[tparsons]

Thanks to everyone for their support on this project, including our supportive manufacturers and suppliers!

It is time to update everyone with a few changes happening on this system.

After initial assessments, we noticed that the tank was severely lacking in the Clean-Up Crew Department. We added;
Astrea, Cerith, Nassarius, Mexican Red Legs and Mexican Scarlets to the tank. The astrea are still working away at cleaning up the rocks and the back glass, but these cleaners have done an excellent job so far! As for the cerith and nassarius they must be in heaven in that dirty sand bed as they disappeared right away and are only occasionally seen at night and at feeding time.

The staff at Roger's house noticed a difference in the overall cleanliness of the tank and the children enjoyed seeing the "crew" do their work, cleaning rocks and glass etc and especially the Nassarius burrowing in and out of the substrate!



Next we needed to address the feeding regime.
To date the fish had been fed pellets but only a couple times per week.
Fauna Marin graciously donated fish food for the year so we brought in a mix of Spirulina, Health and Energy foods from Fauna Marin.

Thank You Fauna Marin!!

Through the help of some of the volunteers at Rogers house I am happy to report that the fish are being fed 1-2 times per day now and loving their new food

Although I did anticpate a change in eating patterns from the fish, it was amazing to hear from Lise herself that the fish seemed to be eating more voraciously and becoming more active with their new diet. After supplying the fish with a better quality food and a better feeding regime, the fish were noticably more active and less prone to hiding.


This week we added the Two Little Fishies Purple and Green Algea to their daily feeding regime and I haven't seen tangs go after Algea so happily in my seven years in this hobby Normally it can take tangs that have been in captivity for this long and that have never been fed nori several days to start eating nori but both the tangs were mowing TLF nori within second of it being added to the tank.
I am sure this will provide lots of entertainment for the children and the staff.
To help the staff know how much to feed we also took the time to tear up several pieces of the TLF green and purple nori into the appropriately sized pieces. This way any member of the staff can come along and create a feeding frenzy with the tangs for the children to relax and enjoy watching. Right now we are just using the normal TLF algae clip with a suction cup but shortly we will upgrade to one of the TLF algae clips with the magnet and the foam floating for when it comes un attached.


The flow in the 180g tank was more than just a bit lacking as the only flow in the entire tank was from the little giant return pump.
We approached Ecotech and we need to send out a HUGE thanks to them as they were crazy generous and donated not one, but TWO MP40 W ES pumps for this amazing cause!

Thank You Ecotech!!!

Previously the tank had chronic cyano issues due to lack of flow, but the MP40's are doing an excellent job and creating more than enough flow in the tank. Now the nutrient are staying in suspension and going down the overflow to the sump where that can be properly exported. About 2 weeks after adding the pumps we received an email from the Rogers House with comments about how much better the tank looked and how much cleaner the front sand bed was looking. The extra inverts did of course help with this, but the additional nutrient export is vital in our efforts to make this tank look its best!

Sorry that we do not have any more pics at this time but we will be in helping out at the Rogers House again later this week so I am sure we can snap some then.