A pair of EcoWheel tanks in the making

[derrikd]

cool

[picture the reef]

MarkS, I do get the idea we are still paying for the R&D on this system. However once you consider this is a complete system and you add up the price of a first rate system with skimmer, top end pumps, refugium, etc. the cost seems a little more reasonable. There are still plenty of add on toys though, such as top off system, calcium reator, etc. etc.

[ctenophore]

the elegance of the design is also something to consider. looking under Brett's stand and not seeing a jumble of boxes, salt-encrusted hoses and wires is worth something IMO.

[MarkS]

Originally posted by picture the reef
MarkS, I do get the idea we are still paying for the R&D on this system. However once you consider this is a complete system and you add up the price of a first rate system with skimmer, top end pumps, refugium, etc. the cost seems a little more reasonable. There are still plenty of add on toys though, such as top off system, calcium reator, etc. etc.

I agree completely! It is a proven system that combines all of the filtration and water movement devices currently used on reef tanks into one compact unit. I just know that after working with acrylic and PVC plate that the price of the unit itself is about 100x higher than the price of the parts and labor. That's assuming that they are not buying the parts in bulk, which I am sure they are.

I have to admit that I have yet to see a terrible tank running an Eco-Wheel and that says something. It's just not for everyone.

[lil_mikey69]

Forgive the newb, but what does a system like that run? Your setup looks ULTRA smooth.

[picture the reef]

Expect to give 3K for just the Eco-Wheel. I went with custom Oceanic tank with Starfire glass. Take a look at my current tank section. Get ready to open the wallet.

[lil_mikey69]

Wowza. Thats a bit of coin. But, when you consider not having to buy all sorts of other pumps and protein skimmers I bet it really is about as cheap, if not cheaper.

[picture the reef]

That's what I thought. Plus with using an air driven system there are no pumps or conventional skimmer to destroy the "good critters".

[skylsdale]

This is what I'm talking about!

First of all, I just heard about this whole EcoWheel thing a few days ago--I love it! I need to look into it more, but I'm loving how an ATS has finally been incorporated into such a smooth little operation.

All that aside, Putawaywet you have no idea how close your setup is to my dream system! You all can take your 500 gal tanks (they all look the same anyway), but I've had the dual coral head/deep-water system in my head for a while now (complete with some sort of psuedo cryptic zone and everything!). I just never thought of combining the two into one complete system. Everything just looks great in there. As for the deep-water side, if you can get the flow right, it will absolutely rock. I would suggest piling the rock clear up out of the water if you can, to help make it appear as if the structure continues right on up out of the field of view. Throw a pair of Fathead/Sunburst anthias in there for me!

Man..this is great. I'm going to have to live vicariously through you for a while, so keep the updates coming!

[AuroraDave]

Can you include a few pics of the influent boxes showing how the water enters the 2 tanks? Does it create a surge effect with the acrylic guard lowered?
Thanks

[Putawaywet]

Hi everyone,

I'm glad there seems to be some interest and hopefully you were able to follow along without too much trouble.

Also, thanks for the kind words it really makes all the effort worth it.

Here's a couple pics of the water coming out of the influent boxes.

The surge is not exactly dependent on the sliding gate being all the way down - it will suge regardless of it's position.

The way it is supposed to work is the gate is adusted so the normal flow comes in under, and the surge flows over.

If you slide the gate up.... the flow comes out more horizontal. If you adjust it down, the flow is more like a waterfall with everything going over the top.

However, that's easier said than done on my system as I have 3 influent boxes between the 2 tanks. As soon as you adjust one, if affects the other two. And then there is the evaporation issue..... after a day or two of evap the water level changes just enough to screw up your gate adjustments.

So, I just adjusted them by watching my gorgs in the tank. When they were really moving and dancing I figured that was as close as it needed to be.

Brett

[Putawaywet]

Here's the right side. Ignore the brown blob in the middle, it's a snail that decided it liked what was growing on the acrylic.

I'll try to get another update posted later this evening.

Brett

[Flanders]

That looks like a lot of water moving there, more than I expected. Beautiful setup.

[piercho]

Brett,

The reason you got 50+ joints sealed without a drip is that you, obviously, know what you are doing. One day, when I'm all growed up, I'd like to have a tank as neatly layed out, equipment-wise, as yours. Even better to see your now that it has a reef in it.

I'm so glad that the ring injector worked out in your application. It is hard to know how it might turn out, as far as output, since there are so many nuances in the system parameters that can effect it. By the pictures I'd say that you achieved excellent results, and without pulling enough micro bubbles back into the display tank as to be a distraction for the easily-distractable. That is a "problem" with mine when I really push it wide open.

One thing I expected in my air-lift system was a lot of cryptic-type creatures, especially sponges, along the collection tank (the equivalent of the lower part of your Eco Wheel tank) walls and maybe even in the piping. After 10 months with the air lift it hasn't happened. I haven't read Tyree's zonal filtration books, and maybe I'm missing how this is suppose to work. Maybe I need to buy and add some high-flow sponges and tunicates from DE to seed the system and then see what happens. What I do get that is unusual (compared to many tanks) is a wall of feather dusters (hundreds of them) near the 2' long inlet strainer inside the tank. I've harvested them back recently to keep the inlet from getting overgrown to the point of resticting water flow. But my water still yellows without carbon and I have no reason to believe that I'm supporting filter-feeders better than any other reasonably successful reef keeper not using an air lift.

I hope you'll update this thread periodically over the next couple of years. Once again, best of luck (As if you need it!).

[skylsdale]

Piercho, I'm not sure of how "high flow" the area is you're referring to, but I think featherdusters and similar organisms are what Tyree is referring to in the high flow cryptic zone. The sponges and tunicates need an almost still column of water to really acquire enough nutrients to grow and spread.

[Putawaywet]

Here is a quick update of how things have progressed in the last couple of weeks.

Overall, both tanks are doing well. Coralline is filling in with pinks, greens and reds in that order of dominance. I am starting to see some of those little curly calcareous tubeworms taking hold in various places around the tanks. Mostly high flow areas like around the overflows, on outer parts of the rocks and down in the lower portions of the Eco-Wheel filter. Nuisance algae has been kept to a minimum, but I have been feeding a semi-nightly milkshake of Algamac, Roti-Rich and Golden Pearls 3-4 times a week, and if I don’t monitor the addition closely, I see algae blooms 24-48 hours later.

One thing that I find interesting is the lack of cyano and diatoms that seem to make an appearance in the early stages of a tank’s life. My sandbed seems to get a light coating of brown algae in a few areas, but I have enough animals that stir things up to keep that in check. I find myself wiping down the glass about every other day.

As far as additives go.... I add approx 3 tsps of Kent’s Turbo Calcium 2-3 days in a row, then switch and add 50ml of each Kent A&B on the alternate day. I repeat as necessary to keep my calcium levels between 380-420ppm. I have made 2 small water changes since the system was set up using Catalina Water Co. NSW at the rate of 30-35 gal per water change. Unless I have a change of mind, I’ll probably continue with similar 10-15% water changes on a regular monthly basis. Evaporation is moderate, with anywhere from 1-3 gals of RO water needed to top things off each day.

So far, I have no plans to use any additional supplements.

Corals: The only coral that has been lost to date are a Sinularia sp. and some nice looking orange zoanthids. The zooanthids caught the attention of my Navarcus (Majestic angel) and have been relegated to a few fragments that have tumbled out of view. The Sinalaria sp. (yellow finger leather) appeared to have difficulties during acclimation. The coral never extended polyps and began to disintegrate shortly after it was added. The coral was obtained form a LFS who kept it under a pair of T5 fluorescent lights, and I suspect that it succumbed to light shock immediately after being added to my tank.

However, I discovered that there was a pair of (yet to be identified) tunicates attached to the underlying rock. The piece has since been moved to the smaller tank where the tunicates look to be thriving.

The lavender Montipora that is shown in the above pic seems to be darkening slightly, turning an overall dark purple/brown but still retaining its bright blue coloring along its outer edges. I accidentally damaged this coral slightly when I broke off a nickel-sized piece while attempting to mount it in the tank. The fragment was small, but I thought it was worth saving, and I epoxied it to the reef in a nearby location. Initially, there was some die-off, but much to my amazement, the frag has re-grown and in now encrusting the epoxy holdfast.

The light green Acropora is darkening also, turning from a pale, almost sea foam green coloration, to a very intense forest green color. I’m estimating there to be approximately 2-3mm of growth since adding it to the tank.

A recently acquired Studeriotes longiramosa (Christmas tree coral/ Medusa coral) also appears to be thriving. Unfortunately, I was having a brain fade that day and purchased it thinking it was an unusual species of Sinularia. As a result, I wound up with a non-photosynthetic coral that requires specialized care. Perfect for my low-light tank you say? Absolutely! Except for the fact that due to my misidentification, I placed it in the reef tank where it subsequently attached to a piece of rock. Nonetheless, it appears to be doing nicely. The only hitch is it doesn’t seem to like the metal halide lighting, but rather, prefers to open up during the later evening and throughout the night. Now that I have realized my mistake, I went right out and acquired a 2nd specimen and placed in the smaller tank. I think it will be an interesting side-by-side comparison to observe the two in their respective environments.

There is also a “winged� oyster that hitchhiked in on one of the large gorgs that appears to be doing well. Interestingly, the animal has the ability to move around on the gorg as it sees fit. It uses bissel threads to anchor itself in place, but upon moving, it simply "ropes" another branch and reels itself in like crane dragging a car out of a ditch.

There are also numerous species of sponge and aposynthetic bivalves thriving in the smaller tank along with a couple larger blue sponges that were added early October.


Fish: This is where I have taken the biggest hit. As of this writing all 3 Engineer gobies have been lost. The first problems started approximately 1 week after introduction. After apparently settling in well, I noticed one of the trio looking horribly beat up - he had several marks along his body and his tail was ragged with exposed flesh present. I have seen inter-species aggression before from these guys, but never to this extent. I subsequently moved the fish to the smaller tank in the hopes he might recover. 48 hours later he was covered in what appeared to be a white mucus type of coating and died later that evening.

The following week a second goby appeared with exactly the same symptoms and was subsequently moved. A few days later he was found deceased on the sand bed.

At the start of the third week I noticed my Hippo tang chasing and harassing the last remaining goby. The goby appeared to be a little beat up but not to the extent of the other two. I was a little confused as to why the Hippo would have turned into such a bully, but nonetheless; I moved the goby to the smaller tank to recover.

Within a few days he had stopped eating and was beginning to show signs of the same mucus coating as the other two. The following day, he actually looked like he was peeling and his tail had disintegrated into a terrible looking stump. At this point I realized that the infection was not secondary to the aggression, but rather, the aggression was brought on by their diminished health due to the infection. Sadly, I euthanized my last goby on 10/18/03


Gorgonian condition 1: (Borneman, E.H. 2001) Is a term that until recently, I was not familiar with. However, the condition as described by Eric B. in his book ‘Aquarium Corals: Selection, Husbandry and Natural History’ is a pretty accurate explanation for the next problem that I found myself contending with.

On or about week 5, (approx 3 weeks after species introduction) I began to notice patches of tissue receding from several of my smaller Muricea sp.??? (bronze/golden sea rod) gorgonians. The recession appeared somewhat overnight, and within a couple of days had stripped several gorgs of 25-50% of their outer tissue. Testing (Salifert) showed no detectable levels of NO2/NO3 or NH4. Calcium levels were at approx 380ppm and alk/dkh measured 11.5 / 4.1 respectively. pH came in at 8.0 - System was put on carbon and a 10% NSW water change was performed.

Within a few days the affected gorgs had stabilized, however the remaining gorgs of the same species began to follow suit. At this point I began to wonder if they weren’t succumbing to some kind of pathogen as all other varieties of gorgs appeared healthy and unaffected.

By week week two all gorgs of that particular species had suffered some degree of damage. (At this time the recession has all but stopped and some regeneration has begun, although it is slow and not totally widespread)


Conclusion: So far I quite happy with how things are progressing and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that there are no further setbacks. Upcoming plans are to start building the pinnacle structure for the smaller tank. And yes Skylsdale... all the way to the surface is the intended plan. I originally thought about trying some rockwork around the interior walls – sort of a cave-like look. But I’m thinking that will be too labor intensive to fabricate. Besides, I’m starting to like the “glow� that I get from the subdued lighting and the blue acrylic. Also, the smaller width of the tank really captures the look and feel of what is referred to as a focus tank at a couple of the public aquariums I am familiar with. So, I’ll stick to the rock in the center of the tank and have the corals growing outward from that. I have already added a trio of Pajama cardinals and a pair of Purple firefish (although I haven’t seen one of them in several days). I’m also looking at a pair or trio of Lretail anthias but I certainly won’t count out the Sunbursts.

Anyone have any other suggestions for deeper water specimens? A goby perhaps? Something from the Echinoderm family?

Keep in mind, it’s a deeper water tank, not a “DEEP� water tank, so anything from the 50’-150’ depths will suffice. Skylsdale, I know you’ve researched this area quite extensively, so I’m counting on you for some suggestions.

Other than that, all I can say is yes, the system is pricey, and I can’t argue that. You can certainly lessen the sticker shock by factoring in the absence of a custom built sump, top of the line skimmer, refugium, and several pumps to help bridge the gap. If you really wanted to try and justify it further, you could also subtract the price of a chiller and all the electricity that would be used over the course of several years. I guess if you got creative enough you could probably show this system to be a pretty good bargain.

Or you could certainly set up something comparable with a more traditional algae filter and sump. How about a sump down below, with an airlift taking water up to an ATS that would then dump directly into the tank? The ATS becomes the refugium and you could even use a dump bucket for a surge effect. There are a lot of ways to feel slightly less of a pinch on the wallet. But regardless, you’re going to feel a pinch if you want to do it right. The thing to remember is, it’s not what you use to accomplish your goal, it’s whether or not the goal is accomplished. And if the goal is to remove impeller pumps from the equation, reduce heat transfer, and provide alternative means of water filtration, then I really feel that this general type of idea is the way to go.

But, price not withstanding, this was my dream system and I wanted something that was “outside of the box� so to speak. I also wanted something that was already proven. That by itself was enough justification for me. I have always enjoyed taking the road less traveled and this has definitely been a real excursion.

I’ll be happy to continue to answer any questions that might come up, or join in any further discussions, but I’m not planning to add any further updates for another 3-4 weeks. I’d really like to make some progress on the smaller tank before I start dumping more pics into this growing thread.

So until next time, keep the lights on and the water moving,

Brett

[skylsdale]

I'll bide my time until you get the "deeper" water side a little more pieced together. I can't tell you how close this is what has been unraveling in my mind as "the dream system." Light and dark...the best of both worlds. Maybe I missed it, but what is the pinnacle side being lit with? How many gallons is the dimmer tank? A few suggestions (take them for what you will):

Fish: I'm not a big fan of Pyjama cardinals, but to each his own. I think cardinals are a great addition to a dimly lit tank, as well as the purple firefish (maybe you can pretend they're Helfreichs). I love both Lyretails and Sunbursts, but wonder if the Sunbrusts would do better given the dimensions of the tank? However, if you've got some good laminar flow in an area around the pinnacle, they may be happy to just sit in there and feed. Another fish choice would be some sort of flasher wrasse. You may want to bypass the lyretails and try to add a small harem of these little guys instead...which might work better with disposition of the current fish in the tank. A few diminuitive gobies would be cool...maybe some triplefin types if you can get them (I always see them in photos from the reef slope, but not sure if they make it into the trade).

