EIGHT MONTHS

I think this is quite an uneventful month, considering that there weren't much additions or changes.

After getting the AI Nano and switching the Maxspect to tank 1, I find that the collective colourful Zoas garden is unbelievably amazing. The 7 fishes (4 Fire Gobies, 1 Purple Fire Goby, 1 Royal Gramma and 1 Flameback Angel) add a lot of colour to the tank. Interestingly, there is a purple clump of algae growing on the red Zoas rock at the bottom right hand corner of the tank. The purplish blue Actinodiscus and orange Ricordea yuma mushrooms are also getting bigger.

As for tank 2, I am still highly unhappy with the colour. Frankly, the Flame Angel is the one with the most vibrant colour in the tank. Other members add a colour here and there, but the entire display does not quite stand out. The Pocci sps appears to be dead now while the Millepora, yellow Bird Nest, green Digitata and Stylophora appears to be fine. There are a few Zoas that I place here temporarily until I transfer them gradually to my office tank. Some of the colourful premium Zoas e.g. Red Eagles Eyes, Sunflower, Purple Death and Nuclear Death, are multiplying rather quickly. I am still cracking my head thinking of how I can add more colours to the system.

Tank 1 (1 ft cube - 27 litres)
The list of livestock is as follows: 

• Fishes 
• 4 Fire Gobies
• 1 Purple Fire Gobies
• 1 Royal Gramma 
• 1 Flameback Angel
• Invertebrates 
• 1 Cleaner Skunk Shrimp 
• 3 Pom Pom Crabs 
• 1 big red Hermit Crab & 3 small red Hermit Crabs 
• 2 Turbo Snails 
• 1 Nassarius Snail 
• 1 red Coco-worm 
• 1 big (brown) Feather Duster Worms 
• Corals 
• LPS 
• 1 pink Sun Coral 
• 1 cream Elegance Coral
• Mushrooms 
• 1 plate of blue Actinodiscus mushrooms 
• 1 orange Ricordea yuma mushroom 
• Soft Corals 
• 1 Rose Tip Bubble Anemone 
• 2 Chili Corals
• Polyps 
• 1 plate or pink and 1 frag of green Palm Tree Coral 
• 1 rock of brown Daisy (Clove) Polyps 
• 1 green and 1 red Palythoa 
• mixture of Zoas 
• 1 Rasta (6) & Sunflower (1) Zoas 
• Macroalgae 
• many clumps of green Caulerpa 

The technical information is as follows:

• 1 Ocean Free Hang-on-Back filter 2 
• 1 Easy Aqua Ex500 External Filter with wave deflector 
• 1 Maxspect Razor Nano 60W (10,000 K)
• 1 Tunze Osmolator Nano 
• 1 Dymax Cooling Fan 

Tank 2 (1.5 feet cube - 56 litres)
The updated list of livestock is:

• Fishes
• 1 Yellow Tang
• 1 Flame Angel
• 1 Yellow Wrasse
• 1 Six Line Wrasse
• 3 Clown Fish
• Invertebrates
• 1 Fire Shrimp
• 1 Cleaner Skunk Shrimp
• 7 Turbo snails
• 2 Nassarius snails
• 2 Bumble Bee snails
• 1 electric blue Hermit Crab
• 2 Coco-worms (1 red and 1 yellow)
• 2 brown and 1 grey Feather Duster Worms
• 1 blue Clam
• Corals
• SPS
• 1 green digitata
• 1 purple millepora
• 1 pink birdnest
• 1 yellow birdnest
• 1 cream green Stylophora
• 1 1 blue-tipped and 1 green-tipped Acropora
• 1 brown Pocci
• 1 brown Monti cap, 1 brown Monti cap with SPS, 4 frags of Monti caps (pink, brown, royal purple, mixed)
• LPS
• 1 rock of fluorescent green and blue Goniopora
• 1 plate of mixed Goniopora
• 1 fluorescent Octo Coral
• 1 orange green Acan
• Mushrooms
• 5 orange Ricordea yuma mushrooms
• 12 Ricordea florida mushrooms
• 1 plate of purple Actinodiscus mushrooms
• 1 St Thomas anemone mushroom
• Soft Corals
• 1 Xenia
• 1 flower anemone
• 1 rock of Finger Mushroom Coral
• Polyps
• 1 brown Palythoa
• 1 green and purple Zoanthus
• plugs of Zoanthus (Incredible/KO 9, Fruit Loops 6, Pink Panther 3, Eagle Eye 9, Sunflower 10, Red Eagle Eye 13, Fire and Ice 6, Nuclear Green 2, Nuclear Death 8, Purple Death 7, Pink unknown 6) 
• 2 mats of Green Star Polyps, 2 frags of GSP
• 1 Organ Pipe Coral
• Macroalgae
• 1 red Ulva macroalgae
• 1 red branched macroalgae
• Halimeda

The technical details are:

• Eheim 2213 external canister filter
• Dolphin H-200 hang-on-back filter
• Bubble Magus Q3 skimmer
• AI Nano 35W LED lights
• 1 Two Little Fishes Phosban Reactors running Phosban
• 1 Dymax fan
• 2 Hydor Nano wavemakers
• 1 Tunze Nano Osmolator

DAY 222

It has been more than half a year since tank 1 was first set up and these are photos which I took yesterday. From a mixed reef when I first started to one with more lps, now I have stocked it with mostly common Zoas. I am certain this is not the final look but I am definitely happy with it for the time being. I must admit that the camera does little justice to the small piece of underwater paradise that looks better in person. I love the colour of the reef under the blue lights but I am not able to capture it on camera.

Interestingly, the Clown Fish are hosting everything, including the Elegance Coral, Goniopora, Zoas and even the Coco-Worm except for the Rose Bubble Tip Anemone that I bought specifically for them. On a separate note, it is amazing that the feather Caulerpa are growing very well in this and my office tanks. When I first attempted to keep them and the bubble Caulerpa in both tanks, it was not successful. I even tried to keep the lights on almost 247. However, they gradually turned asexual and wasted away. Then it appeared slowly as a weed on one of the rocks in the office tank and subsequent attempts to take pieces of them and growing them in this tank proved to be effortless. Now they are appearing everywhere at every nook and cranny and I suspect one day they would be a problem for me to weed out. Right now, I am just testing how effective it is at nutrients export to solve the algae problem.

Anyway, last Sunday I was changing a third of the water in tank 2 when I suddenly spotted the Hector Goby looking back at me. So there it was, in a healthy condition not unlike before, before it disappeared again from sight. I thought it was dead because I had not seen for quite a while. The tummy did not look dented so it must be feeding fine. Strangely, when will I see it again?

If my sps are generally turning brown, then it is likely that my lights do not possess the right wavelength. I'm still pondering if I need to upgrade the lights.