How OZ REEF was moved, a short feature on seadragons by DBW, and Marther talks about a DIY Magnesium Additive.

Editorial

Well, what a month this has been, you would not believe it, so much has happened. Since the last issue there have been some rather big changes with OZ REEF Marine Park. Just after the April issue went on-line myself and my fiance decided to move house, yep move house. Now that also means that the reef has to move too, what a thing to look forward to doing :-O The reason for the move is that we were sick of living with other people, they tend to get really on your nerves, and decided it was time that we lived on our own. And I tell you what, the rent may be a bit more but we are much happier :-) Within two weeks we found what we were looking for, a nice two bedroom unit within short distance of the city. It actually ended up it is not that far from where we use to live. And two weeks after that it was ours to move into, talk about fast moving ;-)

Anyway, this was something that was going to take a lot to do, as OZ REEF is not the only large item we have to move. I decided that it would be best if we moved all our personal belongings on one weekend, then OZ REEF the next so that there is more time to dedicate to it. This turned out to be a good plan, as there is no way in the world I would have been able to move us and the tank on the same weekend. Well, it could have been possible but I would not have slept at all. Moving our own personally stuff was not trivial either, but that I not what you are here to read about ;-) The end of that first weekend we were settled in, but it was missing an important part, OZ REEF Marine Park.

The Tuesday night between moving us and OZ REEF the Marine Aquarium Society of Victoria was scheduled to hold their monthly meeting at my house. Talk about timing, I am to hold the meeting when my reef is located at a place I do not even live anymore. So, I had to go back and visit inorder to hold the meeting ;-) The meeting actually went very well, with around 12 people there that got to have bit of a tour of the Park. One of the main things that became evident to me during the meeting and the discussions we had was that most were about 5-10 years behind the forefront of the current reef keeping hobby. I had noticed it before this, but with people looking at my system that I have incorporated some of the more recent techniques into it really stood out.

Questions like this also made me realise how very lucky I am that I have the resources of the Internet to use. Otherwise I suspect OZ REEF would not be as incredible as it is at the moment. This is where I have gained most of my inspiration and all my contacts with knowledgeable reef keepers from around the world. The other good thing I got out of it was some unlucky guy decided to volunteer to help me move, ain't you a sucker David ;-)

The rest of the week was spent organising and planning this for the big weekend, oh yeah and there was some normal work and sleep done there somewhere too ;-). This included getting enough water drums to transport almost all of the water and to get further water from the bay to do water changes. After two trips down to the bay to get 150 litres each time and three trips to local stores and friends I had enough and David was also bring along some 25 litre buckets as well. I picked up about 8 styrofoam boxes from the local supermarket, which they use to get broccoli and those associated vegetables in. Exactly the same boxes that they transport live rock in normally. Also picked up a heap of plastic bags of varying sizes from the the hardware store, along with a small plastic shovel to pick up all the sand, and epoxy putty. So all was now set and ready to go for the big move.

The plan with all the fish, snails, cucumber, corals etc was to place them in the larvae tank for a couple of days while OZ REEF settles down and is suitable for all the corals to be reintroduced. The "holding" tank simply consists of a glass baffle at one end to create a sump like compartment, small powerhead to act as a return pump, counter current skimmer, 18W daylight fluorescent light and 25W heater. The light intensity is not enough to be able to maintain any photosynthetic corals, but coralline algae seems to hold its own. It should be enough to keep the photosynthetic corals going, ticking over, until they could be placed into OZ REEF. As it worked out it could not have been done without the this holding tank.

First thing to do was to pull apart all the external plumbing and take out some water. Then the lighting and anything not inside the system, i.e. circulation pumps. This only took about a hour and a half, and by that time David arrived and it was time to start on the Park internals. We left the circulation pumps operating until all the rock was removed and it was time to siphon out some water to catch the fish.

Removing the corals was the first thing removed from the Park, including those that had been attached to larger rocks. This would not have taken too long but just had to be careful with the packing of all of them to make sure any knocks, damage etc would be minimise. The boxes that they were packed in was labels as such so that when I got to the new location could easily find them and put them into the holding tank. While doing this the odd invertebrate was also picked up if they happened to pass by. This included snail, hermits, cucumbers and brittle stars.

