13 March 2004
All is generally well. I was starting to have a problem with Bryopsis algae over the past few months. Even though I would use hemostats to pull it from the top rocks and keep the intake grates trimmed, it kept spreading. Recalling my last "bleaching" event after using BioEssay salt mix (5gal change), one of the side effects was it got rid of this type of algae. SO, with all parameters in check, I did a 3 gal water change with the same salt. Within 3 days virtually all of the nuisance algae is gone!

13 December 03
Knocked off a couple "to do" list items: After 4.5 years, I re-epoxied the inside of the canopy, as it was chalking and worn in many areas. I also took this oportunity to do a couple other hood mods, like open up the wiring slots and replacing the reflector with a DIY parabalic. I also upped the return plumbing size from 3/4" to 1" from the pump to the "Tee" that feeds the two return lines. It increased the capacity to 720 gph which is an 11% much-needed flow improvement for *free*, so I can put off adding any powerheads!  My trusty tap water purifier is soon to be replaced with a canister  DI unit, as the prices have come down and I need the space in my stand.  It will be mounted in the basement along with the RO system.  The solenoid will be replaced with an all plastic unit ($40 from McMaster_Carr), and a PVC needle valve will allow precise top off flow.  I aim to dispense 1 gallon of limewater over 2 hours.
Frag shipments have slowed during the "silly season", which is ok as many corals need some time to grow out :co
Finally got a good picture of this seemingly harmless biga$$ bristle worm, who for a while was sharing a burrow with my firefish.  It never seemed to harm any coral or fish.  The first sighting of this worm was several years ago!

10 October 03
My home tank is fairing well, been doing some much needed TLC since the Zoo Project was completed. I'm still dropping in there at least twice per week for upkeep and livestock additions along with a few others. I pulled my beautiful 'Todds Brain' to put on loan in the public display, as it hadn't been opening well for many months in my tank. I fear that some coral produces a chemical that bothers it...

My pH is continuing to run low (especially at night) dropping down to 7.7 routinely. Don't know what else I can do, having tried outside air to the skimmer (uses 2L per minute), the Nilsen reactor (helps), and even dosing pure 02 into the skimmer for a few days.

Other new things... I converted my 5KW generator to run on natural gas for about $200, as it was a PITA getting fuel during the NE blackout. The Aquacontroller has been running well; here's a link to the program I wrote for it. This is an image of the look-up table that determines sunlight and moonlight times, as well as moon phase and tank temperature.

25 July 03
Been even MORE busy setting up the "Zoo Reef" as we call it, sometimes volunteering off site 5 days a week.  Though initially more than a dozen people were involved, once the 'going got tough' it was 4 that pulled the project through (with 7 total to be involved).  Tonight we add salt, pics to follow.

My 'mistress' has been stable, though a tad neglected over the summer.  I continue to sell frags, but am thankful this is the slow season for reefkeeping.

5 May 03
Woah, it's been a while since updating!  I've been very busy working on a 560 gallon reef display for our local zoo.  I'm thrilled that my reef was was the first to be featured a second time as Reef Central's Reef of the Month in February :c)

Then there was a minor bleaching event last month which I contribute to a minor 5 gallon water change using a different brand of salt.  Sounds like a stretch, but I had never had one before, and it happened only hours of the change.  All 3 of the Pavona spp. coral were worse effected, as were 3 leathers and a few LPS.  There are just now some signs of recovery.  One interesting note is that most of the nuisance algae growing in the overflow teeth VANISHED, and the glass only had to be cleaned after a couple days.  I started feeding a little heavier, and at least the algae on the glass is "back to normal".
I finally broke down and got an Aqua Controller to run all of the tank parameters.  Still working out a few bugs, but it  is a really neat piece of equipment which monitors pH and temperature, and controlls all related functions.  It even calls me if there is a problem!  I even picked a nice little island in the South Pacific to model the lighting schedule around!  To conserve power, I choose 10deg S latitude:  The daylight varies by about 1 hr throughout the year, and our summer is the tanks winter.  Coupled with a 3 deg higher set point temperature in summer and the reduced lighting period, I hope to save some in cooling costs!

