2012 Project #5: Tabasco

#21
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The above pics show the completion and comparison for the 22.5 to 45 degree racks. You will see that these are 5 eggcrate squares wide and that the center row lines up and the axis is in the middle.
 
#22
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The above pics show the completion and comparison between the 0 and 22.5 degree racks. The 22.5 degree rack is 5 squares across in eggcrate, and due to space the 0 degree rack is 4 squares across. You will see the center line in the 0 degree rack line up with the center of the axis square in the 22.5 degree rack.
 
#23
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Drum roll please.... FTS's!!!

I do have a little weighting issue with the 45 degree rack, so I am going to add something to the base of each to make them more stable. I have not done the fragging yet. The mini colonies in the center of the tank are the ones going under the knife. I am a bit nervous as I have never fragged coral before. I do have all materials needed to frag at this time, including protective eye gear. It is just a matter of ... carving... out some time. ;)

Also, provided everything goes well and actually makes it through to fragging, most (if not all) of the frags will be going to the DBTC! Radioactive Dragon Eyes and Whammin Watermelons.

Feedback is welcome!
 
#24
Don't worry about fragging, it's much easier than you think. Just get a sharp knife and go to work. Any reason you aren't using a steeper slope for any of the trials? My fear is that there isn't enough variablility to show significant results.
 
#25
Tabasco;137933 said:
What are thoughts on marking the frag plugs for identification in case they get shifted? Sharpie? haha. Nail polish? Something less toxic that will be permanent? I can try to etch them, but won't know if that is possible til I get them.

Thoughts?
Sadly I don't have an answer to this, but I've seen something akin to sharpie on tiles used at frag swaps to "price" corals.

Tabasco;139729 said:
OH, one other question. I was toying around/planning ;P on mounting 2 of the 4 frags on a flat uniform plug and the other 2 on an irregular plug. Too much?
Stick with ONE type of plug. The point here is to eliminate all other variables and to only test for one. You're testing for slope. Your number of samples is already pretty darn small (12 total plugs, 4 at each slope, is a very very small sample size so results will have to be very DRAMATIC for any hope of meaningful results).
 
#26
Thanks Matt,

I am only doing one plug for that reason when I thought about it.
 
#27
Marking...laminate printed numbers, hole punch (away from the paper inside the laminate) and use zipties or fishing line to tie them to the plug. IME, anything else can get obscured and pulled away when stuff grows on it. Instead of zipties or fishing, at work I use thin coated wire with the ends sealed by plasti dip.
 
#28
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Thanks Thales, that is a great idea. I got a little crazy with work so derailed a little bit. I did get the colony fragged last nights. My first fragging!! So whole thing could be over today. ;) But as of this am before lights went on there were 13 of 25 frags open. I just need 3 more to open and good to go, best case scenario would be to have 7 more open so that there are 5 frags on each rack. My plan was to make 2 polp frags. However, it was very difficult so there are about 9 frags w/ 2 polps. The rest are single. I will distribute evenly. I.e. there will be at least one 2p frag on each incline, hopefully two. Then there will be three 1p frags on each incline.

I have also built and added a 4th incline of 67.5 degrees. Hopefully 3 months is enough time to get some results. Recording will begin on Sunday.
 
#29
Science project is AWN! All open but one!! So I will have 6 frags per incline!!
 

hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#30
hurrafreak;136460 said:
2. There would then be another 4 month period for you to actually get the experiment done. This would also give you the opportunity to create your formal project, as well as your formal project packet, including pictures, reports, etc. This should take us to the end of June.

------------------The judges would then judge all of the final projects and pick the winner. The winner will NOT be announced until all of the RHM and MACNA details are worked out.
Sorry for my non existance lately, it's been nuts on my end!! We are in the last phases of ths process!! You all should be in the middle of your projects! The end meeting in June/the end of June all of the projects need to be finished!
 
#31
Well, I have been putting off posting here, but my science project has come to an end. I guess my fragging wasn't as successful as I thought. I the week following all the frags but 2 were lost. My guess is that when I fragged them I crushed the bottoms of the polps. They opened for a couple days and then all gradually perished over about a week. :( The good news is that I have fragged since some of my polps that needed fragged and those have all lived. Great learning experience.

Hopefully the science fair is on for next year as I am all set up and ready for the fair!!

Good luck to the remaining participants!
 

hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#32
We may still be able to get ya new frags? You have about 4 months left to go in the whole process. Should be enough time? PM sent anyway for some things :)
 

hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#33
Alright everyone, I have some great news!! First of all, you should all have a PM AND an email in your inbox's, please respond to that PM and/or email and we can move forward with what is needed.

Second of all, because of the news from RHM that is contained in that PM and email, we are able to give you a couple more months to work on your projects :). This is great news as it gives all of you the chance to be in RHM AND a couple more months to make sure the projects are finished. So now, the projects will be due at the August meeting. We are working on an exact date/place for the August meeting and will get that to all of you as soon as we come to a conclusion with the host. Thanks, and again, please respond to the PM and/or the email :)
 
#34
That is great news!! I will be back in the game!! I may need to give a shout out for polps, but I think I have enough to do 2 frags on each incline with 2 varieties of polps so total of 4 on each incline. More to come.
 
#35
Ok. Life got in the way a little bit. Gf b-ette weekend followed by week long stomach virus. I'll spare details, but it was a great way to kick start the spring slim down ;)

Got the frags done today. Hopefully all do well. I'll update in a couple days to confirm where I am but should have: 8 pink zippers, 4 CARs, 4 vivids, and 4 LOTRs. It's the LE science project :). I'm very confident about the zippers and cars, so at the very least I should be a go w 3 polps on each incline.

That's all for now. Please let me know if u have questions.
 
#36
Not a huge update, but we are a go this time. I have 18 frags. 8 zippers, 4 CARs, 4 LOTRs, 2 Vivid rainbows. The main experiement will be on the zippers, cars and lotrs. I think I will put one vivid on the flat and one on the 66 degree rack and see. I will at least record what the growth is and if need be, throw it out. Rather have it and not need it eh? I got a digital scale that is accurate to .tenth of a gram (huge thanks to whoever recommended the head shop ;) ). Hope that is sensitive enough. Frags will have healed for 2 weeks on Sat. and that is when I begin recording. Let the data colletion begin!

Thanks for the extension!
 
#38
F!! Two of the LOTR's came off their plugs last night! haha. I have been trying to find them, but they are so tiny. SO, since I have two vivids and two LOTRs I will use them and collect data, but it might not be useable or I will have to asterisk the findings from those two. Recording begins this weekend. I will record and photograph 1x per week, except for 2 weeks in June when I am on vacation. Unless anybody wants to come up to the mountains to babysit my tank and have a free place to stay! :)

Should I post weekly progress here, or just send it to you?
 
#40
Project is settled in and in data colletion mode. Seeing growth but no real trends yet. That is to be expected as it is pretty early days. Should I continue to post the weekly pics and data spreadsheet? Or should I just keep good record of everything and submit at the end or monthly?
 
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