Blog Comments

Oh, and if they hadn't have glue the damn mirror to the wall I would have taken it down.

Marc if you look at this pic you can see the actual support structure:




the up right walls go all the way from the front and back. Eventually a carpenter buddy of mine is supposed to come wrap the stand in a pretty finish.


I guess I can scrape the coraline off the glass, however I think the rock is covered in a light green coraline.

For scraping the coraline off, you might want to try plastic razor blades. Back when I detailed cars on the side, I would use them to get concrete off of a customers car, along with a special spray...

Anyways, they did a good job and kept the paint marring down to a minimum, might be worth trying out.

I'm waiting for you to post a picture of that conch coming out of the shell to attack the tank like Godzilla.

Now that you are tidying it up, here's a couple suggestions for you: 1) Scrape the coralline off the back of the tank. That will seed the liverock with bits of coralline to grow on it instead. Your corals will pop against the black background. 2) Run a plastic spatula or rubber scraper between the sand and the walls of the tank to take that algae away. You will end up exposing pretty white sand again, and give your tank a cleaner look immediately.

I'm seeing a lot of yellow in your tank. It would be nice to add some other colors, like green and blue. Blue Tort, Green Slimer, Pocillopora comes in bright green or bright pink... A tiny blue hippo would look nice in there. I'm not suggesting reds and purples because coralline tends to be those colors but to add some variety of color, that would be nice.

That mirror behind your tank may start to deteriorate, primarily right at the bottom where salt can get to the foil material. Make sure to keep that area clean and maintain a seal with caulk or silicone to prevent damage.

The light fixture looks good and those YoYos are useful when you need room to work.

Is the front of your tank supported?

Definitely Red Valonia. Some glow pretty under actinic lighting, however like Marc says "a pest algae" which eventually overgrows and crowds desireable specimens.

I agree with Marc. Red valonia is more often irregular in shape when compared to green bubble algae. It's also considerably more slimy when popped open. I'd remove them, preferably outside the tank if possible.

I have a feeling you are looking at a red valonia. It's a pest algae. Some will be polka-dotted, others just a reddish orb. Got any more to take pictures of?

its a strawberry tunic I believe harmless filter feeder nice find

Wow, very strange, never seen anything like that... looks like a strawberry, doesn't it? Google around and there is a strawberry sponge in the ocean, but, I'm not sure if what you have lookips like it: http://www.geofishdive.com/images/mo...%20Dive_lg.jpg

I'm not talking about plumbing, just the overflows and in the sump. If you have locline or something similar on the return that is in the tank and getting covered with algae, those can be removed, soaked and cleaned.

Cleaning the return lines? I would have to cut mine out to do so...The last time I switched all my plumbing up I could not get the hose off of the hose barbs and had to cut them off.

I suppose you could, since you don't have a bulkhead at the bottom that may need tending one day.

For normal overflows with a drain and return line, it needs to be cleaned out at least annually.

If you going to machine acrylic they recommend you use cell cast not extruded which would include tapping

Uniseals are best for plumbing into a reactor. You can glue PVC fittings to the acrylic, but if they break loose....

You can purchase the pH probe holder assemblies from MarineDepot.com - link 1 - or elsewhere.

That's cool you have the baby mushrooms. That rock is not new right? I bought some red mushrooms a few weeks back and keep getting baby ones all the time. ;-)

I like that toad stool. I had a 8 inch one that a bicolored bleany killed by perching in it. I ripped the whole tank apart to get him out but it was too late. Good luck with yours. Purple mushrooms for sure. May want to turn that rock if you want them to grow.

The purple bubbles are indeed baby mushrooms.

I'll second DJ, looks like baby mushrooms. Nice photo work.

looks like purple mushrooms hard to tell from pic

the first and last are "stylophora"

from the looks of the polyps and the rounded tips. (birdsnest has more of a point with white tips from growth.
just my opinion though.