Tank Entry

Sometimes running a reef tank is like raising a kid. You do everything you're supposed to and they still misbehave and don't even grasp the concept that it will do itself in in the process.

Two days ago, it was time to dose Prodibio. The water looked good, the corals vibrant. I added the proper amount of each vial, including their new Coral Vits vitamin additive. That stuff has a citrus-like smell to it. Once it hits the water, the sound of the reef changes as it pours into the ...

Today's wordy blog is about Sunday's power outage. We had a rainy weekend, but nothing that would suggest power would go out. About 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning, everything went dead. As usual, I was awake but winding down. UPS' were chirping, the Vortech pumps were providing flow from their battery backups, and I lit a couple of candles and filed a report with the power company. The recorded message was that power would be restored at 6:30 a.m. so I took a nap.

Around that promised ...

Every few weeks I'll spot this flat gorgonian shedding some skin. It's like a snake, or a bad case of sunburn peel. This is completely normal and coral appears to always look better thereafter. I've seen hermits climb these branches to pick away at the skin, or any other nuisance algae that tries to take hold.

For me, milestones are important. Being able to hit specific goals or maintain something for a measurable time period is always rewarding. If you aren't familiar with the 400g's history, here's the quick recap:

February 2011: I started up the 400g dream tank to be my reef for the next decade. 13 months later it sprung a leak. 18 months after that - November 10, 2013 - the 400g and a 60g cube were populated by the livestock waiting in a temporary 215g setup. A lot of work went on ...

Just put this on ice... the one year anniversary of the 400g is almost here.

This will be opened on Monday. I'll be doing some cleaning over the next day to have a nice system to showcase. I'm hoping to record a video summary of sorts.