NEW BLUE TUXEDO URCHIN

no name for him yet, but i'm sure we'l come up w/ something suitable...

WTF! ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST...

avacado is still romping around the tank somewhere. this is either asparagoose or asparageese. bummer!

NEAT TIME-LAPSE SPS GROWTH VIDEO

found this cool time-lapse video on one of the RF threads. def want to give this a try w/ our reef setup!

A REEF KEEPER'S DILEMMA: HOW TO HAVE AWESOME CORAL IN YOUR TANK + BE A PART OF THEIR CONSERVATION/PRESERVATION

so let's get this straight right now...we're no angels!  in the beginning, i'm sure we bought wild-caught coral w/out even thinking about where the coral came from or whether or not it had a negative or positive impact on the environment and used products detrimental to coral growth/health, such as non-biodegradable sunscreen while frolicking in the ocean.  however, we've come to love this hobby and have thought to ourselves, "how can we help in the conservation/preservation of corals?"

as consumers, we should take it upon ourselves to use our buying power to let the coral farmers/coral exporters/retailers/travel agencies/excursion operators know we want to do what we can to conserve/preserve reefs in the wild:

1) buy only aqua-cultured or mari-cultured pieces from your LFS

2) buy only biodegradable sunscreen

3) don't buy jewelry or souvenirs made out of endangered black/red coral skeletons, unless it was legally harvested from an environment where the coral population is known to be plentiful + healthy

4) do research before you buy those wild-caught pieces!  that rare austrailian LPS you just bought could have been imported illegally b/c it's endangered, which makes you liable for the demise of the species!  know what's endangered + avoid the temptation to buy these pieces, which will send a message to retailers/exporters that harvesting/exporting/selling endangered coral is not OK!

5) join a local reef keeping club!  not only will you learn a thing or two from other people in the hobby, but lots of reef keepers frag their colonies + put the frags up for sale in the reef keeping forums.  by buying from other reef keepers you know that the coral is aqua-cultured and is tolerant to aquarium conditions.

i wish there was some sort of reef keeper's pen pal service where you could send a frag to, let's say fiji or the caribbean, and there would be a volunteer coral farmer or even a snorkeler/diver ready to receive the frag and would properly acclimate it to ocean water then plant it back on to some rocky outcrop to start a new, wild reef!  how cool would that be?  :)

CHEAP CORAL PROPAGATION TOOLS

just wanted to let you in on a little secret.  those $40-50 special stainless steel coral propagation tool kits are really just re-packaged toenail cutters w/ gel superglue you can get at your local drugstore for like $20!  hope this tip helps!  happy fragging!

almost forgot!  if you're shopping around for a dremmel tool, why not go w/ something super cheap?  keep in mind: 1) saltwater causes metal to rust + corrode so that spiffy little non-stainless steel rotary tool you just bought is going to get junked sooner rather than later and 2) who wants to spend $30-50 when you only have to spend $10-15!  here's one on sale for $5: http://www.harborfreight.com/12v-rotary-tool-set-with-30-accessories-94076.html

KILLER NUDI PIX

just wanted to share a photo spread by david doubilet of nudi's i found while cruising nat geo.  beautiful + deadly in a little package!

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/nudibranchs/doubilet-photography

WTF! "THE FAB FIVE" IS NOW "THE FAB FOUR"

we started out w/ 6, which was whittled down to 2, then bought 3 more to make "the fab 5" and now we're down to 4.  wtf!  seriously, our tank isn't that big!  we have absolutely no predators in the tank --- no more lobster, no predatory crabs, not even a single bristle worm!  NONE!  i'm not sure where the chromis are going, but there's no sign of the 5th wheel anywhere + no carcass in sight.

UPDATE: 

not long after i noticed the fab 5 dwindle down to only 4 i found chromis no. 5 swimming around in the sump when i was topping off water!  how he got in there i don't know, but am very thankful he's still alive and kicking.  caught him + put him back into the display tank that same day!  yay for the fab 5!

BABY FIRECRACKER DENDROS

our dendros were big + healthy last week, then receded over the weekend up until today. i thought something was wrong then noticed all the new little buds around their perimeter. yay for new polyps!

