It never ceases to amaze me all the little critters that hitchhike there way into our tanks. My latest find is that I have Limpets (sounds like I have a new disease, LOL). I noticed one on the glass about a week ago, and I’ve since discovered more in my sump, so I guess they are multiplying. I don’t know where they came from as I’ve not added anything to the tank that they could have hitchhiked in on in months (I started seeing them before I added my Birthday order), so I guess they’ve been in hiding for a while. Now while this does sound exciting there is a potential downside. Some Limpets are herbivores, meaning they are beneficial algae eaters but, there are a few species which are known to munch on corals. Fortunately, these species generally attack SPS type corals which I do not have in my tank. Beyond that, I’m fairly certain I have ID’d these as one of the algae eating species. Let’s hope so anyway!

Happy Reefing!

Update!!!

I’ll start with the bad news.  The day my “Birthday” order arrived it was 16 degrees and snowing.  FedEx didn’t make it to my house until around 2:30pm which meant the box had been riding around in the back of that FedEx truck for way too long.  Although there where five heat packs in the box the water in the baggies was barely 50 degrees, OUCH! (FYI reef critters like temps closer to 80).  With the help of the whole family we went to work opening bags, and getting the critters into buckets for acclimating.  Over the course of 3-4 hours we slowly brought the temperature up to match my tank as well as matching the PH and salinity.  Amazingly, as the temperature increased some of the all-but-dead looking animals started crawling around in the bucket.  With the exception of a couple snails I think everything is going to pull through.  While most people don’t consider snails and crabs to be very exciting, I’m tickled to say that the new clean up crew has gone to work on the spots of algae I had growing and has already made a small but noticeable dent on it.  The Lawn Mower Blenny I ordered is an odd looking little fish and is still quite timid, but he too has been seen eating algae (don’t you just love fish that earn their keep).  The more exciting creatures include an awesome red Serpent Star and some very cool Ricordea corals (actually more closely related to anemones). So in the end this story has a happy ending (and a happy reefer!)

Happy Reefing!

Happy Birthday to me, LOL!

I have a tracking number for my Birthday gift certificate order. That means FedEx will be bringing me a box of critters tomorrow. Some of what I’m getting may not seem very exciting to many, snails, crabs and such, but I’m excited to re-build my clean up crew. On the “cooler” side I’m getting a red serpent star and some very cool looking Ricordea corals. I’ll be sure to get some photos up once the package arrives.

Happy Reefing!

My posts have been lacking lately for a number of reasons. For one, my computer had some problems; the type that are best fixed by re-formatting the hard drive and a clean install of Windows XP (I have tried Vista and even messed a bit with Linux, but XP will be around for a while in my house). Also, my wife has been suffering from a Deep Vein Thrombosis, which has kept me busy trying to look after the house chores (and all but failing I might add), running errands and playing nurse.

So on to more exciting news. My Birthday will be coming up in a few days and we all know what that means; presents! Oh ya, I guess I should mention I will turn 40 this Birthday, but that doesn’t bother me the way it does some people. Let’s just hope no one does anything stupid like a black themed surprise party. I’m a simple guy, no big parties here; just take me to the Smoke Box (the best BBQ restaurant anywhere on the planet) and let buy something new for the tank and I’m a happy camper. Anyway, the exciting news is I received a $200 gift certificate to SaltwaterFish.com from my parents who live on the West Coast. I’m not sure what I’m going to spend it on, but some of it will most likely go towards rebuilding my cleanup crew, and I’m in the market for a couple of new fish. My wife has been hinting around about new lights for the tank, so I may see an upgrade to T-5 lights in the not too distant future.

Not much new otherwise. I’m continuing to battle the algae and winning. The PURA media is working well and I’ve see a nice increase in polyp extension since I started using it. I’ve also been doing a few more water changes to help battle the algae and I hope that new lights will have an impact too. The cheap bulbs I’m using are looking pretty green/yellow, the spectrum that tends to grow algae well.

Happy Reefing!

Hello! It’s been way too long since my last post. Things have been a bit crazy. First came the holidays (not to mention my Brother-in-laws birthday which falls between Christmas and New Year), and second is the buying and selling of houses. If you’ve read my bio you may remember my wife and I own a small real estate investment firm (www.apexpropertieskc.com if you’re interested). With the holidays and the current housing market/economy things had been very slow. I glad to report that just after the first of the year things are starting to pick back up.

Anyway, back to things reef related. The tank is doing pretty well. I’ve been fighting some algae so I’m trying a new product called PURA Complete. It’s actually not totally new to me, I’ve used the PURA brand filter pads before and really liked them. This product is the same chemical filtration media used in the pads, but run passively in a mesh bag in my sump. It’s a mix of granulated ferric hydroxide (commonly called GFO or GFH) for phosphate control, some high grade carbon and zeo-sorbent that will remove urine, phenols, coloring agents, odors; even heavy metals like copper, lead, and mercury. I don’t ever have any “detectable” levels of phosphate in my system, but the growth of algae indicates that it’s just “bound-up” in the algae. I’ve used various GFO’s and carbon separately before, but I was pleased with the PURA pads I used in the past so I thought give this “all-in-one” product a try. It’s early days still, but I think the algae is already starting to recede a little.

