X-mas Rock

March 7, 2009 we added a Christmas Rock. I have counted at least 25 tiny feather dusters popping in and out of this rock.

Yellow Foxface Rabbit Fish

In less than 72 hours, the tank has cycled and made way for some new friends. I attribute the rapid cycling to the live rock, live sand, and Seachem Stability. We introduced a Yellow Foxface Rabbitfish. He is very shy still. He sleeps in his pajamas. See, he can change his yellow color to camouflage in order to hide himself. He is the first of a couple venomous fish we will welcome to this larger tank. In addition, we have added some Red Zoanthids and a purple mushroom.

I have sold some of the koi in my office pond allowing me to transition the four that inhabited this tank to the 150 Gallon tank. This was one of my long-term goals so that I can convert the 75 Gallon tank to saltwater. The physical conversion started on Monday 2/23 and was completed on Tuesday 2/24/2009. The goal was for a 3-day cycle using 15 lbs of cured live rock and 40 lbs of Ocean Direct™ Caribbean Live Sand. I also used Saltwater Biozyme and Stability to ensure the fastest cycle time. Keeping in mind that only bad things happen fast, I will only add livestock once I have evidence that a cycle occurred and even then I will add very cautiously.

The main physical conversion consisted of plumbing the Top Fathom Skimmer back into the pump (as pictures below). In an effort to make this easily removable without getting drenched, I added 2 ball valves on the output – one before and one after the union. Since plumbing is not my best skill, this took quite a while longer than I had anticipated.

Despite less than perfect water test reading over the last three weeks, today Brandon and I set out to ATM of Las Vegas to bring a water sample to Jacque. We were both ecstatic to find out that the tank had cycled and it was a good time to hire some additional members of the cleaning crew and bring home Nemo, who was on hold for over a month. In addition to Nemo, Brandon and I picked out about 8 more small pieces of live rock to add to the reef system. We also fell in love with two types of coral, a Favia (Closed Brain Coral) and 2 small pieces of Mushroom Coral (purple / blue).
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