400 gallon project

[untamed]

I think that I can now say that I actually have an aquarium. Still no fish, but yesterday was a significant one. Another run to Seattle and I have my first load of real, aquacultured Live rock.

This is about 1/2 of the rock that I will need overall. I haven't done any kind of aquascaping...just get the rocks into the tank so they can recover from the trip.

Here's what the tank looks like as of a few minutes ago. Even with the rocks just laying around the bottom, the tank depth makes it quite visually interesting already. The tall gorgonians help out a lot.


Here's a closer shot of one of the rocks. It has a 20"+ coral growing on it. I think it is a gorgonian of some kind.


Here's a close up of that branching coral pictured above. Can anyone identify what this is?


Here's another shot of another interesting rock. This one has about 15 good sized gorgonians (purple w/white, cream w/gold). They have had polyps extended since the moment they went into the tank. I need to do some research on care/feeding of gorgonians....


Finally, identified hitch-hikers included about a dozon large crabs, countless starfish, 1 large hermit and about 6 small ones, at least 3 pistol shrimp, and this porcelin crab. No mantis were seen, but they are being heard!