Next was the live rock, which was done in sections to make it a little easier to put it all back together at the other end. This sort of worked, but not quite, though I was not planning to totally recreate the reef structure on how it was previously. The odd invertebrate was removed as they appeared from underneth the rocks, such as more cucumber, hermits and the sea urchin. This was one thing I was rather worried about, not finding the sea urchin and crushing it under a moved or dropped rock within the aquarium. A section was packed into one box and labelled where it came from, such as upper right, lower middle etc. In all the live rock fitted into 5 boxes, which is the actual number that was purchased in the first place. Though some was removed and given away, and this could be accounted by the fact that the rock was packed more loosely to minimise the damage to anything attached to it.

One invertebrate did not like being handled either, decided to protest about it and cause some pain in the process. Take care with the next black cucumber you handle, they can have bit of a surprise in store for you ;-) While picking it up to put it in a bag I triggered it's defence mechanism, which consists of expelling white, sticky filaments our of its rear end. I had picked it up it with its rear end facing out from between the thumb and first finger, so these filaments were spread across the back of my hand and fingers. It is actually very strong too, it is difficult to actually break them by moving just your fingers, and is not much easier to actually remove from the skin. Most likely the reason that it did not do this previously, i.e. when it was brought home from the store, is that it was all out of the material from previous expulsions during collection and transport. I certainly know that I will be handling him with more respect and care next time, you would not beleive how painful it is to have a stickly, stringy mass all over you fingers and in removing it it pulls out the hairs on the back of your fingers. Ouch! I can certainly see how this would allow them to get away form a fish or some other predator after being attacked. The predator would be more worried about the fact that is appendages were stuck together than the cucumber.

There was one big surprise waiting when I lifted up the rock that the pair of Valenceannia puellaris had their burrow, eggs! Over the few weeks before hand they had been showing their ritual of improving the burrow, disappearing for a time etc that they have done on more than 5 times so far. So I knew it was around the time for spawning, but was not 100% sure on the timing as had not been taking notes laterly. Underneth the rock where the burrow was a egg mass was attached. It was about 5cm long, 3cm wide and 8mm thick, quite a large number of eggs. The mass had a "peppered" appearence which upon closer inspection were found to be the larvae eyes. The larvae was about 1mm long with two black eyes taking up about 50% of the body length. The body was elipsoidal. Throughout the mass there were also several white eggs, which were most likely those eggs that had not hatched. The mass was also held together by a bit of mucus of some sort. Some of the eggs stayed attached to the bottom of the rock, but the rest were lost into the water in the tank. I did not bother to try and save them beyond having a close look at them. There was no chance that I would be able to provide them with good enough conditions inorder to survive, the next few days are going to be pretty stressful on everythin.

Once all the rock was removed the Park could not been seen through due to all the detritus that was stirred up, a real brown soup. The fish were looking a bit stressed and all were huddled up towards the overflow end as this was the darkest part of the tank. More water was drained out into the drums so that it would be easier to catch all the fish and shrimp, down to about 12cm in depth. Two nets, one large to catch them and one small to heard them into the other were used to catch them. Most were quite easy to catch, but the hardest was Edgar a or banded goby. He would "flutter" back and forth rapidly when cornered between a rock, glass and the net and when he found an opening shoot to the other end in a flash. The other notable thing about the fish is that the Valencennia puellaris, orange spotted gobies, are a large fish and therefore strong. With their thrashing around when in the net which I was not ready for almost caused me to drop them. Urgh, I can just picture it now, my worst nightmare, dropping a fish on the floor then stepping on them. Don't that make you squirm? ;-) All the fish and shrimp were placed into two of the large plastic 25 litre buckets that David brought along. They were perfect, and seal up such that water could not be split.

Then came the sand and the last of the dirty wate out of the bottom which was just tipped down the drain. The sand was stored in three 25 litre buckets with a minium of water in them. I segregated it to what came from the top layer and the bottom. This is mainly because of the various snails that live in the sand and come only out at night to feed through the sand and on the glass. I did not want to put them on the bottom and kill them as they would not be likely to work their way up to the surface due to the weight of the sand and the eggcrate.

