Out of the corner of my eye I noticed what I thought was an anemone move in my tank. I took a closer look and watched an amphipod run into the anemone and it shot off like a jellyfish! Turns out it was a Hydroid Jellyfish. It might have came in on some chaetomorpha I got from LiveAquaria as that’s the only thing I’ve added to the tank for quite some time. Sounds like they aren’t too big of a problem in a reef tank so I wont worry too much about it.
36 weeks into running the SURF2 and I’m losing faith. For 9 weeks the GFO in the system has been removed. There are hints of success as algae starts to grow in the box but then it regresses. HELP! If anyone has had a great experience with the SURF2 please let me in on your secrets to success!
SURF2 Update (12 weeks) & Aquarium Update (8.5 mo)
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SURF2 Algae Scrubber Update – Day 77 (11 Weeks)
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SURF2 Algae Scrubber Update – Day 70 (10 Weeks)
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Day 8 Update. SURF2 algae scrubber from Santa Monica Filtration in my 90 gallon refugium.
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Update: 4 months up and running (started ~ 1/1/2014). After planting the refugium with some Turtle Grass (Thalassia testudinum) on 2/13/14 I am very happy with it’s appearance. I can’t wait for the grass to spread throughout the bottom of the tank. The only issue I had with the turtle grass was a bunch of hitchhikers came with it (flat worms, bubble algae, aiptasia, etc.). After a few peppermint shrimp were added to the fuge the aiptasia were taken care of but only after feeding the aiptasia so the shrimp could find them. I used a turkey baster to suck 10-12 flatworms off the glass, really hope they don’t show up again but they might.
Turtle Grass (Thalassia testudinum)
A bottle of Tigger Pods to help seed the refugium.
Nice hidy hole on the right side of the refuge. 2-13-14
I really like the look of the turtle grass planted in the fuge.
The right side of the fuge. Nice little arch/cave for dwarf cuttlefish one day. 🙂
Update photo as of 3-26-14.
Update photo as of 4-3-14.
Turtle Grass (Thalassia testudinum) as of 4-3-14.
The left side of the fuge has a nice clam shell shelter. Should be a great spot of “dark” organisms. 😉
Well there has been a lot of changes in the system over the past couple of days. I’ve been trying to move everything out of the temporary tanks and into its permanent home. I guess that was a little too much change for the mantis shrimp. He’s been living in the refugium attached to the new system for a couple weeks now. He recently molted over a period of two or three days and in a matter of a couple hours after he was finished, he died. Not sure if it was too much action from the move or if he had a rough molt. We’ve had him for a little over three years but from what I read, they can potentially live for up to twenty years.
Mantis Shrimp (Gonodactylaceus ternatensis) living in 2 inch PVC pipe.
Remains of the mantis shrimp molting process.
