http://www.reefaddicts.com/blog.php/928-Alaska_Phil en Thu, 23 May 2013 06:06:47 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.reefaddicts.com/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.reefaddicts.com/blog.php/928-Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28777-Temptation Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:10:29 GMT The local Petco is having their $1/gal tank sale right now. And they have litterally stacks and stacks of 40 breeders. I don't have any tank plans right now, except to upgrade my 55 to a 75 eventually. But those 40's are a nice size and shape for a nano project. Hmmmm...

Phil ]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28777-Temptation http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28770-New-years-updates Fri, 11 Jan 2013 06:01:00 GMT It's another year. So I'll start with a full tank shot.



Compare it with this shot from last september. Check out the growth on the Acro branch just right of center.



close up of the Acro branch.


A happy toadstool. This is one of the very first corals I bought 6 or 7 years ago.


A colony of Zoas that I've had for years and are finally starting to really look good and spread.


a colony of polyps that have now covered their rock completely.


The torch coral that dominates one corner of the tank. Looks kind of sad with the pumps off for the photo shoot.


A tiny pocillapora colony. This started as a single polyp on the rock.


And the parent colony.


Open brain that's running out of room.


Favia, I purchased this as a frag with 3 mouths 2 years ago.


And finally the best pose I could get my blood shrimp to take.


I'm really amazed at how well my tank is working right now. I've been mostly ignoring it for several months. Just using Kalk to top off, feeding daily and cleaning the algae scrubber about once a month. Also, as a bit of an experiment, I've been running with the algae scrubber as my only filtration since last September. One of these days I'll fix my skimmer and get a new reactor to run carbon in, but there's obviously not much motivation for that. :)


I finally added a a deep sea blue background. So some updated photo's are in order.












]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28770-New-years-updates http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28680-Todays-Photos Sun, 14 Oct 2012 03:01:12 GMT
My Kole Tang seems to be looking a bit thin.


My Blood Shrimp hanging out on his favorite rock.



My Acro branch. The color has turned from torquois to a darker almost purple, except the growth tip which is still bright blue.


Purple Rock anyone?


Some polyps looking good.


And the full tank shot. :)

Phil ]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28680-Todays-Photos http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28300-Acro-Growth Thu, 27 Sep 2012 03:56:50 GMT Last month


This month

Also, not bad for a cheap zoom, non-macro lens.

Phil ]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28300-Acro-Growth http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28223-New-Coral Sun, 02 Sep 2012 01:55:35 GMT My friend and fellow reefer Tuan asked me a while back if I wanted any frags. Well, he's got a gorgeous touquoise staghorn acro that I just couldn't resist. Today he dropped it off. Seems he had a bit of trouble cutting the frag though. What he brought was a branch over 6" long! :yahoo: here's a photo of the tip.

]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28223-New-Coral http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28219-Hide-and-seek Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:40:37 GMT That's what I'm thinking of calling my aquarium. First my pistol shrimp disappears for over a year before turning up (after 2 tank moves). So I decided he needed a goby friend. I bought one at the local fish store 2 weeks ago, haven't seen him since. Till last night! :yahoo:
Now he just needs to find the shimp on the other side of the tank. I'll try to get a photo of him, but he's still pretty shy.

Phil ]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28219-Hide-and-seek http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28195-self-cleaning-clean-up-crew Mon, 06 Aug 2012 08:06:00 GMT My older astrea snails are looking pretty fuzzy these days with their coat of algae. I guess it was just too much for this emerald crab to resist. ... My older astrea snails are looking pretty fuzzy these days with their coat of algae. I guess it was just too much for this emerald crab to resist. It was certainly too much for me to resist not grabbing my camera.

]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28195-self-cleaning-clean-up-crew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28169-Blood-Shrimp Fri, 27 Jul 2012 03:43:41 GMT Finally got a picture of him at feeding time tonight. Image: http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o556/Phil_Schaefer/Aquarium/bloodshrimp2.jpg Finally got a picture of him at feeding time tonight.
]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28169-Blood-Shrimp http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28161-Kole-Man-You-gots-to-have-Kole Sat, 21 Jul 2012 05:00:18 GMT Finally got a decent picture of my new Kole Tang.