DEATHMATCH: PURPLE HAZE VS CAROLINA

looks like the carolina acro packs a punch. all the growth of the purple haze within the last month was pretty much lost, but hopefully it'll make a full recovery.

ps: i made sure to glue the carolina down so he doesn't fall onto the purple haze again.  i jammed it into the rock thinking it would stay put, but of course, one of the snails or crabs must of wriggled their way under the frag + knocked the acro into the monti causing all sorts or carnage.  cross your fingys that it makes it through.  *sigh!*

WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP NOOBS?

are you a reef keeping nOOb?  

we've got 2+ years of reef keeping under our belt.  while we're no experts, we do know a thing or two that we'd like to share w/ you.  let us know what kind of things you want to know about so we can write + help you!  also, look for the tag "tips 4 n00bs" --- we'll start posting more reviews/results, DIY tutorials, etc soon!

WHAT DO VOLCANOS HAVE TO DO W/ NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART LED AQUARIUM LIGHT FIXTURES?

NOTHING!  except that the volcanic ash from the eruption in iceland caused air travel in europe to come to a halt, which includes air freight, so that means no spiffy new LED light fixtures for brad until mid-may.  :(

APRIL INVENTORY

- ora birds of paradise - tan w/ yellow polyps turbinaria - green pipe organ - mint green monti - orange acans - aussie orange rainbow acans - pink rainbow acans - ora unknown acro (brown bushy) - purple digitata monti - bleeding apple scoly - green spongode - raspberry mille - green frogspawn - baby blue stag (frag) - pink stylo - br ziggy stardust monti - green slimer - unknown stag (green) - strawberry patch monti - blue sponge - atl rommel's exotic blue acro - purple w/ blue polyps monti - candy canes - unknown acro (yellow) - green blastos - pink hammer - orange cap monti - sun coral (babies) - misc acan + zoo frags - silver xenia

- green w/ purple tips nana acro - cyphastrea (original) - ora unknown acro (brown bottlebrush) - ora unknown acro (purple w/ green tips) - superman monti - firetip monti - ora borealis - (dying) yellow mille - ora unknown acro (blue w/ green polyps) - live aquaria green bushy acro - purple chalice - pink chalice - pink lemonade - fhi unknown acro (green w/ blue rim) - cb loripes acro - green w/ purple tips nana acro (frag) - cyphastrea (frag) - rainbow monti - ora hawkins echinata - unknown bottlebrush acro (yellow) - cb selago - firecracker dendros - cb german blue - atl undata monti - green stylo - baby blue stag - green pagoda - ora unknown acro (green fuzzy thing) - cb carolina acro - purple haze monti

lil' chief + pocahontas duke it out on a regular basis.  i really wanted them to pair up + mate, but i don't think pocahontas is having it so let's cross our fingys that she doesn't end up killing him.  :/




soda's all better now! he was quarantined for about month w/ almost daily water changes + salinity drops b/c he looked like he picked up ich from mariah carey, nick cannon's (false perc) deceased mate.  luckily, we haven't lost any fish to ich in the main tank.  we did lose the fathead anthia i recently purchased, but he was in the quarantine tank when he kicked the bucket.  also, oscar, our mccosker wrasse, got sucked up into the return pump + was all cut up --- i made sure oscar was humanely euthanized.  :(


lastly, a mb50g fishy montage...

BARRIER REEF AQUARIUM SPRING SALE HAUL

UPDATE: 2010-04-26

check out pix of our new frags from our april inventory photo shoot...

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we picked up a few prize pieces over the weekend.  had to re-aquascape to accommodate all the new frags.  :)

+ ora's borealis (aquacultured)

+ ora's birds of paradise (aquacultured)

+ cb's german blue polyp acro (maricultured)

+ cb's acropora loripes (maricultured)

+ emerald crabs x2 <----asparagoose + asparageese

+ blue chromis x3  <-----plus the 2 we already had so collectively they're known as "the fab 5"

GARRETTS-ACROPOLIS.COM: REALLY GREAT SITE FOR ACRO INFO/IDENTIFICATION

really great site if you need help identifying those unknown acro frags!  check him out!

NEW EMERALD CRABS: KIWI + BROCCOLI + AVOCADO

brad read that emerald crabs were good algae eaters so we picked up 3 over the weekend from blue sierra.  they're fairly big, w/ their body about the size of a dime/nickel, so i'm a little afraid for the smaller fish + our tiny little acro crab.  they're supposedly reef-safe, so cross your fingys that they don't end up snacking on the little guys.  :)

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UPDATE: 2010-04-26
broccoli + kiwi died 2-3 days later.  not sure why.  avocado is doing well so i don't think it wasn't a case of improper temp/h2o acclimation.