FarmerTy

Makena, I'll take you up on any bags you bring but don't go out of your way for them. Jim, I actually ordered some of those small bags for us SPS guys because they are just the right size for frags. It's good to know there's a local source if I need some in a pinch.

My red planet used to be my poor man's version of a par meter. Low light... green... high light... red... in between... red and green. [emoji2]

The sacrifices one makes when he doesn't have a frag tank. I'm doing it for you C4! Well... for that and my coral slush fund account. [emoji5] Before cutting frags for C4: After:

Thank you sir. You know I'm all about value! I thought about trying to figure out a way to put 120 degree optics on the reds but the optics aren't as easily switchable as the evergrow led units which you can just screw on/off optics and switch at your leisure.

In the news today, FIFA president resigns, the reformed Patriot Act passes in Senate, and JeeperTy goes LED! Okay, not really but the cat is out of the bag since so many people saw my tank in the last couple of weeks. I've always kept an eye out for LEDs but after a ton of research and staring at people's corals and LED fixtures, I finally took the leap and ordered some Ocean Revive Artic T247 fixtures. The first experiment was to try it over my frag tank. I'm roughly about a month into the experiment and it's been going well so far. All corals in the frag tank have acclimated well minus a couple of zoa frags. After C4, the plan was to try it over the left side of my display tank and see how it goes. If well, then I'll switch over the middle. If that goes nicely too, then it'll be my coveted right side with my SPS collection. If anybody is wondering why the switch... I still enjoy my MHs very much but the heat and running that loud chiller is getting to me. If I was still running 250-watts like in my old system, I wouldn't have even bothered. But nothing feels worse than 400-watts of heat coming at you 3x over and also trying to manage that heat and the excessive evaporation. I'll be honest, if the colors don't match up to what I like... I'm scrapping it and going right back to my MHs. I'll be open to it now at least so that I don't get accused of being a dinosaur in an age with all this fancy technology. Wish me luck in my ever-changing yet proclaimed stable system. [emoji14]

Thank you sir for the info. I think I'm good on coolers now but if I end up needing one, I'll hit you up.

Can't you just ask the guy at the store?

Very informative and thorough! Kudos! That garage looks familiar by the way. [emoji6]

You mean like the FarmerTy Boogie Woogie Shoes acro? That cooler idea might have some merit. I'll go investigate what coolers I have. Don't hate on the zip ties Brian!

Hello, my name is Ty, and I'm a Frag Swap seller noob! I'm looking for tips for transport of the corals to the swap. I did the swap last Fall on a smaller scale and it was a cluster... me... not the swap. The swap was awesome! This time I'll be coming with a lot of corals and just curious what others have done to transport large quantities of corals? I was going to try to modify a 5-gallon bucket with egg crate to have a lot of levels of storage. Otherwise, I'm stumped! Also, any tips on where to get good baggies to bag up purchases for people? I may try to move away from the zip lock bag method. Has anybody used the plastic bags with the heat sealer?

Swap noob mistakes there... I shan't let that repeat itself. No mountain of dead corals this time around for C4!

For the next month my tank will transform from a reef tank... to a full blown frag tank! [emoji322]

Acropora hyacinthus... red planet sir... is my best guess.

Grab two of the purple ones for me bud!

Yeah, I've always run mine at a slightly stronger than gentle tumble. Still, 6 capfuls to 250+ gallons? Drop in the ocean bud.

I'd just keep in mind the water volumes you're dealing with here. 0.08 ppm phosphates in a tiny jar of microbacter is like... and sorry for the terrible metaphor... but like a drop in the ocean to your size tank. It will barely affect your phosphate levels once diluted in your system.

For me, the question is why dose bacteria to an already cycled tank? What are you hoping to achieve with it? Have you seen other tanks successful with this method? I don't know about direct correlations with bacterial dosing and increased nutrient levels but I would imagine any bacteria that doesn't get a foothold in your system and just dies... will add to your nutrient level. So indirectly, I can see your nutrient levels spiking with additions of bacteria.

Yeah, I need to take another good picture of the emperor. He's lookin' mighty yellow these days! Quick update on the system: -everything purring along until my Apex started acting goofy -some slight fluctuations of alk but nothing crazy, it did cause me to lose a little color in some of my acros but most stayed nicely colored -using a loaner Apex (thank you for good reef buddies) and shipping my unit in for repair. I anticipate getting it back next week -no more CYANO!!! Woohoo! -moved all corals off the sandbed and enjoying the negative space and having my beach back -will be cutting up some corals for the next few weeks prior to C4 -introduced several new fish that were in QT and also some that went in directly, replacement leopard wrasse female, pencil wrasse, tomini tang (my first tang back in the tank since the marine velvet epidemic), niger trigger, flame hawkfish, male mandarin goby, red linkia, and blue linkia, I turned off the skimmer and UV for 3 days as an experiment. Let's say I didn't like the results... the water got slightly cloudy from an increase in bacterial populations from the biopellets and the emperor got ich really quickly. I turned back on the skimmer and UV and everything is croaking like an emperor fish again... snapping like a pistol shrimp?... cleaning like a cleaner shrimp? encrusting like a monti?.... hmm.... they all sound good.

Glad to see you're back in action with SPS!

If it helps with any decisions... I haven't siphoned detritus in my sump for the last 3 years... both in the old system and the new system. I don't feel the need for it and my tank hasn't given me any reason to have to do it. I do run biopellets and GFO and as always, other's mileage may vary as each tank is different.

I like how he has one screen open to ARC at all times.

Where are your coral transporting board shorts?

You kidding me? The best parts were in the last 20 seconds of the video! [emoji5] It's a surprise Brian! I just go with what inspires me!

Tell the ocean to run more 14k spectrum lighting and dose aminos to get better colors from their acros.

I told him to lay low for the video but triggers aren't the best at listening.