|
Reeftank Log 06/2000
June 15, 2000
Hot, hot, hot!!! It was 109 degrees in San Jose and 103 degrees in San Francisco yesterday. I talked to my wife at 6:00 PM and she told me the house in Mountain Viewwas 98 degrees inside and the 50-gallon tank was 90 degrees. I told her to turn the fan directed at the sump from medium to full speed, and invited her to hang out at the air-conditioned office. She passed on the offer since she didnīt want to drive and had to take care of the wilted garden. I worked until 8:00 PM, and it was still in the mid-90īs when I got home. None of the corals looked that bad, but I definitely didnīt want a 90+ degree temperature in the tank again.
This morning, I set up a 4-inch fan to blow across the top of the 29-gallon refugium when the lights turn on and tilted a small Vornado down toward the sump. I set the Vornado to turn on at 10:00 AM and turn off at 3:00 AM.
Iīve put two of the new Ebo Jager TS Heaters (one 125 watt and one 200 watt) into the sump since the old 200 watt green Ebo Jager heater seemed to be perpetually on even when the temperature was above 80 degrees (I try to keep the tank around 79 degrees). I initially just replaced it with one of the new black 200 watt Ebo Jager TS Heaters, but it seemed to have problems keeping the whole system (50-gallon tank, 29-gallon refugium, and sump) at 79 degrees when the room temperature dropped down to 65 degrees. So I added a 125 watt heater to help it out. It appears the 125 watt heater is calibrated one degree warmer than the 200 watt heater so I have to set the 125 watt heater at 78 degrees and the 200 watt heater at 79 degrees in order for both heaters to come on at the same time and work together. I must thank Ebo Jager for designing an easier to turn temperature control mechanism, and I do like the new black color.
After all the wandering of the cloned anemone, it decided to go back to the same place that it was before. Iīm really happy about the anemone since it had nearly no zooxanthellae 6 months ago.
I have to stop dropping a whole cube of Formula 1 for the Maroon clownfish to drag into the anemone if I want to control the slime algae problem in the refugium. Iīve also set up stronger powerheads to circulate water around the whole tank. Hopefully, the greater circulation will help get rid of the nuisance algae. Whatīs amazing is that the 50-gallon tank has no nuisance algae at all, although it shares the same water and has higher light levels than the refugium. I think itīs because of the 50-gallon tankīs greater water circulation and lesser amount of food I feed it. Iīve also added a bristlestar and a black and a brown sea cucumber to the refugium in order to help dispose of excess food and to agitate the substrate. I donīt get to see much of any of these organisms since theyīre nocturnal.
Iīve checked the refugium at 2:00 AM, after the lights go out, and there are 100īs of baby Peppermint shrimp. I wonder why they never get larger than 5 mm. I wonder if something is eating them. I have added a Cercona cave structure to provide more hiding space.
Iīve moved the Red Tang Heaven to a 20-gallon long tank in the office so that I donīt have to deal with it in the refugium. The Red Tang Heaven has faded a little from a deep dark red to an orange since its move, but I think itīs getting its original color back.
I moved the mushrooms from the 50-gallon to the 20-gallon tank since they were all shriveled. I donīt know whether itīs the high light levels or something in the water, but the mushrooms just werenīt doing well in in the 50-gallon tank. So I moved all the mushrooms and theyīre doing a lot better. The 50-gallon tank now has the yellow polyps, green button polyps, and brown star polyps that were in the 20-gallon.
Itīs interesting to see which SPS corals have grown the most over the past half year. The prize has to go to the pink SPS. One SPS hasnīt grown much, but its base is sending off 4 projections. Other SPS corals are alive, but they havenīt grown very much. The other interesting thing is the difference in strength of the calcium structures among the different SPS species. Some structures are very brittle, while other ones are rock hard.
Went to Reef Science in San Ramon for the first time this weekend and I was very impressed by their setup. They have a 2000-gallon bank of tidal pools which make it very easy to see the specimens you wish to purchase. Tank conditions look optimal, and the people there are very friendly. Definitely a place worth visiting.
Iīm using 1-1/4" Cell-Pore BioBlox from Cercona as mounting plugs for my Xenia. I noticed that the Red Sea Pom-Pom Xenias slime a lot more than the Brown Xenias. I tried supergluing a Red Sea Pom-Pom Xenia twice, but it wouldnīt take, so Iīve now surrounded the Xenia with BioBlox so it wonīt be blown away by the current. Iīll remove the BioBlox once the Xenia attaches. The Brown Xenia Iīve attached to the BioBlox are doing fine. Iīm trying out SeaChem Reef Plus as a supplement for the growout tank because of the success GARF has had with the product. I performed a 5-gallon water change on the tank last weekend, but thereīs still something funky with the tank. Iīve noticed the pinnules of the Xenia that are in the growout tank arenīt as feathery as the ones back home in the 50-gallon. The Montipora polyp extension in the growout tank also isnīt as extensive. Iīve started growing some Caulerpa in the growout tank, and I hope it stabilizes the conditions in the tank.
Weatherīs a lot more normal today. I donīt think it hit the 90īs around here.
June 19, 2000
Anemone is stuck behind the filter box. I tried to pry it out, but it has a strong foot, and I donīt want to hurt it. I noticed that the original anemone that is stable has its foot stuck in a very narrow space so Iīve put a lot of BioBlox among the rock work I already have in the 29-gallon tank in order to create a lot of narrow spaces. Hopefully, the anemone moves downward and finds a stable space.
I purchased some sawblade Caulerpa as a nitrate sponge for the refugium and stuck it between the front left of refugium and the Cell-Pore cave structure. I hope the compact structure of the sawblade Caulerpa makes it easy to manage as it grows. I think the sawblade Caulerpa will also increase the number of microscopic organisms in the refugium by providing a safe haven.
I built an AH Supply 2x55 enclosure for my 20-gallon tank. Iīve set the lighting period to 5 hours a day in order to let the corals acclimate to the new light levels. | |
