!@#$ ROCKS!

So, yesterday morning I looked at the rocks and said to myself "We really need some better real estate for the coral" and thought "Well, we could always get a few more pieces of live rock to rearrange the corner".  This was a very, very, bad idea.  It was bad on an almost atronomical level, it was so bad that I should have been drug into the bedroom by my cats and beaten with the pillows and their fluffy tails until I came to my senses. 

Of course our cats never did this because they don't care about me, and Frank thought it was a great idea.  If he wasn't so sweet and innocent I would be absolutely sure that they were plotting against me.  Even though he is caring, gentle, wonderful, and innocent, I am still suspicious. 

Star Polyps, Frog Spawn, and Mushrooms Oh My!

So, we broke down. It was inevitable that it would happen, that there in the shiny warm confines of our LFS our conviction would falter and we would be overcome by the need to purchase a new coral…or three. So we have added a blue Mushroom, a Frog Spawn (which I have wanted for some time), and a green Star Polyp. I wonder if there is a Coral Addicts Anonymous group that we could join? Although I think that may be counterproductive as we would probably end up going out and buying more coral hearing other addicts talk about their recent acquisitions.

Our ill fated Flowerpot moved on to a new home, and I hope that it is happy and content in that tank (as it clearly hated ours). I have made the executive decision that we will never purchase one again. The guilt would run too deep for me to handle.

We will be ordering a blue tuxedo urchin to rule over the Jeffery in the tank, who have been eating each other quite regularly, and a few more have been reproducing. Perverts the whole lot of them; spawning in our aquarium as if it’s some penny corner brothel.

I am hoping to get a few pictures up soon to show off the growth we have had, and I want to get a page listed with books and other tools that we have acquired and enjoy using for the tank. I am hoping that we will have more growth, seeing that I am an impatient woman, and that soon our rocks will be festooned with coral.

Lights, Camera, Ack!

Last night we brought home three new coral, which finishes off our additions for at least a month if not longer. Hopefully we can see some growth and expansion from our coral, there was much epoxy used, many curse words, and I nearly fell off the stepstool and hit the ground. Thankfully my arm was in the tank which kept me up or I get the feeling I would not be such a happy camper this morning. Granted while I have a large bruise in a perfect line where I fell backward and caught myself on the lip of the tank, I think that’s better than smacking the back of my head into shelves lined with geodes.

State of the Tank

Strange week in the tank.  We have some very small critters called copepods that are in the tank, they're about the size of an ant and were crawling over a coral.  It took a bit of searching to find out what they were, but I haven't seen them since.  That's alright though, because they're there and I'm once again proven sane.

Photographs

Strange how uploading photographs I don't see them in the sidebar slideshow that I set up - maybe it just takes a moment and I am displaying my impatience.  No, I didn't get a new camera yet, yes these photographs could be better, blah blah blah.

New Coral, Old Problems

Our Flowerpot is still not opening fully, but after yet another movement it appears somewhat happier in the tank.  We've managed to get it to partially extend all of the polyps and are hoping that it will continue to acclimate and become a healthy happy tank member in time.  I'm still not convinced that we should keep it, frankly we seem to be in over our heads with this fellow. 

Yesterday we brought home two new coral, and they will be our last additions for some time in that department unless I can get my hands on an Actinodiscus sp., I am very fond of their shape and they appear to be very easy to keep.  I think that it would do well in the tank and give us some added diversity in our selections.  Our two newest additions are doing very well and appear entirely happy at the fact that they have been brought home which is a welcome change from our despondent Flowerpot.  I am hoping to get some photographs up today. 

The Asterina Return

After not seeing a single tiny starfish since we posted regarding them last night two returned to the glass with much pomp and ceremony.  I'm pretty sure they were plotting with the Jefferys on how best to annoy me.

Coral! Eels! Cats!

We have coral!  Pretty beautiful frags that will grow across the rocks and make our tank even more wonderful.  I've only kicked a snail off of my coral three times thusfar and contemplated smashing him with a hammer twice.