In the quest for a 'perfect' moonlight, I designed and built several Dimmable LED moonlight fixtures that can be controlled through an X-10 lamp module.  The 10 LED's seem like the perfect amount of light over the tank (having been on natural reefs at night).  Here's a link to the RC thread.

23 January 03
I hosted this months Upstate Reef Society meeting (largest  to date) on Jan 12, after several weeks of preparing the tank and house for 45 people!   It went off without a hitch, and was great time.  Here's a picture of most of us in the living room!
I finally got a "Brute" garbage can so larger water changes can be performed besides the 5 gal salt bucket size I've always done.  I'm trying to do 5 gals per week, and at least 1 good 25 gal changeout per month.  I'm also trying out a Kalkwasser reactor design which will lower the demand on the Calcium reactor, and hopefully help to keep the tank pH over the 7.7 it's been dropping to...  So far, results look promising, though I'm barely evaporating a gallon a day since lowering the temperature to 79F for winter.

28 October 02
I've been wanting to get the Rose Anemone out of the tank for a while, as it's 16" across took up lots of realestate and was continuously damaging the corals around it's perimeter.  I started at 8am, and by 4pm it had found a new home at the LFS.  The task went pretty smoothly, considering rocks that haven't been touched in almost 4 yrs had to be pulled out to reach the deeply planted foot. Here's a pic of the 'holding tank' where the anemone was suspending to get it to release from the rock.  Wasn't able to get the clown fish, and I do feel sorry for her, but this had to be done...  We'll see how she copes.

16 October 02
The Yellow Tang died recently; I had had it for 3yrs, 5 months, 2 days.  There were no signs of "foul play", disease, etc. :c(
I couldn't just replace it with another yellow, so I decided to order a Powder Blue Tang, the only other tang under consideration.  It's doing well after a week.

Toddsreef, Bytor, and mia1974 all came to visit, as GaryM hosted this months URS meeting.  I pretty much spent a week of evenings going through the reef bringing it up to par!   Between trading frags with these guys, and a last minute "premier" order from Dr.Mac and Sons, I need to make some room for a few more corals...  Have decided to pull out my rose E.Quad (somehow) over the next few days, we'll see how it goes!

21 August 02
As I patiently await the birth of my 3rd child, I decided to give the FAQ page a decent make over!

16 July 02
I regret that I haven't updated pics lately; it's tough dealing with reflections during the summer (the sun is up longer than my halides are on).  However, 6 months is ridiculous, so I may have to hang some sheets over the windows!

The tanks are running smoothly, albeit a bit crowded.  I did some serious fragging out during the month of may, but there's still lots to do...
I may have to start getting picky over what corals I am keeping.  Many people prefer to see just a few larger colonies, but I love to cram as many different varieties as possible!  I plan to do a count soon...

7 April 02
The Mistress is 3 years old today!
Nothing much new, except I thought that something was eating the Capnella leather coral from the inside, so I destroyed the main coral, and replaced it with a clean frag that was growing out in the sump.  Also had a rapid die off of my favorite red/green Blastomussa Wellsi (infection?), which I've learned to immediatly frag the good parts off.  I now have 4 small pieces that are doing well.

20 February 02
Built my DIY UPS which will run the Mag18 for about 9 hrs in case of a powerfailure. Here is a link to a the post on RC.
Also posted a modification to my reactor which has dramatically reduced C02 usage and effluent tube air lock.  I have a few large colonies that are getting sold off, as they have grown beyond their allotted space lol.  Probably won't post a new full tank pick till things settle down...

20 January 02
Have had a couple losses this month, including my Sally Lightfoot crab (2.5 yrs) and Flame hawk (1yr).  I already replaced the sally, and got some additional clean up critters from Etropicals.com

The reactor is working out very nicely, holding my Ca at around 370, and alk around 9dKH.    However, tank pH rarely get's over 8.0, and will get as low as 7.8 over night.  I'm resisting the tempation to use kalc...
I'm slowly increasing tank feeding, trying to promote more bug life for the Mandarin, as the wrasse is impacting the fauna population of the tank.  Also, every night after lights out I alternate between adding phytoplankton, Golden Pearls, or some pulverized Vibra Gro.