Corals: I'm not sure specifically what you're thinking of trying in here, but obviously it's going to be tough sustaining a large variety of completely non-photosynthetic organisms in this system. One type that I would recommend adding in there are some plating corals like M. capricornis. I think to see these growing out from a vertical structure would be impressive, and would provide variation to the habitat for the fish, as well as small cryptic areas beneath them for sponges, tunicates, etc. to establish and thrive.

Aquascaping: I'm not sure if you've laid down sand in there yet or not, but personally I would refrain from it. For one, I think it would visually look better to cover the bottom with a few larger pieces of rock and then rubble of varying sizes...even down to some CC particles. This will create an incredible habitat for pods and worms and critters, spawning more food for the inhabitants on the pinnacle. This will look cool at the base of the pinnacle as pieces would naturally crumble, fall, and settle at the bottom. You may try adding a few small areas with sand, but you can put some other small fish that would do well in that area as well. A Randall's goby would look very cool in there, as well as other small wrasses (maybe a 6-line or possum wrasse). Anyway, every once in a while you can then take a pump or powerhead and just blow it around on the bottom, lifting up all sorts of crud and detritus back up into the water column, while keeping sediment levels to a minimum. Beautiful and functional.

[H20ENG]

Great job Putawaywet!
Beautiful installation.
A few questions:
Does the wheel box have a lid to keep the salt creep inside?
Any way of making a sort of collection cup to catch the foam produced, or is this a nul point with the ATS?
Is the one wheel used for both systems?

You could add an RCSD easily to this tank and really get it surging, and still have tons of plankton. I really like these systems!
Chris

[Putawaywet]

Originally posted by H20ENG
A few questions:
Does the wheel box have a lid to keep the salt creep inside?
Any way of making a sort of collection cup to catch the foam produced, or is this a nul point with the ATS?
Is the one wheel used for both systems?

You could add an RCSD easily to this tank and really get it surging, and still have tons of plankton. I really like these systems!
Chris

Yes the box has has a lid (3/4" acrylic I think) that the light hood rests on. The hood is bulit to the outer dimentions of the box, so it's a nice clean setup.

No need for a collection cup for two reasons:

1st: The foam is relatively weak

2nd: The idea of keeping the foam is to provide nutrients for the Alagae to process. Cotact time between algae and effluent is about 15 seconds per rotation, at approx 2 rpm. How well does that theory work? Well, I have no way of testing it, but I can tell you this things does grow some algae. And that's with a pair of 50/50 PC quads overhead. Chris from A.E. informed me there was a miscommunication and the lighting manufacturer shipped the wrong bulbs - he will be sending me something down in the 6500 spectrum as soon as he gets them. So I expect to see a growth change when that happens.

Yes, one wheel for both tanks, water is split as it leaves the filter and valves were installed inline for adjusting the flow.

Ref the RCSD... no plans at this time. But who know what will come up down the road. It's the old story of......

"She ain't broke, but can we fix her better?"

Brett

[Putawaywet]

Skylsdale,

Mucho appreciado, I knew you'd come through

The tank specs out to 90 gals but the water level is a couple inches down from the top and the angled influent/effluent boxes eat up additional interior space. The measurements are more like 24x24x30H at the sides, with the width stretching out to 30" where the corner boxes meet the rear wall. If that makes any sense.

Basically, what I have is a cube tank that is a little deeper front to back, than side to side. But even though the interior dimesions are a little tight, I've got a real nice clockwise flow in there.

As far as what I'm looking to add.... I'm really wanting to try some aposynthetic gorgs coming off the sides of the rockwork. Somethng like Swiftia exserta (red/orange polyped gorg). after that, it's still up for grabs.

But I do love your idea of a species transition from the top down.

Yes there is sand in there now, but I'm rethinking that as we speak. It just looks too much like the other tank. Believe it or not, my original ideas were to have an aragacrete type of covering on the bottom, sides and rear walls. I had planned to have everything gowing inward to replicate a cave or crevice.