I had to crank the ISO up to 1600 since he never stops moving and I don't have a very fast lens, so there's a bit of noise. Like the photo's I found on the internet before buying him, photo's just don't do the colors of this gorgeous fish justice.

I played around with some post processing and at least got the colors a bit truer.



And another shot tonight after finally getting the white ballance to manually set to the tank.
]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28161-Kole-Man-You-gots-to-have-Kole http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28156-What-to-Do Sun, 15 Jul 2012 02:17:17 GMT Below is my Birdsnet as it is today.


As you can see the core of the colony is overrun with Algae and probably dead. However, all the branches are growing like mad and putting out new tips. So, would it be better to leave it alone and hope my new clean-up crew can clean it up? Or, do I frag the healthy branches and start new colonies?
Thanks.
Phil ]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28156-What-to-Do http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28149-New-Livestock-coming-soon-to-ME! Wed, 11 Jul 2012 07:07:50 GMT To be delivered Friday :yahoo:

Livestock Department In Process Thursday, July 12, 2012

No Item # Description Qty Ordered Unit Price Ext Price

1 002264 Green Chromis, Chromis viridis, .5-1.5, Indo Pacific 6 $ 4.95 3.65 $ 21.90

2 001667 Yellow Rose Goby, Stonogobiops nematodes, 1"-2", Indo Pacific 1 $ 16.95 $ 16.95

3 002561 Yellow Eye Kole Tang, Ctenochaetus strigosus, Medium: over 1.5-3.5", Hawaii 1 $ 39.95 $ 39.95

4 003267 Emerald Mithrax Crab, Mithrax sculptus, .5"-1.5", Caribbean 2 $ 6.95 $ 13.90

5 005920 Fire Shrimp, Lysmata debelius, Small: over .75-1", Sri Lanka 1 $ 24.95 $ 24.95

6 003277 Astraea Snail, Astraea tecta, .5"-1", Caribbean 15 $ 1.95 1.75 $ 26.25

7 003279 Cerith Snail, Cerithium spp., .5"-1", Eastern Pacific 10 $ 0.95 0.76 $ 7.60

8 004419 Nassarius Snail, Nassarius spp., .25"-.5", Eastern Pacific 12 $ 0.95 0.76 $ 9.12

9 005955 Tiger Turbo Snail, Trochus spp., .75"-1.25", Indo Pacific 5 $ 3.95 3.85 $ 19.25

]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28149-New-Livestock-coming-soon-to-ME! http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28133-Photo-experiments Wed, 04 Jul 2012 23:41:27 GMT So still experimenting with my new camera, a Nikon D5100 with 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 lens. Here's a couple of pictures of my fish. Currently all I have are 3 chromis and the one clown. Camera settings were ISO 400, f/5.0 with automatic shutter speed. My lens isn't very fast so even with the vibration reduction I have trouble getting clear shots of the fish at lower ISO settings. Also, I can't seem to get this camera to set white ballance to the tank lighting. So I shot these in Raw format and adjusted the white ballance in post processing. Please comment, and make suggestions. Thanks!



]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28133-Photo-experiments http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28132-There-are-No-mermaids! Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:26:03 GMT It's official, the US government says so.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18692830 ]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28132-There-are-No-mermaids! http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28131-Natural-Filtration Mon, 02 Jul 2012 06:24:57 GMT The other night I noticed the bubble trap in my sump was red?! Closer examination revealed it was completely lined with little tube worms with red... The other night I noticed the bubble trap in my sump was red?! Closer examination revealed it was completely lined with little tube worms with red gills extended. Doesn't show up well, but here's the best photo I could get.

]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28131-Natural-Filtration http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28123-Survivor Wed, 27 Jun 2012 07:19:01 GMT Just saw something that made me very very happy. When we moved my reef to Tuan's a year ago, my little randolfs pistol shrimp was no where to be found. Tuan says he never saw any sign of him in over a year. Well, guess who I just saw with the red flashlight! My little shimp alive and well digging himself a new home. :-) This is really amazing, since we thoughly washed all the sand with ice cold tap water before putting it back in the tank. Talk about a tough little bugger! Now I just need to get him a new goby friend. :crazy: ]]> Alaska_Phil http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28123-Survivor