The tank was the most awkward thing to move of all, and we found out eventually what was the best way to carry it. All you have to do is turn the tank upside down and hold you hands under it. We also used some tea towels between our hands and the tank, made things a lot less hard on the hands. This allows you to have a good grip on it, and a side of the glass. Otherwise it is very hard to grip on a flat surface of glass, very hard on the hands.

It took until 4pm to get all of the rock, equipment and inhabitants to the new location, that is after starting the move at 7am! We used a station-wagon to transport most of the equipment etc. What a day, but that is not the half of it, now it was time to put it all back together again.

First thing was the major organisms into the holding tank. Tell you what, a 100 litre tank looks mighty crowded with stock that is normally in a 600 litre one ;-) Not all the corals would fit in, so the couple of larger ones had to go directly into OZ REEF. Next it was to set up all the plumbing so that things would be ready to go. Then the sand, which was just poured out from the buckets it was carried in and it was only added up until the sand reached the level of the eggcrate layer. This is so that the rock had a good strong and stable foundation on which to rest and when the sand movers do their stuff the reef structure will not be upset too much.

The rock was not too hard to arrange, but this time I made entirely sure that there was space the entire way around the tank sides so no rock was within 5cm of it. This makes water circulation much better and can also keep the glass nice and clean. The rock structure ended up not being quite the same as before, as would be expected. I think that I will have to do some rearranging of some sorts in a couple of months. It is not as open or holey as it was, with large spaces inbetween, but there is still lots of caves and tunnels through the rock. There is also a nice single narrow bridge between two structures at either end of the Park. The shaping should allow some good current and lighting variations and appears to have a lot more spots on which to attach fragments too. There was also some perfect spots for clams to be placed in the center towards the water surface as a center piece. I only stayed up until 10pm, that was late enough for me. Most of the rock was in there arranged and stablised by epoxy putty. Sunday was then spent tiding things up, adjusting and attempting to retune things.

Over the next two weeks while OZ REEF settled down regular water changes were performed on the holding tank. This required that about 3 times a week I had to drive down to the bay and collect some more water, and what fun that is when it is raining and the wind has whipped up some waves. The water changes were performed about 4 times a day, with around 15% changes at a time. Several 5% changes were performed on OZ REEF as well, but not quite the same frequency because of the larger volume of water required. It was expected that OZ REEF would settle down within a week and then ammonia/nitrite would not longer be a problem, but this did not end up being the case. It appears that the time spent by the rock out of water was too long, and a significant bacteria die off occured. Ammonia levels went up to about 2 ppm and nitrites were measured as around 1pp. Once at these levels, which was almost immediately, they stay there for three weeks. At the end of the first week I transfer most of the corals to OZ REEF, even though there was still ammonia/nitrite there. This was to get them into a system with a higher water volume and better lighting conditions as the holding tank had ammonia/nitrite itself from the fact that it had such a high bioload and not enough bacteria to handle it. All corals showed no adverse effect to the transfer, and actually several looked much better under the more intense lighting. The next week it was the fishes and other invertebrates turn as I did not want them to be held in such small confinds for too much longer for the same reason as the coral plus the added stress factor.

The move allowed some interesting observations of the effect on that it had on the different species of corals. In all this moving some losses were expected, one or two would not be too much, but no where near the number that was suffered :-( For full details see the Bereavement Notices. All the smaller polyped hard corals hardly missed a beat with the exception of one, and are now growing even better than they were previously. One of the Acropora sp. is actually growing at a faster rate so far than previously. Particularly intersting is one that the end of one of the branches on one of the colonies got broken off while I was doing some system maintenence before the MASOV meeting. Within a week it had healed over with tissue and now has grown about 4mm since. This was also the case for the soft corals too, with none too worried about it with the exception of one. On the other hand, the larger polyped coral, such as the Euphyllia fimbriata, did not take to it very nicely and in this case did not make it. Based on this experience, it appears that the more fleshy type corals suffer more when transported and left in none ideal conditions. It appears to have to do with the amount of flesh that hangs off the skeleton and get knocked around. This is not such an issue with soft corals as they are not firmly attached to a piece of skeleton and can take a little bit of stress to the tissue with out tearing in and causing irreversible damage.

