Taking it slow.

Taking it slow!



 

 

I suppose one could argue I am too busy boating and such. I prefer to think of it as being cautious or purposeful. Any how, I have chosen to add corals rather than fish for now. The fish seem to have difficulty acclimating to the new environment. I guess they get stressed, then diseased. After doing some research, I found it is wise to set up a quarantine tank to help acclimate the fish and treat for disease before introducing to the main tank. YIKES! OK. Settle down. No big tank investment required. Keep it simple. A small 10 gallon tank will due.

 

 

So I added a few corals recently. A few came from Wet Pets, and a a few more from a private enthusiast I found selling corals on Craigs list. The private seller showed me his set up and tank. I have a long ways to go. He sold me some great pieces. They need to grow a lot, but they are different from the stuff I found at the fish store. He helped me with proper element ranges for fast coral growth. So now I am playing chemist. Testing and adding Calcium, Magnesium, and Sodium Carbonate. All necessary for the corals to build their stony skeletons.

 

Take a look.

 

Blue Polyp.Sorry for the color rendition.(This coral is a little more purple than blue) I'm still working on getting good quality pictures.

Birds nest coral. This one should grow to a crazy looking mess. Small Polyp Stony coral (SPS)

Hammer coral. This is a large polyp stony coral (LPS)

I moved the Duncan coral back into the display tank. I now has 4 heads. I feed it small pieces of shrimp. You can see the white mouth in the middle of the head.

The tall flat coral in the back is a stony coral and the red and green one in the front is a LPS. sorry no names. I was thinking of Pete or Fred. We will see.
 

Hawaiian Feather Duster. It is a tube worm. The worm extends the "feathers" to capture Plankton to feed.

If you compare to prior posts you will notice the growth of this coral. It is doing better with brighter lights and the increased calcium. the square mount it came on is now covered with new growth. I am hoping it will get the finger like growth to hide the square shape. I know from my diving experience that coral will cover objects and make them unrecognizable.

This is my favorite picture.
I hope you enjoyed looking.
More to come as I add to my tank.

 

Tank Water  Chemistry.

 

Salinity 1.024ppm

Ammonia 0.00 ppm

Nitrate 0.00ppm

Nitrite 0.00ppm

Phosphate 0.01 ppm

Alkalinity CaCo3 149ppm

Ph 8.27

Temperature 77.9F

Calcium Ca 400ppm

Magnesium 1200ppm

 

Yes I measure all of these. It takes about an hour to do all the testing. It looks like I am running a chemistry lab.

 



The Rat Bastard is gone.

He has been tossed into the Pit of Despair. After terrorizing the corals I finally outsmarted, out witted, and out played this stupid little guy. It is a shame it took me 3 months. It is quite humiliating  being bested by a pea brained shrimp. But persistence won over. All it took was a peanut butter jar and some bait. In case you were wondering,  I did not use peanut butter for bait. I used a piece of shrimp. The trick was to place the jar upright. Once the shrimp climbed in he could not figure how to get out. Shrimp tend to swim backward using their tail. So he was stuck in the jar. It was an easy catch after months of frustration. Good riddance.

You will notice in this picture a new fish "Dori". It is a Hippo Tang. Well Dori did not do well with the move from the local fish store. I found out the Tangs are very susceptible to catching ICH. Ich is a parasite that will eventually kill its host. I took a month, but Dori went missing last week and has not been seen since. When I noticed the Ich, I tried to catch the Tang to put it a quarantine tank for medical treatment. These little fish are smart and quick. I could not catch her, so she paid the price. RIP!

Brain coral.

I am aclimating to the new tank. Coral take a while to get accustomed to the tank lighting.

This is an early picture of this new coral, before the shrimp started eating at it. The shrimp did quite a bit of damage. Luckily I got rid of the shrimp before he ate it all.

This Red Flower Pot Coral has made a dramatic improvement after the shrimp removal.

A faithful follower (Thanks August) suggested a whole tank view. No flash used. The LED lighting is in the evening mode where it is simulating the sun going down and the transition from white light to the royal blue and dark blue spectrum. The colors are true but it does not show off the color of the corals. When scuba diving the same effect also occurs at depth. I often use a flash light to light up the corals to see the colors.

I tried to capture some of the growth and color of the coral on the left. It is a beautiful lavender color. Most of the growth is on the back side of the coral where the light is better.

Check out the Duncan Coral. It has grown two additional heads. I moved it from the refugium in to the display tank. After the move it has not fully extended as in this picture. The coral seem to be temperamental and don't like change.

Next blog. Behind the scenes and behind the wall. What makes this thing tick.

Who goes there? Friend or Foe?

Added some new inhabitants to the aquarium this week.

The Diamond Goby aka Sand Sifter. This guy is doing some major tank remodeling. He pick up the sand in his mouth and spits it out in a new location. This could be a problem as he is burying some things (coral included). I am hoping it settles in and gets happy with the way things are. You can see the Blenny in the background. He walks on the bottom and looks like something from the swamp.

I got crabs!

Check out the blue legged hermit crab.

Emerald Crab

Red Blenny

I don't know what it is! Look at the brown fuzzy ball to the left of the red coral. It is soft to the touch and has just shown upl I think it might be a sponge.

Mew soft coral. It will eventually be moved to up on the rock and glued in place. It first needs to acclimate to the light and get adjusted to the tank. Looks pretty good so far. Sponge Bob is trying to sneak into the picture.

In the Refugium!

Another large hermit crab. 3 were aded to help control the hair algae. I am noticing some red growth on the rock. I am not sure is it is coraline algae. If it is, it will encrust with calcium in a nice purple color.

The Ducan Coral is making a nice come back since I moved it to the refugium. I think the shrimp might have been picking at it. Notice to the right of the two heads, it looks like another head is forming. It must be happy. 

The Anemone is looking better since I moved it into the refugium. Another victim of Shrimp abuse.

Check out the red stuff on the rock. I don't know what it is.

More red stuff.

Emeral Crab.

Bali Green Slimer Coral. This is a small polyp stoney coral. It has a hard calcium frame and the polyps entend to filter particles (plankton and such) from the water.

An uninvited guest.

Check out the brownish small tenticle critter to the left of the tall green macro algae in the center of the picture. It will withdrawl into the rock when I probe at it. I guess I will have more research to figure if it will play nice or will meet an untimely death.

It is beginning to look like something. Maybe a reef aquarium?

Some new fish, a couple of corals, and an Anemone.

 These two are pretty cool looking. The one in the back is call a Gold Torch. The one in the front a Valida.

The clown fish likes this coral better than the Anemone. I was hoping the clowns would host the Anemone. It seems line the Anemone is having a harder time adjusting to the new enviroment.



The Anemone looks a little closed up. I don't think it has found a place it likes. I moves around a little every day.

The Macro algae in the Refugium is growing nicely. I placed several varieties hoping a few will take hold. It looks like I have at least three varieties doing well. You may also notice all the snails. They help keep the tank clean. I still have to do some cleaning, but not as much (I Think).

They're Here.

Finally I am getting some diversity to the tank.
Take a look.

Yes the fish look fuzzy. No they are not fuzzy. I have not figured out how to photograph in poor light with my basic camera. But you get the idea. I told the fish to hold still. They would not listen.

The coral is a little easier.

It stays put.

This type of coral is called a zoanthid. It seem to take a while to get acclimated.



Green star polyp



Not sure of the name yet.



It's a shrimp. There are two of them and like like to hide when the lights are on.  I caught this one when it was not looking. Ha!

 Hermit crabs and snails make up the cleanup crew. Their job is to clean, clean, and clean.

 GET TO WORK!