Also ordered my 6 pack of corals from Atlantis Aquatics for winning the RC referral contest.  Several of the frags were raffled off to URS club members for the next meeting on 1-26!  *Update*  The reef meeting went great, with a record 23 turnout!

24 December 01
Switched the MAG12 return pump out for a MAG18.  Getting about 700gph from the returns now.
Todd sold me his awesome open brain coral, and I added a favia and caribbean photosynthetic Gorgonian from the LFS.  To make room for the brain, I had to sell the green open brain, large favia, and fungia, and the 6" T. Deresa clam.  Most of these I have had for more than 2 years!  Kind of sad, but one has to make room for the new...

I finally got the nerve to frag the green bubble coral.  I used a coping saw to cut through the skeleton up to the flesh, then split it apart the rest of the way, so the only the flesh was left holding the two halves together.  It is slowly seperating under it's own weight, but I have additionally started to sever the flesh as I need the space for the Serio who's rapidly gowing out of the tank.

Also took a road trip to Pa to visit Bytor and Fragit from RC.  We did the rounds to a couple LFS there, and did a bunch of frag trading.  I did pic up a bi-color Lobophyllia that wasn't doing too well for a steal...  It is recovering nicely now.

23 November 01
Picked up a 4-line wrasse (similar to 6-line), and some type of Tunicate at a LFS sale. I fragged the pink stylophora into 2 halves, as I owed Todd for a Favia we traded for.  The next step will be splitting that bubble coral...
Recieved a shipment from Carlos at reefaholics.org containing a couple pretty sweet coral frags.

15 November 01
I am very excited to report that the goby has finally paired up with the pistol shrimp!  It is very interesting to watch them work together, as the nearly blind shrimp will only venture out of it's tunnel when the fish is standing guard.  To communicate, the antennae of the shrimp must be touching the fish!  I believe there is a complete network of tunnels under all of my liverock and the "doorways" vary by day.  As far as the mess,  things are calm for the most part as the only real digging is routine maintanance.

17 October 01
A lot has been going on with reefing the past month...  Been spending a lot of time with other reef club members, traveling to LFS's, and working on the tank.  The big purchase this month was on a Calcium Reactor, designed and built by Geo.  Great product!  Yesterday was the very first time since I set the tank up 2.5 years ago that I did not dose B-ionic.  The 2 part system has served me well, but has gotten too expensive to continue at over 100 ml of each part per day!  The reactor should pay for itself in about 1 year.

During a questionable moment, I purchased a Tiger Pistol Shrimp in hopes that it will form a symbiotic relationship with the Fenner's Goby...  So far, they don't have too much to do with each other, and Oh! what a mess that shrimp can make of things.  Every night for the first week I would hear the distinctive "snap" a few times an hour, and in the morning the tank would be VERY cloudy from him digging under the rock.  I pretty much questioned my rationale!  The past few weeks have gotten much better, and although there is still digging, the major construction must be complete.

29 September 01
The Fairy wrasse died, apparently through starvation; perhaps the collection process?  He would only eat a few bites of chum during feeding, and kept loosing weight.  Very sad.  All else with the tank is well.  Had to free up the MAG7 Pump from a tiny snail crawling inside, no biggie.

Started trading some sps frags to a couple of LFS near Buffalo, with very good reception.  The reef has been easilly paying for itself this summer, save the labor time (jeesh, still a solid 10hrs/week)!   Attended the largest URS meeting yet, over at Gary's house.  We had a dozen+ people show, including ByTor from Pa.  Great time.  I'm looking seriously into getting a Ca reactor, and into upgrading lighting to 250w MH since USHIO makes 10kK lamps in that wattage now.  First, I have to sink $3k into replacing the POS water service into our house...

