Duncan7

It is almost time for Christmas break at the school and our tank has stayed clean and clear for most of the semester, so it is time to begin putting things back into it now. I am going to see about something hardy, like a kenya tree coral or some GSP. I will keep everyone up-to-date on how it goes.

Duncan7

It has been over a year since I last posted. The tank did well until December, when I put in 4 cups of tap water. I I know. Stupid decision. But I did it and the tank picked up two kinds of algae from the city water supply. I fought it until everything had died, about a month ago. I have now cleaned the tank and started it going again. Once it has stabilized for another month I will try to begin putting a coral or two in and see how they do.

I had been using tap water originally, but as I read about the dangers of it, I began using RO water for all of my water changes. I did that for about a year before putting the ill-fated tap water in last Christmas break. Go figure. Anyway, it is doing well right now, well, as well as a tank of rock, water, and substrate can do.

The students were horrified to see what was in our drinking water and how much and how quickly the damage occured. We are learning about what happens when we mess with water and how difficult it is to repair that damage, so all is not lost, even though the coral is gone. We will continue to track the tank and get it going again.

Duncan7

Adding:

-Bayer Advanced Total Insect Killer - tried and tested. Works great as coral dip.

-paint shield - best glass algae scraper ever for $3! Works perfect with an aqua glove. Perfectly clean glass without getting your entire arm wet.

http://www.homedepot...d&storeId=10051

Can you tell me more about the insect killer as a coral dip? Have YOU tried it? What dillution?

It has taken an entire year to get to this point, but I was finally able to offer up some coral to other people! Thanks so much to y'all who helped get our class tank stocked--it feels good to be able to pass that on.

Duncan7

Thanks, James, and welcome aboard! This is a great site.

Duncan7

Sorry you will be closing down that gorgeous tank, but how exciting to get something new! I really like that corner tank that Zen Reefer posted. Whatever you do, I hope you post about it here; I can't wait to see the new pics!

Duncan7

Here is a front view that I took this afternoon:

Duncan7

Hi, Kim! Things are doing well overall, but it has changed quite a bit. The other damselfish jumped out of the tank and mortally injured himself on landing. The small blue fish just didn't come out one day. All I can think is he died under the rocks and decomposed down there. Otherwise things look fairly good. The anthelia is doing great! I have it growing on the upper left side of the tank. The GSP are staying on the shell where I put it so far. The Kenya tree coral dropped some branches just in the past few weeks and I passed them on to the other two schools tanks. The thing that has really amazed me is the green candy cane coral. It has grown all over the place and almost doesn't look like it did when I put it in the tank last spring. The zoanthids have not spread much, but they are not dying either. Still pretty to look at. I have had some green bubble algae growing on the back wall of the tank, but it does not come back as fast now when I remove it. I am hoping it will stay away soon. I have some pretty macroalgae that came with my live rock last year and I keep it in the main part of the tank. The students and I like how it looks. I have two large mushrooms, probably in the 2-2.5 inch across range, that are doing great. I noticed a couple of babies today nearby and am glad that, after losing mushrooms this summer, they are coming back.

My leather coral has died back to just a fraction of its former self. I will try to get a picture up for everyone to see. It was white at first, then it began to turn a brown color, eventually I found most of it laying on the bottom of the tank, it had fallen off its rock. Now I have two small pieces still attached to the rock and one on the tank bottom, still brown, but seems to be doing well. We'll see.

I continue to change out between 1-3 gallons of water every 1-2 weeks, supplement with a reef builder and reef buffer, add 2 drops of iodine for the leather, and feed the coral a food called coral frenzy every month or so. The temp has remained between 73-78 in the classroom since I brought it back from my house this fall. pH, salinity, and the other basic tests continue to come out fine.

I have 3 large snails that I can see, so I am planning to pick up some more. People are welcome to donate any coral that they have extra of, but I really wanted to document what has happened with what was given to me here. We have really enjoyed the tank. I know it isn't crystal clear like some beautiful tanks, your seahorse tank comes to mind, Kim, but we are loving it.

Duncan7

Here is a pic of our purple monti cap. It doesn't look purple under the lights I have, but it did when it was given to me.

