Pom Pom Crab is getting big!

I may have overfed the tank a bit on Friday; the corals have pretty much been shut all day and a lot of algae seems to have sprung up over night. Whoops.

But on a happier note: the Pom Pom Crab has gotten big and her Anemone's are big and healthy as well. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the camera to focus very well so this is the best photo I could get of her.

Pom Pom Crab is big and healthy

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

10/27/2016 Update

The AlgaeFix has really done a number on the Algae in the system. The tank has definitely started to clear up. I did a full water parameter test last Friday and things are looking well. The Carbonate Hardness was a little low but was still in an acceptable range. As always, Magnesium is being used up so I dosed a little Friday and Monday.

I'm really impressed with the Plate Coral lately. It's fully open and beautiful. It's tentacles have gotten longer and I love watching them sway in the current. Unfortunately, my phone camera isn't the greatest so these photos are the best I could provide.

Plate Coral fully open

Another shot showing the tentacle extension

And with that, I think this will be it for today's post. I'll definitely be holding myself to posting frequent updates on the tank. I'll be doing a post, at most, every 10 days.

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Current day post

Hey all! So I'm gonna try and get back on track with frequent updates. Maybe daily or weekly updates but I don't want to promise anything quite yet :P

As you can see from the below photo, the Green Hammer Coral has grown even more since last time. Both it's heads have fully split and there are now 4 full grown heads. Today, I discovered each stalk has 2 additional buds coming off of the stock. It's hard to see in this photo but click here and I've circled them. This is quite exciting!

Hammer coral has 4 new buds!

This photo is right after I finished target feeding the coral so they are a bit closed up but you can see that each of the heads have finished splitting. You can also see a bit of the algae issue I've been dealing with the past few months. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be but still a little ways to go.

Candy Cane Coral heads have completed splitting

This one came as quite a surprise to me today. I never noticed any significant grown or changes from this Blasto. I can see it's grown a little bit when looking at older photos but nothing really stuck out. However, today after feeding I noticed a new bud coming off of the coral! I'm glad to see that the Blasto's are also growing and reproducing as well.You can also see a big of the algae problem in this photo as well.

Blasto has a new bud!

I'll have to get a whole tank photo soon so I can have a photo comparison because the tank is officially 1 year old as of a couple weeks ago!

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Extremely long overdue post.

Wow, my last post was from 5 months ago. That is not ok...

A lot has happened in that time and I was able to grab a couple pictures so I'll try to summarize as best as I can to get us all up to current time.

I had thought the Pom Pom Crab had perished but she suddenly appeared a couple weeks ago when I was feeding the tank. This was great news.

The Peppermint Shrimp had passed sometime I went on vacation a few months ago. I may have to get another here soon as the Aiptasia has slowed started to come back.

The Spiny Star Astrea has also passed :( I'm not sure what caused the passing of the snail as the others are all doing just fine. However, I did not catch it's passing for awhile which caused a large algae bloom. I ended up getting some Algaefix and have been dosing as directed for 2 weeks now and it is clearing up the system slowly. I'll be getting another Spiny Star Astrea at some point to help combat the algae issue; he was a lawn mower when it came to that stuff. I'll also be checking the water parameters this week to be sure the algae isn't making the water tests give off false readings.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some of the missed photos from the past.

05/25/16: Blastos with thier tentacles extended

5/26/16 Candy Cane Coral feeding and tentacles extended

5/26/16 War Favia with tentacles extended

5/27/2016 Green Hammer is growing quickly!

7/19/16 Candy Cane Coral heads are beginning to split!

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

POM POM CRAB IS CARRYING EGGS!

LOOKIT LOOKIT LOOKIT!

OK, so the photo quality is horrendous but I was able to get a picture of the Pom Pom Crab with her... bushel? *ahem* of eggs on her abdomen before the flash scared her off. They are probably not fertilized but it's a cool sight to see! If they are fertilized, the odds of them surviving are next to none in the aquarium but it would be neat to see a bunch of baby crabby's running around... but it that was the case I wouldn't know what to do with them as it would most likely overload the system very fast... I'll have to keep on eye on it...

Pom Pom Crab with her eggs!

In further news, it seems the Peppermint shrimp has made nice work of the Aiptasia; I don't see any significant growths anywhere anymore and the bigger ones are all gone. Good work, lil guy!

The Duncan buds continue to grow and they opened up quite a bit during feeding today and the Leptasea has begun to show some of it's green color again. I'm taking all of this as a good sign that the eco system is healthy and thriving. I'm excited to see what the future holds.

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Tank updates

I picked up a Pom Pom Crab and a Peppermint shrimp last week and I haven't really been able to find them since. I think Lieutenant Dan is still alive because during feeding I saw a Crab feeding and the new one didn't have any anemones and this one did. So I may have 2 crabs... This morning I found an empty shell of a crab though so one may have perished/been killed. It didn't look like a molt.

Also, the buds on the Duncan continue to grow quite quickly; I can't wait to see what it looks like when they've grown! I found another sponge underneath the Duncan again and just left it there.

Buds continue to grow

Plate Coral nomming

Blastos nomming

This was actually pretty cool to see because the Candy Cane's tentacles have never come out that far. Also, the top right head is regenerating nicely.

Candy Cane Coral with tentacles out

Those strange tube growths on the rocks are beginning to concern me; I think they may be those worms that release the sticky lines to gather food because whenever I feed the tank some strands come out but I can't quite tell if they are attached or not. I may have to try and remove them soon.

Also, the Aiptasia are still growing and there are a few more buds. I really hope the hrimp isn't dead because he needs to nom those right up...

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Tank seems to be thriving

I've began introducing some of the Red Sea Coral Pro Salt slowly into my water changes over the past few weeks and the tank seems to be adjusting to it well. The coral are growing rapidly (especially the Green Hammer), there's a ton of purple coralline algae growing throughout the tank and the water chemistry seems to be better. The Sarlacc Leptastrea also seems to be recovering as it is getting color back. The plate coral has constantly been moving itself and is covering it somewhat so maybe that helped.

I also seem to have a few more hitchhikers that I've never seen before so I'm hoping they didn't come in with the salt since I haven't added anything new in months. I removed something that I thought could be a type of weird worm from the tank that was underneath the Duncan plug that had gotten knocked over. I found another today and decided to try and ID it. It looks to be a pineapple sponge and they aren't really good or bad so I think I'll just leave it for now. There's also various feather dusters sprinkled around the tank and some other tube-y critters that are too small for me to ID just yet.

Pineapple Sponge attached to the Blastomussa

I'm not quite sure what this is on the Duncan but I'm hoping it's just splitting and isn't injured or a parasite.

Not sure what that white area under the head is...

I do have some aiptasia growing still and I found a new bud in a different location in the tank so I'll need to get a peppermint shrimp tomorrow. Hopefully he'll take care of them but for not I tried to syphon them out. I went to Petco last week but they didn't have any so they should have a new shipment in by now. They also had a lil pom pom crab that I may end up grabbing as well.

Plate Coral super expanded

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~