Official Cuttlefish and Corals Grow Out Competition 2015 Entry Thread

[badxgillen]

Once again I hope Jesse does not mind me utilizing most of his write up for the rules of the competition. If it is uncalled for please let me know and I will see that it is taken down but if it is fine with you then it is much appreciated.

 

Well Contestants this is the official thread to post your entries! If you post your entry in another thread it will not count. Contest begins December 7th! You have a week before and a week after to post up your picture. This competition will run 4 months!

 

Ground Rules: The goal of this competition is to be both educational and fun. I am hopeful the winners will be able to share their "secrets" and truly see how different lighting, supplements, dosing, and tank parameters can make a difference in growth.

 

Rules and Guidelines for The Cuttlefish and Corals Grow Out Competition. 

 

1.Your first post must include a quick write up of your system in the competition thread. Including tank size, flow, lighting, placement of the frag, frag measurement, equipment (ie calcium reactor, dosing, etc), feeding regiment, etc.

 

2. You will be required to post photo updates. The contest will start December 7th. You will be required to post a photo update once a month. I will remind you of this when the time is soon to post. I know life gets busy and people go out of town so you have a 2 week window to post.You will have 7 days before the 7th and 7 days after to post your update. If you do not post within the allotted time frame you will be disqualified. 

 

3. Please no cheating. This competition is meant to be fun and for bragging rights. Cheaters will be disqualified and banned from any future competitions(PEDS were not used for Frankenfrag).

 

4. The frags must remain on the original or similar plug. You may modify the plug if needed example cutting off the stem for placement but only once. You may place the frag anywhere you want in your tank and you may move it to a different spot during the competition but it is frowned upon  and you cannot move it to a new tank as the point is to see how the frag does over time in different systems.

 

5. Initial photos of frags need to have a top down as well as side shot so we can all see the frag and what you are starting with, a ruler next to the frag to provide proof of height is preferred. No hiding branches in your photos. Not following the rules will cause you to be disqualified, I know that sounds harsh but it is out of fairness to the rest of the group. Remember a lot can happen in 4 months. During the last growout many were DQ'd due to not posting. It's really simple. JUST DO IT. Length of competition: The competition will run for 4 months. This will give us enough time for       the frag to grow. A lot can happen in 4 months and a lot of people could drop out, so if you are persistent, you have a chance to win the grand prize. This will give EVERYONE the same advantage\disadvantage with acclimation and so on. Pictures will be required frequently for updates. Final post will be April 7th 2016 for the winner. 

 

Judging a winner: Should be pretty straight forward this grow out. The most growth from the initial size wins, branching will not be a factor. We will make the final measurements by April 7th preferably with the same ruler used in the initial few posts.

 

Winner  of each category shall have glorious bragging rights along with the honors of choosing a desired "Nick Name" for their winning Acropora.

 

and there will be prizes...

But not going to spoil it yet, you have to play.

 

Here I have included a list of people who have checked in that will be updated over the length of the competition.

 

1- Badxgillen,1/2",1/2+",1/2"+,
3- Spectra, 5/8",5/8",5\8"+,
4- Lexinverts,1/2",1/2+",1\2"+,
10- Emerald, 0.6",0.7",0.7"+,
11- Paratore,5/8",5/8",5\8"+,
12- Gill&fin,3/4",3/4",3\4",
17- Kireek,1/2",1/2+",1\2"+,

19- Danlu 3/4"-,3/4",3\4"+,

 

The names with no measurement next to them are the ones who still need to chime in.

[Fragged]

These rules seem to date back before Jesse?

 

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[Emerald525]

Okay let me be the first to post up my entry.  

 

System: 20 gallon fusion 20

Lighting: Maxspect Razor nano 

Flow: 2 stock IM pumps and MP10

Management: Weekly 4 gallon water change

Manually top off

 

I don't expect that my little frag will make it through. Acros really don't like the fact that I don't dose and don't test. I did a top down shot because that's what the rules said to do but I suspect that was more when there was a zoa growout.

 

 

 

Sorry about the blurry picture. I get as a starting height 1.6cm

[spectra]

Ok my turn

 

Tank Another Fusion 20

Kessil 350 tuna blue

MP 10 with a sicce 1.5 for a return pump

I do a weekly 4 to 5 gallon water change also and top off by hand.

As for feeding well the tank gets some phyto every few nights and and also feed the hell out of my LPS so there is always something floating in the water system......I do not dose or even test  So far so good fingers crossed.......

