Looks like I've got the Yellow Feather duster in the background too...Another 'former' resident that is no more ! Had been thinking I'd been getting on really well as a newcomer to Marine - running through these photos, I'm not so sure ?
Wanted to give the camera a plug too because I have been delighted with it. Have also taken underwater images with it whilst SCUBA diving. Excellent results too.
Canon A640 - Compact camera with 10.1 MegaPixel awesome colours and clarity.
Had to have been the Sexy Anenome Shrimp for entertainment value & the Galaxia coral - I never realised they had long tentacles. Fantastic under the Moonlighting on the Biocube...
Have been badgering one or two members of the Forum (mostly Phurst) for advice here and there and making way too many trips to the LFS. Damn it's less than 3 miles from my house...Wish they'd relocate a bit further away. Also had added some shells which I'd ordered from Seashells from seashell world. Sorry another plug but apart from the size of one or two (bit big for my Nano), I was delighted with what I got for less than $30 - much better value that the local fish store...
False Percula Clown & Catalina Goby seem to be getting on famously - doing really well monitoring all the water parameters. Specific Gravity
Calcium PH
Alkalinity Nitrate Ammonia
All under control.
Raided the Amazon bookstore for a number including the Nano Reef Handbook amongst others. Best one by far though is an underwater masterpiece of Photography - Roger Steene's - Oceanic Wilderness. Having been lucky enough to dive in Indonesia & Malaysia, some of the photographs provoke some great memories and have been an inspiration for the Biocube 14 project - much more than any of the standard Marine Aquatic Tank Guides.
Despite the initial protests from the wife (throwback of having 3 freshwater tanks in the sitting room at one point a few years ago...), the tank is starting to take shape.
In my opinion it's a pleasant addition to the sitting room, without dominating things !
Aim was to try and create as natural looking reef as possible and tie in the colours. Found a Zoanthid colony at the Local Fish Store and whilst not being the brightest of colours, seems to tie in OK with my scheme which is predominantly Green & Purple ?
Additionally still over the moon with the results from the Canon A640 camera...
Also really delighted that the young girl in the LFS, persuaded me to go for it with a Reef Tank & that it wasn't that difficult these days with a Biocube...
One day, realised that the Yellow Feather duster wasn't in a good position for flow. I hadn't sunk the base of it in the sand but had poked it into the rocks where it had been fine for weeks. Next thing I realise is finding it out of it's tube. Advice at the Fish store was to euthanise it because once out, they don't generally survive. I thought I knew better so left it for a few days in the hope it was moving to an area of better flow and would build another tube. Wrong ! Clearly the Skunk Cleaner shrimp thought otherwise and cleaned him up.
3 or 4 weeks later, decided to add a Six-Line Wrasse. Looked a really good addition to the tank and the layout with all of the holes and crevices seemed to suit him really well.
Unsettled the Catalina Goby a bit though but got to see a bit more of him too competing for food more and a bit more active around the tank.
Unfortunately, the Goby who's shown signs of white spot from time to time, had another outbreak. No chance of getting a treatment tank going (wife factor) so knocked up the temperature to 78 deg F to see if that would help and started offering garlic impregnated Omega One Marine pellets.
Whilst the fish didn't seem too interested, the hermit crabs did. Made sure that I didn't overfeed.
Well with the disappointment of losing the Goby, reassured myself that it might have just been an inappropriate occupant in the first place because of it's lower temperature constraints. Probably a good thing then.
But to make up for the disappointment & the fact that I had to go to the shop, let's add some more coral.
Outbreaks of brown algae on the glass have cleared up with a bit of help from some bumble bee & Astrorea Snails. Added a couple more Hermits which had made 7 in total. They looked good though from being in the Coral tank at the Local Fish Store, had taken on a purple corraline layer to their shells. Mind you, they ditched those after they saw the new ones I had put in from welcome to shell world's cyber-island - your window to seashells, nautical supply and coastal home decor accents and fixtures
Whislt the brown algae had gone, am starting to get a stringy purple algae growing on the sand and partcularly one of the rocks. Not sure if this needs addressing ??? Help/Advice appreciated !
Kind of fits in with the general decor though - so let me know what to do.
Amazon.com: Oceanic Wilderness: Books: Roger Steene 
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