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The SHELLY tank

Mark Shelly

Mark Shelly

And here are the rest of my initial tank inhabitants. I started with one harry mushroom and now have 8 or more in 2 spots.IMG_9259.JPG
I brought over some of the mushrooms from the Drink Tank Challenge nano aquarium to nurse them back into health before finding a spot.
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The anemone has split in 2. both are bigger than when I brought it in in January, and both are still upside down in a coral shell.
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Here are some blue mushrooms, a ricordea and a palm-like coral that I forgot the name of. Note that the purple tank is showing just a hint of the HLLE on the back lateral line on one side.
IMG_9293.JPG I finally got the last flower anemone into the tank. I thought the 2 were trying to fight, but it seams that they like being back to back.
IMG_9298.JPG I have this pipe organ high up in the tank where it is doing Well. I got this one at the January reef club meeting at the Jackson Elks from Major League Exotic Pets. You can see some of the tube work that is on one of my rocks in an earlier post.
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My Palys are no longer just surviving but starting to color back up. I just have to keep an eye am the sponge.
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I got a few ricordea from Ultimate corals at the elks as well (Plus pods from Iconic).
IMG_9336.JPG This rose bubble tip anemone looked barely alive when I got it. It appears to be expanding as well. This one has closed bubbles while the other is elongated. Can you spot the bubble with 2 points?
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Mark Shelly

Mark Shelly

Sponge said:
Well now you have done it. You just listed another animal I haven’t considered. Sponges... seriously are they hard to keep, are they hitch hikers or placed. GREAT PHOTOS
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The sponges were hitch hikers. The purple sponge was on an acan frag (so were asterina starfish) I won in a raffle at my first Reef Club meeting held by the Raffle King - Anthony. I like purple so I wanted the sponge. I have a few pieces to bring to club meetings. I even entered a picture of it in the photo of the month. The blue sponge came in unnoticed on zoa frags and really spread while the zoas retreated. I had a red sponge in the past as well, but it didn't doo well. Most new tanks get spall pineapple sponges. We always wonder what they are when we first see them. Sponges should not be allowed to dry or even see the air or they die back. You could often get sponges on live rock taken from the ocean. There was yellow encrusting sponge at Fengs in Bound Brook at one of our meetings on a large anchor. Below is a picture of a white stringy sponge at Jenkinson's Aquarium I saw last week.
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Here was the purple sponge in my last tank. Note sponges can release toxins, so I suggest using carbon with them.
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Here was my orange sponge. In the photo you can see white sponge below. There was a small black sponge as well. This also had an orange fan worm and bright red coralline algae (and aiptaisia). I have no idea what the red thing sticking up was.IMG_6917.JPG
Lastly, sponges can absorb ammonia directly from the water as well as filter it. Some Europeans feel that you shouldn't add fish and corals into tanks until the sponges start to grow.
I also got this nudibranch as a hitchhiker once.
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Mark Shelly

Mark Shelly

I decided to make a few changes. First, the micron socks fill up fast and overflow in 2 or 3 days. Since I drain directly to the sock (most sumps do not do this), the back pressure changes as does the water level in the overflow. Since I have a straight drop down, any water going down the emergency overflow makes noise, so I need to constantly adjust the gait valve. And when I change socks, if I don't adjust the flow, the overflow water level drops and the durso standpipe makes an occasional gurgle. While good as alarms I changed to the following:
First I added a couple of bends to the top of the pipe to act like a Durso. To insure that it drains, I added an air hole at the top. There should never be enough flow to go syphon, but it could. The bend deadens the sound and allows the water to flow down one side. The goal still is no water down the emergency overflow in normal operation. You can compare to an earlier photo to see the difference.
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Second, I tried a 7" mesh sock. It catches less material, or at least doesn't clog in 5 days when I change it out. Better yet is that the water level inside the sock doesn't change.
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I want a backup pump. So I got another slightly stronger model, which is a wave pump. Basically it is the next size pump with a wave controller (to experiment with). Since the new and old controllers are both 50 watts, I first tried it steady stream with the old controller. I also tried it on pump mode. This pushed too much air with each wave as I keep the LOC line at or partially above the water line. I do this because I keep it short to prevent any backflow. I would need changes to the LOC line to prevent a syphon before I used the pump mode. The new pump is red in the picture above. I also went with 3/4 braided hose which is more flexible, but more flow restrictive. I kept the old hose attached to the old pump for quick change out if needed. I also switched the refugium light with a less powerful water proof light. It will need to replaced with a stronger light.

I was able to get my toadstool secured. I had blown off the previous spots. I love how a toadstool looks in bright light near the top of a tank when it grows out.
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And I collected the Duncan from the gravel that had been knocked off as well. It has thinner tenticles compared to my last Duncan.
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Mark Shelly

Mark Shelly

It is hard to believe, but I have had this tank running for about 4 months and have had it for over half a year. The purple tang from eholceker is over the HLLE and is slightly aggressive. The layers and swim throughs allow fish to set up territories, and while not conducive to coral growth, it appears to keep fish aggression down. Since this tank came up in several discussions this past week, I decided to give an update.
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I have only added one fish, a foxface Lo (or one spot). It was in camo colors the first few days. Some days the spot is more noticeable.
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The anemones from Poeticinjustice are doing great but my clown fish haven't found them yet. I like the bubble tips on the bubble tips as well. I also note the white spots on the shells to the left. I had thought something (asterina ) was eating the coralline algae, but I suspect they are just snail eggs.
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The other bubble tip is doing well as well. The pipe organ is from our January meeting (Major League Exotic pets), and the center polyps are from Nikki.
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The sponge is tabling in the back and the hammer came from one meeting and the toadstool from Fang's at another.
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The sponge is also tabling up front. The gorgonian is from Nikki and the blue Ricordia from Ultimate Corals from our January meeting.
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This Duncan came from another meeting. It has smaller heads compared to previous Duncans I have kept.
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While I like the mesh socks, I tend to get algae growth in the tank when I use the so I have gone back to socks.
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I am hoping I can get these Palys started low, from Nikki also.
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