But I'm liking the pinnacle idea better, and the rubble substrate is looking more attractive as time goes by.

Right now the lighting is a pair of 13w PC's just to light the tank. I wasn't sure exactly what I had in mind so I installed something quick and easy to get some light in there. If I remember correctly, weren't you involved in some discussions on lighting these kind of tanks? Something about a 150w MH with a 20k bulb? I think I remember something like that in the back of my mind.

The fish seem to be doing well - they just love the laminar flow. It's very cool to see everyone lined up in the same direction all day waiting for the current to bring something their way

Brett

[skylsdale]

Glad I could help. Lighting is one of the most difficult aspects of a tank like this...and we can talk about it more. I'm heading out of town tomorrow for the rest of the week, but PM after that and we can talk specifics and I can share with you some of the options and conclusions I've come to.

I think for this type of tank and those types of coral inhabitants, a substrate devoid of fine sediment is the best. Like I said, you can give it a good wallop of flow once in a while to kick the detritus back up into the water column, and it will be an absolute breeding ground for microfauna. For examples, try to find pics of caves, arches, and overhangs (Reef Fishes Vol. 1 has a good example on pg. 195. Look at the bottom substrate in the picture--there is very little sand, but plenty of rocky substrate and smaller rubble...with small corals trying to establish themselves).

[Putawaywet]

Update 11/13/03

The 5000k PC quads arrived from Chris at A.E. and are now installed above the EcoWheel. In just a few days I’ve already seen a noticible increase in algae production. And judging from the amount of growth, it looks like I’ll be harvesting about once a week.

In the last few weeks I also made some changes to my canopy in regard to cooling fan orientation. First, I reversed the direction of my Orion fans to an arrangement where they blow in, instead of out. Next, I ventilated the top of the canopy itself via 4, 5� holes directly above the MH pendants. This allows for a sizable amount of air to circulate around the light pendants before being forced upward and out of the canopy. This has made an enormous improvement, and even when the fans off I’m still getting a modest amount of air flow just through natural convection

However, as a result of the above changes I had to add a 250w Ebojager heater to the system. The change in cooling fan orientation, as well as a break in the warm weather out here, had a dramatic impact on my ability to hold consistent temperatures. With ambient room temps of 75-76 degrees I was easily seeing matching tank temperatures come early morning. Actually, it looks like I’ll need to add another heater as just one may not be able to keep up when we get a little closer to those brisk December and January temps.

One of the other things that I have recently done is to expand the variety and frequency of my nighttime feedings. I ordered up some powdered Spirulina, and Vibragro from Aquatic Ecosystems and have now added that to my mix of Golden Pearls, RotiRich and Cyclopeeze. The Vibragro comes in pellet form, but I was able to easily grind it into a powder and add it in with the rest.

I add a generous tsp. of mix to 1/2 qt of tank water and mix thoroughly. This is then added to the tank in small increments over the course of the night (I work a flex schedule and am home and awake several nights a week). On average, it works out to about 4-5 feeds per week. Somewhere in the distant future I have plans to set up a dosing system to automate my feedings.

The corals seems to love it and are responding with excellent polyp extension. Even my leathers are extending polyps nearly 24/7.

I do have to be a little mindful of how much I add in a 24 hr. period as overdosing the tank results in a noticeable algae bloom a day or two later.

-----------------------

Corals overall are doing well, with the main exception of the gorgonians that I mentioned earlier. The recession seems to have stabilized, but I am having difficulties judging recovery due to the numerous areas that have been stripped. I made the decision to leave the sections of bare skeleton intact since I haven’t really seen a problem with them becoming overgrown with algae and I’m hoping it will help with recovery

Sadly, that vibrant lavender montipora has taken a serious turn for the worse. After a period of progressive pigment darkening, it decided to completely bleach and looks to be barely hanging on. Most surprisingly, the nearby frag is looking as good as ever and has just about doubled in size. I had the opportunity to discuss this situation with a couple professional aquarists and they seem to be in agreement that the series of events that led up to this quite possibly is the result of lighting issues. Recommendations were to swap out my lighting to something in the 20,000k range.

