The Ocean over at Floris Elementary School

[davelin315]

Here's a shot of the pygmy angel. It's cruising around the tank and has done very well. It's got great vibrant colors and doesn't fight with anything or pick on anything either.

 

Here's the royal gramma. It's been very successful in this tank as well.

 

Here are the green star polyps. The first shot I took before of them was before they opened up. They are at the bottom and are starting to encrust on the rock a bit. It'll be interesting to see if they can outbattle aiptasia.

 

Here are some yellow polyps. They were shrunken down before because of aiptasia in the vicinity, but they don't appear to be affected any longer. We'll see, just like the green star polyps, who wins out, them or aiptasia.

 

Here's a shot of the capnella.

 

Another shot of capnella, this time a little closer up.

[davelin315]

Here's a shot of the purple gorgonia. It's partially closed up because I scraped the glass and it's right up against it.

 

Here's another shot of some green star polyps. Notice the bristle worm underneath it. They're everywhere in this tank, just like the aiptasia, and the coral banded shrimp is not making a dent. Considering I really don't feed the tank at all, I'm hoping they begin to decline in number

 

Here's a closeup of the trumpet or candy cane coral. It's got great coloration and is a very bright lime green.

 

Here's some anthelia. I thought it was xenia when it was donated, but it's turned out to be something different. It was very receded and tiny, almost looking like Green Star Polyps when I got them, but they're beginning to spread. I'm keeping an eye on them so they don't encroach.

 

Here's a closeup of the cabbage leather coral in the tank. It is also looking great since adding it.

 

Here's some cerith snail eggs laid on the glass. I'm wondering if I'll ever see little ceriths in the tank.

[davelin315]

Here's a shot of the brown star polyps (?). They definitely have a different pattern than the other star polyps in the school and seem to be much frillier on the edges of each polyp.

 

Here's the royal gramma - head shot - as he swims in for a closer look at the camera through the glass.

 

Here's a shot of the blenny as he hides in his hole. The royal gramma is swimming by him and there's no aggression or territorialness between them.

 

Here's a closeup of the bicolor blenny. He survived his "vinegar dip" from the other day when I was trying to treat some aiptasia and he wriggled out of a rock into the pool of salty vinegar underneath it. None the worse for the wear.

[davelin315]

It's been a while since I posted anything here, but this tank's not in my room anymore, so that's a big reason why. The other day, though, I did spend some time with koopa ninja (Zach), my former student, cleaning out the tank and doing some rearranging. Here's some shots of the tank I took after school today since it's nice and clean again (also did a massive water change since I don't get down there too often).

 

Here's a shot of the cabbage leather coral in this tank.

 

Here's a picture of the capnella. I'm actually thinking it's sinularia, but I'm not great with identification.

 

Here's a shot of one of the types of green star polyps.

 

Here's the other. They look very different in both coloration and in habit. The teacher who has this tank says that they come out opposite each other. When one's out, the other's not.

 

Here's a picture of some of the zoanthids in the tank. This colony is spreading all over the place.

 

Here's a shot of the candy cane coral that is fragged from the 33 gallon tank. It was a smaller head that had split before acquiring it.

[davelin315]

Here's the frag of candy cane coral from Steven Cottrell. It's splitting into two heads and it looks like there's a third mouth forming in the middle as well, so maybe it'll turn into 3 heads. You can really see the difference from earlier pictures.

 

Here's a closeup of the above coral.

 

Here's a shot of one of the m. digitata frags. I took it from where it was before and reoriented it. I'm hoping to encourage more growth in a different pattern again.

 

Here's the other frag of m. digitata. Unfortunately, it had three branches that were also split up into multiple branches, but in cleaning it the other day, it took a tumble and snapped off most of the branches. You can also see where one of the branches had grown onto the rock. This will turn into another colony and already has some new buds on it.

 

Here's a view of the frag above, but it's less zoomed so you can see the overall coral and where branches broke off.

