Ribbies Nano Reef Adventure!: One step for Ribbie, one giant leap for Ribbies Nano Reef Adventure!

Well folks, it's been a couple days since the last update but I've been working feverishly to get my tank in order.

There's been a lot of changes to my tank since I've last posted. I did a large water change as well as some rock cleaning using a nail brush to remove any loose crap on the rocks.

Pretty gross really. It didn't smell very nice either but I'm glad that I took the time to do it. All of the rock looks much cleaner now and there's less visible algae. I was careful not to disturb the sand bed in case it caused a spike in my water levels.

After cleaning out the rock I was forced to re-aquascape my entire tank. I thought it would be easy to remember how I had my rock before I took it out.... I was very wrong. So I went back to the drawing board and came up with this:

I didnt like it at first but it's beginning to grow on me.

Kind of a top down view

I also did some work on my Hagen Aquaclear 70 hang on the back filter. I purchased this product because it has an area where I can grow microalgae without having it in my main display. In order to do this, I had to make some modifications involving an exacto knife, adhesive, and some patience. I ended up with this when I was done:

After I had let the glue set for 24 hours I was ready to add it back to my tank. I purchased some dust filters for a floor vent at walmart for $5 and they seem to be working quite nicely. I just folded it over a couple of times and put it in the first chamber. The second chamber to the right is where I will be growing the microalgae (basically sea grass). The vent in the front is so that none of it floats out into the main display.

You probably thought I was done.... hahah NO. I also went out and purchased a minor clean up crew. My first life in the tank! I'm so pumped.

I purchased a blue hermit crab (who I wasnt able to get a good picture of because he's so fast), 3 astrea snails, and a tuxedo urchin or pincushion urchin. One snail also had a friendly little hitch hiker... a currently unidentified starfish! On with the pics:

Myself adding the bags to the fishtank. You float the bags for a couple minutes and then drip water from your tank into the bag slowly over the course of a half hour to ease the animal into your water parameters. After this, you grab them out of the bag and place them in the tank.

It was pretty freaky grabbing a crab for the first time. I'm not really looking forward to the day I get my emerald crabs and have to grab them! The snails were pretty much what I expected and the urchin felt fuzzy more so than pricky.

The tuxedo urchin has earned the name FUZZ for his fuzzy feel and appearance. These urchins like to pick up items off the seabed and wear them as camouflage so that predators cant spot them as easily. That big white think is shaped like him so maybe that's what happens when he molts, I'm not sure.

And last but not least there's stella the starfish. I didn't write about Stella before, but I actually had a different starfish that came with my live rock. My girlfriend is on the naming committee and she decided that starfish should be named stella (Assuming I have only one). Well this is Stella 2.0, I like the little bugger. Likes to sit on the glass and hang out.

I think it's part ninja though because I never see it move but I'll look away for two seconds and it's moved. Very sneaky stella...

I also bought some food pellets: