Yodle Pico

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

Thanks Albert! I might had no idea you were such an innovator and author within the reef community. It's been so many years since I've had a chance to sit down and broaden my education of the hobby. I definitely want to start reading more current material and I might start by picking up some of your work. I know a guy at one of the LFS here in Austin, who can do the zoo fuge build, but that's on hold right now. Everybody at work loves looking at the tank even the back, so I don't want to cover it up just yet. I just uploaded some more pics and will post in a sec.

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

My photography skills are improving slightly. :wink: Im not quite sold on the Viddy app just yet, because your restricted to very short footage lengths. The ability to add theme music is tight though. I might try Vimeo next. Anyways back to the chalice. Albert, you're probably better at analyzing it than I.

Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

revhtree · Jan 8, 2013

Very nice!

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

Sorry about the coraline, I've been slacking on scraping it off. I appreciate the pros Rev!

Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

carsonroberge · Jan 8, 2013

Who's the maker of those LED's?

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

Carson, those LED's are Ecoxotic's handy work. They're intensely bright. I still have 1 black fiberglass screen shading the tank. I had to stop adding frags, because I had to reset my acclimation process over and over and I didn't want my Acros to start lacking light. The chalices are ready for the light though.

Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

carsonroberge · Jan 8, 2013

That's intense! I need some new lights for my 8 gal nano. I cant make a decision though.

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

I hope this helps Albert and if anyone else has seen this happen on their chalice before or has pics of a mother colony of this coral, please feel free to weigh in.

Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

Carson, I like them a lot. So far they're allowing me to keep my SPS healthy in such a small tank and that's all I care about. I still have my skepticism as far as what spectrums are best for LED's over SPS and I don't think Ecoxotic offers the green or the red for this set up just yet, so they made the decision very simple for me. Plus they clamp on so clean and low profile (great for SPS). The ceilings in my office have to be at least over 30 ft high, so mounting up there was not an option. They definitely got the intensity of the light down packed and I believe they offer dimmers. I was a little upset to recently find out they have mini reflectors where you can slide the individual strips into before you attach them on the arms. I cemented mine on, because the 3M tape was kind of flimsy. Oh well. I've read that LEd's brown out Acro's quite easily for some tanks, some do just fine. This is my first stint with LED's so I'll see what happens.

alberthiel · Jan 8, 2013

SPS Samurai said:
Thanks Albert! I might had no idea you were such an innovator and author within the reef community. It's been so many years since I've had a chance to sit down and broaden my education of the hobby. I definitely want to start reading more current material and I might start by picking up some of your work. I know a guy at one of the LFS here in Austin, who can do the zoo fuge build, but that's on hold right now. Everybody at work loves looking at the tank even the back, so I don't want to cover it up just yet. I just uploaded some more pics and will post in a sec.

Thanks for the kind words they are appreciated. I will take a look at the pics once that message comes up. Thanks for posting them

alberthiel · Jan 8, 2013

SPS Samurai said:
I hope this helps Albert and if anyone else has seen this happen on their chalice before or has pics of a mother colony of this coral, please feel free to weigh in.
Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

Yes that is indeed a much better view but the frag is still so small that I think before one decides whether those are the typical "knows" it develops or whether this is a new growth form. I have to admit that I have not seen that Chalice grow in that manner ... I would give it some more time and see whether the sides develop more and whether it takes on its regular growth shape. BTW what kind of flow is it getting ? Strong or not, laminar or changing direction and what are the Calcium and Alk. parameters if I may ask.

alberthiel · Jan 8, 2013

SPS Samurai said:
I hope this helps Albert and if anyone else has seen this happen on their chalice before or has pics of a mother colony of this coral, please feel free to weigh in.
Dragons Breath 1-8 by SPS Samurai, on Flickr

After I clicked on the picture I got a better view and yes it does indeed seem that the growth is upwards in at least 5 areas so far. As I mentioned before I think that waiting to see whether this continues is the way to go and yes it is a slow grower typically ... See my questions about flow and parameters in my other message pls. Thanks.

SPS Samurai · Jan 8, 2013

I'm sure it's a combination of factors, genetics, lighting water quality, flow etc. It's actually growing quite fast for a chalice, well at least the nodules are. IMO they're for sure growing upwards, it's just a matter of how far up are they going to grow. They're isn't much flow down there, no more than what's normal to keep chalices alive. I'll do a water test in the morning and post params.

alberthiel · Jan 9, 2013

SPS Samurai said:
I'm sure it's a combination of factors, genetics, lighting water quality, flow etc. It's actually growing quite fast for a chalice, well at least the nodules are. IMO they're for sure growing upwards, it's just a matter of how far up are they going to grow. They're isn't much flow down there, no more than what's normal to keep chalices alive. I'll do a water test in the morning and post params.

Yes it probably is and time will tell how it develops. I have seen some Echinophyllias that grow in that fashion but very few and not to the degree that yours seems to do. It will indeed be interesting to see how far up they grow ... Keep us posted as I am sure you will.