Purple Tang Removal

I tried using the 2-liter empty bottle method for capturing the Purple Tang, but the fish was too large. I even tried a plastic spaghetti holder with food placed at the bottom, but was only able to capture the Naso Tang. So, after moving the Naso Tang to the QT tank, I locally rented a larger fish trap from Aquatic Warehouse.

The Purple Tang took a few hours trying to figure out how to get inside the acrylic box trap. I had to use the turkey baster to swirl the Mysis Shrimp food to gain back his interest. He kept pecking from the outside of the box. When he finally entered the box, I yanked on the fishing line to close the trap. The box went up in the excitement, landed on my yellow bird's nest coral and broke it off.

Once the Purple Tang was caught, I called up the guy waiting to purchase the fish. He came to my house within 1/2 hour to take the fish to its new home.

While I was waiting, the Naso Tang was taken from the QT tank and placed back in the main tank. He was a little disoriented, but seemed to be saying his goodbyes to the old bully as he swam against the fish trap containg the Purple Tang.

Coral Extraction

I pulled out a large piece of live rock with a large Acropora coral. This coral is very hardy in my tank, but it needs to be exposed higher in the tank (and closer to the light source) in order for it to produce nicer colors. I decided to remove this one and start over with some smaller frags. I've already got some growing in a higher location where it has better color.

Here it is sitting in a 9 gallon glass tank. I'll see if I can trade it with other hobbyists.

Arrow Crab

Here's my Arrow Crab (Stenorhynchus seticornis) specimen in the QT tank. My neighbor thought that it was some sort of spider. Although, there are such things as sea spiders.

Kill Majanoes!

What a better way to start off the New Year than with a new commitment to eradicating the reef tank of all Majanoes? My supply of Aiptasia-X has run out, so I'm going to use the Kalkwasser method, instead. Both of these methods seem to work equally well with the permanent death of the Majanoes and the temporary relief of the Aiptasia which tend to grow back more often than not. I would agree that the Aiptasia-X product is less toxic, but I don't have any "prize winners" in my tank to worry about. Come to think of it, I don't know if prize-winning corals exist, yet.

Here are my easy steps to using Kalkwasser to knock out unwanted pest anemones in a 110 gallon mixed reef tank:

1) Add 1/2 teaspoon of Kalkwasser (or Mrs. Wages Pickling lime) to a small glass or porcelain container. I'm using some sort of finger bowl I found in the kitchen.

2) Add RO water in a 1:1 volume ratio. Don't breathe in the dust (calcium hydroxide) or get it in your eyes! You want to keep the solution dense/concentrated so that when you apply it in the tank, it will sink down on to the pests.

3) Heat the solution in a microwave on high. Use 10 second intervals and stir. You want the vessel to get hot to the touch, but not crazily steaming and boiling!

4) Turn off main pump and all power heads in the aquarium.

5) Use a syringe with a wide bore needle to draw up a volume of the kalkwasser. I used the left-over syringe and needle that is found in the Aiptasia-X box.

6) Cover each pest with the sinking solution. I tend to keep the needle from touching the pests because they can clog up the syringe with some sorta goo. (using a finer needle, I've read that some people inject the solution into an Aiptasia -- I haven't tried it, yet). The solution may damage your larger animals, but they'll soon recover.

7) Leave all pumps off for at least 20 minutes. After the main circulation pump is turned on, I don't turn on my power heads until an hour or so later.

8) After you run out of solution and you still have pests left to treat, you may want to give your tank a week's break before going for another round of treatment.

Here are some before/after pics of today's treatment:

My battle is far from over; I've got Majanoes in places inaccessible to me and my syringe. But, at least I can provide some relief to my favorite corals. I plan on moving some of the live rocks to get at the remaining Majanoes at a later time. As for the Aiptasia, I'll be adding some peppermint shrimp to help out with that problem.

Fish Trapping

I'm in the process of trying to lure the dottyback into the fish trap. Once it's removed, I can fill the tank up with peppermint shrimp to take care of some Aiptasia anemones. The tank was being overfed by an automatic feeder which I removed several weeks ago.

So far, I've managed to trap a crab. It's similar to an emerald crab, but the coloration is different. This was a tiny crab that came with an Acro frag. I thought it was going to be an Acro crab, but it turned out to be something else and grew to size quickly.

Coral Update

Growth in the main reef tank is carrying along even with a few interruptions in its care. Every once in a while, I have a visitor over, and I tend to neglect the tank. The chemistry goes off a bit and some corals might have tissue recession. I haven't been monitoring the basics (salinity, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium) as well as I should. The RKE unit is very good at monitoring pH, temperature and ORP, but even the respective probes need some cleaning maintenance to ensure optimum performance.

So what I'm left with is a bunch of corals and invertebrates that refuse to die. Or, looking at it from a different perspective: I'm left with only hardy corals and invertebrates. The fish in my reef tank are doing fine since I'm not overstocked with them.

This green Acropora sp. almost qualifies with kryptonite as its type of color description when observed from a normal distance. This macro picture helps me monitor the appearance of "red bugs". I definitely have eradicated them from my system.

I've been trying to sell this coral trio of blue stag Acropora sp., tricolor Acropora valida and red Montipora sp. on the internet boards with no such luck, yet. By the time the recession is really, really over, the coral will double in growth and I'll have to double the offering price!

This German blue Montipora digitata is starting to take shape. These species of coral seem to do well in the reef box setting. So, I'll look out for more with different color variations.

This Tridacna derasa clam is doing well. You can see its siphon in the middle of the picture. The siphon probably sends a current to the Acropora to the left. The orange mushroom corals on the top right are on a rock that keeps falling down. I have to find a new place for it.

RIP Nano

I took down the Nano tank yesterday as planned. The majority of the live rock was moved to the quarantine tank and one of the larger pieces was placed in the main reef tank. I wanted to move the live sand to the main tank, but I'd rather rinse off the debris before doing that. The LED lighting and canopy happens to fit the dimensions of my refugium tank. So, it's a bit of an upgrade from PC lighting in that respect.

The reason why I decided to take down the tank is because it required 2 cups of reverse osmosis water every day due to evaporation. I was fine with it at first, but, like the infamous (or mythical?) Chinese water torture, it became unbearable. And, I didn't want to subject my friends to the same torture while I go on a week's vacation.

The battery-operated auto-top off (ATO) device didn't help, either. When it would switch on, it would go "WAAAAAGGGHHHH"!!! This would sometimes go off early in the morning as "WAAAAAGGGHHHH" "WAAAAAGGGHHHH" "WAAAAAGGGHHHH" at random intervals until I decided to just pour in the dang 2 cups of water myself. On the other hand, the ATO for the main tank is one of those high tech models designed by Tunze. It hums along (until it runs out of water in the reservoir after week, then it goes "WAAAAAGGGHHHH"!).

I'm a light sleeper; rats can't tip-toe enough for me while they're outside during the hot summer months here in San Diego.