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.

I try to spot feed my candy canes too, and sometimes they grab the food, most of the time not. As long as they get adequate light, they will grow.

Ad I think your missing coral was solved in your other thread by the landscaping damsels. My two devils damsels also move corals around. I have tried expoing corals near one of their caves, and it comes out and pushes things away.

Sorry to hear that your damsels enjoy decorating as much as mine do, but it is nice to know that it isn't JUST my damsels. Thanks for the info on the candy canes. Only two of them appeared to eat a shrimp this evening, but that's a 50% improvement.

I have put my frogspawn into a clean blackberry container from the grocery store for now. The clear box has slits in it for water flow and I can see the frogspawn move back and forth inside when the pumps switch. 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

I love the stand and the aquascaping is beautiful! Thanks for sharing it all. This is amazing to me (who went out and bought a plug-n-play cube). Can't wait to see what will make it's home in there.

Duncan7

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

I dug out the frogspawn, again. I tried gluing it to a plug and it came of fairly quickly. I give up. I must be trying to glue it in the wrong spot. For now, I have put a plastic basket over the top of it with a rock on top. At least it won't hide out under the rocks until I am ready to try again. If anyone in the Elgin area wants to give me a lesson on gluing frogspawn, I'd be a wonderful student... Oh, I do know that they don't have feet, was just trying to be funny.

Duncan7

I have had a hard time locating the hard skeleton. There isn't much to it when I pull it out to work on it. I'll give it another try, though. Do you think I need to go and find it? I did not glue it last night, it has been almost a month since my last attempt.

As far as it moving, I don't have any crabs, but I have worse: two damselfish who like to move stuff, I just didn't think about them moving corals. Last week one or both of them completely buried my kenya tree coral, the tiny one, three days running. They finally stopped that. Maybe this is their new game.

Duncan7

Friday, I posted on my Tank Build thread that I had found my missing frogspawn. ( I had emptied out my tank and when the last couple of rocks were removed, there it was. It had worked it's way underneath to an empty space. When it was missing then, I could occasionally see it). I was excited, took a few pictures, and very glad to see that it was still there yesterday. Good thing I took a lot of pictures, because it is gone again. I looked in the back of the tank and in all of the spots between rocks--gone! How do these guys move? How do I get it to stay put? I initially tried superglue gel on a frag plug, twice, but each time after a couple of hours it would get loose. There was a lot of slime each time, so maybe I glued the slime instead of the frogspawn. It was very small, but I am pretty sure I got the foot each time. Should I just leave it wherever it is now? I will be moving the tank back to the school in August, but that is at least 12 weeks away. I am open to suggestions, including the correct way to glue it.

Here is a picture of it last night:

Thanks!

Duncan7

Unbelievable! My frogspawn is missing again. Do the little creatures have feet that I just can't see? or what? I got out a flashlight and looked in all the nooks and crannies, but nothing. It seems to have gone into hiding again. sigh. Any suggestions?

Duncan7

I tried to spot-feed my candy canes a little while ago. I got them from Mel in Elgin and tried feeding the same Mysis that they are used to getting from Mel. So....I put half of a cube into some water from the tank, mixed it up, sucked it into a turkey baster, and held it over each head trying make sure one of the shrimp landed on it. The first time I forgot to turn off the pumps, so I tried again. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but when I had finished and looked again, one of them had puffed up a bit. I watched for awhile and after maybe 10 minutes, it began to "spit" out a white substance--probably what was left of the Mysis.

Here is after I fed it, it is the one in the middle:

This is about 10 minutes later:

I got the Mysis at Aquatek earlier this evening. I've got to tell you how great everyone there has been with helping me (and the other teacher doing this) get the tanks up and running. I have 2 tropical tanks and the 1 marine tank. the other two elementary schools have 1 of each kind at their schools. Aquatek helped us select tanks and stock, gave us discounts as we bought everything, and have given out a TON of advice. I am pleased to see that it is all working well.

Duncan7

So cute!

Here is a picture of one of my purple monti cap frags. You can see at the narrow tip how white it still is there, but the rest is returning to a pale purple with some dark purple in the middle. Not sure what the dark purple is as it originally was all the same shade of the lighter color. Thanks again JeffT!

Here is my once-lost frogspawn. It is looking very nice! Thanks Robb in Austin!!

This is what the tank looks like right now:

When I brought the purple monti cap to my tank, it faded almost to white by the end of the first week. I did not know about helping it adjust to new lighting. Instead of throwing it away, I moved it down to the bottom of the tank and waited. It has been about a month now since the bleaching and the frags are making a comeback. I am seeing a good amount of purple around the rim and the white is changing back to purple now. There are some places where there is what looks like brown algae, but I have been holding the frag in front of the pump occasionally and it seems to be coming off a little at a time and not returning. I'm really glad (and lucky) that this is working out. This entire tank has been a good lesson in patience for me.

Today was moving day for the marine tank. I placed all of the coral in a styrofoam box full of water from the tank, the live rock into another box with water, the fish in a bucket of tank water, and 4 containers full of tank water. The tank went home and everything got moved and put back in the tank. Of course, the tank looks totally different now. And I found my frogspawn! It is no longer stuck in the middle of the tank down at the bottom, but is closer to the front in a little nook where it can't get blown away. Last time I tried to glue it to a frag plug it escaped. Not sure what to do with it now. It seems a little larger than a couple of weeks ago. I will post a few pictures of the tank as soon as the water clears up.

I still need to move my tropical tank. It is a 50 gallon with some interesting fish. I did finally get rid of the plecostamus as it was eating all of the plants. (I didn't flush it, but returned it to Aquatek.) This was my big mistake as I did not read about the fish before buying it and putting it in my tank. Lesson learned! Now I check before buying or accepting gifts. The tanks will live at my house this summer and return to the classroom in August. I am looking forward to having them here; I always wonder what is going on at night with the tanks and now I will be able to watch them. Fun!

Duncan7

I would like some, too, if there is enough.

Duncan7

Your frogspawn is gorgeous! Congratulations.

Thanks for the kind comments.

I gave anthelia and candy cane coral to the teacher at the other two schools today, so now all three tanks have them in it. We are going to be watching to see how they do. We are holding off on the purple monti cap as it turns out that I have metal halides and the other two tanks do not. So we will see what happens with lighting over the summer.

Duncan7

I don't know much about lights, so please help me here. I have a Coralife 150w HQI which takes DE MH bulbs. If I could find Double Ended Plusrite bulbs, could I just use them instead of what I currently have? (Which is what comes with the unit.) What do I need to consider when I use a ballast?

Duncan7

Yes you can replace the light that you have. Its a little more expensive but I got some 150 watt 20k phoenix bulbs for my frag tank and they are awesome. The color is really blue but my corals look great and the polyps are extending farther than ever before.

Thanks. I'll just have to find a time to get over there and see yours in person. They sound great.

I don't know much about lights, so please help me here. I have a Coralife 150w HQI which takes DE MH bulbs. If I could find Double Ended Plusrite bulbs, could I just use them instead of what I currently have? (Which is what comes with the unit.) What do I need to consider when I use a ballast?

Duncan7

Here is the leather coral on the day I brought it home, Feb. 19th.

Button Polyps on 2-27-11.... and 3-14-11.

Zoanthids on 3-14-11.