Equipment

Now is as good of a time as any to list what is keeping my tank's inhabitants alive. Here is the list in no particular order.

72 gallon bowfront all-glass aquarium with stand.
48" Odyssea 260 Watt Power Compact Light from the Fishman on eBay.
40 pounds of live rock. Will add more later.
60 pounds of Caribsea live sand.
1 Emperor 400 filter.
1 Emperor 280 filter.
1 AquaC Remora protein skimmer (used from Ebay).
1 Maxijet 1200 powerhead for protein skimmer (purchased new).
1 AquaC preskimmer/ bubble eliminator for the Maxijet 1200.
1 250W Marineland Stealth heater.
Instant Ocean Salt.
100 GPD Reverse Osmosis + dual DI canisters from Pure Water Club.

The preskimmer is somewhat of a pain. It is very sensitive to changes in water level and it seems like I am always adjusting the height. Also, a Green Chromis swam into it once. As soon as I turned off the pump he swam right back out. Do you think that maybe he saw Finding Nemo?

More Livestock

I had planned on going to the Morton Arboretum today to take some fall foliage pictures with our Canon XTi. However, the morning was cloudy and the forecast called for rain so I put those plans on hold. I suggested we head into the city to visit the Shedd Aquarium but my daughter turned her nose up at that idea since we were just there (in January). So, I decided that it was time to add more livestock to my tank and off we went to Beyond the Reef in Schaumburg, IL. Let me tell you, Beyond the Reef is a really nice LFS. All they stock is saltwater fish, corals and supplies. We probably spent an hour there admiring their wares. My daughter even said, and this is a quote, "Why should we pay to go downtown to the aquarium when we can come here for free."

We bought a Royal Gramma and an Emerald Crab. I bought the Royal Gramma because it is simply a beautiful fish. The emerald crab, well it's anything but beautiful. It's green and it's legs are as hairy as a french woman's. I bought the crab because rumor has it that it will eat bubble algae. I have some that hitchhiked into my tank on two pieces of live rock.

The tank seems to be doing great. The snails have eaten most of the non coralline algae off of my live rock and glass. These guys really work hard. Check out this picture of my glass. It is completely covered with snail bites.

The colors of the rock seem to be more vibrant now. I have some desirable looking macro algae mainly growing on one rock. This rock also has a lot of red coralline plate algae growing on it.
The only thing I'm not happy about is my peppermint shrimp. I haven't seen either of them for about a week. I can only assume at this point that they are no more. Edit: My son spotted one of them just as I was typing this. Weird.

I have two worm hitchhikers in this tank that I've seen. One is a small Christmas Tree Worm.

I've read that they are really not recommended for aquariums so we'll see how it does. It is really cool to see how quickly it can retract into its tube. If you want to see how quickly they can retract check out this video on YouTube.

I also have spotted what I think is a Spionid worm. It basically lives in a tube in an empty shell. It literally reels out two sticky antennae, sometimes one at a time, and snags the sand. It then reels the antennae back in and eats whatever plankton it happened to get. The shell eventually fills up with the sand that it reels in. Here is a picture of it. If you look closely you can seen an antenna sticking out of the white tube in the shell.

I can't wait to add to this tank. I would like to get a yellow tang, a six line wrasse, and one or two cleaner shrimp. I would also like to add some soft corals so I better not add too many more fish.

If at first you don't succeed...

Still in "pain" over the loss of the Green Chromis I took a water sample to Exotic Aquatics, my local fish store (LFS). Everything tested perfectly. Ammonia - zip, nitrite - nil, nitrate - goose eggs, pH - a perfect 8.2, phosphate - not a trace. My water conditions were described as perfect. Must've been a fluke. Perhaps he was attacked in the middle of the night by some unknown creature that lurks in the shadows of my tank. So I decided to replace my Green Chromis. He is in his bag acclimating to his new home as I type. I hope this one decides to live longer than a day or two.

