SuncrestReef

Do yourself a favor and buy an orange filter for your phone. It makes a huge difference. This is what I used for these photos: https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/smartphone-orange-gel-filter-aquarium-photography-lens-aquariclip/

Big thanks to Jeff @CuttleFishandCoral for ordering a pair of Dragonface Pipefish for me. They are super cute, seem to be getting comfortable in my tank, and are already pecking at everything to suck up some pods. My hope is that they will tackle the red bugs on my acros, but so far they have been laying low on the sand and lower rocks. They're a fascinating addition to my tank. It's cool how their eyes rotate independently in every direction. They remind me of a chameleon's eyes:

I use a universal smartphone adapter. It clamps onto the eyepiece and works great! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013D2ULO6 The additional benefit is that you can just use the screen on your phone as a display so several people can see what's under the scope at the same time.

If you can't find any diatoms, you can show your students mine. It also shows a dinoflagellate moving between the diatoms:

Fun stuff! I'm so glad I bought a microscope and I'm frequently looking at all sorts of samples from my tank under magnification. Did you look at the diatoms under the scope? They come in many shapes. Mine looked like tiny slices of pizza. You & your students are going to make so many more cool discoveries over time. Glad you're all having fun with it.

Good point...I could have 2,600 sq ft of sump space if I go down through the flooring!

@PowderBlue You should hire @pdxmonkeyboy to squeeze that design into your RS 170. 🤣

That’s the truth. You only get one chance with PVC glue. On my mixing station plumbing I made the mistake of forgetting to place the collar on a union joint before gluing and had to cut it off and buy a new union.

I’d be happy to take a look. Here’s a mock-up before I glued the current manifold for my Reefer 425 XL:

My understanding is that you need more than one because they need to breed to keep up with aiptasia. This site has a calculator to estimate the number you'd need for your tank size and infestation level: https://saltyunderground.com/category/berghia-qanda (scroll about half way down the page)

Thanks, that looks like a match.

Does anyone know the name of that coral from the video snapshot? I love the color combination.

Any photos?

Actually the lobo is pink & purple. The orange filter I use on my iPhone videos causes anything pink to look yellow. But it does a good job to filter out the blue light and make all other colors look accurate. Just not pink. Here's an unfiltered photo of that lobo:

I use Red Sea Coral Pro salt. However, prior ICP tests did not detect arsenic.

Somewhere along the way a stomatella snail hitchhiked into my tank. I rarely ever see it, but I spotted it again today and captured a little video, along with a view of some of the corals at the front of my tank:

Congrats! I love my 425XL.

Yeah, I panicked when I saw the arsenic level, so I sent in a sample of my tap water to make sure it's safe to drink. Came back at 0 arsenic. Something I'm putting into my tank must be adding it, or it's a false reading. The only things I put into my tank are BRS 2-part, LRS frozen food, nori, and occasionally some mysis. I'll be sending in another sample of tank water next month.

I’ve been using https://www.icp-analysis.com/ in Colorado. Results are usually ready within 1 week of sending the sample. They can test your tank water and your RO/DI water.

My wife is more attached to the pistol shrimp than she is to the corals. Since I also don't want to completely tear up my rockscape to get the shrimp out, I'm going to pursue the pipefish strategy.

[language filter], I was looking at that plate coral. I should have grabbed it. 😞

I'm hoping to avoid the Interceptor treatment because I'd need to either move the corals into QT for treatment and then not being sure if I got all of them, or treat the whole display tank but that means removing all my shrimp and crabs. There's no way I could catch the pistol shrimp without removing all my rock work.

If it's not one thing, it's another. Yesterday while shooting macro photos, I discovered some of my acros have red bugs. Does anyone have any experience with dragonface pipefish, and know if any local shops carry them?

I'd hold out until @pdxmonkeyboy agrees to wash your dishes and fold your laundry. 🤣