies are starting to get some color

Dang Rob, I post one little colorful Acan picture and you go and show me up like this

. That Holy Grail is insane.

intricate_reefer · Feb 16, 2020

TheWB said:
Dang Rob, I post one little colorful Acan picture and you go and show me up like this . That Holy Grail is insane.

Sorry Bro

I got an extra frag of the holy grail

TheWB · Feb 16, 2020

VaporCountry said:
Sorry Bro I got an extra frag of the holy grail

That frag I got was $25 bucks for 7-8 heads. I shudder to think of what the Holy Grail goes for. Also, shouldn’t the name Holy Grail be reserved for the plainest Acan? It’s like whoever named it has never seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Regardless of the name that’s a darn good looking coral.

intricate_reefer · Feb 16, 2020

TheWB said:
That frag I got was $25 bucks for 7-8 heads. I shudder to think of what the Holy Grail goes for. Also, shouldn’t the name Holy Grail be reserved for the plainest Acan? It’s like whoever named it has never seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Regardless of the name that’s a darn good looking coral.

Hey man that’s a deal! The rainbow frags I bought recently were $75, so not the cheapest but I have no good LFS stores near me and barley any locals with nice lps. I’m stuck paying a premium online. I’ve seen the holy grails go for around $100-$200 a head depending on how big of a frag, I’m selling one locally for $100 with 1 head and like 3-5 babies, of course that’s not the bro price lol

TheWB · Feb 16, 2020

VaporCountry said:
Hey man that’s a deal! The rainbow frags I bought recently were $75, so not the cheapest but I have no good LFS stores near me and barley any locals with nice lps. I’m stuck paying a premium online. I’ve seen the holy grails go for around $100-$200 a head depending on how big of a frag, I’m selling one locally for $100 with 1 head and like 3-5 babies, of course that’s not the bro price lol

I am fortunate to have some good LFS within an hours drive. The place I got the frags from sells almost all lps and Zoas for $25 or $40 regardless of how nice or rare. They do have more expensive pieces too, he wanted $250 for a thumbnail sized frag of a chalice but I don’t remember the name. As for the Holy Grail I don’t think I can even afford the bro price. I’ll be shopping in your bargain bin

. What do you have in the browned out and bleached section.

intricate_reefer · Feb 16, 2020

TheWB said:
I am fortunate to have some good LFS within an hours drive. The place I got the frags from sells almost all lps and Zoas for $25 or $40 regardless of how nice or rare. They do have more expensive pieces too, he wanted $250 for a thumbnail sized frag of a chalice but I don’t remember the name. As for the Holy Grail I don’t think I can even afford the bro price. I’ll be shopping in your bargain bin . What do you have in the browned out and bleached section.

Nothing bleached or browned out at the moment lol but I have a few $10-$20 things. Im running out of space though and have about 15 or so new frags coming(got carried away with some live sales and FB auctions

. I will probably slowly start to sell of some of the lower end things along with the growout colonies of them to make room. Its so hard to part with a coral for good

TheWB · Feb 17, 2020

VaporCountry said:
Nothing bleached or browned out at the moment lol but I have a few $10-$20 things. Im running out of space though and have about 15 or so new frags coming(got carried away with some live sales and FB auctions. I will probably slowly start to sell of some of the lower end things along with the growout colonies of them to make room. Its so hard to part with a coral for good

You simply don’t have enough real estate for all those frags with your buying habits do you? even with two tanks

. You need one of those 48x24x12 reef ready frag tanks. There’s an lfs near me that keeps them in stock. I love shallow tanks so if I had room I’d totally own one of those. I’d use Stax to scape it with a bunch of little islands no more than 2 stax high, each dedicated to its own colony of whatever. Maybe a bigger structure in the middle with overhangs and caves so the fish have a place to hide, I already have it built in my head. I don’t see how you can keep adding more without making some room first even if they are tough to part with. Plus, at some point don’t you have to think about choosing the very nicest pieces and turning that IM30 into more of a display/show tank instead of just storing all those frags in there? Or do you have plans to do that in a different system and keep the 30 for frags? It looks great as is but bigger colonies of those chalices grown out would look great as well.

intricate_reefer · Feb 17, 2020

TheWB said:
You simply don’t have enough real estate for all those frags with your buying habits do you? even with two tanks . You need one of those 48x24x12 reef ready frag tanks. There’s an lfs near me that keeps them in stock. I love shallow tanks so if I had room I’d totally own one of those. I’d use Stax to scape it with a bunch of little islands no more than 2 stax high, each dedicated to its own colony of whatever. Maybe a bigger structure in the middle with overhangs and caves so the fish have a place to hide, I already have it built in my head. I don’t see how you can keep adding more without making some room first even if they are tough to part with. Plus, at some point don’t you have to think about choosing the very nicest pieces and turning that IM30 into more of a display/show tank instead of just storing all those frags in there? Or do you have plans to do that in a different system and keep the 30 for frags? It looks great as is but bigger colonies of those chalices grown out would look great as well.

