The McKay build thread.

[Steve McKay]

Got some nice hair algae? growing off of that plug. I hate when that happens!

Thanks,I saw that. I'm going to hopefully take care of that but will I get it all,that is the question.

[Doodaa]

Thanks,I saw that. I'm going to hopefully take care of that but will I get it all,that is the question.

I doubt it'll matter if you get it all or not. I bet you have some in your tank right now anyway...if you can't see it (or don't notice it), then you're doing your job right

[Steve McKay]

I didn't get around to taking photos of the new frags, I'll do that tomorrow. Several of the frags have hair algae as Doodaa noted, I tried to get it off the plugs but that stuff is tough I couldn't get it all. I also ordered some Chaetomorpha macro algae for the tank, I'll keep it in the back of the tank out of view. There is plenty of light and circulation in the back of the tank, so it should grow well. I'm hoping the macro algae will use up the nutrients and help me get rid of the brown algae and the hair algae before it becomes a problem. I setup the dawn/dusk effect and got the timers set perfectly and wouldn't you know it here comes the time change,I'm not going to bother resetting them.One of the frags, the Porites wasn't the one I ordered and I'm positive but it's relatively the same color so I told Pet Solutions not to worry about it even though they said they would try and send the right one.When you see it you will definitely see that it is not the same one.Also two of them were knocked off their plug, so I glued them back on. Other than that they look pretty good,it didn't take long for the polyps on the Montipora digitata to make an entrance. I'm about to feed the tank Reef chili and see what they look like at night. I did make sure the frags that are aggressive have enough room, the only one that has any reach is the Merulina it can reach out and sting at approx. three inches. Anyway time to feed.

[Steve McKay]

I doubt it'll matter if you get it all or not. I bet you have some in your tank right now anyway...if you can't see it (or don't notice it), then you're doing your job right

Thanks. It probably won't grow in my tank, I have a thick brown algae growing on my rocks that is using up the nutrients. I hate the brown algae, that is why I ordered some Chaetomorpha macro algae to put in the back of my tank. I'm hoping it will grow and use up the nutrients instead of the ugly brown algae, getting rid of it. I also got lucky and a snail came over to the frags one by one eating the hair algae, he only missed two frags so I put snails on the other two and they finished them off.

[Chasman]

Steve

You may want to consider puting your Cheato in your sump. (although that requires you to light your sump) I bought a fist size piece for my little fuge and in about two months it almost filled it. Football sized! It's easy to pull it out of there and trim it, but I don't think you would want that stuff in there with all of your nice corals. JMHO. Plus it isn't very attractive. Looks like a big green brillo pad and gets a little knarely looking pretty quick.

Chasman

[Steve McKay]

I finally took some photos, with the lighting being as blue as it is the photos don't show much color. I'm going to fix this by changing my bulb combination again, I'm going to go with this combination:#1 is the front bulb.

1.Actinic+
2.Aquablue+
3.Aquablue+
4.Actinic+
5.Aquablue+
6.Actinic+

The reason I'm putting two Aquablue+ up front is because this is where I plan on putting a couple clams. Getting to the photos. The first photo in each set is a photo from Pet Solutions, where I bought the frags. The Purple Acanthastrea,echinata frag.

[Steve McKay]

The Orange Acropora,sp. I'm not sure what this is, also it doesn't look like the store photo. But I like it.

[Steve McKay]

The Green Stylophora,sp. This one is probably my favorite new frag.

[Steve McKay]

The Red Montipora,capricornis. This one I like too.

[Steve McKay]

The Blue Montipora,digitata. I think it is a digitata but I'm not sure, they just had it listed as a Monipora.

[Steve McKay]

The Purple Montipora,digitata.

[Steve McKay]

The Red,Green Merulina,sp. Supposedly it is a SPS, but it has pretty big polyps for a SPS. I like it a lot too.

[Steve McKay]

The Green Porites,sp. I think I might have some trouble with this one, I had to brush algae off it already. This is the one I was talking about when I said it is definitely is not the one I ordered. For some reason it is the one I like least.

[Steve McKay]

Steve

You may want to consider puting your Cheato in your sump. (although that requires you to light your sump) I bought a fist size piece for my little fuge and in about two months it almost filled it. Football sized! It's easy to pull it out of there and trim it, but I don't think you would want that stuff in there with all of your nice corals. JMHO. Plus it isn't very attractive. Looks like a big green brillo pad and gets a little knarely looking pretty quick.

Chasman

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking of putting it in my sump and I do have a small light that I could use, but I just don't have the room. My skimmer fills my sump, leaving little room. So I'm going to put it in the back of my tank where you can't see it but it will get good light and circulation.

[Steve McKay]

Now that my tank has better balanced lighting everything looks better. Here are a few photos of the frags in color.

[Steve McKay]

More.

[Parrothead]

Looking good Steve, nice adds

[Steve McKay]

Looking good Steve, nice adds

Thanks Parrot.

[twisted]

nice frags steve!

[Steve McKay]

nice frags steve!

Thanks Twisted, there coming along good except for the Purple Acanthastrea,echinata it just won't open up. I can see it's feeding tentacles down inside.