Now about three weeks after moving the system and with all the residents that survived back in it truely looks fantastic, I am very happy with how things are now. Just as well to, as I don't really want to go through all that again ;-) I will have to get some pictures taken this weekend to show how it all now looks. Most dramatic is the fact that it takes up about 3/4 of the wall space in the lounge room and reaches almost up to the ceiling, you just cannot miss it when you walk in through the door. The wall behind it now is a dark brown brick, and the contrast looks better I think than when it was a light cream from the painted wall previously. When placing the stand I left about twice the room that I did before, and this makes things much easier. Cleaning the back glass will be a breeze, and it is easy to slip in behind to have a closer look at any of the residents that are either hiding or towards the back. Will also make it easy to see any that decide to take a trip into the overflow, which has been the case for several residents. If you are about to set up or move a reef, I would suggest that you leave space to go in behind it, makes things so much easier. The more room the better.

And it was not only living things that had problem with the move, a powerhead decided to die too. I had a Rio2100 on the left hand side of the Park to send circulation down behind the reef, around the end and back along the front. This made a great improvement on the water movement throughout the reef, and the good thing is that I actually won it so it did not cost me anything :-) But two days after moving the system it decided to stop working, which is bit of a worry considering it was only in operation for about 6 months at the most. As soon as it was pulled out of the tank I could smell it, that burnt plastic/motor smell that is very distinctive. Luckily there was the Rio1700 that I purchased late last year to circulate water to the chiller, which is not required now as it is winter. This is now in place and not doing too bad of a job. The plan is to replace this with an external pump, most likely another Eheim 1060 (two are currently used for circulation as well), and place an outlet on both ends of the reef. This will enable more varied circulation in a couple of spots where it is not too good, specifically within the reef structure.

Until now I have not really noticed what happens to all the water that evaporates out of the system, it had the chance to mix with air in the rest of the house and get exchanged outside when windows and doors were opened. But when it is limited to just one small room which is closed up all day it soon starts appearing. The main effects that you notice is when you walk into the room from outside, it is humid. OZ REEF is almost generating its own environment too, as the room temperature now does not fall below 20^oC, which it does else where in the house. Also in the morning when the temperature goes down slightly and it is colder outside condensation forms on bottom of the windows. I am going to have to put some sort of continuous ventilation in, which is going to be a little on the difficult side, especially when you rent the unit. This is what rules out putting a normal ventilation fan through the plaster ceiling. Currently the most attractive solution is to put a 12V DC fan, which have a low electricity usage, in one of the windows that has been opened slightly. Will have to involve some sort of mounting bracket and ducting to direct that air flow. The other problem is what ever technique is used, it has to be secure so that no one can break in from outside easily. This will certainly be a challange.

OZ RIVER, my freshwater tank is yet to be moved though. It is going to be placed next to OZ REEF, and a special cabinet made that will consist of cupboards below, tank then shelving followed by more cupboard space. Currently the small marine tank is still sitting there with Christian's golden headed coral banded shrimp in it. He said that he wanted them back, so I am currently waiting for him to get back to me before I put them back into OZ REEF. Once they go in they ain't coming out unless they are dead or I move again ;-) The cabinet will be look very much like that around OZ REEF, and the plan is to have all the cupboard space to keep all the aquarium associated items. That is the problem with moving into a smaller place, the places to store things are in short supply.

Phew, what an effort that is. Around 7,000 words for this issue, better leave it at that I think, my fingers are getting sore ;-) That is all for this month, catch ya,
DBW

Welcome OZ REEF's New Residents

• 1 x Tridanca maxima, Tridance clam. This is one that I could not pass up, great size and nice colour for a low price. Is about twice the size of the one that is currently in the tank, around 10cm long. Not spectacularly coloured, but has a very nice yellow patches through out the mantle. Settled in very nicely, and opened up fully within an hour of being added.

