Coral Shopping Spree

Living on the West Coast has its benefits...

Yesterday, I was able to pick out some corals at AquaSD. It really was like being in a candy shop. The variety of colors and shapes dazzled my eyes and piqued the right side of my brain. And, I nearly drained my wallet to the chagrin of the other side of my brain. I at least had enough money left over to purchase food for the new animals!

I was in a rush to acclimate the corals because I had a class to attend within an hour. So, I equilibrated them to the temperature of the tank by floating the bags for 10 minutes. Then, I added some corals to the main tank and some to the refugium.

This is just an example of the corals I purchased: War Coral, Japanese Blue Snowflakes, Red Goniopora, and a Montiopora/palythoa combo (correction: Porites/palythoa combo).

Here are some of the zoanthids and palythoas. Some of them aren't so colorful, but when the numbers increase, they can create an interesting pattern. The SPS frag may take several weeks before it reveals any colors in my tank.

TDS Monitor

Most reef aquarist highly recommend that evaporating aquarium moisture be replaced ("topped off") with RO (reverse osmosis) water. And, a TDS (total dissolved solids) monitor should be used to test the quality of RO water being produced over time. Part of the goal is to avoid adding water containing trace contaminants (ammonia, nitrates) and chemical additives (chlorine/chloramines) which may be detrimental to the inhabitants of your aquarium. The other part is to know when you absolutely must replace the cartridge filters on the RO unit.

Last August, I ordered this in-line TDS Monitor for my water purifier and finally came around to plumbing it in. Having dual conductivity probes allows one to track TDS for input and output water quality.

Looking under the kitchen sink, I discovered that the RO unit was being fed with a 1/4" line while the other lines, including the output, were 3/8". Unfortunately, the TDS Monitor was only supplied with two 1/4" Quick Connect tees.

To solve the problem, I bought two 3/8" to 1/4" coupling adapters from Home Depot and inserted 1/4" line to join them to the supplied tee. I found one website that offered other sized fittings with this kit, but I'm unsure on how they address the fact that the probe is still 1/4". Maybe they provide a simple adapter to cover the probe?

Here's the final look. I haven't activated the double-sided tape on the back of the monitor, yet.

Current Reading

Input (water softened) : 462 ppm

Output: 9 ppm (<10 is recommended)

Macro Photography

I've finally graduated from beginner to amateur photographer. This morning I received a macro lens (Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM) along with a remote control (Canon Wireless Remote Control RC1). I also ordered the lens hood and UV protection filter which Amazon lists as "Frequently Bought Together".

With the remote control, tripod and macro lens, I'm able to reveal polyp detail of Montipora undata "Idaho Grape".

Now I've got to work on getting a more consistent representation of color when snapping pics, focusing, artistically balancing images and avoiding diffraction interference from the aquarium acrylic walls.

7 Blue-green Chromis & Firefish goby

I stopped by Pet Kingdom and purchased 7 small Blue-green Chromis and one Firefish. With a refractometer, I measured the salinity in the bag containing the Chromis which came from the All Fish section of the store. It read at 1.020 SG (hyposalinity). While the Firefish's water salinity read at 1.024 SG (near normal) because it came from the Invertebrate section of the store. I keep my reef at 1.025 SG (normal). I don't have to alter it much since that's what comes out the hose at Scripps Pier.

Chromis can be quite sensitive depending on the stock. So, I acclimated the bags containing the fish to the temperature of the tank. Then, I gradually added tank water to the half-emptied bags to at least avoid any drastic changes in pH. I doubt they would be sensitive to a shift in salinity since some hobbyists routinely "fresh water dip" the fish for several minutes to avoid parasites.

I plan on observing these fish in my quarantine tank for at least three weeks before I move them to the main reef tank. How that story ends is left up to the current critter community.

Relentless Echinophyllia Attack

It's a dumb idea to glue an acan coral next to an echinophyllia (or "chalice") coral. The acan coral on the left is suffering from a relentless attack once again. I have pics of the previous attack.

I must have done a good job gluing it down because it will not budge. The irony is that my hermit crabs don't have problems undermining my other shoddy gluing attempts!

Maybe I can place a rock between the two corals? Either way, the echinophyllia will probably eclipse the acan when it grows to Personal Pan size. I think I might have to go in there with a pair of dirty, old, rusty pliers!

This picture with flash is taken early in the morning before lights are turned on (it's easy to notice the white thread in the darkness).

A close up of the atrocity:

Hmph...I should have read more about Echinophyllia at Advanced Aquarist's.