Blog Archives
Saltwater Aquarium Update
A couple update pictures:
The big squami leaves just enough room for the clown to sleep.
The Rabbitfish waking up in the morning looks pretty cool!
A couple new Longspine Cardinalfish (Zoramia leptacantha) for the tank. They are a little scared now but seem to be getting more comfortable with their tank mates.
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The Tank is Running!
After a long weekend everything has been moved into the new tank. 🙂 Time to rest.
The Achilles Tang likes the tank and the arch!
Just the actinic lights on. Notice the clownfish living in the clam.
Notice the Apex controller display unit mounted up top. I love being able to see the pH & temp so easily.
Tearing Out an Aquarium Overflow Box
After moving the tank and having one of the bulk head fitting break on me, I decided to remove one of my aquarium’s overflow boxes. This was not a fun process and took me a couple days of contorting into strange positions on a ladder. My hands and fingers were not happy!
Armed with 100 razor blades, a box cutter, and a few other razor blade type instruments I started in. Here are a few photos as progress was made.
First I removed the front piece of glass as it was the easiest to get to.
The bio-balls were packed in there pretty tight. After a year or so of having the tank up I tried to get them out but I couldn’t reach to the bottom.
Bio-balls removed and now to cut the PVC with the saws-all.
The skinnier blade of the two razor knives I had worked the best when cutting between the two pieces of glass, but it broke more often.
It was a tight fit!
Left side off.
Same process on the right side.
Overflow box removed. Now I just need to pull the bulk heads out and glue a piece of glass over the holes.
Should have a nice(r) view from the exposed right side of the tank.
Tearing Down the Tank, Planning a New One
Well I just got the news that we need to move houses this summer… So, that means I need to take our system down. 
But, it gives me the opportunity to plan another tank build when we find a new house. This time I will put a tank in a wall and give it its own room. 
So, over the next few months I am going to try and sell my coral, livestock, then my tank. If anyone is interested in my livestock or knows someone interested in my 270 display tank (90″ L x 20″ W x 30″ tall)/oak stand/40 sump/.3 HP chiller/ Mag return pumps, please send me a PM. I hope this won’t be a terribly difficult process but something tells me it will be. I plan on keeping my controller, vortechs, refuge, mixing tanks & rock for the next build.
As we all know this is an expensive hobby to get into so please do a little research and shoot me a fair price via private message of the things you are interested in. Everything needs to be picked up (Missoula, MT) as I will not ship.
I would rather remove my coral from the tank first as catching the fish will be an adventure. I have linked to some photos and videos of my corals and fish but more can be found on my reef blog and youtube channel.
Coral:Â –Â Video
Hammer Coral (will break into multiples) –Â Video
Tree/Stick Polyp –Â Video
(2) Pagoda Turbinaria Coral –Â Video
Blue Stag Acro – Top right in video –Â Video
Purple Stag Acro – Below Blue Stag Acro on right – Video
Green Birdsnest – Top left in video – Video
Orange Birdsnest – Top left in video – Video
Deep water acro – Top middle, left of hammer – Video
Encrusting Monti –Â Photo
Yellow Scroll Coral – Left of hammer – Video
Green Pavona
Green Red Wellsophyllia Brain – Photo
Montipora Cap (Red, Orange, Green, Puple, etc) – Far right –Â Picture
Doughnut Coral (Scolymia australia) –Â Video
Etc.
My livestock:
Squamosa Clam ~ 15″ –Â Video
Squamosa Clam ~ 7″ –Â Video
Radiant Wrasse (prefer he goes with the clams) ~ 4″ –Â Video
Zebra Eel ~ 3′ –Â Video
Radiant Wrasse ~ 4″ –Â Video
Achilles Tang ~ 5″ –Â Video
Two Bar Rabbitfish ~ 4″ –Â Video
True Percula Clownfish ~ 3″ –Â Video
Marine Betta ~ 6″ –Â Video
Red Hawkfish ~ 4″ –Â Video
Mantis Shrimp ~ 6″ –Â Video
Lyretail Anthias 3 females (orange) & 1 male (red). –Â Video
Orange Spot Shrimp Goby
etc.
Misc:
Serpant Star
Dolabella Sea Hare –Â Video
Orange Pincushion Urchin ~ 3″ –Â Video
Any questions? Send me a message 
Actinic Aquarium Lighting
A few photos of the actinic lights turning on in the morning. This is the first and last series of lights to be on each day. Lots of blue and purple! The bulbs are Giesemann T5 Powerchrome Pure Actinic & Actinic+.
90 Gallon Refugium Update
An update post of our 90 gallon refugium. I don’t see it very often with the lights on as it’s reverse lit (11:30 PM – 7:00 AM). I really like how big the mushrooms are when the lights (48″ Tek Light T5) are on. The mushrooms kind of cover up the mantis shrimp’s PVC cave system.
Inspector Mantis… PI – Gonodactylaceus ternatensis
I was trying to get a good video of the mantis shrimp breaking into a snail for lunch but instead he was curious of what I was doing and tried to sneak up on me. 🙂
Listen for it… Crack! Every time I hear this I go to make sure he’s not hitting the tank. Thankfully the 90 refugium is made out of half-inch glass.
