Exiting the Hobby...for now.

A few last pics before I drain the tank of its critters and sell off the equipment (13Jun2014):

 

 

The new (self-contained aquarium), four-legged furry friend:

 

Kylie, the Scottish Terrier

 

Anemone Fun

This is the right half of the 55 gallon glass tank. The purple LTA anemone (Macrodactyla doreensis) looks decent today. It goes in and out of moods, but stabilizes for several weeks. I used to run two MP10 pumps, but found that the anemone as well as the Frogspawn coral didn't seem to do well with all that water flow, so I removed one. They still don't like the single one, but I've got to keep the water moving or suffer debris build up. These two specimens, therefore, get placed in the low flow area of the right side of the tank.

This week I lost two large SPS corals (tricolor Valida and Scripps acro, usually very hardy in my tanks) and it coincided with the increased rate of Alk and Ca dosing that I applied at the beginning of this month. I usually struggle with getting the Alk up from the 7's, so I had decided to double the drip timing. The Alk was high at 9.2 dKH yesterday. The pH rose over this month as well, but stabilized in the 8.2 area. So, now I'll give the tank a chance to recover (Alk will drop) and decide on a rate between 1 and 2X of what I was working with.

Breaking up the Turbinaria sp.

The Turbinaria sp. coral (yellow scroll coral) from my old 110 gallon tank setup was finally taken out of the quarantine tank and broken up into pieces. I could see polyps and a little gain in coloration while it sat in the Q tank, so I decided to take a few pieces and super glue (gel) them in my 50 gallon cube tank. There were some larger chunks that I'll try to grow out on the sand bed and offer them for trade later.

After a while, I just used my gloved hands to break more pieces off. Then, I used the wire cutters for trimming. I threw away most of the dead coral and kept the underlying live rock for the refugium. 

I glued 3 small pieces at the same level on one of the live rocks. You can see a green variety of Turbinaria sp. near the recovering yellow scroll coral frags. I'm hoping that the pieces will grow and attach themselves to the the rock before a crab comes buy and dislodges them.

 

Calcium and Alkalinity Dosing

I followed instructions at BulkReefSupply (BRS) to create the Calcium and Alkalinity solutions. Then, I drilled holes on the tops using a 7/32" drill bit and a smaller hole to allow for air. I'll have to find another screw top when it comes time to mix new solutions. The hard-line tubing had a tight fitting, but was easy to slide in through the holes I'd drilled. The BRS peristaltic pumps came with their own mounting and screws. I used smaller wood screws to secure the mounts under the stand next to my 50 gallon reef tank. Now, I'll have to figure how to program my RKE to dose each solution.

 

 

Pink Fromia Sp. Sea Star

I was told that the Fromia sea stars eat only sponges. But, since I'm using well established live rock from my old system, there should be plenty of sponges to choose from as this sea star goes on the hunt for food. This pink variety really adds some color pizzaz to the color of my 50 gallon tank! Note the sponge structures embedded in the live rock near the sea star.

Bon Appetit!

Blonde Naso Tang

I sure am going to miss this guy. Since I'm downgrading from a 110 gallon reef to a 50 gallon cube, I can't transfer him. I hope I can find someone with a large enough tank to keep up with his growth. This guy would fetch you your slippers and morning newspaper if it weren't for that dang thing called "seawater".

Pancake-shaped live rock with Zoanthids

Gotta put this one up for sale in the local reef club.