I do have some room in the new tank but I don't have alot of faith in it yet for all corals. I mean its going well but corals could look a little better. Once I start gluing some acans to the rock, it will give me some more space. Right now in the 30L I have so many frags its hard to have the space to grow big colonies and I just end up fragging them and selling.

What I really want to do is convert part of our garage to an area for frag systems. I was thinking about 3 50g lowboys, 48 x 24 x 10. Would like two of them tired together then the third on its own system for quarantine. I would need to drill the tank and get overflows on them but would be a lot cheaper then going with something like the deep blue rimless tanks(now sold as seapora). Would probably just do all racks then some sort of bio media in the sump. This is just an idea I have been having. Only problem is the converting the garage and getting it climate controlled. Also we would need to get a shed in the back yard for all the stuff thats in there now.

As of right now the 30L, I will continue to have small colonies and frags then maybe once I get these acans glued up in the 25 lagoon, I will have the space on the bottom for bigger colonies in that tank. The problem I have know is I have so many different corals that I'm growing out that I don't have a whole lot of room for the frags I make. Right now I just cut a batch of 10-20 frags, sell them then cut a new batch. I kind of have this system after I buy a high end coral, I grow it out for awhile then cut it up into at least three pieces. I keep one piece to be grown out and fragged again, one piece to grow out as a display piece, then sell the rest to try and recoup some of my original cost. Coral prices can go down quick and I like to recoup what I can as soon as possible. Most of the ones I had got at the beginning of last year have all ready paid for them selves.

intricate_reefer · Feb 17, 2020

Oh also I forgot, the January POTM contest finalist are up. I made the cut and am in the lead right now, so everyone check it out and pick your favorite. Im partial to #11

TheWB · Feb 17, 2020

VaporCountry said:
I do have some room in the new tank but I don't have alot of faith in it yet for all corals. I mean its going well but corals could look a little better. Once I start gluing some acans to the rock, it will give me some more space. Right now in the 30L I have so many frags its hard to have the space to grow big colonies and I just end up fragging them and selling.

What I really want to do is convert part of our garage to an area for frag systems. I was thinking about 3 50g lowboys, 48 x 24 x 10. Would like two of them tired together then the third on its own system for quarantine. I would need to drill the tank and get overflows on them but would be a lot cheaper then going with something like the deep blue rimless tanks(now sold as seapora). Would probably just do all racks then some sort of bio media in the sump. This is just an idea I have been having. Only problem is the converting the garage and getting it climate controlled. Also we would need to get a shed in the back yard for all the stuff thats in there now.

As of right now the 30L, I will continue to have small colonies and frags then maybe once I get these acans glued up in the 25 lagoon, I will have the space on the bottom for bigger colonies in that tank. The problem I have know is I have so many different corals that I'm growing out that I don't have a whole lot of room for the frags I make. Right now I just cut a batch of 10-20 frags, sell them then cut a new batch. I kind of have this system after I buy a high end coral, I grow it out for awhile then cut it up into at least three pieces. I keep one piece to be grown out and fragged again, one piece to grow out as a display piece, then sell the rest to try and recoup some of my original cost. Coral prices can go down quick and I like to recoup what I can as soon as possible. Most of the ones I had got at the beginning of last year have all ready paid for them selves.

Getting the garage climate controlled is easier said than done. If I could get mine climate controlled I could have a qt and a frag system. That isn’t happening though and no room anywhere else without my wife booting me out of the house. It’s really cool that you have been able to recoup a lot of the cost for the corals by fragging and selling. I guess that saw was a great investment. I’ve never fragged a coral and I’d be scared to death of doing a poor job and killing it. I’m definitely not destined to be in the coral propagation business. It would be nice to find a way to make the reefing hobby cost neutral though.

intricate_reefer · Feb 17, 2020

TheWB said:
Getting the garage climate controlled is easier said than done. If I could get mine climate controlled I could have a qt and a frag system. That isn’t happening though and no room anywhere else without my wife booting me out of the house. It’s really cool that you have been able to recoup a lot of the cost for the corals by fragging and selling. I guess that saw was a great investment. I’ve never fragged a coral and I’d be scared to death of doing a poor job and killing it. I’m definitely not destined to be in the coral propagation business. It would be nice to find a way to make the reefing hobby cost neutral though.

