Monday, August 22, 2011

Reefing

At the Pet Expo this summer we discovered the beauty and efficiency of LED lighting.  $150 later I had a new light for my 16 gallon bowfront salt tank, whose light had burned out earlier in the year.  For many a month had it been a fish only bucket, devoid of any coral life save the singular aiptasia anemone I can't seem to kill.  With a light of the proper spectrum and high enough PAR to sustain softies, I made the leap back into reefing.
Also after seeing the ease and beauty of reefing Ginny decided she wanted a nano tank of her own.  Being the avid aquarist I am there is never a lack of extra tankage, so I hauled in my original reef tank - a 5 gallon tall - and set it up in her bedroom with live rock and biomedia from my established salt tank.
We managed to get a pair of young clowns from the Pet Expo, both of which promptly died.  After cycling through a few skunk shrimp I found a blue-stripe pipefish that seemed to do well in the little cube.  A few weeks later we got brave and added a mandarin to the tank.  Both ate such specialized food that it wound up being a good match.
That is, until the pipefish lost the battle with the filter intake.
However, Haku the mandarin is still doing very well.  And we've since added corals to both tanks.
List of Zoanthids (pics ganked from zoaID.com):
Bam Bam Orange
Eagle Eye




Emerald Sunrise Paly



Neon Eyes



Radioactive Dragon Eye
Watermelon Mushroom


Blue Mushroom


Green Star Polyps




Chili Coral




Xmas Tree Worm Rock

Rose Bubble Tip Anemone

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