28 August 01
I took the whole family to  MACNA XIII in Baltimore as a "side trip" from our summer vacation.  Had the opportunity to meet and listen to many of the experts in the hobby such as Shimek, Toonen, Fenner, Veron, Jackson and others that we have all heard about and followed.  Attended seminars including ocean reef mortality and what is being done about it, larvel culturing, and Algal symbionts.   I also met several RC'ers including Sandman, JohnL, BillsReef, and talked with Venders like AllGlass and ESV.  Even walked away with a few bargins...

I did manage to ship out about 6 boxes of coral frags to other hobbiests, each containing 4-6 pieces.  So far, everyone seems satisfied.  I will soon set up a propogation page with species that are available to sell or trade.  Mailing is cumbersome, but necessary when all of your local reefers have the same corals!

The wrasse hasn't been doing so well, as he only likes to eat brine shrimp (only fed once or twice a week).  I am now trying some alternative frozen foods.

The RIO 2100 UL seized up and started to overheat.  The only warning was that it wasn't making the usual faint chatter, and upon disassembly I found the impellor magnet area to be so hot it was melting!  Not sure how long this was going on for, as I was on vacation the prior week... So much for the additional safety of UL!  Unfortunately, I really like the REO intake guards, so I *stupidly* purchased a brand new 2500 to put back on the spray bar.

3 July 01
Picked up a Scottorum Fairy Wrasse on 7-1, which has brought my fish count back up to 12.  I reluctantly decided to trade in my 6" Hippo Tang, after more than two years in my reef.  He was just getting too darn big (was 4" to start, and grew 2" during his stay).  The LFS promised to find him a good home.  To make me (and my daughters) cheer up, we picked up a 2" baby hippo, who should take 3 or 4 years to reach full size.  Who knows, maybe I'll have that 265gal by then! :c)

10 June 01
Changed out the 13w PC sump/refuge light with a 27w quad lamp from LOA.  Because my feather Caulerpa went sexual under 24/7 lighting, I changed the photoperiod to opposite main tank lighting.  This way the same amount of electricity is used.
Did my first trading via mail with Therman from RC.  He sent 4 cool sps frags in a small cooler, and I'm returning the container with 4 of my own.  Overnight shipping was only about $25.   The bad news is that my Koko worm (6 mo old) has died, as with my original cleaner shrimp of 2 years.   Traded some frags with the LFS to get a new shrimp.  Also picked up a 2" T.Maxima clam at the LFS on 5-30

24 May 01
Replaced the RIO 2500 on the spray bar with a UL listed 2100 (couldn't find a 2500 UL).  Hopefully the protection of this pump will be worth the flow cut.  I also upgraded my two MJ900 powerheads with 1200's for better penetrating circulation.  In order to keep from overrunning the capacity of the overflows I have them hidden in,  I built a simple 2 channel wave timer based on a publication by John Rice.  This way, only one pump is running at a time.

20 May 01
Hosted URS reef meeting in the afternoon.   There were 6 attendies total.  Lots of beer and burgers were consumed, and many frags switched hands!

10 May 01
Replaced the metal halides with new Ushio 10kK's.  What a difference, after just 9 months!  Got a RIO 2100 UL to replace the 2500 on the spray bar, and I am installing MJ1200's to replace the 900's in the overflows.  Will probably use a wave timer for these.

29 April 01
Drove to Pa for the day to visit my reef buddy ByTor, about 580 miles round trip.  I traded some hardware and a few tiny frags for a few pieces of his shipment from another reefer, Therman.  One piece originally came from MiNdErAsEr.  Ended up with 3 different colors of M. Digita (including a beautiful purple tip with green polyps), and a couple A. Milleporas.   Cool guy, really nice tanks!