Beware my horrible mobile phone pictures:

Moving Day

There are those times where you should be smart enough to just do something right the first go round, then there are those times where you are just so exuberant that you don't realize you did something wrong until it's a real pain to fix the problem.  We did the latter instead of the former through blind ignorance and then really didn't want to rectify our little oops.  Though if you could have sidestepped moving a very full and very heavy aquarium you would too...trust me.  It isn't laziness, it's called avoidance and unfortunately avoidance rarely works out well.  At some point you have to fix things and then you get really annoyed because you should have fixed it right out of the gate but dangit you were too busy doing other things.  That's my story and I am sticking to it. 

The $%!@ing List

I love lists, lists are helpful and wonderful things, under appreciated by the lazy do-nothings of the world and people who aren't just a tad crazy.

Alas poor clam, I knew him not at all...

In fact I really am not sure how long the clam survived before succumbing to the temptations of the great beyond.  May he (or she) enjoy the plankton filled sea of the hereafter where there are no crustacean eating creatures and miles of rock to anchor to. 

That's about all I have to say on that matter.  On to the bristle worm; also known as Hawaiian Lined Fireworm:

Dear Sir,

While you're roaming around my live rock, eating things and generally looking a bit creepy could you possibly make an effort to pop out more often?  I mean, is this really that important - the whole hiding and burrowing thing is awesome (just do what you need to do) but you see you've caused a problem in my household the past few days.  You've made Frank think I'm just a little bit more crazy than I already am.  He peers into the tank looking for you at all hours, peeking here and there for just the tiniest sign that I have not hallucinated your presence.  There haven't been any outright accusations and while I am confident he is very excited at the prospect of your habitation in the aquarium those wandering glances aimed in my general direction are becoming uncomfortable.  So...you know...get out and enjoy the water circulation, cruise the rock face for some really hot foodstuffs, party down under the actinic light.  Just let the man see you!

Asterina Anomala

There's always a silver lining.  We went to the fish store to pick up some more live rock and deal with the lights, just ten pounds, so not much.  I wanted a few small decorative pieces so that I could make the tier prettier. 

I of course knocked down the entire column and had to rebuild it four times until it was something that I wanted to look at.  While waiting for the water to clear up so that I could tweak said column and (probably) ruin it again I noticed our first hitchhikers on the glass:  Asterina Anomala's.  Considering they're so fricking cute we're keeping the two and well aware there are probably more.

I also found and frantically showed to Frank, and we can't decide if it's a sponge or an SPS coral that we have hitchhiking behind another piece of rock.  Our only worry is that it's stark white (bleached by the store on accident?) and could be dead.

Either way, I am happy to have destroyed my column to find our first stowaways.

The second I hit post I noticed we also have a tiny clam!  Huzzah!

Chemistry can be fun!

Chemistry can also be a royal pain in the...well, you get it.  I ran full tests this morning and was happy with the results (for the most part), and I am sure I will have to test again tomorrow once I get the aquascaping done and do a partial water change.  I find the fact that the tests state they are "Harmful, Corrosive, Irritant" very endearing.  Please use these caustic substances to make sure your fish are healthy!  That may be a slight exaggeration as you don't actually put the chemicals in the tank, but that bit of honesty doesn't sound quite as ominous. 

Cycling, not just a hobby involving bikes!

You learn a lot about yourself when you start building a saltwater aquarium.  Sometimes they are things you really didn't want to know.  Okay...mostly they are things you really don't want to know about yourself and what you're willing to give up for the sake of fish. 

It can only get worse...

It may be impossible to accurately describe the fervor which struck when deciding to start a saltwater aquarium.  Trips to Barnes and Noble, endless hours on Amazon.com, and evenings spent poring over pictures and articles on the Internet left me ill prepared for the reality of a saltwater tank.  I am adrift in a 90 gallon all glass aquarium.  Retrospectively there are worse places one could be.  The cats however, do not seem quite as pleased now having realized they were not being built a personal sushi buffet.  Tuna flavored cat treats have done nothing to deaden the pain they exhibit every time I begin playing with the tank.