Interference

This morning I decided to move my leather. It had been continuously rubbing up against my monti cap. The bottom of the cap was looking dark where it was being rubbed.



I never observed any permanent damage caused by the leather rubbing up against the cap. I just didn't like the way it looked and I felt that growth was being restricted. The leather was also starting to shade my frogspawn. The frogspawn was sending out sweeper tentacles that on occasion reached the leather. This was another indicator that it was time to move it. It's now on the sandbed under my green slimer and next to my colt. I'm not sure if this is an ideal location but it is the best location I have for it right now.

The leather had grown so that it was adhering slightly to a second rock. I needed to perform some delicate surgery to cut some flesh from the second rock. I'll be curious to see if a new leather develops from hat rock.

BTA Split

One of my two BTAs split again last night. I consider this the original mother because after it split the first time this was the larger of the two.

When I came home from work yesterday I noticed a hole in the anemone. The live rock was clearly visible through the hole.



It appears that it split on one side of the mouth first starting within the anemone. It didn't split starting from the edge as I imagined it would. At the time I took this picture it hadn't even started splitting on the other side of the mouth. It looks like it split on one side first and then the other.

I couldn't stay up and watch the whole thing. When I woke up the split had completed.





The anemone split right through the center of its mouth. The remnants of the mouth are clearly visible in the pictures above. The other half was hiding behind the rock and was barely visible.

When I came home from work both halves had moved behind the rock but were still somewhat visible.

Sweeper Tentacles

Both my frogspawn and leather are growing. It seems as if my frogspawn knows the leather is there. It is putting out sweeper tentacles on the side closest the frogspawn . On occasion thay have extended out far enough to sting the leather. How does it know its there? It has never put out sweepers before this week. Does it sense the reduced light due to the proximity of the leather? Perhaps it could just smell it. I've heard of the chemical warfare between corals. So far it has been simply cold war in my tank.

Flatworms

I discovered some planaria flatworms in my tank. They are only on two corals that are right next to each other. I haven't seen them on any live rock anywhere.





I pulled the mushrooms and the candy cane out of the tank, swirled them in tank water, brushed them off and put them back in. I ended up with a lot of flatworms in the container but I certainly didn't get all of them off.



I decided against using Flatworm eXit for now. I'd rather keep chemicles out of the tank. When the flatworms die they can become quite toxic. I'll probably purchase some and use it to dip the affected corals and new corals outside of the tank. In the meantime I purchased a spotted mandarin. I'm hoping he will develop an appetite for them. It's been a couple of days and so far it doesn't look like he is touching them.



This guy looks pretty skinny. I didn't realize how emaciated it was when I bought it. I hope he finds enough pods in the tank. I have an upward climb with him.

Tooth Coral Under Actinics

I Want To Pump You Up

About a month and a half ago I upgraded my return pump to an Eheim 1262. I had been using two 802 power heads for return pumps from my sump. The flow with the powerheads seemed decent enough. However, it was not enough to sweep all the bubbles out of my overflow tube. This was especially true when algae started growing in there. On a few occasions enough air accumulated in the tube to severely reduce the flow. This would result in the level in my tank rising to counteract the reduced flow. There were two or three times when the center brace of my tank ended up underwater.

It seems somewhat counter-intuitive but increasing the capacity of your pump actually reduces the probability of an overflow disaster. The new pump is powerful enough that small bubbles are swept out of the overflow tube. Since getting this pump I have yet to see even a small bubble at the top pf the tube. I no longer have to worry about an overflow occurring through this mechanism.

The pump, although expensive, is great. It is extremely quiet. I simply cannot hear it run. All I here is the relaxing sound of water flowing through my system.

Meet My New Frags

After a bad week at work I decided I deserved to reward myself with a little gift. Well, actually nine little gifts. Meet the new frags:

Multi Color Millepora


Blue Polyp Stylophora (Cat's Paw)


Either an Echinata or Tenuis


Wicked Tri Color



Forest Fire Digitata


Tri Color Plana


Kiwi Strawberry


Red Planet


Blue Vermiculata



I bought these from Madfrags Online. I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Justin was extremely helpful and even emailed me to see how the frags were acclimating to my tank. I had been looking for some colorful frags at my LFSs but I couldn't find anything that really stood out and was at a fair price. He has some really nice pieces available and he has them priced very fairly in my opinion. Some of these frags he even through in for free. I'll definitely purchase frags through him again.

I spent this morning arranging my tank to accommodate all the new frags. I added a few pieces of dry rock that I had left over in the process. At the rate coraline has been growing in my tank again it won't be long before these bleached rocks are nice and pink. Here is how the tank looks now.



I was running out of holes in my LR for the frag plugs. I discovered that the plug breaks off the disc easily if I hold the disc in a pair of pliers and snap the plug off with another pair of pliers. The disc can then be epoxied to any rock with reef epoxy putty. Yeah, I'm relatively new to this.