Green Hair Algae, It’s That Time Again…
Over the past couple weeks I’ve noticed a few crops of green hair algae popping up in the tank. My first reaction to algae is to check my water quality. After seeing my water quality seemed normal I was a bit stumped. So, I changed my RO filters (sediment and carbon) when I first noticed the issue, then changed my DI filter resin (even though my TDS was 0) here last week. Then I tossed out all my top-off water to start out with the “new” stuff. So here’s a picture of one spot where it’s kind of bad. It’s a little over-exposed but it highlights the algae. Hopefully after a week or two I will see a noticeable difference.
Squamosa Clam
I noticed I could see fairly well into one of my Squamosa clams as it was turned just perfectly towards the glass. Pretty neat inside that clam. 😉
I Have a Big Brain… Coral
Usually this Brain Coral (Â Red Wellsophyllia)Â isn’t as “poofed” up but something was bugging him. He’s since returned to normal size. Lots of crabs and such tend to walk over the edges.
The Eel is Out!
Got home from working out this evening to see my Zebra Eel completely out of the rocks. Looks like he was very hungry!
Mantis Shrimp Cave System Installed & T5’s Ready for Break-in Period
Happy New Year!
The Mantis Shrimp new cave system has been installed. 
 My last post shows just the PVC.
He stayed in his old tube the whole time I was doing construction.
Oh and here are a couple pictures of the new T5 bulbs installed and raised up 7 inches for the break-in period.
New T5 bulbs installed. by devonmorton, on Flickr
New T5 bulbs installed. by devonmorton, on Flickr
T5 Light Hanger Change & Mantis Shrimp Cave
Reef Tank Update Photo – Front by devonmorton, on Flickr
Just getting ready to change out my T5 bulbs.
Also changing the way the T5’s sit on the tank. Replacing the blocks of wood for a hanging system as I think it will make it a little easier to clean salt creep.Â
Old T5 Lighting Stands by devonmorton, on Flickr
Wooden Dowel Hanger by devonmorton, on Flickr
T5 Lights Hung Up – Front by devonmorton, on Flickr
Then Shelby and I went to Lowe’s today to get the mantis shrimp a new cave/maze system. I also found out that our mantis shrimp wasn’t a peacock mantis shrimp but a gonodactylaceus ternatensis, try saying that 3 times fast, or just once…
Gonodactylaceus ternatensis by devonmorton, on Flickr
So I think I am going to move some rock around in the fuge to place his new cave system:
Mantis Shrimp Maze by devonmorton, on Flickr
More pictures later after I install the above in the refugium.
Reef Tank Update – Light Maintenance & Mantis Shrimp Identification
Well it was a somewhat productive weekend… I changed out my BRS RO/DI filters, replaced a bad ballast and (noisy) 3″ fan in my Current Metal Halide fixture, fixed a melted LED wire and cleaned the coralline algae off my glass. I still need to clean the refugium… maybe today.
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- This LED wire made its way into the metal halide area and melted.
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- The MH ballast was not firing all the time so it was time to be changed.
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- Backside of the LEDs were pretty dirty
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- New ballast works!
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- Replacement fan.
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- Glad I had the correct screw driver.
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- Time to put it back together.
I also just had a guy on YouTube point out that mantis shrimp might not be a peacock but a Gonodactylaceus ternatensis (Google image search). I think I tend to agree with him as the mantis shrimp has lost a lot of the red it used to have. After I clean up the refuge glass I will try to get some better pictures.
Aquarium Update Photos
Thought I would toss up a couple recent photos. I really like the one of the serpent star using corals to climb the wall.
This jawfish is a more dedicated parent than any human will ever be
What an awesome photo!
This fish will gestate its babies in its mouth. He doesn’t eat while they’re developing. Would you do that for your babies?
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Happy Clams Today
Well for the second day of Summer, the clams are looking pretty happy. The smaller Squami wasn’t looking too good last week so I pulled him out of the tank with a suspicion that pyramid snails were to blame, and they were. After removing about two hundred of them from the clam’s underside he looks a lot happier! 🙂 New wrasse in the mail today to help with the snail population, will put up some photos soon.
Overgrown Frag Rack
I think it’s funny that I let my frag rack get this overgrown, it’s more like a coral rack now. Â I just recently broke the main stalk of this acropora off as the weight was causing the rack to almost fall off. The rack’s magnets aren’t quite strong enough to support a “Coral Rack.” Remember to not let your frags grown into corals on the rack!
Squamosa Clam Not Looking Too Good…
The other day I glanced in and noticed the smaller of the two Squami clams wasn’t looking “normal.” Usually during the noon hour both clams are soaking in all the rays they can from the metal halides but this time the smaller clam’s mantle looked a little sucked in.  This is usually a bad sign 😦 .  I’ve tested all my parameters and everything looks normal, no sudden changes. All I can do is hope that it pulls through.
Easter Weekend Aquarium Update Photos & RO
Between reloading and hitting the range this weekend I took a few update pictures of the tank. Oh and I also ordered a new BRS 75 GPD RO/DI 6 Stage Deluxe System as the Easter Bunny thought I should upgrade 😉 (it was actually about time to replace the membrane and filter).
As for the tank, everything seems happy. The Achilles and the Rabbitfish are even getting a long most of the time. It’s kind of funny but the leg that the Serpent Starfish lost is still moving round on the bottom of the tank. It actually looks like the starfish is growing another leg (pictures), I wonder if the leg will try to grow another body, lol.
