400 gallon project

[Snappy]

Glad to see your catching those pesky little things.

[untamed]

Oh yes...it was also interesting to watch the Yellow Tang use his tail blades. I always wondered how the fish would actually use them to attack/defend.

[michika]

Beautiful addition!

[Paverdude]

Time for a new full tank shot!!!!

[untamed]

I don't think the tank has changed too much...but here's a unique view. This is what you get with a panarama close up with a wide angle lens.

You can see, I'm in the cyano stage....

[Delphinus]

Yay cyano! Fun fun. But, if it's any consolation, the tank is looking good anyhow. I love the "gorg tank" look (I realize some of them are actually sponges). Actually about the sponges - are they feeding on phyto or zooplankton or anything like that?

[untamed]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Yay cyano! Fun fun. But, if it's any consolation, the tank is looking good anyhow. I love the "gorg tank" look (I realize some of them are actually sponges). Actually about the sponges - are they feeding on phyto or zooplankton or anything like that?

I had not intended to create a gorg-tank, but that is the way it ended up with the LR that I got. It's a really nice benefit to have some very large coral in there while the SPS grow up.

I feed phytoplankton every day. I'm not currently feeding zooplankton, but I do intend to. I'm pretty sure that the sponges would be feeding on nothing larger than phyto, but I've not been able to find any research that confirms that this is what the sponges actually consume. It could be bacteria.

The branching orange sponges seem to be doing OK. However, the tall red sponges are dying fast. The yellow ball sponges can't seem to fend off algae...and I have two types of other red and orange sponges sheltered in the rocks that seem to be doing fine. So if one type of sponge might be getting what it needs, some other types are clearly not.

[untamed]

Yes, it has been pretty warm the last few days. The graph below shows how the high temperatures have affected the tank temperature over the past few days. No..we don't have air conditioning in the house.

You can see that it is hitting a bit above 81.5 F. That's only 2 degrees warmer than the operating goal of 79 F. The daily cycle is about 1 degree increase every 3 hours as soon as the halides come on.

[Skimmerking]

Time for a Air cond

[Red_Six]

Nice tank.

I have the package as well. I had one red sponge that dissolved away in about 4 months. After doing some research I came across this article by Randy Holmes.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...03/feature.htm

In it he says, "Sponges are the second largest consumer of dissolved silica in the ocean." I would be interested in seeing if the addition of silica to your tank lets them survive.