Resident of the Month

Dear Marther ReefKeeper

Dear Marther,

Recently I have noticed quite a bit of attention on the magnesium concentrations for a reef aquarium. How do I got about maintaining the concentration, and is there a cheap technique for doing this?

From,
Mag N. Esium

Dear Mag,

Magnesium is actually a very important part of sea water, being the third most abundant element behind chlorine and sodium. Until recently not much has been done or thought about its level within a reef aquarium, and in some cases with synthetic salt water mixes it has been present in relatively low concentrations. Before you can even think of playing around with the magnesium concentrations, a test kit that will enable magnesium concentrations of the water to be measured is required. It is bit of a fruitless task to be adding something when the actual concentration is not known to start with. The kits are relatively easy to use, using the titration/colour change technique to determine the concentration that calcium test kits use. Once a test kit has been obtained, then there are basically four techniques that can be used to add magnesium.

• Water changes
• Dolomite in calcium reactor
• Commercial additive
• DIY additive

Water Changes

Water changes are most likely already being used,, but for other reasons. This is not the best technique, as the water used to make the change has to have a suitable level within it. And if it is not elevated above the concentration wanted to be reached, then it will not make much of a difference. If synthetic salt mixes are used, it can be even harder as some of the mixes can be a bit low in the magnesium department. There are better ways to do it.

Dolomite in Calcium Reactor

If a calcium reactor is already used on the reef system, then it can simply be a matter of adding a small amount of dolomite to the substrate used within the reactor. Dolomite is a mineral containing both calcium and magnesium carbonate, CaMg(CO₃)₂. As it is dissolved in the lower pH environment in the reactor, both the magnesium and calcium are released into the water. The amount used in the reactor will have to be adjuested so that the correct balance can be found between usage in the aquarium system and that supplied by the reactor. A good percentage to start with is around 20% of the substrate contained within the reactor, then just increase or decrease the percentage as required by monitoring the magnesium concentration.

Commercial Additives

There are quite a few commercial additives out there now that can be used. Just follow the instructions on the label, which will give a dosing rate for a given volume to raise the level by a certain amount. These are fine, but there is a way to do this that is exactly the same, but a fraction of the price. You also get to flex those DIY muscles a little too, so it it time to warm them up ;-).

DIY Additive

Here is a nice little magnesium additive secret, one that I am sure many reef aquarium additive companies don't want you to hear about, Epsom Salt. Yep, the stuff that your grandmother uses for tired muscles, aches, pains and a mild laxative has a use in your reef tank. Epsom Salt, or MgSO₄.7H₂O, is easily available from the local chemist, pharmacy or drug store (depending on what you call it) and in some cases a supermarket. A half kilogram box should not cost more than a couple of dollars, which sure beats twenty or more for a commercial additive.

The dosing rate is simply: to increase the magnesium concentration by 100 ppm, add 1 gram of Epsom Salt per litre of water. As with anything change with the water parameters, take it slowly, and any sensitive corals will soon show effects when things are altered too fast for them. The following is the system that can be use to add magnesium using Epsom Salt.

1. Calculate the total system volume, including tank, sump, and other water containing equipment. Don't forget that rock and sand takes up water volume and that tanks are not filled right to the top.
2. Measure the magnesium level currently of the water, determine what level is being aimed for, and calculate the concentration increase that is required to reach this level. Note that natural sea water has a level of around 1,300 ppm. If the increase required is more than 200 ppm then consider doing the increase in several steps over several days.
3. To obtain the mass of Epsom Salt to add in grams, multiply the system water volume (in litres) by the dosing rate (1 gram per litre), then by the concentration increase (ppm) and divide by 100 (ppm). As an equation this looks like this:
   Mass Epsom Salt (grams) = 1 (grams/litre) * Water Volume (litre) * Magnesium Concentration Increase (ppm) / 100 (ppm)
4. Weight or measure out the mass of Epsom Salt required. Because this is on a mass basis, either easy access to an accurate weighing scale or an one off access is required. If one is available, then just weigh it out as required. If not, then this be solved by using a small measuring cup, spoon or plastic container and determine how much one measure of Epsom Salt from this weighs. Be careful if the type of Epsom Salt used is changed, as it's density can change and therefore the correct mass will not be measuring out in the future.
5. Take out about a litre of water from the reef tank into a plastic container and add the required mass of Epsom Salt to the water. Stir until it is fully dissolved. Increase or decrease the dissolving water volume as required for the amount to be added.
6. Pour magnesium water into the tank in an area of high water flow and turbulence. This will allow it to be mixed in rapidly with the water. In front of a pump outlet or inlet is a good place for this. Avoid pouring into areas where it will come into contact with corals, invertebrate etc before mixing in correctly.
7. If a over 200 ppm concentration increase is required, then wait until the next day before adding the next amount.
8. Test the water several hours later, if not the next day, to check the magnesium level. Note that it is not a good idea to check it straight away, as it takes time for it to mix in and equilibrate.

