Bruce's Reef

[Craig Manoukian]

Congrats on excellent husbandry and water quality! Your Gonipora is a testament to those important things!

[Brucey]

Thanks Craig.

Just a quick pic of the red brain feeding last night when the fish were being fed. It's been doing this every evening at fish feeding time for the last 7 or 8 nights.

Brucey

[Craig Manoukian]

Awesome dude!

[addict]

Wow Brucey,
the tank is looking awesome!

I've read through your thread here a couple times, but for unknown reasons I've never posted...

Well, I'm changing that now...

I'll give you a quickie primer on how to tell Acro's from Monti's... on Acropora, the polyps are on the tips of the corallites, whereas on Montiporas, the polyps emanate from 'between' the corallites. If you look back over your pix (or at your tank) you can see what I'm talking about.
That should at least help you narrow down the Genus of the corals really quickly, and then you can try to narrow it down to species by looking at pictures.

As far as the 'rusty' montipora goes, it looks almost like an M. foliosa to me, though it sure does have some interesting growth patterns.

That brain you rescued is looking great as well. Awesome setup... I almost blew my coffee out my nose when I saw your 'water butt'... that word has a bit different meaning here in the states (same as 'bum' in your part of the world).

Can't wait for the next update.

Once again, awesome tank mate.

[Brucey]

Originally posted by reefer addict
I almost blew my coffee out my nose when I saw your 'water butt'... that word has a bit different meaning here in the states (same as 'bum' in your part of the world

Hey RA. Thanks for your great post. And thanks for the heads up on the Arcopora Montipora id. That really helps alot. I just love my SPS corals but really am useless at id'ing them.

Your quote and my "water but" just made me and the misses laugh like hell. Yep, never really thought of it like that. I'll rename it to my water ar$e . . . . . LOL.

Anyway bud. Many thanks
Brucey

[VINA DEL MAR]

Like always Brucey!Nice tank mate.Also just to let know I'm ordering a Deltec 500 stirrer likes yours.Do you still dose buffer or other chemicals to the tank water?Are you happy with the stirrer perfomance?How often do you reload it with powder?TIA
Keep the pics coming.VINA

(how's the family doing?)

[Brucey]

Hi Vin . . . .

Yeah I loved my Deltec stirrer . . . . it takes all hard work out of dosing kalk. No, I do not add any more additives . . . . buffer or calcium. I think how long it needs reloading largly depends on how your dosing it / timer / top up switch / or like me a PH computer. Myself and best mate both have them and I need to replace the kalk every week (6 tea spoon fulls) and clean the unit out. But I have a heavily dominated SPS tank. My mate has a FO with a few softies and replaces it once a month but then he hasn't got a tank full of corals sucking calcium out of the water every day.

HTH buddy. PM me if you need more advice

Brucey

[Brucey]

Hi guys . . . . where well has the last 4 months of my life disappeared too. LOL. Well, as most of you know me and Lou had our first baby Drew back in August and I can honestly say, I have no idea where that time has gone. Life has taken on a different meaning and I just don't get to do what I used enjoy doing . . . one of which is surfing RS and chatting to you guys. Apologies up front for that and hopefully well the little fella gets less time consuming (does that EVER happen ???), I can get back to posting and catching up on what all your tanks have been upto. Well, I haven't forgotton my reef, in fact I have new corals and new fish. And one lesson I have learnt out of all this is, you can leave your reef alone for a week at a time and it still looks as great. You don't need your hands in there EVERY day like I used to. Anyway, just a few pics for you. I have some new fish and I've been meaning to take a tank "collage" shot and cut/paste all the pics together. I find I get far better detail doing this than just taking a tank wide shot. Anyway, let me know how your all doing and give me a quick run down on what's happened in your tanks in the last 4 months. I promise to try harder after christmas to catch up with you all
Brucey, Lou and Drew

[Brucey]

OK, first a collage shot made up of 6 photo's. The actual size of the original photo is approx 3500pixels long which shows a lot of detail but i had to squeeze this down to get it on here. Hope you still get an idea of how it's progressing. Shame the before and after shots don't exist anymore but i understand RS had some server problems a few months ago. Anyway, here it is . . .

[Brucey]

And the new additions on the tank Front. First a Harlequin Tuskfish (Wrasse). A gorgeous, yet a little shy fish that just adds SO much colour and character to the tank. Completely coral safe but it would have shrimps, crabs etc for breakfast . . . . but I don't run a cleanup crew anymore so it's not a problem

[Brucey]

I've ALWAYS wanted a Volitans Lionfish but I'll have to wait for a fish only system to get one of those . . . so I went for a Dwarf Shortfin Lionfish which is just as good. I'm having trouble getting him onto prepared foods so have to keep a seperate tank full of (we call them) "River shrimp" . . . which he gets fed 3 times a week. He's a great little chap and all the local kids love it

[Brucey]

And last but not a long time "Want" on my shopping list but I was always afraid to buy . . . a Blue throat Trigger Fish . . . so far no problems at all apart from my Emp Angel bully's him a little and again I'm having some problems getting him onto prepared frozen foods. He's the second one I have bought. I originally bought a pair two weeks before this chap and they were well settled in, eating properly and very active at the front of the tank . . . then I went out one evening and they both went over the weir and died. I was devasted. Anyway, this chap is a little bigger but MUCH MUCH shyer. Weir defences are now in place to ever stop that happening again.

[Brucey]

Anyway, like a said. I hope to catch up with you all soon and find out what everyones latest conquests are, their latest plans and their latest dreams. I'm still planning on a 800Gallon system which was due to go in this year but will probably not happen now until 2006 at the earliest. Anyway, just to leave you with a pic of me and my son . . . the best thing ever to happen in my life. Take care all
Brucey

[Gina]

Brucey,
Your set up is looking great! Enjoyed the pics of your new additions. I would love to have a wrasse but, I have a clean up crew that I would like to keep.

Your son is beautiful. They sure do grow up fast. My granddaughter is 7 mos old and has changed so much over these last couple of months. You'll be amazed at just how fast the time will pass!

[Maxx]

Brucey,
Tank looks great...The kid looks awesome! Its too bad he's not happy though! A smile that big has to mean he planning something nefarious....JK handsome boy. You've every right to be proud of him. Glad you were able to stop by. I've "seen" you online a couple of times, but never for very long.
Nick