So the tank has been set up for exactly a month. In it is now about 15 lbs live rock, 15 snails of various types (astrea and nassarius), and 2 peppermint shrimp (although I haven’t seen them in a couple days). The caulerpa I added quickly takes over and needs to be pruned every couple weeks. The corals I added are doing well.
With the rock, I got a couple interesting things. The first thing I saw that seemed alive scared the whatnot out of me. It was in a large hole in the rock, and it looked like one of those water mines, except it was brown. This was when it was still in the box before I added it to the tank. I was at an LFS and saw one and I found out it is a pencil urchin. It took 3 weeks for him to come out of hiding, and when I got back from my Portland trip I saw him coming to the front.
There are also a handful of anemones, 2 brittle stars, some type of mollusk, other types of snails, an unknown hairy-legged crab, at least one type of tube coral (3 colonies that I can see), like 10 feather dusters, and a few other unknown items. I’m hoping they will develop more so I can tell what they are.
So far, the only type of fish I’m sure I want is a pajama cardinal. Possibly a 6 or 4 line wrasse too. But no fish for at least another month.
The news of the day is my cyanobacteria bloom. I came home from Portland and couldn’t see through most of my tank walls. There was a nice thick carpet of the stuff on the sand too. I’m not sure how it happened so quickly (I was only gone for 4 days), but I have to take care of that. I’m going to try to let it run its course while doing water changes and sucking some of the stuff out. I hear this is a natural occurrence, but it’s sure annoying. It’s growing on everything.
-j
I'm Jason, and I like to write.