It's been a while

Sunday 2nd September 2007



It's been a while since I've reported to the blog so this will be quite a long update.

The water probems I had have all gone. A few days after my last report the water levels were back to normal and my only casualty was one turbo snail (who fell on his back so it might not have been the water anyway).

I've now had the tank up and running for about 5 months. Other than that one scary spell in June it's all been pretty stable.

The tank occupants are currently :-

• Alvin Starfish, a green brittle star. About 6-7 inches across.
• Henry the second, a red-legged hermit crab (who has just moved to a new shell).
• Margaret, a blue-legged hermit who I am sure will be moving soon, she seems to be much too large for her current shell.
• Some turbo snails - having trouble keeping them alive at the moment for some reason.
• Approx 10-15 small starfish that live in the Live Rock. Rarely seen out in the open but always have one or two legs dangling out.
• A billion (well, a lot) of tiny shrimplike creatures.
• A lot of bristleworms. Some tiny, some very large indeed. Very active just as food is put in.

As well as the fauna, there is some green weed (which I am told might be macro-algae). I'm fighting a losing battle with it as it grows faster than I can remove it. I've recently returned from a two week holiday to find that it has taken over large areas of the LR. Time for some remedial scissor work.

The LFS (in Hampshire) has promised on more than one occasion to get back to me about the noisy fan in the lid of my tank but each time they have failed to do so. I'm pretty much resigned to the noisy fan now.

After reading a lot of advice from my new mates (i.e. people who know much more about this than me and are happy to help beginners) on fishkeeping.co.uk I threw away the black sponge filter that came with the tank (which was, in any case, full of bristleworms) and replaced it with some filter wool. Some "trial and error" was involved in sorting this out but I think I've got it about right now.

The main light stays off except for about an hour a day which I try and get about the same time every day. I also feed when the light is on and this has made everything react to the light coming on by appearing from their dattime hiding places. Makes it more interesting for me, though less "normal" for them.

I'll try and post a few pics with this as soon as I can get some.