So, I’ve have been looking at some of the new 20,000k bulbs that have hit the market. I’m hearing there will be a couple new offerings in the next few months so it looks like I’ll be following some of the lighting threads quite closely.

The funny thing is..... I can remember back when 6500k was considered the accepted standard for MH bulbs. There was even a sizable amount of people who swore that 5500k’s paired with actinics worked just fine. When we began to see the 10’s hit the market there were many a discussion on their actual usefulness. Many hobbyist’s actually considered them to be too blue for their liking. Of course, we knew little back then of what we know now about par and intensity, and there were very few comparisons or tests out there to help us along in our thinking.

Another reason that I am considering switching is I have taken a pretty good look at the live coral tank down at my local public aquarium and noted their choice of bulbs. I was quite surprised to find a mix of 20’s and 50’s hanging exclusively above the tank. I completely expected to find it predominantly lit in the 10,000k spectrum. For those of you that have seen the live coral display at the Long Beach Aquarium I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s quite the impressive tank.

In the mean time, I’ll keep researching and we’ll see what comes of it. Who knows, I might just have to try some 20’s over the tank in the next month or two.

-----------------------

Fish are also doing equally well. I added a couple new gobies to take my mind off of the sudden loss of my favorite trio of engineers.

Several weeks ago I added Valencienna puellaris (diamond / orange spotted goby) and Amblygobius phalaena(Dragon goby). Both appear to be doing fine and have taken to sifting through the sand quite nicely. Neither seems to build quite as big of sand piles and my engineers did but yet, seem to be able to keep the sand clean and free of detritus.

A few days ago I added 7 blue line cardinals??? to add a little variety to the tank. Unfortunately, it appears that I lost one in the first 24 hours. The remaining 6 seem to be schooling together nicely though.

[Putawaywet]

Here’s a shot of that S. longiramosa (Christmas tree coral or medusa coral) that was added on 09/14/03.

This coral, despite it’s overall brown coloration, is aposymbiotic and feeds off of nutrients being carried by the surrounding water. Generally, it is a shallow to mid-depth specimen that is usually found on soft sand or rubble substrates.

It still appears to be doing well and is even extending polyps a little more frequently over the course of the day. I have also noticed that it is looking a little larger in the last few weeks - whether that means it has actually grown, or is just becoming more comfortable with it’s environment, I’m not sure.

Consequently, the second S. longiramosa that is in the low-light tank also appears to be doing equally well. It’s about half the size of the one in this pic and didn’t appear to be in quite the same good shape as it’s big brother when it was first acquired, but it seems to be ok now. Surprisingly, it also closes up periodically throughout the day, so I guess my light response theory is kinda shot out the window. Perhaps this is just this particular type of coral’s general behavior.

[Putawaywet]

Here is a pic of something I picked up on 11/05/03.

I’ve narrowed it down to being a member of the family Actinodendron, and poss even Actinodendron plumosum. But I’m still not100% sure. Members of this family are commonly referred to as tree anemones as they have long, branching tentacles that frequently cause them to be mistaken for soft corals. However, they are most definitely anemones and are regarded for their potent stinging ability.

They seem to be found in the lagoons and straights of the South Pacific, where they seem to thrive on the sandy bottoms near places such as Papua New Guinea and the Saloman Islands.

I must confess that in spite of knowing better, I totally succumbed to an impulse buy on this one. I had seen it the week prior at the LFS and went home intending to find out a little more about it. However, numerous attempts failed, and the more I tried, the more I realized how unique this specimen was. In all honesty I actually awoke one morning, got dressed, and went out and brought it home.

[Putawaywet]

One last pic for the road. It’s my favorite pic of all. It’s the view of the reef from my chair in the living room

Brett