Sharks are not the top of the food chain!!!

Take a look at this video posted by a friend of mine on the Delaware Valley Reef Club site.

Seattle Aquairum After Hours

Hitchhikers... Very Cool!

So, I bought a very large pink birdsnest a couple weeks back.  The thing is the size of my fist, though the bottom 1/3 is most likely dead and the top is a little bleached, it has decent polyp extension.  Well, the second day I had it, I thought I noticed something moving within the branches when the lights went off.  The next day, I saw it again and sure enough, I found 2 hitchhikers. 

The first is an acro crab.  Acro crabs are harmless commensals, apparently living in harmony with their associated coral.  It is unknown what they feed on, but presumably the mucus secreted by the coral or perhaps particles trapped by the coral polyps.

The second was either a pistol shrimp or a small lobster.  The jury is still out, but I am leaning towards a pistol shrimp.  turns out it may be commensal as well, but I was concerned, so I moved him to the fuge for now.  I have not seen him since, but I think he is still in there.  He was very very small.

Phosphates, Phosphates... nowhere?

So, I have been battling hair algae as you already know, so a friend of mine came over with a Hanna Phosphate meter to get an accurate reading and to test my other parameters.  Turns out my phosphates were at .4ppm!  Not too bad. 

The problem it seems is my Alkalinity.  My dKh was at 7 and should be around 9-10.  So, I am working to get that up.  I put in an additional Phospan reactor and filled it with carbon and made some minor changes to my sump set-up. 

It looks like it is now just a waiting game.  Now that my flow is up significantly and I am getting a lot of water down to the sump and fuge, I just have to wait it out. 

Patience is key in reefkeeping and this is no exception.

I am in BIG trouble

As I mentioned previously, the deal with my wife was, quit smoking and you can get your big tank.  Well, I did quit and a month after quitting, I got my current tank. 

But, I was not able to stay "quit" and started smoking here and there around the holidays.  For any of you who have tried to quit, you know how that goes.  Just one.  Well, one a day.  Only when I am at work.  Then, before you know it, you are a smoker again. 

Worst part, I didn't tell her.  I thought I could get it under control and stop again.  I was wrong and this weekend, she confronted me.  Not much I can say here, really.  I broke my promise.  I then hid it.  I am in BIG trouble.  So, I have to really dedicate myself to quitting again before she decides to sell the tank right out from under me.  And, I wouldn't blame her, honestly.  I didn't keep up my side of the bargain.

Needless to say this wasn't a pleasant weekend.  There were a lot of "discussions" and I going to try to break this habit once and for all.  It seems ridiculous to me that something like smoking could cause so much trouble in a marriage.  Or, what I mean is, that I could let it get to that point. 

I will keep you updated.  But, for now, the tank is still around and I am trying not to smoke. 

I did get a few new things on Friday (which also added to her frustration).  I will post some pics of those and talk about my VERY cool hitchhikers as well when I get a few minutes.

Pump problem solved.

Took about 15 minutes.  Unscrew pump, remove macro algae, re-attach. Turn on.

But, I will have to get some guards on the inlets so it doesn't happen again!

More Bad Luck

This is turning into a saga...  But, am I discouraged?  NO WAY.

Late last night I went downstairs to turn off my RO/DI unit (making a new batch of salt water for my Sunday water change) and noticed both the fuge and sump were almost full-up meaning no water was pumping into the tank.  After restarting the pump several times, I realized what happened.

A large piece of green grape algae (very large) somehow got sucked over the baffle and right into the pump!!!

Who knows what I am going to do now.  I am hoping that I can open up the pump and remove the algae and it will work.  We shall see. 

The problem is that the way I have plumbed the pump, if I can not easily remove the screws, etc, I will have to cut my PVC to replace the pump and that means hours more work, not to mention having to drive to Champion Lighting this weekend to get a new pump.  For reference, the pump is a BlueLine HD70.

I will let you know what happens.

Pump running at 100% power!!!