But will using this type of additive could cause any long-term effects or problems? Note that the magnesium exists as a sulphate salt in Epsom Salt, in a one to one ratio. If Epsom Salt is added to the water to increase the magnesium levels then there will also be an increase in the sulphate levels. To determine if this will be much of a problem, the various species concentrations in natural water have to be considered:

Magnesium, Mg = 1,300 ppm
Sulphur, S = 900 ppm
Chlorine, Cl = 19,500 ppm

By a rough approximation, it can be assume that all the sulphur present is found as sulphate, SO₄^2-. Note that both the magnesium and sulphate exist in comparative concentrations, around 1,000 ppm. Therefore for a given increase in the magnesium concentration achieved by using Epsom Salt, a comparative increase in the sulphate concentration will also occur. In contrast if the magnesium additive magnesium chloride (MgCl₂) is used the effect will be smaller. This results from the factor of fifteen higher concentration of chloride over that of magnesium.

Now for as how this applies to our reef aquariums, I think that the increase in sulphate concentrations should not cause any problems. Low magnesium levels cause more, and the amount of Epsom Salt required to maintain the magnesium concentrations once they are up to the correct level is small. But having said that, it is better to strive for the conditions that our system inhabitants are adapted to and have evolved in. If a source of magnesium chloride that is not expensive and can be afforded can be found then go ahead and use it. Although because of the ease of access, price and simplicity of use, Epsom Salt is a great place to start, or even end with, maintaining magnesium concentrations.

May your reef prosper, and keep on DIYing :-)

From,
Marther ReefKeeper

Special Feature

Seadragons

by

Several months ago the Marine Aquarium Society of Victoria had the pleasure of holding the monthly meeting at the house of one of the members, Pang Quong. This was what can only be described as an awe-inspiring evening. The reason for this is that Pang breeds, raises and sells seahorses and seadragons all over the world. A visit a public facility in either the United States or Japan that has leafy or weedy seadragons, will most likely invovling dragons that were purchased from Pang. Additionally he has a large selection of the temperate water organisms that can be found in Port Phillip and Western Port Bays.

His facilities include raising tanks that now occupy what was a garage, and has just recently been added to with a new dedicated building around the back of his home. The garage facilities are nothing pretty to look at, but that is not their function. And it still has impact, especially when looking into a raising tank and seeing a mass of what is around 30 juvenile weedy seadragons but looks more like some fine pieces of seaweed floating around. It was with these humble facilities that Pang learnt the art of keeping and raising seadragons.

The new facilities are much more "showy", with a similar arrangement to what is normally found in an aquarium store, a wall of holding/raising tanks and some display type tanks. The most impress of all is the large display tank. The tank is a 120cm (4') cube that holds 1,700 litres (450 gallons) of water, and is located in the center of the room. Contained within is usually 20+ leafy and weedy seadragons within a natural looking environment of long, synthetic kelp that reached up towards the water surface. It is not possible to walk into the room without pausing in awe of the sight.

The equipment for each of the system is very simple, with biological filtation provided by wet/dry filters. The systems in the garage also have custom built chillers attached because they are exposed to the outside tempeture which very easily goes above 30^oC in the summer. The temperature in the dedicated building is maitained by an airconditioner that has no problem keeping the water temperature down, even on the hottest days. Some simple fluorescent lighting is provided over most of the tanks, with the exception of those in the garage which use natural light. Regular water changes are performed on all the tank, more so when it contains juvenile dragons because of the high feeding rate. Seawater is stored in a large plastic rain water type tank.

