Ska's 28 Macro Algae Display

[skabooya]

went to the lfs yesterday and picked up another clown and 2 blue leg hermits; i couldnt resist.
When i got home i noticed the new clown had no mouth. Grrr so i called the petstore and they will trade me for one that does have a mouth. So now there is one on hold for me. I will pick it up on saturday.


OH and I also got a bunch of corals from tang daddy a little while ago. Very nice corals. I love them and they are all doing well. I will post pics when they are more settled in and colour up some more.

My other corals from hockey nut are colouring up very nicely. The branching gorg however is a lost cause. Its melting away day by day. There is too much to clip away now. Im just leaving it in the tank to see what happens but 80% of it is now gone.
I really liked that purple tree. My husband called it "the broken stick"

[skabooya]

So a few things have happened in my tank. The water got all cloudy for a few days and I was wondering WTF?? So I tested and noticed my trates were up a bit. I looked around, counted my livestock, everything was there... BUT, in the sandbed I noticed an open white clam shell. I thought, weird. I left the tank to clear out the cloudiness and it did. Then it got cloudy again and I looked around and noticed another clam shell. Then the water went clear again... then a couple days later cloudy again. I looked in the same spot.... Another clam shell. I grabbed a mirror to look at the underside of my LR and I couldnt see much but they are comming from that area. I wonder who is eating the clams... or are they just dying. Meh either way it doesnt bother me. They are hitch hikers and Im not getting mad at whom ever is enjoying fresh clams as much as I do

I also watched something very freaky happen with my hermit crabs. My larger hermit had its claws in the smaller hermits shell. I thought "Nooooo" and in 2 seconds the large crab pulled out the smaller hermit in 2 pieces and flung him to either side and then immediately shoved his claws back into the shell. I watched in horror as the two pieces of little hermie floated and rolled along the sandbed hitting rubble and zoas as it went by. My poor little hermie. HOWEVER, 1 hour later I looked at my tank again and notice not 1 but 2 hermies. YES little hermie just molted. He was not ripped in half by big hermie. YAY!!! What a freaky thing to watch though. lol

I moved some corals around to make room for some new additions comming in September and then that will be it until next year.

My husband; God bless him; bought me a fish from the lfs. Its on hold there and he says its for my saltwater tank. He says its really cool looking and its one that ive talked about before. Hmmmmm I wonder what it could be. Its in quarentine until the lfs deems it safe to send to a new home. Now im not allowed to go to the lfs until the fish is ready for pick up so I dont ruin the surprise.
Im actually more scared than excited. What if he bought me a puffer or a tang or something. eeek

[skabooya]

Pictures:

big hermie with claws in little hermies shell

blue ric

green with orange spot mushroom

superman rhodactious

some kind of new macroalgae... a type of bryopsis

[skabooya]

didnt like that green algae. Parts of it kept going white and then it was green again blah blah blah so i just removed it.

Got my shipment of coral in from Tang daddy yesterday. Nice stuff but it arrived in cold water. I guess the bus depot place kept it in a cool area.
I will let them get used to their new place before i take any pics.

I recieved:
Lariat zoas
ice blue cloves (hoping these ones survive, they dont ship very well)
neon green candycane (so bright it hurts my eyes)
green sinularia
green ric
pink tip froggy
Green and orange monti cap. (i wanted to give these a try.)

Dont know whats wrong with all my zoas. They opened up the day i got them and thats it. They are very wrinkley like an old persons face. Only one or two from each frag will open up sometimes and thats bairly. I just see a little skirt and thats it. Sometimes they open enough for a polyp to eat and then close up again.
Ive dipped them, nothing happened. I cant see any pests on them. No spots, nothing out of the ordinary from pics i see online. Just wrinkley like they are deflated or something like that. Ive tried to do research but i come up with nothing but unrelated issues. Ive moved them to a lower flow area and lower light.
Any suggestions??

[skabooya]

So I picked up a calcium and magnesium test kit because of the sps and lps. Guess what. Im way off. My calcium is down at 300ppm. To slowly raise it to just over 400 is going to take me 10 days of 1/2tsp a day of seachem calcium and magnesium additive. When i get it up to the right level im going to calculate how fast its used up so i know exactly how much to dose and how often.

I knew IO salt was low in this stuff but geez.

[whatcaneyedo]

IO actually isn't low unless you're using an old bucket. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714505 The new values are pretty good and right around where I target. Of course there still can be some variation between batches... but those should be minor.

[skabooya]

Shouldnt be old. I just bought the stuff a few months ago. Maybe a bad batch?? hmm
In any case its only been a 1/2 hour and guess what i see. zoas starting to open up Just a little but its still more than before. I guess they do need some more calcium and magnesium. Poor guys.

Also SURPRISE! my hubby came back with my fishie surprise hes been talking about. Its my absolutely most fav fish EVER!!! Coral beauty. Stunning fish. So far she (im calling it a she) hasent picked on any coral. Just the rock work and sand. She stole my peppermint shrimps home lol and loves hanging out with my clowns who have just recently laid eggs!!! mmmm free food. Shes a pig and is a pretty calm one so far.