Random Coral Pics

After another arduous water change, I decided to relax and snap a few shots with my Canon Rebel XTi. I turned off the main pump and the Vortech pumps. It was interesting seeing gas bubbles streaming up from the crusty brown algae called (I forgot its name, it just looks like caca, anyway).

Here are some Candy Cane corals and some palythoas.

My blue tuxedo urchin likes to peel off some of that brown, crusty algae for camouflage. The green Sinularia is coming along fine. The yellow parazoanthids have been there since I started the hobby.

These orange Bam! Bam! zoanthids died off until I had 2 left. Now, they're recovering fully (because of my good husbandry!). The rock takes a tumble every once in a while since I haven't glued it down.

Coral Attack!

I looked through my recently cleaned acrylic walls today and found this activity going on.

The Echinophyllia sp. or "chalice coral" on the right is attacking one of my prized Aussie acans on the left. They've both been glued down in place for several months, so I'm not about to go in there and separate them.

Here's a close up of the threads being sent out from the chalice coral. Why is it that my pretty ones have to get zapped?! I guess in the coral world, they must be saying to each other: "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful"!

Fish Papier-mâché

My sister came by for a week's visit (and now the main fish tank hasn't had its water changed in about 3 weeks!!!). We spontaneously decided to make some fish Papier-mâché (does the beer bottle in the background give you a clue as to why we did this?). The bodies are made out of balloons which have been wrapped with the sticky strips of newspaper and I use tape to attach the manila folder fins.

Here they are drying in the Santa Ana Winds.

I was amazed at how that gooey substance solidified after a day in the sun.

Someday, I'll get around to painting them. For now, they're back in the garage.

Fish Closet

One of the essential items for the reef keeping tank is a Fish Closet. This is where you keep your testing kits, aquarium scrapers & sponges, excess tubing, left over egg crate, acrylic rods, fish foods, dosing chemicals (Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, etc.), carbon, sump sponges, replacement pumps, refractometer, various tubing, digital thermometer, extra pH meter, plastic bags for fish, various containers for coral transport, towels and more towels for avoiding any oceanic spills and other materials you somehow inherit. (Water changing 5 gallon buckets, pumps and sump sponges are stored in the garage where they can dry out after each use).

Close the Fish Closet door, et viola; your visiting guests will only see your reef tank and have no true idea of how much maintenance is involved!

Stuff started piling up in a disorganized manner, so I decided to empty out my Fish Closet and reorganize.

I was using two old CD racks to hold various items. Nails were driven in the wall to hold maintenance tools.

The garage was being rearranged and this rack was made available.

Luckily, for me, it fits nicely in this under-the-stairs closet. Now, I can stuff it full of more junk!