I’ve been working on a short article for another website called saltwater-aquarium-online-guide.com for a few days now. Hopefully it will be published soon and I can share it you, so check back in a day or two for that.

Until then….

Happy Reefing!

This is a repost of an article I wrote that was featured on a website that focuses mainly on freshwater planted tanks called guitarfish.org; hope you enjoy.

AQUASCAPING 101

My general thoughts on aquascaping are pretty simple and can be summed up in two general categories.  First, less is more.  Second, keep it natural.

Let’s take a more in depth look at these concepts.  First, keeping it natural is pretty cut and dry.  I like for my tanks to mimic the natural environment of their inhabitants.  To each his own I suppose, but you will never find a cheesy sunken ship, Chinese pagoda or no fishing sign in any of my tanks.  Beyond that, in reef aquaria it’s important to use items made of materials naturally found on the reef or in the ocean.  Other materials often have compounds in them that can cause problems or even kill livestock.

For many years in the reef hobby it was believed that you needed 1 ½ – 2 pounds of live rock per gallon of tank size.  If you were going to cram that much rock into most tanks you didn’t have many options on how you could do it.  The generally accepted approach was to build a strong base of larger rocks on the bottom with smaller rocks on top.  In most cases what you ended up with was a solid wall of rocks across the entire width of the aquarium.

Since the rock work was often leaned against the back pane of the tank, this created a sloped look.  It didn’t yield an especially natural look, and especially once you started to place corals on it, it become what I’ve best heard described as “the fruit stand look”.  These days it’s been found that adequate biological filtration can be achieved using far less rock, giving much greater options on how it can be arranged.

As an example my 125-gallon reef tank has no more than 90 pounds of live rock in it, and maintains undetectable levels of the “bad” stuff. Live rock selection is an entire topic of its own so I won’t get too involved with that here, but I would like to point out that light, very porous rock is the key in using a smaller amount.

There are some different approaches to preparing the tank before you start aquascaping depending on whether you have a substrate or a bare bottom, you want to use rock lifts, etc.  I view these more as a choice of husbandry styles; so again, I’m not going to discuss them in depth here.  For what it’s worth, I personally choose a moderately deep bed of fine sand and no type of rock lifts or supports in my own tanks.

So, here is what I view as the benefits of this approach.  First and most simply, I think using less rock looks better and more natural in most cases.  It allows for more natural placement of corals and other livestock, and allows more swimming area for fish.  When placing and arranging rock work in the tank, I look for three things.

1. Does it look aesthetically pleasing?
2. Is it open, leaving as much space as possible?
3. Is it secure?

OK, so item one is pretty straightforward.  When you look at the tank does the rockwork look natural and pleasing to your eye?  One thing I find really helpful when setting up a tank is to look at lots of pictures of other tanks or even pictures of natural reefs.  Save the ones that you think look nice so that you can identify a general trend of what you seem to like. Some people may actually like the “fruit stand” look; others may like the look of a trench, while still others may want to try to create a biotope that recreates a specific part of the reef.

I find that randomness often helps achieve the goal of looking natural.  Use a variety of sizes and shapes of rock. Also create as many open caves and nooks between the rocks as possible (this also tends to make a more natural environment for fish and other animals).  Try to avoid horizontal or vertical lines.  Nature seldom runs in straight lines.  Horizontal “shelves” or “bridges” are a pet peeve of mine.  Under the right circumstances they can look cool.  More often than not they end up looking unnatural, especial if used to display corals as if they were in a store for sale.  Randomness is also important when placing corals.  Varying the amount of space between specimens tends to yield a more natural look.

Item two, keeping it open.  Some of this goes back to looking natural.  Natural reefs are made up of areas of rock densely populated by corals and other animals but also areas of open water and sand (one reason I choose to employ a sand substrate in my tanks).  Beyond that though I try to make sure my rock work is open so as to not create places where detritus and other things can get caught and build up.  This depends also on having an adequate amount of, and properly placed, flow, but in general keeping rock work as open as possible will keep “gunk” suspended in the water column longer giving it a better chance of being filtered out.  Fish also seem to like the open rock work.  I love to watch my fish zip around the tank, darting in and out of the various caves and nooks and crannies in the rocks.

Lastly is the matter of security.  One of the problems in the “olden days” of trying to get huge amounts of rock stacked in a tank, were the inevitable rock slides.  At best they caused a few scratches on the glass (or acrylic), and at worst a cracked and/or leaking tank!  It’s much easier to stack a smaller amount of rock securely.  Personally, I choose to fit my rocks together like a puzzle, placing them in such a way that they support each other securely without the need for additional supports.

Sometimes this means making some minor modifications with a hammer and chisel.  Some people choose to epoxy rocks together, but I don’t especially like to turn them into large unwieldy chunks.  Another method, which I do like and works well, is to drill holes in the rocks and “string” them together so they are less likely to topple.  I’ve seen this done with acrylic rod, but the most ingenious (and cost effective) method I’ve seen is to use those white PVC driveway reflectors (minus the reflector of course).  One nice thing about this method (especially in a larger tank) is the ability to create interesting freestanding (i.e. not requiring support against the back of the tank) areas of rock work.

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  So to sum up I offer this shot (top of post) of my 125-gallon reef.  The tank has only been setup for a few months so it’s far from a finished product, but it does a fairly good job of illustrating my thoughts about aquascaping.