It’s not going to be super easy but probably not too bad. The garage is a two car with some extra space. Plan would be to put up an insulated wall where the column is in this picture. Please don’t judge all the junk lol

Then would just have too figure out climate control. Here is the room to get an idea of the space. It’s also nice that there is all ready a utility sink in the room

TheWB · Feb 18, 2020

VaporCountry said:
It’s not going to be super easy but probably not too bad. The garage is a two car with some extra space. Plan would be to put up an insulated wall where the column is in this picture. Please don’t judge all the junk lol

Then would just have too figure out climate control. Here is the room to get an idea of the space. It’s also nice that there is all ready a utility sink in the room

Your comment about not judging all the stuff makes me laugh. I’m a moving estimator for the country’s largest moving company. I’m in peoples homes all day long every day seeing how they live and keep their houses. I’m apologized to at least twice a day about the state of our clients houses. You should see most peoples garages. Some you can barely walk through. Stuff piled everywhere. You amateur mess makers crack me up

Your picture doesn’t even qualify as clutter in my world. Oh, and full disclosure, my garage is a mess.

intricate_reefer · Feb 18, 2020

TheWB said:
Your comment about not judging all the stuff makes me laugh. I’m a moving estimator for the country’s largest moving company. I’m in peoples homes all day long every day seeing how they live and keep their houses. I’m apologized to at least twice a day about the state of our clients houses. You should see most peoples garages. Some you can barely walk through. Stuff piled everywhere. You amateur mess makers crack me up
Your picture doesn’t even qualify as clutter in my world. Oh, and full disclosure, my garage is a mess.

But you should see the other side lol. It’s a two car garage with no cars and you can barley walk through it with stuff almost piled to the ceiling. Talk with my dad some more and I think the conversion is a go. It probably won’t be up for awhile, my father is very slow and methodical. If I’d have to guess I’d say maybe a year or so until any water is in.

Some corals came in today, got a few gonis, couple of acans, some chalices, a mushroom and a freebie lephastrea. Few more mushrooms, a chalice and two montis tomorrow. Now that I have a plan to do this build, it’s really time to hunker down, save, and not buy anymore corals, I really struggle with that though

First two chalices are probably my favorites out of the lot. Waiting for the gonis to open fully and show their true potential before I pass judgment though.

Raja Rampage

After Burner mushroom

The pink convict chalice in the middle of the two rainbows came in with bad color, vendor said those ones don’t ship well but should color back up. I have heard that about the pink/rainbow convicts so wasn’t shocked. Other then the color the coral looks healthy so I’m not that worried

Quick cell phone shot of the others.

Micros

Gonis

A guy from IG followed me and I checked out his page, he is from Canada and makes stuff out of acrylic including frag racks. Thought the design of this one was cool. You can extend it out so it can hold 4-8 frags. I really didn’t want to put a lot of racks in the lagoon but I can’t help myself, more racks equals more frags right lol. I put it on the back wall between the two return nozzles.

living_tribunal · Feb 18, 2020

smilinteddy said:
As far as power brick mounting, I know there are lots of mounting sold as accessories (brackets and such) but I have done all mounting with self adhesive Velcro that I bought off Amazon. It is easy to use and makes it so that if I ever need to pull anything off to adjust or move etc. I'm not having to re-drill screw holes or leave screw holes behind.

I have that same circuit breaker switch box, one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

Loving this build. I run an all lps tank myself, nice to see others who aren’t masking their self-consciousness surrounding their manlihood by the size of their acropora.

Will be cool when those chalices encrust over every surface.

living_tribunal · Feb 18, 2020

VaporCountry said:
But you should see the other side lol. It’s a two car garage with no cars and you can barley walk through it with stuff almost piled to the ceiling. Talk with my dad some more and I think the conversion is a go. It probably won’t be up for awhile, my father is very slow and methodical. If I’d have to guess I’d say maybe a year or so until any water is in.

Some corals came in today, got a few gonis, couple of acans, some chalices, a mushroom and a freebie lephastrea. Few more mushrooms, a chalice and two montis tomorrow. Now that I have a plan to do this build, it’s really time to hunker down, save, and not buy anymore corals, I really struggle with that though

First two chalices are probably my favorites out of the lot. Waiting for the gonis to open fully and show their true potential before I pass judgment though.

Raja Rampage

After Burner mushroom

The pink convict chalice in the middle of the two rainbows came in with bad color, vendor said those ones don’t ship well but should color back up. I have heard that about the pink/rainbow convicts so wasn’t shocked. Other then the color the coral looks healthy so I’m not that worried

Quick cell phone shot of the others.

Micros

Gonis

A guy from IG followed me and I checked out his page, he is from Canada and makes stuff out of acrylic including frag racks. Thought the design of this one was cool. You can extend it out so it can hold 4-8 frags. I really didn’t want to put a lot of racks in the lagoon but I can’t help myself, more racks equals more frags right lol. I put it on the back wall between the two return nozzles.

Confetti chalice from Cali kid?

intricate_reefer · Feb 18, 2020

living_tribunal said:
Confetti chalice from Cali kid?

Yup, both the rainbows, pink convict and micros were from calikid. The others were from JoesKnowsReef

intricate_reefer · Feb 18, 2020

living_tribunal said:
I have that same circuit breaker switch box, one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

Loving this build. I run an all lps tank myself, nice to see others who aren’t masking their self-consciousness surrounding their manlihood by the size of their acropora.

Will be cool when those chalices encrust over every surface.

Those boxes makes life so much easier. Have top bottom for feeding then bottom to cut the skimmer off for 10 minutes when it needs to be cleaned. Would love to check out your build do you have a thread?