Snorkeler's Cube

Two weeks ago I had the impression my hammer coral (one ployp) was getting fatter.... well, today I am pretty sure it is splitting into two polyps! That might seem "so what?" to you, but feels very rewarding to me. It is the first stony coral in the tank that not only survived in my water and lighting but is also growing (had one Acan polpy that died, three Trumpet polyps that also died and another hammer polyp that got eaten by a rogue peppermint shrimp).

Must be a sign ...

A few days after my last post, when the new inhabitants had been about 10 or 12 days in the tank and I was happy that everyone was nicely extended, I noticed the Leather coral started to extend less its tentacles and the anemone also wasn't extending it's tentacles...

Strange...

I though of several possibilities, water quality, chemical attack from another coral, under attack from crab?

Water quality seemed OK. My PH, KH and Ca tests were normal (Mg not so ...

Yesterday I visited a famous Brazilian veteran aquarist, Mr Joao Basso, he's been in the hobby for some 40 years now (much like Paul B), and in his recent years has experimented a lot with new tank formats and other DIY projects.

One of his recent inventions, about 2 to 3 years ago, is a tank system that has no visible overflow nor return, no visible pumps, uses a small return pump (aquarium volume turnover once per hour), looks super hyper clean and has incredible flow using a closed ...

It is interesting how one can tell the difference between LFS's business and ethical/ecological practices when "rubber meets the road"...

Last week I had two distinct experiences regarding fish purchases.

One, at my LFS#2, was them suggesting I get a Desjardini Tang or a Foxface Rabbitfish to eat up my Valonia infestation, even though they knew my tank was a 180L, 60cm cube display tank probably limited in space for those two fish.

The second, at ...