melev

The left side of my reef suffers from sand movement. The ebb of the Vortech pump seems to pull the sand toward the pump, leaving a huge low spot at least a foot wide that coincidentally buries some corals on the left. It wasn't this bad at first, but something changed and it will move in a day instead of over a week's time. In this recent picture, you can see the big hole. Maybe I bumped up the flow rate, I'm not sure.

I took a couple of rocks out of the sump that had been unused, trying to create a bit of a ridge that will hopefully create enough of a barrier without looking ugly and help keep the sand in place. Time will tell, and I'll probably make more adjustments until I find the sweet spot.

What did I spot on this rock? Looks like some type of zoanthids? I'm curious if they will recover. I thought the rock was just rock, no corals on it.

Over the weekend, I delivered a sump to a LFS in Arlington and came home with two new corals and a Tuxedo Urchin.

Diploastrea sp.

Tyree Flower Petal montipora

The little urchin doesn't sport the vivid light blue I prefer, but it's still a good algae muncher. I have some that needs to be grazed away, so hopefully this guy and the hermits will help get it under control.

Here's a view of the back of the tank I took a couple of days ago. I've since leveled out the sandbed and cleaned the area between the sand and the glass.

And the full length view I enjoy so often.