Death

Well, it was inevitable. I've lost my first fish. A Green Chromis has perished. I couldn't find it this morning when I turned on the lights. When I came home from work I found it on the sand in the back of the live rock. It's gills barely beating. When I moved the rock it swam out. However, since it was swimming in a style resembling somersaults I knew its minutes were numbered. I knew it wouldn't recover. The only thing left to do was sacrifice it to the porcelain god and hope that with this sacrifice the rest of the fish would be spared. At least this was only an $8 fish. This is why you start with the cheap fish. Yes, all of you fresh water enthusiasts 8 bucks is as cheap as it gets. I did measure ammonia and nitrites. The ammonia is somewhere between 0 and .1 mg/l. It's so hard to read the color. Nitrite is at 0 mg/l. Good bye Green Chromis. We loved you.

Couldn't resist adding more

Yesterday (day 7) I couldn't resist expanding the reef. Ammonia and nitrate measured zero so I figured what the hell. I always loved the green chromis so I bought three of them. They like to school so they are more comfortable in groups. They are a lovely fish. In the back of the tank they look green while in the front they appear blue. Their color always seems to change based on the way the light reflects off of them.

I also purchased ten more hermit crabs and ten more snails. Even though I only paid for ten of each the guy at Exotic Aquatics gave me about 20 or 25 crabs and about 15 snails. He also gave me an assortment of empty shells for the entrepreneuring crab that wants to move on up to a bigger shell.

One of the empty shells didn't turn out to be empty at all. It was home to what I think is a Christmas Tree Worm.

There was also a tiny Brittle Star hitchhiker no bigger than the the diameter of a pencil eraser from tip to tip in the bag of water. My youngest son spotted it and saved from what would've been a ride down the drain. We released him into the tank and he drifted until he, or she, was able to grab a rock. It then disappeared. I doubt we will ever see it again.

Today is day eight. Green algae is now starting to grow all over the glass. The brown algae seems to be slowing down but that may be due to the crabs turning over the live sand and the snails eating it off of the live rock.

Crabs, Snails and Hernias Oh My!

Last Friday, day five, I added ten small blue legged hermits, one large red hermit and five snails to the tank. The red crab, who my boys call Mr. Crabs in honor of Sponge Bob's miser boss, pretty much sits around and does nothing. The blue crabs and snails are always hard at work cleaning the tank. The snails are quite effective at removing the brown algae that has started to grow on the live rock.

Yesterday I prepared for a water change by making a new batch of salt water. Somehow I must've lifted a bucket wrong because a short time later I noticed I had a hernia. That's just fantastic. I didn't feel a thing when it happened so I don't know for sure if that's what casued it. However, the bucket was the only thing I lifted in the last 24 hours. So now my new found hobby, my new obsession, is going to require me to go under the scalpal. Everyone talks about how expensive this hobby is. Has anyone factored in the cost of surgery? Looking on the bright side, at least my deductable is paid off.

Yesterday, on day six, I measured ammonia and nitrite levels. Ammonia is at 0. Nitrite is at .1 ppm.

Today, day seven, I noticed some small patches of red algae growing on the sand bed in the middle of the brown.

Brown Algae

This is day four. This morning one of my clown fish looked like it was close to death. It was plastered flat against my skimmer's overflow box and was barely moving. When I reached in for it, it swam away like nothing was ever wrong. Weird.

Also, when I turned the lights on this morning I spied numerous "bugs." Some were crawling. Some were swimming. I even spotted a tiny snail scooting across the sand bed. It appears that the tank really comes alive in the dark.

When I came home from work this evening I found my formerly pristine white sand bed to be brown in large spots. The brown algae bloom has begun. Not a sign of it this morning at all. Now I have large patches of it on the sand. I can also see that my live rock is starting to turn brown in spots too.

I haven't seen either of my two peppermint shrimp now for 24 hours. My youngest son loves shrimp and wanted to name them fried and popcorn. Should I worry? Wait. I just saw one.