Neptune Aquatics

FREE '24 SPS Growout Contest

Are you IN or OUT?!

  • Total voters
    35
ReyDeFarts said:
So there is supposed to be a bunch of these frags still available. Is there any way you can get replacements via High Tide or at the frag swap? I don't want to see anyone have to already be out because of an unhealthy frag.

This is one of the reasons why I was hoping to not start the distribution of frags for at least a couple weeks. To give them a chance to recover at Kenny's and then distribute only the ones that were healthy and ready. Oh well...let's try and get new ones into your tanks. Let me know how I can help.
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I was also thinking the longer these sit in my system, say people picking up last minute are going to have a little advantage. Not trying to toot my own horn, but corals do very well in my system, new growth right away, colors coming out after a couple days. I think for contests, fresh cuts are the way to go. Everybody gets the same fresh cut, as opposed to some people getting fresh cuts and some getting healed cuts that have been cooking in a goood system. Just thoughts for future.
 
under_water_ninja said:
This one I cut for Casey the same day.
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I think fresh cuts are good for contests, in Casey’s pic you can see all the new growth, which is a sign of a healthy system and good husbandry. I think this is an important part of judging a contest. The first week is always the hardest with fresh cuts, so everyone should start out the same as opposed to some people getting them fully healed. A little bit more challenging with fresh cuts, but only a little. I think fresh cuts and see the new growth starting as well as coloration is a good judging point.
 
richiev said:
I don't in any way mean this as a negative against all the hard work going on at the frag workshop, but I do think the setup is pretty hard for corals. A lot of time in a holding container, which is always going to be hard to keep at temperature and clean water, and with no water moment. A lot of time on a saw. Corals asit around for awhile after all that until someone picks theirs up and bags it, with water of unknown temp. Everyone for good reason socializing and leaving things in their coolers or whatever. After all that someone drives it home, probably without a heating pad. Finally tossed into a new tank, maybe preceded by another dip out of paranoia.

Frag swaps are pretty similar, except hopefully the coral was fragged awhile before. Might sit even longer though at room temperature, and definitely should be getting dipped before added to people's tank.

It's all a great example of the fact that corals are a lot hardier than we all think they are, since most of those things individually people assume would kill the coral. My frags from the event are currently all doing well, I think, for example.

I say all that knowing I don't have a great solution to it. Maybe one thing could be the club could put together a frag event equipment pack. Get a couple heaters, a couple cheap temp controllers to make sure they hold the target temp after getting moved around, some cheap power heads (maybe donations from the group), and a couple shallow troughs/Rubbermaids/containers. With that at least the temp part could be stable. I know Costco has big packs of hand warmers, but not sure how warm those actually get (I used one recently for a coral but I microwaved it quickly). Hopefully with some donations it could get together cheap.

Main problem would be making sure all that stuff gets to the actual events, which requires someone to store and deliver it though.

Again, not a critique, it's a tricky problem. Especially when there's so generous a situation as a giant donor coral set, which is rare.
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Yeah that's why @Invictus and I used warm water from Kenny's system, iodine in the curing bin/saw reservoir, soaked fresh plugs, and made/mounted the contest SPS frags for people before the event started. I'll bring more frags to the frag swap from Kenny's, but people have to reply here to get one (and already be on the want list). I know some researchers used to (and still do) ship acropora in wet paper towels to save money, they're pretty tough in some ways once slimed up.
 
under_water_ninja said:
I was also thinking the longer these sit in my system, say people picking up last minute are going to have a little advantage. Not trying to toot my own horn, but corals do very well in my system, new growth right away, colors coming out after a couple days. I think for contests, fresh cuts are the way to go. Everybody gets the same fresh cut, as opposed to some people getting fresh cuts and some getting healed cuts that have been cooking in a goood system. Just thoughts for future.
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I'm going to bring my back and just run my entry from your tank.
 
Picture outside of water after KCl dip. Will take in-tank pictures going forward.

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I’ll order something to make taking a measurement easier but I have this piece since Dans tank break down and I just want to share how it’s colored up in the time I’ve had it.
 

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Here’s the frag for my entry. Specs are 35ppm, alk 9-10 range, cal trident says 550-600 but I just follow a trend. Mag 1200-1500. Phos .53. Nit 47. Ph 8ish.
 

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Many thanks to @under_water_ninja for bringing the comp frags to CaliKid Corals yesterday! Much appreciated man. Could you please set aside a frag for me if you still have some at the shop?!

Thank you again to @Darkxerox and @Invictus with helping with the frag workshop, distribution, and the tracking sheet for the competitors. You guys rock!

Please, as a reminder to everyone to submit an accurate photo to get this party started on the right foot. The structure of the contest was/is an attempt to keep things less subjective and an even playing field for everyone. At the end of the day, it's about having fun, right!

Myself and the rest of the judges really want to give you all our best assessment and scores without confusion and debates.

I'll be going through the list of sign ups, who has frags, and the initial submission posts to confirm the contestants.

If anyone has not submitted a photo with their stick next to a measurement device, could you PLEASE get that done asap and post it!
 
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