Long Weekend - The Sequel

We took Friday off and had a second long weekend. It was glorious!!! hahaha

There was a guy on the Reef forum whose Bubble Tip Anemone split and he was selling the second one. I messaged him, but didn't hear back, so I thought it may already be gone. On Friday we decided to take a trip up to Moncton and check out Noble Aquariums while we were there. It was a very expensive trip!! I picked up a 25 gallon tall tank that was on sale. I'm going to use it for my ocellarus clownfish (like Nemo). A couple months ago I took them out of the main tank because we had an ich outbreak and now I can't put them back in, because the larger more agressive Clarkiis are well established in the tank and will pick on the little ocellarus to death. I had planned on putting them all in at the same time when I get the 130 up and running, but still wasn't completely convinced, so when I saw the 25 gallon tall tank on sale it changed my mind. I am going to set that up for my little guys with some live rock and really good lighting, then when it's established enough I'll get them a Riterri anemone that they can inhabit and possibly breed in.

At Noble's we also got a couple new corals, a decorated goby fish, and a Bubble tip anemone since we hadn't heard back from Ray and Noble's had some. Of course the second we got home and I checked my messages on the forum I heard back from Ray (he had been awy for a couple days) and he was willing to sell me his Bubble Tip.... no problem we have rooom for two.

Saturday we took a trip up to Sussex and visited Ray. He had a really cool tank with some of the biggest colt corals I've ever seen. (Darrell's probably seen lots larger, but I've never been diving). We got the Bubble tip (which was twice the size of the one we got the day before) and a frag of another SPS coral from him.

In an aquarium Clarkii Clowns are not fussy and will host in nearly any anemone you put in the tank, in fact they'll host in a frilly mushroom if there's no anemone around, but in nature they they are mainly found in Bubble tips, so I shouldn't have been surpised that by Sunday night the female clarkii was sleeping in the larger anemone.... I was... because I was under the impression it took a little time for them to discover and warm up to the anemone, but our Clarkiis were over investgating the second I put the firt BTA in the tank, so Saturday when the second one came along they must've been ready. This morning when I fed them she was still in there wiggling around. The Male was on the other side of the tank and I'm not sure if he's as interested in the anemones as she is, plus she tends to push him around a lot so I don't think they've decided to pair off yet, but maybe the anemone will change her feelings toward him for the better and they may even spawn... fingers crossed.

This is why keeping a reef tank is so addictive, there's so much learning and it's all so interesting. Basically you're setting up a self contained ecosystem and watching it mature. Anyway...there's pics on facebook and Flikr.

Sunday I finally got back to my tasks downstairs and got the seams on the ceiling sanded and another coat of mud on them. It is very hard on the shoulders sanding a ceiling, so I broke down and bought myself a ceiling sander on a pole thinking that would make it easier. It did a little bit but my shoulders were already sore by then so it was hard to tell the difference. I also got the boards all ripped and the main base for the new cabinets built, then I ran out of wood.

Darrell mustered up all his bravery and decided to go ahead and drill the 130 gallon tank. He cut a 2 inch hole in the back for the outflow pipe and it went beautifully. He tossed the drilling idea round for a long time before he finally mustered up the nerve. It's quite a risk really, if you screw up and break the panel you just ruined a $500 tank, so you really have to take some time and think about it before rushing in. I just wish someone had of told us before we ordered it that for $35 we could've had the factory predrill it before they shipped it out and then there would've been no stress at all. Oh well, live and learn, and now Darrell has a more interesting story to tell about how he drilled it himself and the events leading up to it etc, instead of saying "oh we bought it that way."