The following are some of the pictures that DBW took while there for the meeting:

Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, Weedy Seadragon.

This is a local species and can be found within Port Phillip Bay in large numbers. Was once easy to find when diving, but now it seems that they have learned that divers can mean danger. People tend to pick them up while they are diving, and actually handle them.

Phycodorus eques, Leafy Seadragon.

This species is found in South Australia. This particular animal is in the large display tank with the simulated kelp. The synthetic kelp can been seen to the left. This particular leafy is about 20cm long.

Phycodorus eques, Leafy Seadragon.

This beautiful seadragon is in the raising tank along with around 10 others. Note that is almost impossible to find a leafy seadragon that looks like this in the wild. The fins are typically tattered or some missing altogether.

Phycodorus eques, Leafy Seadragon.

Another one in the large display tank. Leafy Seadragons are just an incredible sight to behold. The many "leaves" looks so delicate. They have evolved to allow them to hide and blend in with their surroundings. They move slowly, but have good eyesight and move into hiding when divers approach. This makes it very hard to see them while diving unless it is known where and what to look for.

You Wouldn't Believe It!

..... the resident Trachyphyllia geoffreyi of OZ REEF Marine Park reclaimed skeleton that it had lost due to die back, from some green algae! The coral was normally positioned on the sand with nice moderate water flow and intense light. And it loved it, but on a few occasions the gobies got a little over excited with their sand moving and it was burried for a couple of days to varying degrees. On one side of the polyp the tissue actually died back from being buried under the sand for such extended periods of time. Over the next couple of weeks a little green algae started to grow on then white skeleton, while the polyp tissue started to recover and attempt to grow back over the exposed skeleton. The growth of the algae did not seem to be a good sign, would it be able to reclaim the skeleton? Now you would not know that it was the same coral! There is absolutely no sign of where the tissue had died off exposing the skeleton, and polyp expands to double the size. An extraordinary recovery, especially considering the coral had to reclaim the skeleton from green algae that had started to spread there.

Bereavement Notices

1 x Euphyllia fimbriata, Hammer Coral.
This was the first coral that moved in to OZ REEF outside of those that came with the live rock. And it was the most spectacular looking of all the corals to, expanding to around 30cm across and looking fantastic as the tentacles were moved around in the current :-( Once it was put into the tank it did not open up at all, and about a week later the tissue started to die. The tissue turned into a brown mush that just blew off the skeleton. It appeared that one or two of the colony was going to survive, as it seemed to expand a little while the rest was dying off. But the dying tissue and possible infection did not stop and after 3 weeks it was entirely gone. Will be sadly missed.

1 x Xenia sp., Waving Hand Coral.
One of the recent Xenia sp. residents, there were two colonies on the one piece of rock, seemed to suffer some damage. It was most likely due to being knocked against something else as the other colony on the same piece of rock pulled through fine.

1 x Chromis viridis, Green Chromis.
This Chromis was not in the best condition before the move anyway, and had not been really eating very well for the last couple of weeks. May be he could sense the move ;-) Anyway, it was already weakend due to not eating very much, so when the move occured the added stress was more than too much.

1 x ????, Sea Urchin.
Not sure for the reason for this demise, most likely some type of shock from water conditions.

1 x Ophiarachnella septemspinosa, Red Brittle Star.
Much the same as the sea urchin I think, as the Echinoderms are very senative to the water parameters. Time was taken to aclimatise both to the water in the holding tank, but it seems that it was not enough. The ammonia/nitrite spike or some other instability in the water conditions must have just been too much.

1 x ????, Scallop.
This scallop was attained from Christian when he moved. It seemed to be doing well until the move, but did not seem to ever find a spot where it was happy to be attached and stay there. It only made it about 4 days in the holding tank.

1 x ????, ???? (Unidentified SPS).
This specimen was actually doing quite well before the move. But once it was in the small holding tank within the week it had died. Seems a little odd when there is another of the sames species that did not suffer the same. Another mystery of the reef ;-)

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