 

Here's some zoanthids and some of the caulerpa which grew out of nowhere last March.

 

Here's another shot of some zoanthids and a piece of algae (can't remember what it's called) on the right that grew out of the rock as well.

[davelin315]

Here's a shot of the same zoanthids that have grown onto the filter tube.

 

Here's a shot of some of the striped shrooms.

 

Here's another shot of the same kind of shroom.

 

Here's a shot of some of the spotted shrooms that are growing off of the same rock. These are all on the rock donated by Sugar Magnolia long ago. These shrooms have made it into other tanks (the striped ones - they seem to be the quickest reproducers).

 

Here's a shot of some of the yellow zoanthids that were on the same rock. They have changed their color since introduction into this tank, as you can see from some earlier shot comparisons.

 

Here's a shot of some of the red rimmed zoanthids, again, from the same rock.

[davelin315]

Here's a shot of the chaetomorphia that I transplanted into the tank. It's all from the original clump that I received from Rocko918 (Bob) over the summer.

 

Here's a shot of the red mushroom from dchild. It hasn't done much growth wise, and it's now nestled in with the other striped shrooms. Behind it you can see a red zoanthid or palyothoa (most likely the latter).

 

Here's a white centered red rimmed zoanthid.

 

Here's a shot of "Bob" peeking out from behind the rockwork. It's one of the two damsels donated by Rocko918 before. The other one disappeared mysteriously one night, no one seems to know where it went. It's name was given to it by the teacher in the room and he was part of the "Bob" and "Marley" pair... Unfortunately, Marley, as we all know, has moved on...

 

Here's another shot of Bob out on the reef.

[davelin315]

Here's a full shot of the tank.

 

And another.

[BeltwayBandit]

I believe your "brown star polyps" are an encrusting gorgonian that is rather prevalent in the club. I have some that I picked up at a meeting and it looks very similar to yours.

 

BB

 

BTW nice tanks!

[davelin315]

I had wondered if it was in fact something other than a star polyp, but as far as a gorgonian is concerned, I would never have guessed that. I am unfamiliar with many of the different variants, and have really only had free standing gorgonians. Thanks for the info, though, I did get it from someone else in the club.

[davelin315]

OK, I set up a tank for the eel donated by phisigs and it's finally ready. Got some temperature issues squared away, the tank is fully cycled using existing live sand and live rock, and has not shown any ammonia or nitrite for a couple of weeks. In any case, the gold bar maroon clown is also making a home here, as are the corals (temporarily) from hammerhead.

 

Here's some pictures taken by one of the kids today.

 

Here's a full tank shot. It's got NO lights on it right now as the PC light was blowing the fuse too much. The corals are temporary in this tank anyway, so it won't hurt them as of now.

 

Here's a shot of the eel. It has already begun to stir up the bed so it's a bit cloudy, but otherwise things are looking good.

 

Here's another shot of the eel as it swims away from the camera.

 

Here's a shot of two leather corals that were donated by hammerhead/Howard.

 

Here's a shot of the clown. It has not been cooperative with the camera either. No movie stars here.

 

Another shot of the clown. By the way, it's been named Mad Albert from the day I brought it in before (and then realized it was too cold in the tank to keep it there) - it kept on banging against the plastic container it was in while acclimating and splashing the kids.

 

Here's one last shot of Mad Albert.

[davelin315]

Here are some pictures taken by me.

 

Here's a shot of the eel again.

 

Here's a shot of the condylactus donated by phisigs as well. It's been in my surge/refugium for a couple of weeks now, so it's shrunken down a bit, but it should expand nicely in this tank with some additional light.

 

Here's a shot of the shrooms at the base of the leather coral.

[Guest alex wlazlak]

looks cool. what other fish are you going to get in it? *coughf* trigger *coughf*

[davelin315]

Maybe a trigger, but we'll have to see. It's a pretty small tank. I was thinking that a small Fiji puffer (blue dot) would be nice, too. Or, maybe a burrfish or box fish of some sort.

