Feeding, and testing

Feeding:

• 3 drops of LiquidLife's MarinePlankton (made with Cyclop-eeze)
• 1/2cap of DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton
• ~1/10th tsp DT's Natural Reef Diet (Oyster Eggs)
• 1 "feeder fish" by California All Natural Pet Foods
• A pinch of Aquatrol Spirulina 20 flakes

Testing:

• Temperature = 78.9F
• SG = 1.0255 (unadjusted for temp) (NSW = ~ 1.026, ranging 1.022 -1.035 depending on the "sea") - often aquarists keep it 1.023

Additional dosing

Dosed:

• Kent Tech*CB (A) - 1 capful
• Kent Tech*CB (B) - 1 capful

New lighting schedule

Upped the Actinic "mid-day" lights by 1 hour.

New schedule:

• 0600-2100: "Daytime" 2 x 36w 10K/7.1K Combo PCs (72w total)
• 1100-1600: "Mid-day" 36w Blue Actinic PC, and T-5 (10W) Actinic Blue (46w total)
• 2100-0600: "Nighttime/Refugium" 9w Blue Actinic PC, and 9w Daylight PC (18w total

Will increase the "mid-day" lights by 1 hour a week until they are about 6-8 hours.

Replaced Poly Filter

Pulled out the old one and put the remainder of 4x8 Poly-Bio-Marine's Poly FilterInstallation that was cut to 4x4.

Increased dosing, and mushrooms-a-plenty

Dosed:

• Kent Tech*CB (A) - 1 capful
• Kent Tech*CB (B) - 1 capfulT

There are now 11 green hairy mushrooms (Order Corallimorpharia) and two more just split.

Testing shows low Ca & Alk, and higher pH

Using Salifert Profi Tests:

• Temperature = 78.7F
• SG = 1.026 (unadjusted for temp) (NSW = ~ 1.026, ranging 1.022 -1.035 depending on the "sea") - often aquarists keep it 1.023
• KH = 6.4, Alk = 2.29 Meq/L (NSW = 8 KH and 2.9 Meq/L)
• Iodide = ~0.1 ppm (NSW = 0.02-0.03 ppm)
• Iodate & Iodine = ~0.0 (NSW = 0.03-0.04)
• Calcium = 355 ppm (NSW = 400-425 ppm)
• pH = 8.3 (NSW = 8.1)
• Nitrate = 0.0 ppm as Nitrate Ion (NO3 Ion)

The Ca and Alk was too low, possibly contributing to the pH being a bit high.

I performed a 32oz Freshwater change to lower the SG.

I dosed:

• Kent Tech*CB (A) - 1 capful
• Kent Tech*CB (B) - 1 capful

Tomorrow morning is the normal dosing day and I'll again add 1 capful.

I feed them two pinches of Aquatrol Spirulina 20 flakes.

The Starfish has died!

I bought the Sand Sifting Star (Astropecten polycanthus) back on 4/16/05 so its been 13 months. I was concerned yesterday when it was lying upside down and didn't seem to make much progress moving all evening.

I netted it out and it was only slightly deteriorated so I expect it didn't have an impact on the tank. Either way, I should check my water quality.

Water change

Water change:

• 2.5 Gal
• Used the Aqua Medic Reef Tweezers to remove a great deal of various smaller macro algeathat proved difficult to remove otherwise

New lighting schedule, and pictures

Upped the Actinic "mid-day" lights by 1 hour. New schedule:

• 0600-2100: "Daytime" 2 x 36w 10K/7.1K Combo PCs (72w total)
• 1100-1500: "Mid-day" 36w Blue Actinic PC, and T-5 (10W) Actinic Blue (46w total)
• 2100-0600: "Nighttime/Refugium" 9w Blue Actinic PC, and 9w Daylight PC (18w total)

Will increase the "mid-day" lights by 1 hour a week until they are about 6-8 hours.

Banded Brittle Stars (Asterina spp.?):

Bristle worm:

Updated February 06's postings with pictures, and enhanced comments.

Updated January 06's postings with pictures, and enhanced comments.

Feeding

Feeding:

• 3 drops of LiquidLife's MarinePlankton (made with Cyclop-eeze)
• 1/2cap of DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton
• ~1/10th tsp DT's Natural Reef Diet (Oyster Eggs)
• 1 "feeder fish" by California All Natural Pet Foods & 1 cube of Mysis shrimp - they were eating slowly towards the middle of the amount, so I discarded the last 1/4.

I used the turkey baster to put some of the macro food right into the Blastomussa wellsi colony . Once they "close" around the food, it noticed one of the "babies" is quite large now, almost as large as the smallest of the original polups. Since the "Salvadore Dali" Blasto frag is still wedged by the original colony but I was unable to determine if any of the tissue remains.

Water change, and observations

Water change:

• 2Gal
• Used the Aqua Medic Reef Tweezers to remove a great deal of various smaller macro algeathat proved difficult to remove otherwise.
• Removed about 1/2cup of Brown Kelp.