Well, I missed the local reef club meeting on Saturday because I re-plumbed my tank.  For those following along, you know that my tank is on the first floor and I have a separate sump and fuge in the basement.  The tank has dual overflows and I was running one drain line and one return line for the tank.  Because I only had one drain line (and because of my ignorance in plumbing), the pump was only able to run 10% open.  That meant it was running about 100gph through the sump and fuge.

Well, I ran a third line, so that I have one return and each overflow has its own drain.  Wow, what a difference.  The pump is now able to run at full bore and I am getting a ton more flow.  This will help in so many ways.  I will turn over more water, so more water will be "cleaned" faster.  The increase in flow means that the coral get more "action" and the flow is strong enough through the fuge to suck some of the pods (amphipods, copepods, etc) up into the main tank to provide food for the fish.

In addition, the increase in flow will help curtail the hair algae and the cyano because the water is getting cleaned faster.

In addition, I added a second DI canister to my RO/DI unit as a back-up.  I replaced my existing DI cartridge and added a dual inline TDS meter so I can measure TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) coming out of the RO and out of the DI.

I am a little nervous about all that flow while I am away, but it ran smoothly for 48 hours now, so I will keep my fingers crossed.

New Additions Coming

Not to be dismayed, I placed an order with Blue Zoo Aquatics last week for the following:

• 1 Coco worm 
• 1 Fire Shrimp
• 2 Peppermint Shrimp
• 2 Scarlet Shrimp
• 20 Mexican Turbo snails

They are scheduled to arrive on Friday!!!  I thought the tank needed some more cool inverts and shrimp are always cool.

If I didn't have bad luck...

I wouldn't have any at all.  It has been a tough week for me and my tank.  Everyone always said that it is easier to maintain a bigger tank.  But, so far, this system has given me many more headaches than my little BioCube.

Last week I reported on the death of the baby half moon angel and my other Christmas present form my wife, a majestic angel, was getting severely harassed by the yellow tang.  The yellow tang was in the tank when I bought it used, so my plan was to get rid of it and keep the majestic.  But, alas, I got home from work on Friday and the majestic had died. 

The only thing I ever lost in the BioCube was a couple of red mushrooms and a peppermint shrimp disappeared.  So far my death toll in this tank consists of a baby half moon angel, a majestic angel and my elegance coral.

Add to that the hair algae problem I have been having.  It was overgrowing everything in the tank.  So, Saturday, my wife and I spent an hour removing hair algae by hand from all of the rock.  I would say we got about half of it because so many pieces were unreachable or too small to pull out.  (Yes, I said my wife helped.  She really enjoyed it too.  It was good bonding and the first time she has done anything with any of the fish tanks!)

I also have another problem that I hope to rectify this weekend.  As you can see from my previous posts, I had a single drain line and a single return.  I was not getting the flow I wanted through the sump and fuge, but was content because my Vortechs were providing enough flow in the main tank.  Well, I finally realized that the flow through the sump and fuge is NOT enough.  I had a guy who used to build tanks for a living come over on New Year's Eve to take a look.  Essentially, the way I have designed the plumbing, I have created multiple throttle points. 

In order to fix this, I am going to have to run another plumbing line.  Here is the plan for Saturday:

1. Run a 1 inch line of SpaFlex from the tank to the basement.
2. Disconnect both of the 1 1/2 inch lines that are currently there (1 drain, 1 return)
3. Reconnect the 1 1/2 inch lines so each one is a dedicated drain for the 2 overflows.  One will run to the sump and one will run to the fuge.
4. Connect the 1 inch line to the return pump and then tee it into the 2 returns.

At the same time, the recommendation is to drain the overflows and replace the bulkheads.  The bulkheads are currently barbed and thought I hated that, I didn't want to mess with them.  We are going to bite the bullet and replace them this weekend. 

When I am done, I will be able to run a LOT of flow through the system.  The pump is rated at 1750gph and I have it throttled back to less than 10%.  Opening it up will also help to keep the pump from overheating and burning out.

So, that is the plan for now.  I will post an update with new pictures when I am finished.