Carbon Dosing

Back to work today... I decided to conservatively begin carbon dosing, using distilled white vinegar as the organic carbon source, to reduce phosphates and improve the health of the sps corals.

The dose I started with is 0.8ml/25gal. x 18gal. = 0.6ml per day. I'm adding it at the same time as the usual alkalinity supplement to hopefully reduce pH swings.

Zoanthids

Here are some photos of our zoanthids.  All of them are from Florida.  Except for the yellow "paly's" that I collected last week, these were purchased from sealifeinc.net. 

Happy Fathers Day!

Spring Cleaning

I finally got tired of looking at the hair algae growing up from the bottom of the birdsnest coral at the top of the tank... so I pulled it off and cleaned it as best I could.  It is now resting on the sand bed, and hopefully the algae will rest in peace!

Of course, I had to replace it with something!  I picked up a good size gold and green Acropora frag from Chris' store, and while I was there noticed a great deal on a red, tabling Acropora frag, so...

Here they are photoadapting on the bottom of the aquarium.  Decent photos from Ryan of the corals in their final position coming soon!

The hermit crab seems very interested!

New Coral Update

Last weekend I picked up this branching torch coral (Euphyllia glabrescens) from Einstein Aquatics.  I attached it to a piece of coral rubble, and it seems pretty happy in the back of the tank.  (I'm sure that Ryan will be glad to know that I am putting the random rocks I drag home from vacation to good use!)

Hopefully Big Girl will decide to hang out here, instead of the pump outlet she is currently using as her home...

Finally, a good photo!

Ryan has been taking a photography class, and last week turned her skills on the aquarium.  She was a more talented photographer to begin with, and pretty soon it will be ridiculous.  She took this without a flash or anything.  Anyway, I was lucky enough to get a copy of this shot of the two Montipora capricornis corals.  Enjoy!

For comparison, here is an older photo from August 2009.  You can see they have grown pretty well since then.  I even broke a decent piece off of the orange colony since then!

I did a little tank maintenance last night, such as cleaning the circulation pumps and pulling out some of the hair algae (bryopsis) so here are some new (and hopefully improved) photos.  I also started dosing amino acids for the corals today, in lieu of feeding them as regularly.  The idea is that the amount of nutrients in the water will decrease while the health, color, etc. of the corals will improve.  This concept is the brainchild of Chris at Einstein Aquatics.  There should be noticeable changes in coral colors in a couple of months, so it will be interesting to look back at these photos then. 

Front:

Side.  Note that I brought the Hill acan up from downstairs.  It does not look very good.

The tuxedo urchin has started camouflaging itself with random objects from the bottom of the aquarium:

Updated Tank Shots

Here are some updated tank shots from today... 

There is a new member of the "clean-up crew"; it is a small tuxedo urchin.

Update!

Well,  it has been a long time since I posted anything so an update is more than overdue.  We have had a long battle with bryopsis and then cyanobacteria, but I'm cautiously optimistic that it is over.  If I take any reefkeeping lesson from that process, it is that shortcuts don't work- patience is the best approach to any challenges...

Here is a frontal photo of the aquarium: 

 

Here are the three fish...  Yes, three, Little Boy is no longer with us; he died from a swim bladder disorder a couple months ago, unfortunately.  Big Girl seems to miss him, or at least miss bossing him around!  You can also see a brand new frag in the middle of this photo...

This is a photo of the frag with the aquarium lights on.  It is a Turbinaria spp. coral that I was unable to resist (at 30% off) when I picked up some supplies from the fish store.  Einstein Aquatics was having an 2nd Anniversary Sale.  Congratulations Chris!

 

This is the same coral with the lights off.  The polyps are really extended and looking cool; I hope they'll start looking like this during the "day" as well.

The blue-green Acropora coral  has started to grow extensions from its branches, and it has also gotten bluer...  I hope this is a good thing.  The photo below is from November of last year. 

  

     

Trip to the GA Aquarium

Evie and I just had a Father-Daughter weekend.  This may sound a little off-topic, but the highlight was a visit to the Georgia Aquarium.  I was hoping she would enjoy it as much as she did last time, and her expression as we were waiting in line gave me some hope!

The first view we had was the Jack Crevalle exhibit, where the jacks swim around and around on either side of the aquarium entrance.

The next stop was the Pacific Sea Nettles (jellyfish).  This is the one display where the creatures swam slowly enough for me to photograph with my camera phone!  (No iPhone here...)

Evie seemed to enjoy watching the jellies float by (they were somehow floating in a loop from top to bottom) but was not overly impressed.
















The next stop was the highlight of the trip- the Pacific Reef Slope.  We spent a lot of time watching the reef fish (and a couple of blacktip sharks) swim by.  This display earned a good number of claps and excited yells!

Here is a video of Evie enjoying the fish swimming by:




Of course, we visited the famous Whale Shark exhibit on the way out.  It was interesting, but not too exciting- where did all of those colorful fish go?

At the end of the afternoon, there was one tired baby (and Daddy!)  We hope to come back soon.

New Coral

I picked up a bright pink Porites coral frag over the weekend.  It cost more than $5, but it didn't cost $20, but still... don't tell Dave Ramsey.

Here is a photo of the new coral:

 And a random photo of Big Girl and Little Boy swimming in formation.   :)

Coral growth update

As I mentioned earlier, the Acropora corals are looking especially good since we left them in Chris and Emily's care.  :)

Here are some recent photos of the yellow $5 frag, and green just-a-little-more-than $5 frag.  Looking back, the green coral has grown radially very visibly whereas the yellow one has only encrusted, but substantially, since July.  I think it is about to branch; look at the lower right side of the colony where the corallites are extending noticably from the face of the colony.  I still have no idea what the common or species names of these corals are, although I saw a similar yellow frag at a store in Orlando a couple months ago.  Please post a comment if you have an idea...

    

Here is the same area again from the side.  The area that is hopefully about to branch is more visible from this angle:

 

This is the same area in July.  You can barely notice the yellow Acropora, and its color is much more muted.

 

 

I don't think that  a photo of this Montipora digitata frag has been posted before.  It was such a pathetic little nub originally, stuck in the back of the aquarium, that I doubt I had any desire to publicize it...  It has encrusted on the rock pretty well now, is starting to form 4+ new branches.  I'll post another photo once it grows out some more.

 

Aquacultured Coral Spawning

The below link has a description and videos of aquacultured Staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) corals spawning at Molasses Reef in the Florida Keys.  These colonies were originally started by the Coral Restoration Foundation at their undersea nursery as small fragments in either the spring of 2005 or the spring  of 2006, and were transplanted to their current location at Molasses Reef in the summer of 2007.

http://www.coralrestoration.org/CRF/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12:articlespawningcorals&catid=4:categorynewsreefblog&Itemid=13

This is a great success story!