15 April 01
Big cleanup weekend...  For the first time, I fragged the maze, and then tood 4 branches off the Torch coral because I think it was suffocating itself.  Traded a couple heads, and put one of each in the Pico tank.   I actually counted 90 different species of coral in the mistress one night after having a few too many beers! :c)

4 April 01
Well, 2 years ago today I filled the tank with water!

21 March 01
Updated DIY page with my hair algae brush and topoff systems.
BIG weekend!  Got a visit from my Reef Central friends; ByTor (and son), FishBait, Qball, and Mrs.Q on Saturday.  They all drove up from Pa, 300 miles each way (in a snow storm no less!) just to see me and the reef.  ByTor brought me 5 frags, including a tri-color Acropora, a way cool multi-color Milleapora, and a potato-chip Pavona.  The time flew by, and as they prepared to leave I tore into my tank providing all with at least something to take back.  Great time, super bunch of people!

1 March 01
Returned from a dive trip to the island of Curacao, here are some pictures from above and below the water surface.  It was truly incredible to witness the corals in their natural environment.  My last tropical dive trip was 3 years ago, even before having an itch to own a small piece of reef;  heck, I didn't even know corals were animals!  This time, I often found myself uprighting fallen pieces and even waving off cyano patches!  I even managed to sucessfully "smuggle" a few tiny pieces of the most common corals back home which would have certainly met their death in the rubble field.  The "lettuce" piece is in the lower right of this pic.

My tank did wonderful under the care of my brother Jamie, and this was surely the longest period of time my hands have remained out of there.   I believe the Rose Anemone is getting ready to split again, and has moved to a less than desireable location where my Pectina is getting stung to the point of recession.  Trying to "coerce" it to move, especially with that little bastard maroon clown has been challanging to say the least!

29 January 01
Traded a local reefer last week for a green Montipora Capricornis.  Got a Flame Hawk fish and Royal Blue Tuxedo Urchin from Marine Oasis.  I've had both of these animals before, the fish mysteriously died after 6 months, the urchin after 10.  Perhaps at that time the tank wasn't mature enough...
Finally got the "Bonzai Reef" site up!

16 January 01
Set up a 7gal glass Bow Front reef aquarium at work.  I purchased with the E. Quad trade, and set it up for a cash value of around $200.
It will be completely stocked with captive clippings out of the 120.  I transferred the Oscellaris Clownfish on the 19th.  Web page to follow.

3 January 01
The Rose E. Quad finally split after reaching over 12" diameter! I was able to remove one clone that was attached to the back glass via a razor blade, and traded it in at Marine Oasis for an AGA 7gal bow front tank, which I am setting up to take to work. Web Page to follow!
Shifting of animals is becoming a weekly event, due to territorial disputes. Some corals like the frogspawn (nobody wants Xenia any more!)get fragged every other month, which is bringing me in an average of $40 per month in trades.

28 December 00
Went to That Fish Place and Saltwater Paradise in Buffalo, picked up a cool Koko worm, which looks like a cross between a giant feather duster and a christmas tree worm (pic to follow). They gave me a small piece of pink/white polyp dendro for $1, which I mounted in good current next to the chili coral.
The tank has been experiences some brown cyno or something on the sand, which I suck out every few days. Also a few tufts of hair algae, previously only present in the overflows. Added 5 more scarlet hermits.

27 November 00
Took some new pics, including the full tank shot on the main page. Did some house cleaning on a few of the web pages.

20 November 00
BIG livestock weekend! I traded my green open brain and my prized Rose Lobophytum (still have a frag) in at Carribean Forest for a small Green Pipe Organ and a 3" green Eleganse Coral. Although both of these corals have poor track records in captivity, I choose the hardiest variety of each and will do my best. Pics coming soon.

A local reefer (Kevin M) and I drove to Williamsport, Pa (390.5 miles round trip) to meet some Reef Central guys at Ron's Saltwater Heaven. The other attendees included ByTor, Q Ball and Mrs.Q, and FishBait. Awesome place with incredible tanks and animals, definitely worth the trip. Here is the group photo in front of his 700 gallon reef display.
I brought with me a frag of Frogspawn (fragged 2 w/3heads each this week), Candycane, Rhodactis, Staghorn, Blastomussa, Neon Leather and a few extra snails to give away. I left with a rare ($130!) red and green Blastomussa Wellsi, and 4 frags: teal Hydnophora, Pink Stylophora (cats paw), Pink Seriatophora (birdsnest), and green hairy Acropora Milliapora.

