300 gallon "Outside Corner" Reef

[Gregcoyote]

Yes, I am growing a bright purple variety of this. It grows fast.

 

[Sniperhank]

Purple? I'd love to see it sometime! It is interesting how some different varieties or even color differences can go unknown at times, unless it is a zoa of course.

 

[Gregcoyote]

That's what cool about this, the variables are off the charts.

 

[Gregcoyote]

VERY in depth review of a cool LED (a bit pricey).

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2014/2/review

 

[Sniperhank]

That's funny, I was just doing this quick read:
BuildMyLED launches an exciting 20K spectrum in their XB LED striplight

 

[Gregcoyote]

I run both white/blue Chinese fixtures on my 300 gallon reef and full spectrum RapidLED onyx lights on my frag tanks. The blue/white panels look fine. No real color shift as I have 1:1 white to blues. Corals grow fine. The frag tanks with the full spectrum look more like my older MH/actinic tanks did, a slight violet coloration that the actinic produced is closely matched to what these full spectrum fixtures put out. A much broader spectrum in the blue range. They look a bit darker than the blue/white panels but produce as much PAR. The corals look great, but don't photograph worth a darn because of the violet shift.

 

[Gregcoyote]

CultivatedReef.com is a supplier my son did the web site for. He ships very nice coral frags. I have these coming to go into the grow out tank.

Rainbow Pectinia (because I love the one X just bought)

Electric Green Acro
Hard Purple Bonsia
Green Monti Cap (to replace the one I lost)

Orange Montipora Digitata (I have a green one I love)

Oculus Violet Crumble
Blue Cali Tort
Oxides (zoa)

 

[Gregcoyote]

You don't hear much about feather dusters and Christmas tree worms. Never had much long term luck with them.

 

[Sniperhank]

Those yours Greg? They are beauties!

 

[Gregcoyote]

No, I shot them in the wild growing on a 3' piece of open brain coral. I could never get them to survive in captivity very long, so I don't buy them anymore.

 

[Sniperhank]

That is too bad. I love my coco worm. To be honest, even more surprising that I've kept it so long. It is odd how sometimes our systems can keep things while others it can't. So many stories of this.

 

[Gregcoyote]

A few more shots from the wild.

 

[Dary421]

A few more shots from the wild.

View attachment 224436View attachment 224437View attachment 224438View attachment 224439View attachment 224440

Queen trigger?

 

[mr_X]

I almost bought a trigger tonight. Do they (generally) eat coral or just inverts?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Queen trigger?

Yes, a full grown one at about 18"
Very reclusive, had a hard time getting his one.

I think there are few reef safe triggers. I have a blue jaw that's a perfectly safe fish. But I have heard others weren't so nice. Other types can sometimes work out. But most all the rest of them are wrecking machines. I've seen triggers eat shrimp, clams, snails and anything else not nailed down. Dary has at least one, see what he says about polyps.

 

[huma-huma]

The blue-throats, pink-tails and Niger triggers are the most docile. I absolutely love them but Greg is right when he says they can be wrecking machines. Amazing part is they are wicked efficient at busting through hard shells

 

[Dary421]

I've got only the one,.the Hawaiian state fish ,..rectangular trigger fish ,. One very mean s.o.b !!!! Nothing can live with him,...nothing!!! BUT he does not touch any coral either,.. Sometimes I feel like I should have given him the ol "whirl pool bath ( just kidding) but having the Hawaiian state fish the " humuhumunukunukuapua'a is the reason I started my tank in the first place :-/. So I gotta live with I have sowed !! As stated there's a lot more stable triggers out there but imo this particular specie isn't one of'em.

 

[Gregcoyote]

"The fish with the nose of a pig"

I had a 6" Picasso and fed him left over king crab legs. The little ones that are a pain to get the meat out of. You could hear him popping them open from across the room. Very few, if any invertebrate could withstand them. He could flip snails over and eat them from the bottom.

 

[mr_X]

Clams.... I didn't consider them. Oh well, I suppose I'll skip the trigger. I'm not going to be keeping any shrimp or snails, but I do have a couple acro crabs I don't want to see chomped on either. I've only imported a few of them for folks and didn't have much first hand experience with their behavior. It was all based on the probability I would some day have a large tank again anyway.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Even my blue jaw chows down on my home made clam recipe .