Tank Journal Archive

[Ziggy]

Every week now I'm seeing less and less annoying algae on the sand bed which is FANTASTIC with a capital FANTASTIC! This algae on my sand bed and rocks has been the bane of my life but it is gradually disappearing.

The new black cucumber has disappeared into the rocks somewhere so I haven't seen it since Tuesday. I was hoping it would clean the sand bed but I'm still waiting. I must remember NOT to expect stock to do the job they were purchased for. ;)
The new frag rack (with its rail keeping the frags on the rack) has worked sensationally well. Cleaning the glass is soooooooo much easier now because the frag rack is on an old magnet cleaner so I can just slide it up the glass and it cleans the glass for me as well as holding frags!
The baby zoa frags have settled well on the frag rack and seem to be thriving. I have transferred and glued the blue/grey paly frag onto the rock scape so it can start growing over the cable ties and it seems to have taken to the job well. I'd like the other frags to grow a little faster than they do but I also need more patience. :)
One of the tiny frags I won in a competition a few weeks ago is the cutest little green and purple Blasto. It had one polyp when I got it and then has had two polyps for the last few weeks. This morning I noticed it has three polyps. However, it is incredibly tiny so I haven't placed and glued it anywhere yet. This photo, of the frag up against the glass, is a close up and you can see how tiny it is. Thats egg crate its on and that white band is a cable tie.

Water parameters remain on track and daily dosing with Randy's recipe for alkalinity is keeping the level stable now as well.
So far so good!!!

 

[jart]

The tank is looking great.

Glad to hear you are winning the algae battle. One thing that I always used to find interesting - in my first marine tank I didn't take things slow at the start and like you fought an algae battle for months. It was frustrating, BUT the algae rarely showed up in any photos I took unless they were macro pics and when visitors saw the tank, algae and all, they only ever ooh'd and aah'd over the fish and coral - never bothered by the algae. :)

If your cucumber has only been in there a few weeks, don't write him/her off yet. Might just need a long acclimation before going crazy on your sandbed.

Love the frag rack you made. The railing makes me think your frags are like VIPs standing on their balcony/observation deck overseeing the tank. Like the fact you can still use the magnet cleaner. How did you attach it to the rack?

Looking forward to more updates in future.

 

[Ziggy]

Thanks @jart :)
I glued the egg crate to the magnet but also secured it with the cable tie as well for double security.

Yes I've noticed that no one else ever notices the algae either when they see the tank lol. Hopefully one day soon there won't be any for me to se either! :)

 

[Lesley]

@Ziggy Don''t worry about your sea cucumber, i was really disappointed when I first got mine. He also went and hid in the rocks for a few days. I thought I had a bought a dud.. but when he come out he did and still does an amazing job on the sand bed, glass and rocks. He now spends about 60% of his time on the sand and the rest elsewhere, He has recently found the Gyre;'s and its so funny when he is stretched out over them he looks like a third one, just no controller.

 

[Andrew B]

you must be so proud of your tank, also must be awesome having lesley as a friend and so close to you :)