[Krazy]

I thought this would be a good lil thread to show some pictures of my colt coral when I got it back in Sept of 2006 and a comparison picture of it now in April 2007.

It's amazing how fast some corals can grow when your tank is giving the proper lighting and treatment, I hope my pictures speak for themselves

Sept 06' when I first got it :



April 07' can we say it WOW :



It would be even larger had I not took 2-3 big branches off it for friends

Paitence is key with our hobby, It is very rewarding !!!

[The Mayor 119]

That is a really nice looking piece Keith.

[teajay33]

very nice indeed congrats on your prize specimen!

[walkerj14]

nice keith,
i've got one also and it is amazing,,,center piece to my tank,,, i didn't realize you could take a piece off.... did'nt hurt it ????
thanks, joe

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by walkerj14

nice keith,
i've got one also and it is amazing,,,center piece to my tank,,, i didn't realize you could take a piece off.... did'nt hurt it ????
thanks, joe

Joe,

You can "propagate" aka "frag" it as much as you'd like...

A brand new clean razor blade works excellent

sometimes the piece you cut off wont make it, but thats pretty unusual

You'd be amazed, you can cut just about any of these corals and the grow back and the cut off piece make a new colony

[walkerj14]

keith,
just finished the newletter, and your tank is impressive, wide variety of corals and fish, a heavy bio load, looks very good,,,, i had not seen a set up like your's for filtration ,,, i use a berlin system with protein skimmer..... seems to be working well,,, have only had it going since january,,,,, and currently have 14 corals and a variety of invert... everyone seems happy..
thanks,again
joe

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by walkerj14

keith,
just finished the newletter, and your tank is impressive, wide variety of corals and fish, a heavy bio load, looks very good,,,, i had not seen a set up like your's for filtration ,,, i use a berlin system with protein skimmer..... seems to be working well,,, have only had it going since january,,,,, and currently have 14 corals and a variety of invert... everyone seems happy..
thanks,again
joe

Joe,

Thanks for the comments

I've upgraded my skimmer, got a new return pump, and cleaned the sump up since the newsletter.

I'll post some pics in the equipment section, a new thread for example of filtration...

-Keith

[rlcline76]

Keith, you are such a braggart!!!!! But my son loves looking at your tank pictures. I am so envious.

[crazygator]

if only my tank could be so nice. had this one up for three years and haven't lost any but two and those were after a disaster (long story). but none have grown to that extent. in fact they haven't grown much at all, except for my brain, and trumpet candy cane coral. everyone stayed small yet vibrant as the day i got them. and i haven't bought one in over a year.

[fishtk75]

Krazy K,
The colt look good from your pics and from growing them can you tell me if the one I have just got last month is growing ok. I never had one before. It is smaller and shrunk up in the pic here. When I got it it was taller and open up more as yours.Do they go into a slow down period?See the shrunk lines on the skin like it lost weight.
salinity =1.025,ph -8.2,nitrate-0,phos-0.cal-430ppm,alk-3.2 meql,phos-0,2-250hd 10k,2-actinic 110vho 10 hrs,feed flakes and coral food recipe which was inspired by Eric H. Borneman's .

[Krazy]

John,

Your colt has good polyp extension and your water parameters look pretty good to me, I dunno what the 3.2 for the ALK is though, I'm used to dKH readings (9-12)

What lighting was this under when you purchased it? It may just be going through an "adjustment" period to your new maybe more intense or less intense lighting..

Also was this attached at the base to something or was it a "Fresh-Cut" ?

Fresh cut will defiently stunt it for a week or two before it rebounds and takes off...

Try feeding some Phyto and see if your colt dont sprout up in a few days

I'm thinking from the picture its more of some normal adjustments to your tank, it doesnt appear to be looking bad or something I'd worry about yet...

Keep us updated

[darkwolf29a]

Those are very cool pictures. I love this species. I am going to have to do some research now, for I will be wanting one in my tank, once it's up and going for awhile.

[fishtk75]

Originally Posted by Krazy K

John,

Your colt has good polyp extension and your water parameters look pretty good to me, I dunno what the 3.2 for the ALK is though, I'm used to dKH readings (9-12)

What lighting was this under when you purchased it? It may just be going through an "adjustment" period to your new maybe more intense or less intense lighting..

Also was this attached at the base to something or was it a "Fresh-Cut" ?

Fresh cut will defiently stunt it for a week or two before it rebounds and takes off...

Try feeding some Phyto and see if your colt dont sprout up in a few days

I'm thinking from the picture its more of some normal adjustments to your tank, it doesnt appear to be looking bad or something I'd worry about yet...

Keep us updated

Alk is a 9 DKH on my salifert chart. Lighting they have is PC at the LFS. I have now as you said Phyto and will feed it tonight.
thank you for your help.

[c-c]

Krazy K,
Bee u tee ful... Congrats on your expertise in colt husbandry! What is the "proper lighting" that you give to the colt? Do you think it needs halides. Is it on the bottom of your tank? You must have strong light. It is photosynthetic right??? So do you think it requires intentional feeding of phyto to really prosper? Do you target feed?

I have a colt which I would try to frag if I wasn't so afraid of butchering it. Last year I cut off 3 or 4 pieces to frag and lost every one when they unglued themselves from the glue as though they formed mucous and rejected the glue then pushed themselves off and got lost.
But the mother coral is surviving nicely. One clarki anemone fish hides in it all the time and thinks it is his anemone. The colt doesn't seem to mind.
c-c