Timfish

It's funny how self-conscious some people can get sometimes when you talk about them. 🤨

Multiple people are breeding the Royal urchin and I have seen them available form Biota.

It might be getting ready to spawn. It might be pulling surface stuff off to eat but I think the feeding behavior is more likely just instinct. Is that an area that doesn't have any surface currents? FWIW, if the spawn is yellowish or orangish it's a female releasing eggs, if the spawn is white it's a male and the spawn is sperm.

Any issues yet with the corals from the drop in salinity?

Hmmm, no one thought of a frigid water reef forum. 🙃 Pretty cool stuff! But I want to know where the cold weather is you should have brought back with you?!

Welcome! Things have changed a lot and our understanding of the microbial processes has increased significantly parralelling the discoveries with microbiomes in humans and in soil. This is a bit of a data bomb but here's a list of links you might find informative. Don't feel like you need to understand how it all works together, not even the scientists doing the research understand all the intricacies of reef ecosystems and they are finding new stuff almost daily. But do go back and reread and rewatch stuff periodicly, when I do I'll be reminded of stuff I forgot or see new connections to stuff. Enjoy! "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R2BMEfQGjU Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7hsp0dENEA Microbial view of Coral Decline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAD26LGERj8 Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont https://youtu.be/DWItFGRQJL4 BActeria and Sponges https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oLDclO7UcM Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end) https://youtu.be/dGIPveFJ_0Q Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching https://youtu.be/oadKezUYkJE DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghxVSmLhxUg Richard Ross What's up with phosphate" https://youtu.be/ZRIKW-9d2xI 15 Answers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqTuQDzjlv4

I'm guessing from the speed the algae came back it's green water and not hair algae all over the substrate. If so, first thing I'd try is a cheap 9 watt or 13 watt submersable UV sterilizor from walmart or amazon.

That last pic looks like there might be "spoons" at the tips of the claws like mithrax carbs. It is really cool stuff!

SOunds like it's omnivorus. At it's size it doesn't seem like it would be much of a threat to fish.

That's a lot of crabs!

Any update? Did you leave it or take it out?

(I've never done that! Honest! )

Interesting, can't say I've ever seen one like that. The two things I would look for are the back or last pair of legs and the shape of the claws. If the back pair of legs are shaped like the other three pair and not wide and flat like a blue crab's back pair used for swimming it's not a fish preditor per se. If the claws have flat or spoon shaped tips like and emerlad it's a herbivore. If the claws are scissor like with flat edges that line up evenly (like a thin stripe hermit) it's also a hermit herbivore. If the clwas are nobby and have pointy ends they're used for grabing and crusing and while not a preditor of fish like blue crabs they will be opportunistic if they corner a fish in a crevis or hole.

That ATO looks nice and a cover is a big plus. Your dimensions look like a generic 10 gallon tank would fit and be cheaper even if you have to get or cut an acrylic a cover for it. Cryptic sponges are easy, jsut get some live rock from Gulf Live Rock, Tamp Bay or KP Aquatics. Tyree has a couple ebooks out you might be able to get ahold of. He demonstrated some prescience advocating sponges back in the 90s. Work by de Goeij showed cryptic sponges remove the labile DOC that can have serious ramifications for corals 1000X faster than the bacterioplankton (which is only partially removed by skimmers). You can still put a small light to establish a day/night cycle but it wouldn't have to be nearly as bright as what you would need for macro algae.

You can probably get several in a package and let your urchin decide for itself what it wants to wear any particular day (or evening ;D). I wouldn't bother with cheato, grow cryptic sponges. Sponges are essential recyclers on reef systems. Macro alga on the other hand compete with corals and while chaeto isn't as bad as turf and hair alga for releasing the DOC that causes issues with corals it still releases some.

Will a bucket or tank sit next to your sump? FWIW I always have issues ATO issues with sensors, pumps and with float valves if left too long with out maintenance. I used to wait until they had issues to bother with them and gone years with some but it's less hassle to plan on a good cleaning every six months to a year, the amount of ambient light can be a variable too Your urchin is a caribbean species generally called a pincushion, collector or pink short spine. It's likely Lytechinus variegatus and has a range of colors from green to pink to white. They can carry a lot of stuff but from what I've seen there does seem to be individual preferences which is curious as thy don't have brains, at least not a brain as as we think of it. You can get hats for them online.

Everything's looking good! Nice to see your fife shrimp isn't shy and hiding a lot like some I've seen.

If you have any signs of algae growing on the rock I'd add one. Tuxedo, Royal or Caribbean short spine pink or green or white would be good choices. Tuxedo's are captive raised but obvioulsy will be more expensive.

Interesting, and cool even if it isn't something you want long term. The last post by SDE1500 in the link you posted shows a turf algae, definitley not the same thing as the other photos or yours, he may have had the "dandelions" initially on the rock but there would have been a succesion of different algae. I can't say Ive ever seen it on any rock which tells me it either short lived and rarely survives in aquaria or has very specific requirements and is easily outcompeted by other organisms. I'd leave it but if it worries you, you can try some H2O2 in a syrenge and apply some at the base.

😱 Just for the record I never have to change any plans I make for one of my tanks. 😏 You didn't mention anything about algae eaters but I would go ahead and add an urchin and some hermits, it won't hurt to get ahead of the uglies and they don't need much attention.

Third week stuff. Water changes are 10-15 gallons twice a week. Purple Tang is looking a lot less stressed and swimming much better and Xenia is growing well as well as the algae that settles on the glass. 20230220_141227.mp4 The grey DIY canister filter in the first picture in the first post was moved to the sump after a couple days. It was refilled with new GFO this week.

Here's the second week. Some secondary infections are causing issues. Water changes are going to be reduced 10-15 gallons twice a week. Anything looking questionable (ie, brown or white slime on corals) is being siphoned off as well as as much nuisance algae as can be done with the given water changes. These three pics of the system were taken a day after the last three pics in my first post. Comparing the change in turbidity it's a good example how things can change very quickly. On a daily basis there is subtle but noticible improvements in the expansion of polyps. Algae has been wiped off the glass a couple times since the crash but now is growing back with a vengeance. This is just 3 days of growth.

Like you really have any kind of control of a reef system!!?

Sorry to hear your loss! :(