Coraline Algae

I noticed this morning first of all, that the green algae on the side of the tank is turning a yellowish green color. Looks like it is dying. So finally some of the algae is going away, got to love the nitrogen cycle! Ammonia test this morning was less than .25, almost at zero but still not end, I will add another live rock to the tank probably 5-7 pounds. So that will bring the live rock total to 13-15 pounds. I have two DIY rocks made from oyster shell and cement, they probably weigh another 8 pounds. So that will be 21-23 pounds, which means I will need at least 60 more pounds. I need to get busy making rock!

Now we get to the reason for this post, I noticed more coraline algae this morning. It is growing in quite a few spots on the powerhead. It is also starting to compete with the green algae on the live rock. We have some deep purple, and light purple, and pink colored coraline. Possibly have some lime green coraline also. I noticed it growing in several spots on my overflow as well. I spent some time scraping it off the powerhead and overflow, so maybe this will help to seed my tank.

All of the critters are happy and accounted for. The snail disappears, I see him every couple of days. The asterina starfish, I see maybe once a week or so. The molly is always out eating algae, I tried to feed her some flake food she ignored it. I have tried a couple of times, I also tried to feed her some krill, and some shrimp. She turned her nose up at it all. So I have decided not to feed her. She just keeps getting fatter and fatter off of the algae so I will let her graze. The copepods are still there in great numbers. I keep waiting for the crash, but it has not happened yet. Amphipods are still numerous and getting a lot bigger. I saw a couple of large ones last night, they were much bigger than any I had seen thus far.

Well, I said that all of the critters were happy, but I really am not sure. I have not seen any bristleworms in a while. I counted seven one night, and have seen none since then. They are probably still there and happy. I never did see them very often so probably are hiding.

I have notice these really tiny brown slug looking things. I believe I have ID'd them. I think they are a type of flat worm, pretty much harmless unless they are in huge numbers. Then they can block the light from the coral and pretty much smother them. I am leaving them alone for now, hopefully they will reach a stable population and not plague proportions.

If you are not familiar with coraline, it is the purple and pink stuff you see growing over all of the live rock. It also usually grows all over the back wall of the tank as well. Some people hate it, I think it is beautiful, and it looks a lot more natural than a background.

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, I have also spotted three really tiny snails. They are about the size of a pin head. They are also almost transparent, you have to look really hard to see them. I saw one on the glass yesterday, the way that his antennae? were shaped it looks a lot like my nerite, so maybe the nerite was pregnant and layed eggs? I am not sure if that is even possible, it is either that or the snail eggs hitchhiked on the live rock. Either way, it is very cool that I may have more snails that hitchhiked. I love hithhikers into the reef tank.

More critters!

Since I last blogged, I have acquired a few more things. First of all I have, I have noticed another bristle worm living in the second rock. There is also an asterina star fish on the rock. I saw it like the second day after I got the rock. I have not seen it since but it is amazing how well things can hide in the crevices of the rocks. I went to a fish store a couple of days ago, I was in shock at how unhealthy all of their corals looked. This used to be THE store for corals, now everything appeared to be dying. Very sad, I am not sure if it is under new management or if the owners just quit caring. I debated about whether I wanted to do business with them, and decided I would risk it and buy a snail and a hermit crab. The problem is, there are only two stores somewhat close to me that carries saltwater animals. The other store is a much better store, prices are cheaper as well. But his selection of snails is not so great. I really wanted a nerite snail, so I got one here and also got a scarlet hermit. The hermit shed today, and has not been very active. Hopefully the shed will make him more active, if it does not then I will be worried about him. The nerite is pretty cool, he eats a lot of diatoms. The nerite is very active. He has polished a lot of the coraline patches on the rock, so there are some really purple areas showing again. I was concerned that the diatoms were going to smother the coraline before it had a chance to grow.

I found an incredible website today also, www.reefstewardshipfoundation.org , it is devoted to promoting the breeding of reef invertebrates for the hobby. The great thing about it is, most of the breeders are willing to let go of some of there captive bred invertebrates for very little to other breeders. This is something that I am very interested in, so I have been trying to get a group of snails from them to breed. I am also trying to get a breeding pair of banghai cardinals. These will be bred, and passed on to other breeders, and possibly sold or traded at a fish store for store credit to get other critters or equipment. Hopefully doing things like this will help to keep the cost down some.

Tank parameters are looking good.

Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates all at 0. PH 8.3, specific gravity 1.024, temo right around 80.
This has been pretty stable, so it is time to start slowly adding more critters. Anyway, this is my update, not much happening, I will get pictures posted soon.