The breakdown of my 280-gallon reef tank
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Published on 07-19-2010 04:45 PM
The Toadstool Leather was saved for last. We knew that handling it, it would slime like crazy and this might hurt the other corals. In addition, it was decided prior to the breakdown that it would be best to put it in a vat by itself so it couldn’t hurt all the newly transferred corals. Leathers shed and exude stuff into the water on a regular basis, and this one was about to be manhandled in a big way. This enormous coral has been growing in size since I brought it home as a tiny frag in 2003. Wes suggested that I take it out foot-first, so in these images you’ll see that’s what we ended up doing. It was very heavy, and disgustingly slimy. As it rubbed against my forearms and hands, I was a little overwhelmed, repulsed and impressed all at once; the culmination of all these feelings resulted in a serious case of the giggles. They were uncontrollable, so much so that Drew ended up doing the bulk of the lifting. Wes was ready with the scale, determined to find out what it weighed. Once it was wrestled out of the tank and placed on his shoulder, Wes tried to stand still while the coral literally rained water on the kitchen floor. The first attempt displayed “ERR” on the scale (indicating error), and with the second attempt the scale died on the spot. The mystery of its weight will continue to be unknown. It was placed in a 33-gallon barrel filled with saltwater and some live rock. Two Tunze pumps provided flow, and a 150w heater keep the temperature up at night.
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