20 October 00
Tank is doing awesome. Had a great livestock weekend- Met Tim (ByTor) from RC down in Binghamton, where we traded some animals. He took the Puple Acro colony which was outgrowing my tank (I kept a small frag), plus frags of Frogspawn and the other three acros. I added a piece of his Orange Montipora Capricornis. I was finally able to find Orange Ricordea Floridea in Buffalo to complete my ridordea collection, as well as a really cool light colored Blastomussa Wellsi.
No new news on the Capnella, the eggs are still in there...

27 September 00
The torch coral seems to have stabilized. The sky blue acro has definitely colored up better under the 10k's. The sand has remained clean, but there is a brownish-green hair-like stringy algae growing in several places on the rocks and glass. It falls apart easy, but the "roots" stay attached. I've been siphoning during water changes. My Nitrates have dropped from just under 10 to 1 via Salifert test! Probably due to the continued growth of the sump refuge.
The Capnella leather has what look like gametes (eggs) inside it's tissue! Quite exciting...

24 August 00
Several of my Torch heads have been receeding for several weeks, not sure why... 1) The B-ionic Bicarb formula I recieved by accident a month ago isn't keeping up with Ca/alk demands even at 4x dosage! Started back on original formala a few days ago (bringing levels back up). 2) The corals have filled in so much that what used to be a lot of water flow has become almost stagnant. I added 2 MJ900 Power heads inside the overflow areas of the tank, plumbed to the front cutouts. Much improvement! 3) Changed out the 6mo old 12k MH lamps with Ushio 10k. Much whiter and brighter looking (the tank had been looking pretty dim). We'll see...

31 July 00
I gave the web page a much-needed reorg, breaking the now "extensive" livestock list into a seperate page.
Yellow polyps seem to be making a come back. I have been lazy on target feeding the corals, so I'm feeding frozen shrimp and Formula 1 to a few every other day.

3 July 00
Traded the Target (psychadelic) Mandarin at the last (2nd) URS meeting because it was looking thin. The original Mandarin still looks healthy. I've noticed a definite pod population improvement since.
The Macro algae in the sump is really taking off. Lit by 13w PC, which is on almost 24/7. Nitrates have dropped from 7 to 5. Feeding excess macro to the tangs.
Purchased a green flat brain coral and a branching green hammer coral (pics to follow) over the past few weeks.
My yellow polyps are wasting away... Attempting to target feed.
I also traded in the Sea Apple prior to leaving for vacation for a week. The animal had definitely shrunk, though was doing well. After all the reading about this guy, I decided it wasn't worth the risk to the tank.

25 May 00
Updated some pictures in the livestock list.
Traded for several Caulerpa macroalgae pieces to put in my sump. Using a reverse lighting cycle with 13 pc worklight.

I hosted the first ever Upstate Reef Society meeting on 5-21. The six of us had a great time over trades, burgers, and beer!
The big purchase this month was for a double detritivore kit from Inland Aquatics. After seeing what's in real live sand, I had to have some! (It's also to restock my 'pod population, since the spotted mandarin has lost a lot of weight.)
The E. Quad continues to grow irritate the Bubble coral...

25 April 00
Updated the Reef Progression page for April.
Everything has been doing great, but alk is in the low 2's, and Ca is over 500. I don't have any idea how the "ionic balance" got outta wack, but I backed off on part B for a couple days. Bought a new Rhodactis mushroom rock and a unique S.Dura Cabbage Coral which has tiny green flourescent polyps (pictures don't show the color).

5 April 00
Mistress Reef is one year old! This "milestone" is thought by many to be the make/break age of a reef aquarium...
I created a First B-Day anniversary Page just for the occassion! Time to "sit back" and let it mature!
I added a blue tipped Acropora Sp. The Rose Anemone is definitely touching the bubble coral, which retracts "just enough" to keep out of reach. The irony is that the Anemone has stayed put in the exact location that I created for it, only it has grown from 2" to 10" across, so I guess I didn't think far enough ahead!

