melev

Yesterday as I was cleaning the glass and specifically near the area where the sandbed meets the glass, I accidentally bumped this acropora with my elbow. I use a plastic room key card (like a credit card) to clean the harder spots in the tank, and sometimes my arm makes contact with a coral. I always recoil and hold my breath hoping I didn't damage a colony, but this broke was quick. I watched the branch fall slowly toward the sandbed, and felt disgusted with myself. For the time being, the branch was placed within the colony. In this picture you can see the white spot where the piece snapped. The large piece I inserted is just to the left of the white circle.

This little frag has been with me at least two years and is finally starting to take off. It's a red acropora I got from Drew.

The Eheim Autofeeder needed to be refilled today. The food dumps into the acrylic chimney and keeps the it in one spot until the flakes get soaked and fall into the water column. Usually Spock is instantly there, her mouth inserted vertically into the chimney gobbling up as much as she can get. This feeder runs once at 12:30pm and twice at 6:30 pm so the Anthias and other small fish get a chance to eat as well.

The hammer corals are looking nicer all the time.

This is the edge of a "Hollywood Stunner" chalice I got at the frag swap two weekends ago.

This honey-colored Psammacora is doing great. Looks just as nice as the day I placed it in the tank a couple of months ago.

The Jedi Mind Trick montipora is located in the back of my reef, visible from the fishroom side. It's quite close to the Vortech Mp60 pump (to its right) and it looks like the pump is blowing the tissue up and away when you look at the growth pattern.

Some of the Kryptonite Candycane coral I have, which is placed in three different spots in the 400g.

Staring at this coral for months, I never noticed the blue polyps until today. How's that possible?

The Nepthea coral is doing well, although I wish it stood up in the tank. It's been hanging downward for some time now, and I'm not sure why.

This chalice started off with four mouths. I'm counting 10 now. Sure is a unique coloration.

The view from the top of the tank looking toward the return assembly with the Reverse Check Valve (anti siphon setup). I like watching the water ripple quietly.

This montipora is lime-yellow and just beautiful. The color came out just about perfectly in this image.

When I'm just not feeling all that great about my tank, it's always nice to take some time to enjoy it from above. Stopping the pumps and gazing down or using a Top Down Photo Box to give me crystal clear access to look at each coral gives me a whole new appreciation for the life growing in my closed eco-system, which helps spur me on for another duration. This reef setup is only 5.5 months old... so much more to come.