Still having a great time with the marine tank here at school this year. My kenya tree coral threw two small ones a couple of weeks ago, so I gave them to the other two schools tanks on Friday. So far, so good.

Duncan7

Here is a picture of our Candy Cane coral. It has been doing very well this year.

Duncan7

It looks amazing! The colonies are great!

Duncan7

Your tank just keeps looking better (and I liked it the first time).

Duncan7

Here are a few pictures that I took a little while ago.

The tank:

The remaining Damselfish:

The new fish. He came from the same tank that the damselfish originally came from and was raised with both of them. The owner decided to break down her tank, called me this summer and brought him over. He fits right in.

Duncan7

Do you have any cooling fans besides the stock ones?

Not as part of the tank. I tried a desk fan over the top of the tank while it was propped open, but it only brought it down a degree or so. I probably should have left it when I moved the tank to my house. I'll try to make other arrangements for the tank next summer since I don't have much room at my house to put a free-standing fan.

Duncan7

Summer is over and the salt tank has been moved from my living room back to the classroom. The temperature is now 6 degrees cooler than it was all summer and things are looking good. I lost some coral this summer, probably due to the high temp the water was at--82-84 degrees F. I know, but that was all I could manage and keep my a/c bill affordable. The red mushrooms let go of their rock at some point and are all gone now. The finger leather is about 1/3 of its original size. One of the damselfish died when we caught it with a net and it did not make it in it's new home. Long story.

On the bright side, the candycanes are doing well, so are the zoanthids, the GPS is happy, good so far with the Kenya tree coral, both monti caps are growing, and the frogspawn is well.

The frogspawn was pulled back under the rocks by the remaining damselfish early this week, so I am going to have to go find it again. I am going to have to find someone to help me glue it to a rock, or at least to something that the damselfish cannot lift. Any takers?

I'll try to get a picture up in the next week or two. I almost forgot: the anthelia in my tank is doing well, but the anthelia I shared with one of the other two tanks is looking amazing! It almost doesn't look like the same coral.

Duncan7

Love the pattern on the fish!!

Duncan7

What kind of lighting do you have? I have a monti, too, that bleached when it first moved into my tank. The color is back now, but not much growth.

Duncan7

Your rocks are beautiful! The coral and fish look great against them.

Duncan7

So glad it all worked out for you. AND glad that it was just the a/c and not the entire house.

Duncan7

That's good to hear, Teresa. I had always understood that tap water was a no-no, but have not had a lot of choices with the school tank. Maybe it isn't as big a deal as I thought. I'll keep on testing the water regularly, though.

Duncan7

I do, but only because the RO unit that was working when I purchased the tank is no longer so. I am trying to get the school to reattach it, but won't know what will happen until this fall. In the meantime, I do the best I can. Also, the tank has only been running since December 2010, so time may be my enemy as the year progresses. I am just waiting to see what happens.

Duncan7

I had finally found a place to put my frogspawn--still not glued to anything--and came to look at it two days ago. In the couple of hours since I had last looked, it had floated into a button polyp which had closed down on a tentacle. I think what my children said is that "the button polyp is eating the frogspawn!" I sucked the frogspawn away from the button polyp with a turkey baster and put it back in it's plastic container for safe keeping. By yesterday, the button polyp was looking like someone had poured acid on it's fringes. About half of them are gone, as if burned away, and some of it looks black with some white on it. I guess it didn't like how the frogspawn tasted. The frogspawn is doing well, by the way.

Duncan7

Your tank is so gorgeous!

Duncan7

The GSP that mcallahan gave me is still alive! I am really glad because there was a small patch of it in the tank early on and it died. I was concerned that GSP did not like my tank. It is growing and still very small, but there and alive.

Duncan7

When school is out, I will put a piece of rock under it and leave it in the box until it--hopefully--attaches itself to the rock. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll try finding the skeleton again and try gluing it.

Duncan7

There really should be skeleton. And that skeleton is dead, so it won't attach to anything.

I guess I was thinking of what I do with my mushrooms. I can't seem to find the skeleton, but I will try again when school is out next week. If that doesn't work, I'll check around here and ask someone to help me.