Coral is placed in the center of the tank on a frag rack about 5 inches down so it is getting a lot of light.

 

Frag is 5/8s tall on the highest point. I can see more blue coming back in just the few weeks it has been in the tank.

[Lexinverts]

These frags really do have some awesome polyp extension!

[LC Scott]

I'll bite.

Reefstar leds 20 inches from the top of the tank

60 Gallons

Two wp25s for flow

Weekly water changes, filter socks

Dosing

Daily

alk, baby brine

Weekly

Fuel, Acro power, coral color.

I'll get some better photos in the morning after the lights come on.

 

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Edited December 9, 2015 by LC Scott

[danlu_gt]

Hmm.. Looks like I might be already disqualified. :(

I've already changed to a clean plug as my dip process for all new additions before going in my tank.

 

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[danlu_gt]

Updated some more info:

In case I'm still in...

 

My setup:

2 50gal rimless SCA cubes, 1 sump

DT 50gal been running for 1.5yr

FT 50gal added in early Oct

 

Placed contest frag in my FT.

 

150W DIY LED lighting 12" from waterline.

Flow: 1 RW-8 in pulse mode full power.

Filter: skimmer and algae scrubber (clean biweekly)

ATO: kalk reactor

Water params: Ca 400-450ppm, ALK 8.5, Mg 1350-1400ppm, Temp 78.2-78.8F winter, 78.2-83F summer, pH 7.9-8.5

 

I also dose iron weekly if I remember.

 

No water change since Feb, just replenish what the skimmer takes out. Well I added new water when I added the FT and some when I buy new corals/fish...trying to go green and save water. ;-)

 

Tanks feeding:

Flakes and pellets 2-4 times daily

Frozen food 4-7 times weekly

 

Contest Frag is just shy of 3/4"

 

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Edited December 10, 2015 by danlu_gt

[Emerald525]

I personally don't have a problem with you using a different plug danlu. Good luck to you!

[Gil&Fin]

Kim--You are disqualified because you used centimeters rather than inches.
Scott--You are disqualified because there can only be one Fusion 20.  Sorry.  Bye bye.

Scott # 2--You are disqualified because there can only be one Scott.  Sorry.  Bye bye.
Danlu--Frag plug. 'nuf said.

Do I win now?

I guess I should at least post my stats:

I put this Bad Boy in my 40 gallon frag tank--dimensions are 48 long x 24 wide x 8 tall.
Only livestock is a lawnmower blenny, but adding a 6-line shortly
Lighting: 2 x OR T247
ATO, protein skimmer, socks, carbon, GFO
15% weekly water changes
Kh = 9, Ca = 420, Mg = 1400, Temp = 78, salinity 1.025

Frag is currently 3/4 inches...but it's growing pretty fast...I can tell...




P.S. I'm not seriously suggesting anyone should be disqualified. But I can understand if they want to drop out now that they see I've entered...

P.P.S. If I win, I'm going to name it "Holly's Bad Boy." Just sayin'.

[Lexinverts]

Yikes! Please don't DQ me, Holly. I promise I'll name it "Holly's Bad Boy," even if I win.

 

This is one sweet, or should I say, Badx, piece of Tenuis. Nice contrasting colors and great P.E. at all times. Thanks Robert!

 

I've got mine in my frag system. It's a 40 breeder with a 20 gallon sump. It's lit by two Ocean Revive T247s. Flow is provided by a Jebao MP25, and a Waveline Return pump. I'm running an oversized Reef Octopus skimmer, rated for 110 gallons. Hydor ATO. No carbon dosing or chemical media. TMC UV sterilizer rated for 180 gallons. I'm dosing Triton Elementz, which consists of 4 solutions: Alk + trace elements; Ca + trace elements; Mg + trace elements; Mg + dif. trace elements. Dosing is provided by a Kamoer 4-channel dosing pump. I keep Alk at 8 dkh, Ca at 440, and Mg at 1350. Salinity 1.025. I do 5 gallon water changes weekly. I have a yellow tang, a lawnmower blenny and a melanurus wrasse in the tank currently. I feed mysis and nori on alternate days. My nitrates stay around 10-15 ppm and phosphate usually is around .1. I've got Holly's Bad Boy at about 180 PAR right now, and I'll slowly increase it.

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2015 by Lexinverts

[badxgillen]

No Disqualifications just yet.

Some negligence on my part on not elaborating more in the rules section, I have edited a couple sentences to accommodate this grow out.

So everyone is all good so far, just need a measurement from LCScott.

