SuncrestReef

My wife was in Africa for a couple of weeks and took our Nikon D610 camera on her trip. While I missed my wife, I also missed the camera! 😏 But now that she's back (along with 4,000+ photos of elephants, rhinos, lions, zebras, cheetahs, and so many other great shots), I can get back to shooting macro shots of my corals. Below are some full-frame shots, each followed by a 100% crop showing details: California Tort: Favia: Oregon Tort: Green Slimer: @Krux if you still want to arrange a photo shoot, let me know. My schedule is pretty flexible (I'm retired...), and I'm not one to turn down a beer & pizza. 😎

Tonight I found what at first looked like a worm on the sand bed. I siphoned it out of the tank to get a better look, but it does not appear to be a living creature. I'm starting to think it's fish poop, but I've never seen my fish produce anything nearly this large or segmented like this. My biggest fish is only 2" long, and this specimen is nearly 1.5". Or perhaps my pistol shrimp has been busily making link sausages in his burrow every night! I always wonder what he's doing in there with all those clicking sounds. 🤣

Once my wife comes back from her trip to Africa with my camera on Friday, I'd be happy to arrange a photo shoot. My tank only has so many corals, so I'm getting tired of taking the same photos over and over! I have a Nikon D610 with a 200mm macro capable of very detailed photos. Here's an example:

Yes, at 1.5 gallons per day, that's about 10% per week for my system. It's been working flawlessly for months.

The Apex is programmed to run one pump on the DOS to drain 1.5 gallons of water from the sump between 9am - 10:30am through the black tubing into the utility sink. Then at 10:30am - noon the other DOS pump adds 1.5 gallons of new saltwater back to the sump through the orange tubing from the 75 gallon storage tank on the left. During this whole time, the Apex has the ATO pump disabled so it doesn't try to top off the missing water. The ATO pump is located inside the 75 gallon RO/DI tank on the right in that photo and feeds fresh water through the blue tubing. I have optical sensors in each of the 75 gallon storage tanks so the Apex can alert me when either one is low. It will disable the auto water change if there is insufficient saltwater to complete the cycle. During the water change process the water level in my sump return chamber drops about 3 inches, but there's still plenty of water for the return pump to run.

Well, I already have a pistol shrimp that is constantly building new burrows and creating piles of sand outside each one. I'm hoping I can keep a clam on the sand in an area that's not too close to the rocks so the shrimp won't bother it, or perhaps put it on one of the lower rocks.

I set up my system from day one with 1/4" tubing inside a conduit running from my sump through the wall to my mixing station in the garage for automated water changes and ATO. That was probably the smartest thing I did in my whole setup. Aside from when I first filled my tank and did a 100% water change after cycling, I've never needed to drag a hose or buckets into the house.

I’m looking for some advice on adding the first clam to my aquarium. I’m still relatively new to reefing with my tank only up and running for 3 months now, but I’ve read a lot of articles and forum posts warning that clams should not be added until a tank is at least a year old. What isn’t clear is whether that advice is to ensure the tank has matured to a certain level, or whether they are saying the aquarist needs to take that long to learn how to maintain a stable system. I have a Reefer XL 425 with about 35 small corals (mostly SPS and a few LPS), a small bio load with only 6 small fish and 2 shrimp, one BTA, and a good sized cleanup crew of snails and hermit crabs. Since I’m retired, I spend a lot of time maintaining my system, routinely test water parameters daily, and I’m meticulous about keeping records of everything so I can analyze data trends over time. I have most things automated with my Apex and have alerts set up so I know right away if something is out of line. I also keep a stock of spare parts (return pump, powerheads, heaters, etc) so I can quickly address most system failures. Here are my water parameters: Temp: 78 F Salinity: 1.026, using Red Sea Coral Pro salt pH: 8.1 - 8.2 Alk: 9.0 Ca: 420 Mg: 1350 PO4: < 0.03 NO3: < 1 For lighting I’m using two Radion XR30 Pro’s, with PAR of 350 at the top of the rocks and 150 - 200 on the sand bottom. My Apex does small water changes of 1.5 gallons per day, and controls dosing BRS 2 part. I run carbon and GFO reactors, a UV sterilizer, and grow chaeto in my refugium with the grow light on opposite schedule of my Radions. I haven’t had any algae problems since the end of month 1 after finishing cycling the tank. All of my corals are healthy, and I’ve seen good growth on both SPS and LPS. All the fish are healthy and I feed them LRS frozen twice per day. I also target feet corals Reef Roids once per week. So, with all that said, is there any reason I should not add a clam at this time and wait until the tank is more mature? Any first-hand experience and guidance would be appreciated!

I'm sure I'll live to regret making that Apex help offer....🤣

Karma will reward her. Hopefully her calcium reactor will spontaneously work flawlessly from now on. 😊

🤣

Andy, It was nice meeting you today, and thank you for the beautiful corals! Here's a nice macro shot of the Citrus Mistress. I love the colors and texture:

Sounds great! Thanks.

@Flashy Fins The initial meeting announcement mentioned details to come about food, but I didn't see any info since. Just wondering if I should eat lunch prior to the meeting, or if food will be available?

Wow, nice coloration! Mine is also starting to show more purple and a hint of growth, but it's only been a few weeks. I have mine near the top of my tank at 350 PAR. What's your definition of "ridiculous" PAR?

This might be the prettiest frag I've purchased so far! Thanks @CuttleFishandCoral.

I like that the Neptune ATK has an optical sensor, mechanical float valve, and a timer to limit pump run time if the other sensors fail. Three levels of protection against this issue, and an immediate email/text alert if the timer is exceeded.

More day/night comparison photos: Day: Night: Day: Night:

Thanks for the back story! Now I'm wondering how many of my other corals originated in local tanks. Maybe someone should invent frag plugs with embedded microchips so they can be scanned and tracked. 😊

These are ready-made cables. They carry the supplies to make your own if you want, but why bother!

But the $7.99 shipping cost still makes Monoprice.com more expensive than picking up locally at PCH Cables in Hillsboro. 75 ft Cat 5e for $12.68 at PCH. (I'm not associated with PCH. I'm just a frequent buyer beacuse they have a great selection at great prices.)

I agree about going hardwired. Most people don't realize how much wireless connectivity is impacted by other wireless users and interference from devices like microwave ovens and electric motors. It would be interesting to see a study on how much return pumps and dosing pumps within near proximity to the Apex can impact wireless connections. A hard wired connection gives guaranteed bandwidth and no risk of RF interference.

Go to PCH Cables in Hillsboro (right next to the airport). That place is like a candy store for cabling of all types, and the cheapest prices you will find anywhere. A 75 foot cable will only cost $12.68, and they have 10 colors to choose from! See https://www.pchcables.com/camoboetnepa.html (I'm a computer network engineer and have been buying cables at PCH for over 10 years. I would never bother looking for cables elsewhere.)

I posted this same question on Reef2Reef and got several responses saying they are probably spionid worms. Further research also pointed me to chaetopterid worms. Both are apparently harmless filter feeders. I plucked a couple of them off my coral with tweezers and they came off easily.

Today I noticed what look like some sort of tube worms growing in my lobo. Each tube has two very fine hairs sticking out. Can anyone ID what they are, and any guidance on what to do about them? Here's a photo from 2 weeks ago before the problem, with the area in question circled: