!!!THE VANISHING OF THE NUANCE!!!

[ReefBum]

Well said Adam! My former tank (see pic below) was started with a mix of mini-colonies and frags and matured quickly. Besides structure, I put a lot of thought into colors and selected many inexpensive corals with vivid pink, purple and orange colors such as birds nests, caps and stylos. However, everybody has different tastes and that is the beauty of this hobby since every reef is unique. I started my latest tank with all "nubs" but I am excited to sit back and watch it grow out. Patience is a virtue in this hobby!

 

[jasonandsarah]

I'm one of the crazies that snip my sticks but also want them to grow. I feel like 5-10 years ago most Sps keepers were paying less money for mini colonies and full colonies then we do for little nubs now a days. So they had a head start from the beginning imo. Also I think probably 50-60% of the time I'm snipping branches off my colonies I want to grow out it is because of structure or trying to get things to grow how I want them to. Sorta a redirection for them, but that's just me.

 

[Squibbles]

I feel reefkeeping for me ends up being more bonzai zen trimming, and the pokemon effect of gotta collect em all. lol

 

[twon8]

Nice one, thanks for sharing. Another good example. Loving the table in the upper right. Is that Copps Tut by any chance?

The blue plate is a maricultured efflo out of Indonesia I bought probably through live aquaria about five years ago. I've had solis and efflos in the past, but they didn't have the overall blue/purple color of this one. It very much resembles the "ultimate efflo"

 

[Battlecorals]

The blue plate is a maricultured efflo out of Indonesia I bought probably through live aquaria about five years ago. I've had solis and efflos in the past, but they didn't have the overall blue/purple color of this one. It very much resembles the "ultimate efflo"

Bravo man that thing is amazing! I just love stuff like that. Thanks a lot for posting. Kind of reiterates my point again even. Five years is a reasonable amount of time for a tank to really come into its own. Especially if your not fraging all the time, and by the looks of that beauty, it's been left alone properly

 

[Battlecorals]

Well said Adam! My former tank (see pic below) was started with a mix of mini-colonies and frags and matured quickly. Besides structure, I put a lot of thought into colors and selected many inexpensive corals with vivid pink, purple and orange colors such as birds nests, caps and stylos. However, everybody has different tastes and that is the beauty of this hobby since every reef is unique. I started my latest tank with all "nubs" but I am excited to sit back and watch it grow out. Patience is a virtue in this hobby!

Heck yeah man I know that reef well as close to perfect as you can get and the epitome of the entire idea behind this article. Every colony compliments another as it fills up the negative space. This is exactly what I was referring to by the "art" of coral selection and placement and about as good of an example as I have ever seen. Thanks a ton for contributing to this thread. This tank is a very welcome addition and with your permission i'd like to include it in the original post.

 

[ReefBum]

Heck yeah man I know that reef well as close to perfect as you can get and the epitome of the entire idea behind this article. Every colony compliments another as it fills up the negative space. This is exactly what I was referring to by the "art" of coral selection and placement and about as good of an example as I have ever seen. Thanks a ton for contributing to this thread. This tank is a very welcome addition and with your permission i'd like to include it in the original post.

Thanks Adam! Go ahead and include it in the original post....that would be awesome.

 

[Battlecorals]

When I started keeping SPS in the early 90's we started with small colonies. There where no nub's we only would have nubs if we where trying to save a colony that had RTN'ed. No one started out with nubs. It is hard to know where to place a single stick end of a coral when you don't know how it will grow outwards. I find today's focus on nub's a problem in that it can take 3 years to see what lives and thrives in your tank. Not every fancy nub will grow out to be a knock out full SPS colony. But the vast majority of SPS vendors deal in frag and not colonies. I am starting to buy more small colonies than 1 inch frags as I have found them to be hardier than the small bits of coral and I like that I can see the form that the coral is taking so placement is easy.

Thanks a lot for the post, and i hear you completely. the only gripe/grievance i have when people talk about how they used to get monster frags and colonies way back when is that, (please correct me if i am wrong, as i was still years away from my first SW tank in the early 90s and this isn't really directed at you either, but the notion of how large frags used to be), was that they were still wild pieces. and even in the early 2000s when i was getting serious myself, places like Reefer Madness would give you colonies as freebies! no joke. Still, all wild though. Not a lot of full captive selling going on back then, commercially at least respectively.

Wild sps colonies are considerably easier to come by than captive grown. Lets face it, short of the tear down, or maybe as one time deal, there's not many people selling giant to mini colony sized frags, let alone full colonies. Simply because the things just don't grow fast enough to keep up with that kind of demand. Most vendors, myself included can sell 4"+ frags of wilds all day long, and colonies too! Wilds are a completely replenish-able product, where captive grown is not even close.

Im certain that if I started selling off my own captive grown colonies at 3+ inches a frag, which have taken years to get where they are, I would have nothing left with in a few months at best. Sayonara Battlecorals, lol So I fully understand the logic behind captive frags not being more than an inch or two at most, but frag size is a topic for a whole other write up Again really appreciate the insight and the post. Im still with you on the nubs 100%. things have gotten a little crazy out there in recent years.