[Guest alex wlazlak]

are you gonna get corals for it?

[davelin315]

I might leave some of the corals in there that are already there since they're low light, but I need to replace the fixture itself to do that. I had a PC on there but it kept on shorting out the plug so I need to see if it's a problem with the light or something else. Anyway, I think it'll be neat to have some corals in there, but nothing fancy.

[Sugar Magnolia]

That would be neomeris annulata.

 

I still have frags for your tanks Dave. I haven't forgotten about you, just been super busy and seem to only get up your way once a month these days and usually on the weekend. Things should quiet down after Christmas, so I'll be in touch then.

[davelin315]

That would be great! We should have a few more tanks up and running after winter break. Your frags are always appreciated! They really take center stage (well, until I broke the one m. digitata) in the 15 as they really add a splash of color and shape.

[Guest alex wlazlak]

hows your aptasia/bristleworm problem going?

[davelin315]

Still have the aiptasia. The bristleworms are not necessarily a problem, as they are not attacking anything, but I do plan on removing some of them. As far as the aiptasia, I'm working on removing some of them by switching out rock and treating in another tank, and I'm purchasing some berghia nudibranchs in January. I'm also going to add some peppermint shrimp I got from BRK to the tank. The last batch were simply too small to last in this tank (although for all I know they are in the overflow).

[cbashaw]

Maybe a trigger, but we'll have to see.  It's a pretty small tank.  I was thinking that a small Fiji puffer (blue dot) would be nice, too.  Or, maybe a burrfish or box fish of some sort.

47557[/snapback]

 

 

Dave,

 

If you're interested I want to get rid of my Picasso trigger. I could trade for just about anything or sell it really cheap.

[davelin315]

Just before break I retrofit a light into the canopy that was donated by Dave Beasley, a 55W PC fixture. It's now giving a nice bluish tinge to the tank and will allow the corals in there to do OK. I'm going to frag them up and spread them around the school, but the tank is looking nice! It did very well over break and everything is doing great. Last time we tested the water everything came back at good levels.

 

There are also some more fish in the tank, a pair of three stripe damsels, so it's looking like everything is stripey! We'll snap some pictures when we get the chance, hopefully of feeding time. The kids go nuts over the eel eating shrimp, and it's become quite a spectacle seeing everyone crowding around the tiny tank to catch a glimpse of "Diggy" cruising the tank.

[davelin315]

Added the skimmer that was donated by Sounder awhile back today. It's a Red Sea Berlin skimmer. I had to do some rearranging of extra rock, but I ended up taking it out today to find some things to look at under the microscope. Tomorrow I'll take some pictures of the various critters in the tank with the 200x microscope we have and post them here. The kids were looking at some things today during some spare time, so we'll do it in earnest tomorrow as it's part of a lab we're doing using microscopes and hand lenses. Nothing like hands on science with the tank!

[davelin315]

Well, this tank is doing pretty well. I obviously have not had the same amount of time to take care of it as there are so many tanks around the school, but we did add two blue green reef chromises to the tank and they are doing well in there. It's a very pastel looking tank with yellows and blues/greens. I'll try and snap a new picture tomorrow of the tank and update it here.

[davelin315]

I set up a small Eclipse system 6 in a third grade classroom shortly before break. It's got a large piece of liverock in it with live sand and some tiny corals. It did well over break and when I went to see it today it was doing great. I need to add some clean up critters to it so I dropped a maragarita snail from the 33 into it, but the corals are doing well and there are thousands of little tiny free swimming creatures in it. I'm not altogether sure what they are, and the only thing I can think of is that they are planktonic hermit crabs as there are 3 hermits in the tank. I have not seen anything like these before, but I'll try and suck some up and put them under the microscope tomorrow to see what they are. They're smaller than newly hatched brine shrimp and they swim with a regular motion instead of the "flapping" of brine, so I'm really curious about what they are. I'll post pictures of this tank later as well.