 

And Fragged, I just gave a nod to Jesse as at first I just copied and pasted his grow out intro...Maybe I shouldn't have.

 

My frags system is a 40 breeder with a 40 breeder "sump".

The sump contains a modified coralife skimmer that has a reef octopus pump fitted in, it is a Frankenstein of sorts.

Flow is about 3,000 GPH provided by a Koralia and a Chinese SunSun, love those translations in the vibration pumps directions.

I run carbon in the system that I change out monthly and I carbon dose off and on, I know I know, say what you will.

Dosing all homemade 3 part solutions for the main 3, Fuel, and I perform a water change once in a while...Maybe once a month, maybe.

Feeding consists of many things as this is a mixed reef but I will say lotsa frozen foods brine, mysis,blood worms,cycloeeze,coralgumbo!

Lighting is one Aquabeauty LED fixture that provides big spread and a little PAR but very good results, thanks for the readings Andy.

 

 

I call mine Lump, he is a go getter I can tell. 

 

 

With just a tad over half an inch here he still has an intimidating girth to him, when this one starts to grow there will be no stopping it...

so watch out!

[Lexinverts]

No Disqualifications just yet.

Some negligence on my part on not elaborating more in the rules section, I have edited a couple sentences to accommodate this grow out.

So everyone is all good so far, just need a measurement from LCScott.

 

And Fragged, I just gave a nod to Jesse as at first I just copied and pasted his grow out intro...Maybe I shouldn't have.

 

My frags system is a 40 breeder with a 40 breeder "sump".

The sump contains a modified coralife skimmer that has a reef octopus pump fitted in, it is a Frankenstein of sorts.

Flow is about 3,000 GPH provided by a Koralia and a Chinese SunSun, love those translations in the vibration pumps directions.

I run carbon in the system that I change out monthly and I carbon dose off and on, I know I know, say what you will.

Dosing all homemade 3 part solutions for the main 3, Fuel, and I perform a water change once in a while...Maybe once a month, maybe.

Feeding consists of many things as this is a mixed reef but I will say lotsa frozen foods brine, mysis,blood worms,cycloeeze,coralgumbo!

Lighting is one Aquabeauty LED fixture that provides big spread and a little PAR but very good results, thanks for the readings Andy.

 

I call mine Lump, he is a go getter I can tell.

 

With just a tad over half an inch here he still has an intimidating girth to him, when this one starts to grow there will be no stopping it...

so watch out!

I've seen frags double in size in less than two months in this system. Great color too.  I was shocked to see that his PAR values were not super high.

[TheClark]

Working on my entry..

 

Just under 1/2" or mms are on the left of the ruler if you prefer Gil&Fin!

 

 

 

Tried to do a pretty comprehensive writeup in the spirit of sharing info.  It is a bit generic so that I can copy/paste when necessary.  Some stuff is probably not relevant to the growout.

 

The growout frag is in the 150 frag tank for now.  I may move it to the DT though since it is part of the same system, not 100% sure yet.

 

 

----------------------

System

 

240 Cube 4'x4'x2

 

2 WP-60s

4 D120 Fixtures with custom spectrum

DC 12000 return on 2 1" sea swirls

Coast to coast overflow

APEX temp probe in overflow

APEX overflow high float switch in overflow

 

 

150 Frag 8'

 

2 WP-60s

1 DC 12000 under rack spray bar

1 Heater (for when feed pump is off)

SRO 5000 Skimmer is in this tank (easier to access than the sump)

Overflow to 5 gallon bucket with APEX floats to shut off skimmer

Air intake for skimmer goes out to fresh outside air

 

Sumps and Equipment

 

60 Gallon Cube

Durso, Full Siphon and Emergency Drain From 240

Durso and Full Siphon From Frag Tank

Frag Tank Feed Pump

Reactor effluent line

ORP Temp, and Conductivity Probe

3 heaters of various sizes on APEX

 

 

Calcium Reactor with Beefy 2 Stage Regulator

APEX controlled feed pump and solenoid

Effluent Line PH Probe (thanks Saltwater Newbie)

 

55 Gallon

Live Rock

Chaeto

Pump Return

Calcium Reactor Effluent Pump (small generic pump)

Sump Hi/Low/ATO Floats
 

Recent Parameters

 

I test allot of things as a big fan of having data

(hmmm my tank looks nice/not nice in that pic.  What were the parameters that day?)

 

Dutch Synthetic Reefing and Triton are a great thing for data gathering.