 

[JDavis]

Thanks for the thread! I almost hate to say it.. but I've torn down several Reefs because they weren't what I wanted. All beautiful... This past March I started from scratch again. Every rock, coral and even fish I've chosen has a purpose. Color + Structure with proper placement. I'm a few years away, but I know what it will be... exactly what I want!

 

[Battlecorals]

Thanks for the thread! I almost hate to say it.. but I've torn down several Reefs because they weren't what I wanted. All beautiful... This past March I started from scratch again. Every rock, coral and even fish I've chosen has a purpose. Color + Structure with proper placement. I'm a few years away, but I know what it will be... exactly what I want!

Right on. this the the time to plan for sure. It takes a lot of patience and that first year or two can be as excruciating as enthralling.

 

[Pete polyp]

I hope to have something someday worthy of posting a picture here.

 

[Pete polyp]

I hope to have something someday worthy of posting a picture here.

 

[Battlecorals]

I hope to have something someday worthy of posting a picture here.

Ha! me too! If i could just keep from totally abusing my poor colonies, one day I'd get there myself

 

[Battlecorals]

Well Ok, I guess I kind of have one too. I had one person remind me about my old DAS tank, and while it was still only a couple years in, at this point was doing extremely well. Roughly 2007. So, here it was in all its glory!

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[Diesel]

As I was deep........... and I mean DEEP into a skimmer debate or for that matter what a skimmer pulls out the water besides just water. On a quiet moment my phone started to vibe/buzz and travel because of that around the table.
In my corner of my eye I saw it was from Adam, now Adam and I text each other about all what has do to in this thread on a regular base.
This thread I didn't want to miss in the early stages.
I must say "Well Done, Adam"
Of course that Diesel tank with many BC corals is a must have in this thread.
Before I do so I wish and hope to see more of this in 2016............... best wishes from the Diesel!

Some more of this, http://www.reefedition.com/reef-spotlight-202-diesel-tank/

 

[SunnyX]

Adam, I agree with you 100%. This hobby has changed so much over the years. Its hard to find an SPS setup that has been allowed to grow and mature. I cant tell you how discouraging it is to see a potentially beautiful reef's sandbed littered with frags, arranged as if it were a trophy case or LFS tank. I cant understand why some put zero thought into planning the aquascape or coral placement(color and structure). Why drop thousands on beautiful corals only to display them in such a offsetting environment? Its like buying a Ferrari and parking it mud hut.

@ReefBum display(s) are a prime example of what a mature home reef aquarium should look like. While he does have some "designer" corals the ones that really stick out are quite common, such as the Orange Digitata's. While they may not be as collectable or desirable as other corals, these are the reef builders! I could never have a reef devoid of such gems as the green slimmer, orange/green/purple digitata, Oregon Tort, Purple Monster, etc. These corals have stood the test of time, are bullet proof, and look better than most designer corals on today's scene. These corals may not be the stars, but every star needs a supporting actor to play off of. Every coral needs another to make it look even more beautiful and resplendent. There's a reason why we place green next to pink, yellow to blue, etc.

While I have no problem with people spending an exuberant amount of money on corals it has created a major issue in this hobby. Many are now buying corals for their resale value and not their structure, color, or beauty. Ill never understand why someone would pay $1k for a "bubble", but to each his own. I think that this mentality is why we are seeing so many setups simply made of frags. When youre constantly clipping corals you'll never have a mature setup. If youre buying corals only to turn around and sell them then you do not have a display, you have a frag tank.

Personally, before I was sick and operating Pro Corals I didn't have a "real" display tank setup. I never had enough of the designer corals to meet demand so I pillaged my displays for corals. Selling the corals discouraged me. It bothered me because it made me dislike the hobby. I no longer veiwed reefkeeping as an art form. It was now a business. Each coral that came in was now product. The magic died...

I don't plan on ever fragging my display corals unless its absolutely needed.(Health and space concerns) Any and all frags, other than the ones used to seed the display, will be placed and grown where they belong- a frag tank!

The best advice I can give is once youre able, setup a frag tank and grow "mother" colonies of all corals in the display. Then, only clip frags from these mothers in your frag tank, allowing the display to mature. Trust me, you'll be all the happier for it.

 

[Diesel]

^^^^ that's exactly what I'm doing.
I did donate some of the prime SPS to a good cause here on R2R https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...toys-for-needy-children-you-could-win.223606/ in order to raise some more for more goodies.
But I need to frag 12 of them and I know I can do it but I ain't a fragger, period.
Prefer to let them grow and grow and grow some more and that finally............ grow a bit more

 

[tfp]

I was nudged by a good friend to post a couple pics...
I really like what you all have said about the way the hobby has kinda turned into something else over the years.
Patience and Perseverance...

Front

Back

Endshot left

Endshot right

 

[Tom Blevins]

Nice blog here Adam,Ok now I have to chime in since the one above Tim's (TFP) got me started on the 300 peninsula after seeing his Awesome tank.
1st one before crash & 2nd current all small 1" frags mostly with a dozen B.C. pieces too.

 

[fragapple]

Great thread