melev

It occurred to me that I'd not taking a picture of the refugium zone in a while. Feather caulerpa has been my staple for many years, and even though I run biopellets the macro algae seems to grow well. My display tank stays algae free, although I do see some micro algae taking hold in the anemone tank. I'll have to manually assault that situation before it gets out of hand.

A couple of pest anemones are in the refugium, but can be removed easily enough since they are holding onto the plant instead of the wall of the compartment. From time to time I'll give some of the plant away to others that need some, and the caulerpa fills in the void. I run the lights from 1:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily. Eventually I'll switch it to a night cycle when the woodwork hides it.

The refugium zone is 58" x 6" x 12" and has been running since Feb 2011. It's lit with a 48" long white LED fixture by UniqueLED Lighting.

It's only a matter of time until I take everything out to clean the area well and reset the sandbed. Too much detritus has accumulated in this zone, and it needs to be rebooted. The refugium has lots of tube worm feather dusters, and somewhere under all the plants a cucumber resides.

These chalices wanted their picture taken.

The Fighting Conchs are active, and photogenic. One is in the 60g, and three are in the 400g. It's best to give each conch a 2' x 2' area of sand to care for.

Before the tanks were set up, all the livestock was in the 215g. When I moved the corals over, some of the supporting rock went to the other tank. The Gorgonian that was attached to this particular rock is the 400g, but the rock that went into the 60g had some gorgonian tissue on it. Over the past couple of months, it has been growing slowly and steadily. It's a bonus coral.

The Kryptonite Candycane coral is eye-catching. This one is in the back of the 400g, and looks very happy. The one in the front of the tank is getting hit with too much flow and will need to be moved to a better area. It's a shame because the contrast looks good where it is, but the polyps aren't going to last if they remain in that spot.

The leading edge of this Acan echinata is so much prettier than the main colony. I love the glowing orange coloration.

And the rainbow Acan needs to be moved to a place where it can be more visible.

One of the Red Leg Hermits seems to be saying "Stand back - I've got this."

Some white sponge continues to grow out from between these "Red People Eaters."

The Unknown Acro that I've yet to identify properly. While looking at the reef from the fishroom side, I noticed this angle was new and thus needed a photo taken. Lots of new growth.

And leave it to this Photobomber to make me put up the camera for the day.