 

SG - 1.026 on Milwaukee Digital Refractometer

PH - Varies between 7.9 and 8.2

Ammonia - Not Tested

Nitrite - Not Tested

Nitrate - 2.0 Red Sea on 11/30

Calcium- 450

Alk - 8.3

Magnesium - 1600 on 8/5, no idea now

Phosphate - shot way up to .18 on Milwaukee and Hanna test.

Iodide - 0.03-0.06

Iron - Never registers

Boron - Test kit went bad, be sure to screw the lids on tight as CO2 kills the reagent

Potassium - Haven't tested in a long time, irrelevant for now but will update if I test

Dissolved Oxygen - Have not tested since 3/8, but my PH swings pretty low, could have high CO2 based on the RHF aeration test

Strontium - Have not tested since 4/2

 

UV Sterilizer is offline these days

Ozone is now offline, no longer running

APEX with a ton of floats, leak detectors and outlets

 

Dosing

 

From the dosing log…

 

7:00,19 Brightwell Iodion -2 mls per dose, 4 mls total per day

11 Kent Coral Vite - 8 mls per day

On weekends manual dose 15 drops elos omega and coral vitalizer

 

And of course the calcium reactor

• Like This

 

 

[TheClark]

Is this a pest?  Has a nudi look to it...

[Lexinverts]

Is this a pest?  Has a nudi look to it...

 

Looks like a mix of debris and coral slime. Did you take the picture soon after a dip?

[TheClark]

Ah, that could be.  I was rolling it around trying to get it onto the ruler (laid it down) for a pic.  I must have caused it to slime up.  All good!
 

[kireek]

These frags really do have some awesome polyp extension!

Well defined too! I can't get enough of those coralites. Edited December 11, 2015 by kireek

[rbeyer80]

Here's mine about 1/2 inch tall

 

System is a 40b, 15g sump, asm mini g skimmer, kessil a360we provides the light, and a jebao rw-8 for flow. Once a week a throw in some oyster feast, oyster roe and phytoplankton cocktail mix for feeding

 

 

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[spectra]

I need a plastic ruler..............I had to measure mine with a tape measure

[Emerald525]

I need a plastic ruler..............I had to measure mine with a tape measure

lol I have one you can have. I got a bunch of them for a growout contest I did years ago.

[LC Scott]

Ok, when do we need the official entry in by? The 14th?

 

 

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[cerk1985]

Entry post:

 

tank size: Marineland 5 foot 120 gallon

flow: Mag 9.5 return pump, rw15, two wp25's

lighting: 4 foot 8 bulb t5 tek light; 6 blue plus, 1 coral plus, 1 purple plus

placement of the frag: Frag rack about 1 foot from water surface currently

frag measurement: 3/8" to 7/16"

Other Equipment: Calcium reactor, Simplicity skimmer 240 I believe

feeding regiment: Feed frozen food twice a day, feed reef blizzard a couple times a week, dose acro power every day, dose red sea NO3 PO4 remover everyday, 

First feeding of frozen contains: Hikari mysis and spirulina brine

Second feeding contains: Mega marine algae, Emerald entree, marine cuisine, Reef plankton, PE mysis, and coral gumbo

 

 

 

[Saltwater newbie]

I am a heating contractor so I have been super busy and well I dipped mine last week and fell asleep with it in there and let's just say it wasn't very happy the next day not so much from the dip but it got really cold the tip has polyp extention but that's about it rookie lol.

[kireek]

Here's my Pacific Rim Tenius at 1/2";

 

 

 

 

TANK SPECS

 

A 60 GALLON MIXED REEF STACK.

 

3 WATT FULL SPECTRUM LED'S ON MY DISPLAY AND SUMP.T5's on my secondary tank.

 

A MAXI JET FOR FLOW AND A LARGE GENERIC RETURN PUMP.

 

FOR FILTRATION I USE CARBON,PURIGEN,MACRO AND A ODESSEA SKIMMER.

 

I USE BRS 3PART DOSING AND FUEL.I ALSO DOSE TWO DROPS OF VODKA PER DAY.

 

FEEDING CONSIST OF PELLETED FOODS AND VAROIUS FROZEN FOODS,THREE TIMES A MONTH.

 

I TRY TO MAINTAIN ONCE A MONTH WATER CHANGES ON THIS SYSTEM.

 

PLACEMENT WILL BE ONE FOOT FROM THE LIGHTS,ON MY "temporary" FRAG RACK TO THE RIGHT.AS SHOWN BELOW;

 

Edited December 12, 2015 by kireek