[Simon Garratt]

As promised, some images from my system. some taken recently, others today.


Hope you've got a good connection...






Frags dumped into a rubble area. (interestingly, All that rubble you see in this shot, is fake branch rock that has colonised over.)



Hopefully this next one shows just how well the fake live rock has settled down..


















Bare in mind, this image is magnified....In real life, this guy is about 1/2 an inch from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail.




newly added twisty wrasse....£22.50

















More to come...

[Simon Garratt]

Told you it had started sprouting jason...





Thats all for now folks, hope you enjoyed.


regards

Si.

[Social D]

Some amazing shots Simon, That efflo looks like a wild shot! .. If its ok with you can i take a couple of pics for the id section .. Of course ill give you full credit for the pictures.

[Tony B]

Coming along nicely, very good colours and growth.

[Si Clark]

Stunning photos as usual Mr G

And stunning corals I wonder where they all came from

[Social D]

Maidenhead ? .. You must be a very popular guy Si stunning acros

[Si Clark]

SPS Nut, on May 5 2008, 07:25 PM, said:

Maidenhead ? .. You must be a very popular guy Si stunning acros

Crikey I would have thought that word would be in the swear filter

[lindsay]

Stunning .What camera is it ? .

[richb]

Stunning Si.

Anyone have a firm ID on the twisty wrasse as I have two in the tank and the stay together like a pair but would like to confirm.....

Rich

[Si Clark]

Were they the ones in TP Rich they were fine in tank in there, no fighting some wrasses do live in groups. Si has TMC wrasse book whats it say Si

[Tim Parkinson]

looking great Si, I'm glad your posting updates

[richb]

Quote

Were they the ones in TP Rich they were fine in tank in there, no fighting some wrasses do live in groups. Si has TMC wrasse book whats it say Si

Yes Si thats them........

[Lost Boys]

Si Clark, on May 5 2008, 07:09 PM, said:

Stunning photos as usual Mr G

And stunning corals I wonder where they all came from

I wonder Mr. C

[Twistedpro]

very nice Mr G, the efflo definatly prefers the deeper water, you are getting some great colour from it all

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

Lovely tank Si

Blue acros looking Lovely polyping and growning well fast .
I had a chat with Si.C on the phone and said i was thinking of going for a tank with little rock work keeping it low .Si mentioned you have already and i have to say it looks wow

In this pic


it looks like your sand is banked up a little to make it look like its on a slope is that the angle of the pic or have you banked the sand up some.
If you have banked the sand up a little how have you kept it at a slight slope with the flow movement

Top pics top tank


jas

[Simon Garratt]

Hi Guys. Many thanks for the compliments.


To answer a few q's.

Lindsay, the camaras i use are a canon EOS350D belonging to Mr Clark, a Fuji F455 instant (the top down shots you see above) and occasionally a Sea and Sea 5mp underwater.

Rich. The wrasse is Anampses twistii

Google search on this fish

Generally found as solitary individuals hiding out in large coral formations. Max size 18cm / 10cm in tank. widspread through Indo Pacific region with Red sea specimins having a much more pronounced orange chest running up into a full yellow head in adults.

generally same care as other medium wrasses.

Pete, Yes Im quite pleased with the A.efflorescens, and its nice to get a 'it looks like it was shot in the wild' comment as to me, that is the ultimate goal. Solid gaudy colouration is nice and all that, but I do like to see corals occasionally show what some would consider more natural colouration with a cream / light beige main structure but brightly coloured growth margin. I think that mixing these corals with more gaudy ones actually makes the solid coloured ones stand out all the more and makes for a more natural looking representation of a real reef rather than a fruit stall. Each to thier own though and all that.

Ultimately, i have several frags of that blue stag (in the first shot) growing across the back which are changing colour dependent on the exact location, with some being a more overal blue as in the top shot, whilst others are bi-coloured blue / green. over time I want these to grow up to form a thicket 'backdrop' if you will. Its not the fastest growing stag out there but the end result will be worth the wait imo. (generally i recon I will be looking at 2yrs before its filled out the back). Intersperced with this coral i have an old favourite of mine a chocolate coloured stag that has realy bright blue tips that extend down about 3" from the tip of each branch (you can see it in the shot jason re-posted). Its this coral intermixed that Im hoping will make the blue stag stand out all rthe more. but as i say, thats a long term vision.

jason.