10 March 00
All the lamps have now been replaced (10+mo old). I exchanged the 10kK German bulbs with the new 12k Sunburst (cheaper at $75ea). It took some adjustment, getting used to the increase in blue, but the color change is more realistic of a depth around 30-40 feet. The only neg feedback was from the Yellow Fiji Leather, who took several days to open. Also installed a 9w PC flourescent lamp for night viewing. The idea was to provide a slow transition to darkness for the fish, not to appreciably illuminate the tank. (picture) Looks really wild with the actinics on also!

It seems I've been on a livestock frenzy the last few weeks...
The "percula" clown hasn't even come close to accepting the Rose anemone, so I had been holding off for a small Gold Stiped Maroon Clown, which accepts E.Quad solely in the wild. Well, the anemone has already grown considerably, so I added a 2" specimen, which took within 45 minutes. Way cool!
Even though I really like my other clown (and they seem to be "putting up" with each other), it will get traded in IF I can catch it.

My 'pod population seems to be holding well with the one Mandarin, so I added a "target" variety. The two species are fairing well, except for a little aggression when they happen to "bump" into one another.
Also added a maze coral (always wanted a miniture "closed brain") and a rare red morph of Cynarina. I had intended on trading in the common green one, but we'll see how it goes.
Finally got my low range Nitrate and Alk test kits. Had to boost the daily dose of Bionic to 2oz. to get the alk up around 2.8 meq/l. Nitrates are around 2.5-

23 February 00
Added a "3D" pictures section under links! Updated Reef Pics Progression section with Feb00 picture and page.
YAHOO! Finally got the Rose Anemone (E. Quadricolor) I've been waiting several months for. It's just a baby at 3", and seems to be fairing well in a spot I set up specifically for it with a deep crevice directly under the mh. I choose this species after much research, based on its relative hardiness and likelyhood to clone.
Traded a piece of the green tipped frogspawn (and a few other frags) for a green polyped frogspawn with pinkish tips. The two look great together.
Red Cyano seems to be holding steady. Siphoned some off during last water change.

16 February 00
Got a bright red serpent star a week ago to help with scavenging diversity. Something seems to be "munching" on the tips of its legs...
Purchased a stalk of tank raise Pumping Xenia a few days ago. It instantly became the wife's favorite coral.
Starting to see some red cyno on the substrate...

2 February 00
The urchin has "slowed down" its aggressive eating disorder, so the coralline growth is keeping up.
Took some new pictures for the main reef page, using 400max 35mm film. Scanned in at my neighbors house.
The Scleronephthya is finally opening to feed, usually late in the lighting cycle. I've been stirring up some detrius from the sand, rocks, and sump almost nightly to feed it.

30 January 00
New livestock:  Green Open Brain, Blue Linkia Starfish (1-22)
Spent several hours acclimating this star, having lost one before because it "escaped" from the drip bucket during introduction.
Comments on the Royal Urchin: This guy eats all the algae in its path, no matter what. I forgot how white my rock once was! The re-growth seems to be keeping up...

13 January 00
New livestock:  Cauliflower coral (yellow/orange). This is my first attempt at a non-photosynthetic filter feeding soft coral.

7 January 00
New livestock:  Fiji yellow leather, Royal Sea Urchin.
The leather adds a brilliant yellow to the tanks color palatte, and after reading numerous posts on the urchin being "reef safe",  I decided to get one to increase "creature diversity".

7 January 00
New livestock:  Fiji yellow leather, Royal Sea Urchin.
The leather adds a brilliant yellow to the tanks color palatte, and after reading numerous posts on the urchin being "reef safe",  I decided to get one to increase "creature diversity".

2 January 00
Purchased a green tipped Frogspawn, in the hopes of placing it close enough to the yellow torch that the tentacles would "mingle" with each other (both being Euphyllia sp.).  As it ends up, the frogspawn irritated to torch, so it was "split" and relocated;
one piece was repositioned lower than the torch, the other was moved up high on the other side of the tank.  This will allow an experiment to be conducted comparing high/moderate light differences to the same coral.