TheClark

Genius, I am going to do that!

Ya that is annoying and a good question. Every once in a while I give it a shake (Seachem Reef Fusion 2 part) but alkalinity is rock steady so I think it is working. Maybe that is the key, if you don't shake it and it stays steady?

Great group of people here. Good luck hope it goes well Jayce and Steve.

Whoa! Just imagine if it died... ugh!

That's amazing and a good example of good hydrometer behavior. Well maybe like many things, they just don't make em like they used to DOH!

You should man, cheaper than many frags for an ATC one on amazon http://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Temperature-Compensation-Salinity-Refractometer/dp/B008560IXA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-2&keywords=Salinity+Refractometer

Blast from the past 07-10-2013, 08:45 PM.. Repost since it might help someone... ========================================== Wow, I have to share. If you ever think your specific gravity is off, get a second opinion. Just a routine check, tested SG in son's frag tank after hooking up his ATO. - 1.030... Seriously! - Tap tap tap, tap tap tap. Any bubbles left in there? - No? Could it really be that high? - Still reads high. - Let's test the DT. - DT reads the same. - Tap, tap tap. - DT reads at 1.026 after allot of tapping. - Back to frag tank, more tapping. - No matter how much I tap, frag tank reads high. - Test saltwater in mixing garbage can, off the charts high. Over 1.032. That's odd. - Bust out the old, old hydrometer and retest frag tank. - It still reads high at 1.028. Oh yeah, I have a refractometer!!! I have not been able to find for a month, the time is right. Tear apart all the fish supplies looking for it. FOUND IT! Grab the calibration fluid, test the refractometer. Reads exactly right per the calibration fluid. Test the frag tank - 1.0255. Test the DT - 1.025 Test the Saltwater mixing bucket - 1.025 Toss hydrometers in trash. Wow, lesson learned. Glad I did not pour a bunch of fresh water in to appease the hydrometer. That would have rough on the frags.

Here is the thread, good read. Thanks Blackice! http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/unique-corals/172619-embracing-new-concept-freeing-our-minds-preconception-not-easy.html

Thanks very interesting, going to read up on that.

I want it, but the floor would collapse in my office. Already 500 gallons up here! Bump GLWS!

There are so many pretty echinatas, but they often nuke what they are next to. it is a shame but just give it some room. I can vouch personally for what junkie told you they have a hell-acious sting... That said I am not 100% sure it is an echinata how big is the big polyp diameter?

Your's are just beautiful Sasquatch! Thanks for doing such a nice job with them.

repost from the original as best as I could come up with from caches and notes... Background I was fortunate enough to acquire a special piece of coral from Golden Basket that morphed before my eyes into an amazing and beautiful specimen. This thread's purpose is to document and explain the history and my thoughts on what happened. History 7/6/2013 Purchased '2 Heads Exotic Darth Maul Zoanthid Polyp' From Golden Basket After much 'encouragement' from my son, I added these on to an already large golden basket purchase. Here are the original parents: Live Coral - 2 Heads Exotic Darth Maul Zoanthid Polyp(390620797663) At this point, I put them on the frag rack and kind of forgot about them. Over the next month I started noticing a transformation occurring. First off, the orange was super bright, like the brightest of any zoa/paly I have seen. Very nice looking. Secondly, the previously brown ring started turning green. Here is a pic on 8/11/2013 8/11/2013 - Interesting Colors, So I Posted a Thread ' Dearth maul starting to get a hint of green reminds me of Krakatoa' 8/16/2013 - The Maul Gets A New Name Sasquatch on another forum dubs the newly discovered variety 'The Clarkatoa'. The name sticks as it is quite hilarious and appropriate as a play on Kratatoa and my handle TheClark. 8/21/2013 First Frag Finally I was brave enough to take a frag. What beauties! It was easy on the original plug because the two heads were pretty far apart. Future fragging was trickier as they seem to be growing together in tight clumps. 11/15/2013 Orange Begins To Dominate While they are a far cry from the original GB purchase: 1/7/2014 Breakthrough on Affecting Coloration After racking my brain about what was different an idea comes from someone else. My 13 year old son solved our mystery of why the green is more accentuated at times than others. I had been thinking that after fragging, or when alkalinity dropped was affecting it. Truth is, it was a much simpler explanation. He noticed that the heads facing straight up take on the brilliant cheeto orange color to such an extent that the green is masked out. The heads facing sideways get less light, and the green comes out much more. So as an experiment, we moved some to a medium light location, and the green band is much more prominent. So the conclusion is, much like acans, zoas perform differently under different lighting conditions. Like acans, you can control it by moving them around in the tank. ************************************************** ********************************************** **** If you want more green, move it to a medium light location. If you prefer more bright orange, keep them in higher light.*** ************************************************** ********************************************** Other Clarkatoa Owner Pictures Mike Nickerson - 1/22/2014 Jadams7 - 12/7/2013 Bombertech 1/14/2014 Stylaster 12/5/2013 Updated Pics From My Tank Grown in medium light Parent Under High Light, Oranged Out But Still Beautiful My Theory My theory is that this GB purchase was just a very luck find. The mauls were still acclimating to LED lights when purchased. Perhaps they were maricultured and still adjusting to captivity, hard to say. Just like acans and acropora though, sometimes you get a piece of coral and really luck out as it acclimates to your lights. As presented in this thread, they are definitely affected by different light intensities, perhaps by spectrum. Hard to say but time will tell as more people are growing them out. They reproduce true, and the babies are little clones of the parents, equally happy under LEDs. Clarkatoa Lights Nothing fancy, just a blue and white TaoTronics LED off of ebay. Blues rab about 80% at the time, whites perhaps 50%. Just enough white to take the edge off of the blue. Since then they have grown under T5s, full spectrum LEDs, GU10s in my sump frag rack, custom full spectrum leds. You name it. They still retain the glowing orange coloration. As my son discovered, the theory is that too much light causes the orange to take over. Like many other corals, lights can affect your results with this particular Maul Morph. Well, that is the story, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. No doubt some will find this controversial. I find it a great opportunity to share information about the joy of having a pretty dull piece of coral turn into something quite special.

Awesome, bump! I hope to make it there...

Thanks Squatch, thank goodness the Clarkatoas have a thread on R2R too. Thanks for the reminder.

Going to post today now that tapatalk cave is cleared and working

Thanks Brad, yes I am definitely part of this.

Hahah nice love that picture!

That's what I needed to hear to regain some confidence, thanks Pled!

Thanks for all the great service to our board and friendship Darryl, life is short keep reefin and no doubt we will always be friends you are a great guy despite all the fallout.

My single complaint is that there was no current site backup located offsite. No matter what the reason. There are so many great and cheap options today for this, allot of people lost allot of time and effort and information when all this was lost. Besides the lost data, it rattles people's confidence in the site. There is no way for me to sugar coat that statement, it's a fact. That said, I am moving forward once there is some convincing that the backup strategy is sound, perhaps it is posted already. Data was lost, the good people of PNWMAS are still around. Given a good IT foundation I think the community can rebuild. After all, this is supposed to be about the reef tanks, not so much IT stuff. And whatever feelings were hurt, just move past it. Life is too short. Seriously How about them backups right?