Actually all my sand is the same depth. Its the rock structures emerging from the sand that create that impresssion. imo, this would be pretty much impossible with a standard boulder type construction unless you were to cut the rock in half, to form a flat face for it to sit on, so that when the sand is pushed round, it buries the bottom edge of the rock creating that 'rising' sensation that makes you think your looking at a much bigger underlying structure surrounded by sandthan you actually are. instead of a rock pile sitting 'ontop' of the sand.

In this image




taken just after my diy rock was made, you can see how the rock emerges from the base with areas left between to be filled with sand to about 2" deep and up the sides of the structure. What your looking at in the shot you posted is the left hand side of the tank witha sloping structure that drops towards the center of the tank forming a gully before the right hand structure rises up again.

i think the shot also has a bit to do with it as well to be honest as my tank actually sits quite low. You actually look slightly 'down' onto my aquascape rather that 'at' it. so you get a better perspective of front to back depth, plus you get to see more of the corals 'upper' colour than you do in many what i like to call 'side' veiw set ups.

Tim.P cheers m8. I know a few people were blabbing about this tank taking a long time to settle down etc, but the truth of it is, Ive litterally grown this tank from a sterile base rather than the more standard LR based method, even still i hope that these images show that its actually alot further on than may considerd possible using artificial means with just a seeding of LR rubble. Considering the fact that the tank has only really been running properly with stock in it for about 12 months now with most of the acros added over the last 6 months its actually not doing that bad imo.


Tim. yep many of the corals are frags from Mr Clark alhough i actually have species from all over shop. The pajama tang came from a tank stripdown, I have a cyanaria from east anglia, the efflo came from stm, to name but a few....and of course the blue acro from jasons...

anyway...enough rambling from me..

cheers again guys for the kind words.

Regards

si.

[lindsay]

Have allways found that the sps stock tanks that we have set up have needed a good 12 plus months to age before corals do well in them ,esp new corals .Jas last tank was run on rock he made ,its in a pile waiting to go in his new tank .

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

Looks very affective Si .

All of the rock in my last tank i made myself as i had ideas to the shapes of rock i wanted .Ran the same rock in my soft tank for a year and then the sps tank and still have the rock in the rock bin ready to go into the new system .Gives you a sense of achievement when in looking good and doing its job well
Have to admit i love the shapes you moulded ,much more creative than mine .


Jas

[Simon Garratt]

Lindsay.

I agree, it does take time for a system to settle to a degree that SPs realy start to come on strong. i think in imature systems or especially those designed around a bulk of sterile rock, the corals just dont have enough particulate and dissolved organic food to suppliment the photosynthetic side of things. And whilst SPS are supremely adapted to switch backwards and forwards between these two methods of nutritional input, they cant survive well on one alone.

One of the reasons ive allways been a fan of bulk feeding new systems fairly early on, is to promote an good explosion of micro life. imo you just cant beat the natural soup emited by a well fed and expanding critter population. Obviously you have to stay within the realms of what the filtration can handle, but with todays equipment and a bit of realistic expendature when it comes down to skimmer choice etc I dont see it as a major risk, In fact i think its quite common the case that people under feed to the extreme, and actually hold the system back from developing properly. in many cases the stocking 'rate' as far as fish goes, far exeeds the development of the natural filtering capacity of the system by way of assimilation. whilst fish waste does form a valuable part of the systems food supply, its still a pretty poor substitute in nutritional value compared to more substantial fare for the critter population such as rotifers, plankton, and other finely chopped frozen foods...As i always say....Feed the 'system' not just your fish. and make them work for a living.


Jason. When i made my rock structures i simply planned it all out and dived in... I had one big advantage though in that i had the space to build my structures strait onto a bare base without the hindrence of side panels in the way (they went on afterwards)....but even still, Its quite feasible imo to get the same effect in a pre-built tank as long as your willing to work in a cramped space and have the patience to flush and cure the structures in situe rather than taking them out and doing it externally. My structures are large to say the least, and whilst they do have invisible seams, the seperate componants are still a major handfull to lug in and out of a tank without risking a disaster.

I basically drew the footprints for mine on the base, and then worked from there. This way i could ensure that i didnt have any rockwork too near the front of the tank, and had a good relation between exposed sand areas, mini bommies, and the main structures. This gives a good depth perspective so that you have to look over several levels of detail rather than looking 'at' a single face of rock structure.


Regards

Si.

[Simon Garratt]

Woops sorry Tim, I didnt respond to your request.

Sure, take what shots you need for the ID section including any in my gallery at Reef-Eden.

If you can copy them over and host yourelf though, it would save me a bit of bandwidth..


Regards

si.