Dunancs

DRC Archive General Saltwater Discussion
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I fragged my Duncan again tonight. I cut into three of the large polyps and may lose them, but over all my first experience cutting into the Duncan with a dremel went well. I’ll try to post some before and after pictures sometime in the next couple of days. Oh and btw face shield is HEAVILY recommended for anyone looking to try this.

If I am counting right number of full size polyps on one colony went from ~16 to 26 between 3/2/2009 and 7/28/2009. In that time because I’ve been so busy with work on average my Calcium has been below 400, my salinity has ranged from 1.024-1.029, my pH has stayed below 8, feeding has been random, and my bulbs are over do for a change.(aka far less then ideal) I’ve also had a couple of 85-86 degree days a couple of weeks ago which it hated.

The coral is in fairly turbulent flow and is hit randomly with flow from two power heads on a wave maker. It is also up high in the tank, so I think the lighting actually works well for them. It is also in a 75g attached to a 30g sump attached to a 30g tank attached to a 65g tank, so the total volume of water in the system isn’t small.(meaning the system is stable and changes in chemistry typically occur slowly)

Who else has dated pictures of duncan growth and can take a count?

I am hoping to see what I can do with the frags once I get the chemistry down solid and get some bulbs changed. Though first I’ve got to find the money to change the bulbs!

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sounds like those duncans are resillient. can take a lot of changes and neglect and still multiply. glue em down to a plug and see how they do. did each of the heads grow a long enough stem to make it easy to cut off? mine are staying fairly short and close packed. im waiting to start some frag cutting too.

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Well there are many other corals in the same system as well including xenia, several acros, and other SPS. I wouldn’t say that the Duncans or other corals are particularly resilient.

I think the biggest thing is that the system never reads high anywhere on the nitrogen cycle due to the low bio load and large system and that the chemistry never changes quickly. Also, while the bulbs may need to be replaced there are 4-5 T5 bulbs with SLR and an ice cap 660 ballast. Many of the corals are mounted high on rack as well. The flow is also very good throughout the tank.

Nothing in the tank is growing rapidly at all, but nothing is upset either. I have good polyp extension with everything and no signs of recent recession. I believe the corals can be kept alive if the Ca, Alk, and Mg are not dead on, but everything else is very stable. Also the temp and salinity fluctuations are not disastrous because they are gradual.

All of my corals have been in survival mode for a long time because I have been busy with other activities. Can’t wait to see what I can if I find the resources to kick things into gear. Time being the most valuable of those resources.

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What’s a Dunanc? lOl

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I call dibs

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[quote=“ravensfan531, post:4, topic:1924”]
What’s a Dunanc? lOl[/quote]

:stuck_out_tongue: A Dunanc is what a Duncan turns into when Jon’s freaking tired, lol. Spend too much time in the reef tanks. Now not only can I tell what kind of mood they are in, but they morph depending on my mood. Again when I’m tired my Ducans morph into Dunanc.

[quote=“Cdangel0, post:5, topic:1924”]
I call dibs[/quote]

Well Shawn called dibs about 10 months ago and I am pretty sure I am not ready to sell any yet. Shawn has first dibs once these have a chance to fully recover from the fragging grow out a little. I won’t sell freshly chopped up corals. I’ve grown this thing out for a couple years now and want to make sure it is not just going to pop off the plug with a weak glue or die from too much stress at once. You’re next in line though Craig, so I’ll let you know.

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[quote=“Gordonious, post:6, topic:1924”]

[quote=“ravensfan531, post:4, topic:1924”]
What’s a Dunanc? lOl[/quote]
Again when I’m tired my Ducans morph into Dunanc. [/quote]

Another morph >LOL<

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Shawn picked up a frage of the lime-green duncans. Thanks anyways though!

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I’ll see if I can find my growth pics with dates and such, I think I counted 19 heads on the 3? headed duncan I got from you, Jon. So they took the dremel cutting pretty well? Sounds scary, how did you do the frag I got from you?

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Well you have more guts than I do. I started with a two head frag about a year ago and I am up to at least 25-30 maybe more. It is hard to count them all. If I fragged mine I would have to cut it into about 3 multiple headed frags because many of the heads are on short stalks. I think I am just going to continue to let mine grow out. I used to feed it at least 3 times a week, but in the last 6 months I haven’t directly fed it and it continues to grow.

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Ian the frag you got from me I took some hard coral cutters and just went to town on it. Probably really dulled the blade on my cutters, lost a good bit of coral from the wide cut and stressed the coral out a good bit.(though it was open the next day)

This time all of the frags started to open up within 20 minutes or so and were just about fully open the next day. Even polyps I partially cut through seemed to be opening.

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[quote=“Gordonious, post:11, topic:1924”]
Ian the frag you got from me I took some hard coral cutters and just went to town on it. Probably really dulled the blade on my cutters, lost a good bit of coral from the wide cut and stressed the coral out a good bit.(though it was open the next day)

This time all of the frags started to open up within 20 minutes or so and were just about fully open the next day. Even polyps I partially cut through seemed to be opening. [/quote]

Def sounds much cleaner with the dremel than the smash and break method of the hard cutters.