Frag'd It

The ORA Blah

vlad — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:48:02 +0000

In the past years, we have been thrilled by ORA’s cultured Acroporas and Montiporas. We got used to seeing ORA release the likes of the Borealis, Red Planet, Hawkings, Pearlberry, and the German Blue Polyp Acropora.

So when the people at ORA released its new specimen, we wondered “Why do this to your reputation!?”. The ORA Soli, as in Acropora soliteryensis, is the new ORA baby. It features brown coral body with slight purple axial corallites. Sure this coral is different from its cousin, the Efflo, but at least have the coral contain some resemblance of ORA’s past releases in terms of coral quality. Here it is in its infancy:

photo by ORA

Our message to ORA is: you better have a dandy set up for the next release. Reefers are anxiously waiting for a slam dunk, as this one misses the free throw!

Happy reefing everyone!

MACNA XXI, HERE WE COME

vlad — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:46:51 +0000

Its already upon us folks. MACNA XXI in Orlando Florida! A perfect way to kick off the reefing season. Need to know what is hot and what is, well… blacklisted? Then you need to tune in to this channel for all the latest in fish, gadgetry, and conservation! We will have buckets full of pictures to fill your soul! So do not miss out.The crazyness starts September 3rd and fizzles on the 5th. Hope to see you all here!

Vlad and Jeff

What Is A Black Hole Sun?

vlad — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:10:36 +0000

Well.. it is sitting inside VegasReeferbonkers213’s tank, and it is an Acanthastrea lordhowensis! Believe me, Soundgarden would be proud after seeing this beauty in action! Take a look:

Bioload Limitation Test

vlad — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:43:50 +0000

Sunday was a great day for inspired thought. ’Twas so easy when the day was miserable, rainy, and colder than usual. Perfect for a sit-down think session.

So what did I come up with that was so thought provoking? Well, how about the notion of how to test your tank’s ability to withstand your bio-load? It is actually quite simple to do, but harder to correct. All you need to do is…… turn your skimmer off. Let the natural biological filtration do the work for about 2-3 weeks. The results could be either devastating or incredible.

Lets look at the incredible result first. You leave your tank/system skimerless for 2-3 weeks. Your oxygen levels stay intact because you are employing amazing powerheads that allow for substantial gas exchange. Your fish seem to graze at the algae that keeps appearing, but doesn’t have a chance to expand with vigor. Corals look happy because they have more N and P to uptake but are not overwhelmed by them thanks to your denitrifying bacteria. You deem it a success and turn on the skimmer again. You see that your bio-load can be sustained by your natural filtration.

The devastating result? How about a massive algae outbreak that your fish cannot come to grips with. Hair algae, bryopsis, valona, and caulerpa! It adds oxygen to your tank yes, but it starts to suffocate the corals. Most corals at this point are turning or already turned brown. Coral growth is stunned due to the inability of your bacteria to process N. You realize that you cannot sustain your bioload and decide to turn on your skimmer, while unhappy that you came to this conclusion in the first place!

Too scared to try this out? Give it a go for 3-4 days. If you develop a heavy algae film, you may have reached our bioload limitation and may need to increase the biological flitration in your systm. For those in serious need for a challenge, increase that span to 2-3 weeks.

Come back and tell us how you’d managed with this simple test! It is really good to know if your system can be self sustaining without mechanical filtration methods.

A Memorial To My Dear Fish

vlad — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:26:16 +0000

We here at Fragd.it care too much about underwater life. So when I found out that my 4 year old Copperband Butterfly died the other day, you can imagine the pain that I had felt. It wasn’t just a fish to me, he was an accomplishement. He was a true fighter. He battled through ick, power outages, and bullying fish. He got trained to eat out of my hand. He ate anything out of my hand. He ate my hand. He ate, until two days ago and perished.

What could he have had that caused his demise? Nutrition? Companionship? Stray currents? I will never know. All I know is that I had given this fish the best that I could offer. Something as close as the Indo waters it had come from. I hope you had a great life little guy. You are dear to me, and will be missed.

I know this is all sappy, and stupid to some, but if you have a fish that you had for along time and have seen it grow to adult size, you too would feel the same. I just wish we all have a little of this towards the fish we keep in our glass boxes.

RIP little guy!

Fragd.it New Release: Christmas Millepora

vlad — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:59:09 +0000

By now you have read the blog post about this insanely colored Acropora millepora, dubbed Fragdit Christmas. But now, it will soon be available for your purchase. This easy to take care for mille will take on a lot of different types of setups, in other words, it is very versitile. Our recommendation is to keep it under high light to develop those green polyps. We have a feeling that lower light will just brown them out. The picture below is taken under 20K 400W Radium MH bulbs. This is not to say that T5 setups wouldn’t be able to achieve these colors.

Acropora millepora Fragdit Christmas

Fragment sizes can range from 1.5″ to 3″, depending on how we feel that day , but all will be at 50$ per cut. We are going to release 3 frags in two weeks time, so if you want a piece of this amazing specimen, fire us an email and get in before others do.

Happy reefing everyone!

Rescue Me, Captain America!

vlad — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:17:20 +0000

Stan Lee would be proud. We have the Jokers, Spidermans, X-Mens, and now Captain Americas. This Palythoa sp has quite the remarkable coloration. Pictured here by worldwidecorals.com, this paly is as rare as Nuclear Greens once were. Take a look at this beauty:

photo by worldwidecorals.com

At 90$ per polyp, you better have lots of money if you want to get a small colony of these guys. Happy hunting reefnecks!

Yum Yum Yuma

vlad — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:08:53 +0000

They are the forgotten and the the hardest to care for Corallimorpharians. They are Ricordia yumas. These mushrooms are incredible in coloration and in color varience. I personally own at least 6 different morphs. If you start looking for one, you may come across this crazy specimen:

photo by madadi on Reef Central

Luckily for you SPS owners, unlike the regular mushrooms, these do not multiply at a rapid rate. They make an excellent choice for a SPS dominant tank.

Christmas Coming Early?

vlad — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:00:44 +0000

Guys and gals… sometimes when you shop for corals, you end up with a dud. A coral that never comes to the potential which you had hoped. And then there is a coral which brings you joy.. The type of joy which can be only found amongst reefer after finding a gem coral. This is how we feel about this:

photo by Vlad at Fragd.it

This millepora has an amazing contrast between green and red. When the polyps are of a different color than the coral body, I personally get giddy. Like buying an iPhone4 kinda giddy! In the coral collecting world, this is what we call a “dazzler”. Do you have a dazzler in your own tank?

Those who wonder, we will have fragments of this specimen in the upcoming reefing season.

Fishbrains For You

vlad — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:58:11 +0000

Every now and then, we like to help out a few Canadian up-and-coming reef businesses. It always nice to give back to the community. So when we spoke to Brett Hendricks of Fishbrains.net, we felt that urge that we just spoke of. So what is Fishbrains.com? Brett explains:

My goal with Fishbrains is to take a little creativity and style and create wearable passion for marine hobbyists. I want to create t-shirts that will arouse the curiosity of those not in the hobby. That’s half the fun of wearing something specifically tailored to reef-keeping.

Brett is a freelance web developer and graphic designer, husband and father of two little fishbrains with a great idea for reef t-shirts. Here is a sample of some of his designs that you can purchase on his site :

Support your local businesses, whether they are LFSs, Online Stores, or ventures like Bretts.

Happy Reefing everyone!

Miami Hurricane Blows into Canada