Observations:

• Saw the Stomatella Snail a day ago but the camera battery was dead so I couldn't get a shot.
• The temperature inside the hood, inside the splashguard, is measured at 116F. That's with 1 original fan, and the ICA fan both running at 9V. Sample taken 8pm with the 2 "Normal day" lights on.

Return to normal dosing regiment

Dosing:

• Kent Tech*CB (A) - 1/2 capful
• Kent Tech*CB (B) - 1/2 capful
• Lugol's Solution (Iodine) - 1 drop

Feeding, and lighting schedule changes

Feeding:

• 1 "feeder fish" by California All Natural Pet Foods
• 1 drop of LiquidLife's MarinePlankton (made with Cyclop-eeze)
• 1/2 cap-fulls of DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton
• ~1/10th tsp DT's Natural Reef Diet (Oyster Eggs)

Upped the Actinic "mid-day" lights by 1 hour. New schedule:

• 0600-2100: "Daytime" 2 x 36w 10K/7.1K Combo PCs (72w total)
• 1100-1400: "Mid-day" 36w Blue Actinic PC, and T-5 (10W) Actinic Blue (46w total
• 2100-0600: "Nighttime/Refugium" 9w Blue Actinic PC, and 9w Daylight PC (18w total

Will increase the "mid-day" lights by 1 hour a week until they are about 6-8 hours.

Water change & maintenance, and feedings

Water change:

• 3.5Gal
• 32oz FW replacement (to lower salinity) Post SG = 1.0245 - no more adjustments necessary
• Used the Aqua Medic Reef Tweezers to remove a great deal of various smaller macro algea (~1/2 cup) that proved difficult to remove otherwise.

Feeding:

• 3 drops of LiquidLife's MarinePlankton (made with Cyclop-eeze)
• 1 tsp of DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton
• ~1/10th tsp DT's Natural Reef Diet (Oyster Eggs)
• 1 "feeder fish" by California All Natural Pet Foods & 1 cube of Mysis shrimp - they were eating slowly towards the middle of the amount, so I discarded the last 1/4. The normal bi-weekly feeding will be reduced to just 1 cube/feeder fish.

I used the turkey baster to put some of the macro food right into the Blastomussa wellsi colony . Once they "close" around the food, it was easy to see that there are 7 children around the base. I've noticed some before but now I have a good count.

Since the "Salvadore Dali" Blasto incident had resolved itself, I noticied the other day that the dropped frag still had a live piece of coral on it. I moved it up and wedged it (hopefully) by the original colony.

New lighting schedule

Upped the Actinic "mid-day" lights by 1 hour. New schedule:

• 0600-2100: "Daytime" 2 x 36w 10K/7.1K Combo PCs (72w total)
• 1200-1400: "Mid-day" 36w Blue Actinic PC, and T-5 (10W) Actinic Blue (46w total)
• 2100-0600: "Nighttime/Refugium" 9w Blue Actinic PC, and 9w Daylight PC (18w total)

Will increase the "mid-day" lights by 1 hour a week until they are about 6-8 hours.

Dosing

Dosing:

• Kent Tech*CB (A) - 1 capful (more than normal)
• Kent Tech*CB (B) - 1 capful (more than normal)
• Lugol's Solution (Iodine) - none

Feeding, and pictures

Feeding:

• 1 1/2 "feeder fish" by California All Natural Pet Foods
• 1 drop of LiquidLife's MarinePlankton (made with Cyclop-eeze)
• 1/2 cap-fulls of DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton
• ~1/10th tsp DT's Natural Reef Diet (Oyster Eggs)

Blastomussa wellsi colony with children - collage:

Testing, and Dosing

Testing using Salifert Profi Tests:

• Temperature = 78F
• KH = 7.2, Alk = 2.57 Meq/L (NSW = 8 KH and 2.9 Meq/L)
• Iodide = ~0.08 ppm (NSW = 0.02-0.03 ppm)
• Iodate & Iodine ~0.0 ppm (NSW = 0.03-0.04)
• Calcium = 350 ppm (NSW = 400-425 ppm)

Alk and Ca are both low, so I did an extra dosing tonight. Still not sure why Iodide shows high, and Iodate & Iodine show very low.

Dosing:

• Kent Tech*CB (A) - 1 capful (more than normal)
• Kent Tech*CB (B) - 1 capful (more than normal)
• Lugol's Solution (Iodine) - none

Mystery "Nudibranch" is something else..., and further comments on the installation

The members over at www.nano-reef.com quickly identified that animal as a Stomatella Snail, which apparently is a great addition to my reef tank. What really seemed similar is many of the pictures I Googled show the same light/dark dashed thin rim around the edge of the shell.

Chris from www.nanocustoms.com replied back to me and explained that the 78W TEC included in the ICA could be run at a ful 12V/5A but they recommended 8.4V/2.5A to keep the heatsink below 105F. Unfortunately he didn't know the specs on the original JBJ blue LEDs.