Grog

You will find folks some differences of opinions on the snails. I have a love hate relationship with most of them, but I really think the conch snails do great job. May want one or two in the tank. I also keep peppermint shrimp and donkey dung in my tanks but I'm kind of an invert fan.

I second Tim's comment on the Kessils. I have an AP9X over my 40 and love it. Running at 60% output and chalice and birdsnest are doing great. Kessil app is easy to use. If power goes out they start back up and remember where they were on the cycle. I got the Kessil hard mounting arm to go with. Very glad I did it. Worth the money. Love the look, of both the fixture and the light output. The shimmer is awesome. I have cheaper LEDs on other tanks but the AP9X covers a 40 breeder perfectly. Covering a larger tank with them could get spendy...... Other small thing that I notice after using it, the mounting arm makes it so easy to maintain the tank. No lifting of a hood, etc, to get in the tank and mess around. Very convenient and that is definitely a factor. Mine is mounted 18" over the water. Another small thing, the Kessil arm has a inches marked on it so you can use it to set height. Little items like that add up.

After I return from Iceland I'll do some rearranging in both tanks. I'll move the green one closer to this one. Free up some space on the middle right of the tank for other goodies.

Some auto parts stores will lease/lend stuff like this.

Now those are some sweepers! 😍 Guessing 7"-7.5" extension, about double the size of the colony. If anyone ever wondered about their sweepers. Here ya go. This is Galaxea Town!

Never really did much fragging before. Minimal at best. Got in some cool blue and orange (Fire and Ice) zoas on a frag plug the other day. I want to propogate this new frag to other plugs, so my thought is to surround the original with empty plugs, let it grow onto them, then separate afterwards. Picture of my layout with the original plug in the middle. This will be done in a rack in a dedicated frag tank. Is this the proper way?

New additions. Coral banded shrimp and some unknown freebie coral. Unknown is gonna move to the TBD frag tank after I get home from overseas next month. Hammer is kinda PO'ed as I was messing in the tank. Moody thing.... And yes, I need to vacuum my sand this week. Also added to emerald crabs to fight a small algae issue. They are camera shy tho.

At least I didn't get a condy.

New anemones. I can't resist nems... Even though I told myself I wasn't adding them to this tank.

I have space in this tank for another fish. I want to keep its current calm demeanor. Thinking of seeding with pods and then adding a mandarin about a month later. Any opinions?

He's gone now. Broke the green galxea off of its rock. Tried to eat a fish and another snail. Done! That thing was as aggressive as a pit bull on steriods. OMG

OK this guy has to go. Just witnessed him dragging off a large snail into his lair. Kinda comical but not what I want to deal with.

That means he needs to go.... I don't need an 8" carnivore invert in the tank.

Crab is growing. I hadn't seen him in about a week or two, so I guess he molted. Fresh colors so I think that is the case. Got good pics today. Leg stripes are changed. I have this odd suspicion that this is a juvenile rock crab and will be a big boy. Thinking this is what it is.... https://txmarspecies.tamug.edu/invertdetails.cfm?scinameID=Menippe adina

Updated FTS and new blue hammer. Rearranged a little and pulled some things out.

So, next obvious question. If you have a male and female, are folks able to breed urchins in tanks? Or do the offspring require crazy special care?

Other cool growth progression. Three months between the first photo and the last two. Green Birdsnest. NOTES: My photos are getting better, and there is lots of good stuff showing up on the back glass. March Photo End of June Photos Top View Side Shot

None. The tank was almost full already. I'd say a half gallon of water over flowed. So not much change. I caught it as it was happening. I think I have some ideas for a solution. I'll type them up later...

Some excitement today! Heard a noise from the living room. Water noise. That is never good. A lot of water noise. Wife and I both looked up. Water draining over the top of the tank onto the floor. OMG! Run into the living room and shut off the power. Then there was water gurgling from back siphoning in the ATO tank now. Scoop some water out and dump in to a bucket. All fine afeter that. Cause? A freaking snail on my ATO optical sensor. OMG! I picked his *** off and put him in a more appropriate space. I'm so glad this happened today and not last weekend when I was out of town for four days.\ Now I need to figure out some shielding to put around the sensor. Or maybe a float kill switch for high level fail safe. NOTE: This is a sumpless build. No sump, so snails can access this sensor. Snail Wall 1.0 coming soon.

I was not sure where this belongs, but I figured this is the right place. Please move the post if it doesn't fit in this location. I just got back from Ketchikan Alaska. The wildlife was absolutely abundant. These pictures were taken for the dock before I went on a halibut fishing trip. (Caught one halibut, one rock fish, and one king salmon.) So much diversity in the water. I'll give some perspectives. That crab in the first picture is about 7" across. The cukes are really bright orange and brown and vary from 1' to 3' in length. Yes, foot. There were 20 nems and starfish visible. Lots of nutrients in the water down there. Second picture shows reflection of a piling for reference. So, you can see how large the cukes are. I was blown away. Things were about the size of my arm. Tide changes are about 20'. All the docks are floating. You can see closed nems up 4' on the pilings. Pretty crazy. All this just at the dock. Sorry for the low quality. I was 4' above the water, and the water was about 8' deep here. Shows how clear the water is up there. Can't wait to go back. It was between 55-75F daily there. Water was 52F. Maybe I need a cold water tank?

Welcome to the site, and back to the hobby!

Found a crab in the tank the other day. Never seen one like it before. Tried to get pics but it is shy, so I went full redneck and went fishing in my tank. Borrowed one of the wife's cake decorating tools as a sinker. (Don't want to use a lead sinker in the reef tank.) Tied a shrimp to it and lured him out for some pictures. I'm unclear about the species. I suspect it is some sort of stone crab, and a juvenile at that. It definitely eats meat. Hitchhiker on live rock from Tampa. Key points on this guy: He's chonky! Purple shell with black claw tips Black/dark purple and white horizontal stripes on the legs. Shy about 2.25" across FWIW I love this kind of stuff. Not upset that it is in my tank. Just want to know what it is. I love crabs.

Good list of Texas native species with pics. (The crab I'm trying to ID is not there. Rock from Florida so....) Texas Marine Species Identification (tamug.edu)

OK just fed the tank. Didn't have my camera in my excitement. LOL His legs are all the same from what I can tell. long and thin compared to the thick body. Black and white alternating stripes. End in points. No paddle flippers in the back that I can see (like a blue crab would have). Claws are big thick, and have small black tips. I'll try to get a good shot tonight. I think he has been laying low and now is getting hungry so coming out for the meaty foods. Or maybe he helped the angelfish destroy the macros????

Small black tips, kind of like emerald, but pointy. If you've ever caught them at the coast, it looks like a mini rock crab. Purpleish tho. He likes meat. He went nuts when the Rods Food went in.