Reef Cam Install

I finally got around to mounting the Reef Cam properly onto my ceiling.  The view orientation is much better now.  

The webcam is a Foscam FI8918W and is probably the best bang for buck you can get for an IP Wireless Webcam.  It pans and tilts 360 degrees, has night vision, microphone, speakers, alarm, etc... I picked up a few more to place around the house for security and for watching the dog when we're away from home.

Goin' Fishin'

After waiting 24 hours for the cement to cure in the fish trap I made, it was time to put in action. My youngest son, Ethan, wanted to help me catch some fish!  It's time to catch the dottyback.

Within a minute, Ethan caught a chromis... then a minute later he caught three chromis at the same time.  Then came the tangs:

Orange Shoulder Tang, Purple Tang, and 

Three Chromis

Then minutes later, Ethan caught my two largest fish: 

Orange Shoulder Tang and Hippo Tang

And finally, within a half hour, Ethan caught our target, the Strawberry Dottyback... YES!!!

Strawberry Dottyback

We had so much fun, we almost let the dottyback out just to catch him again.  So easy, my Nine-Year Old can do it!  It was a great day for fishin'! 

Fish Trap

I need to remove a fish from the fish tank, specifically, the Strawberry Dottyback.  However, I do not want to have to tear apart my rock work just to catch him.  I decided to build a fish trap to catch him.

It's held in place by a Mag Float.  The peg holds the door open, and once pulled, released the door allowing it to drop.


I made it large enough to catch larger fish.  It's dimensions are 15.5 x 6.5 x 6.  Here is another image with a can of pop inside for size perspective.

New Fish - Power Blue Tang

A powder blue tang was added to the community.  I picked him up at one of the local fish stores. He looked healthy and was at least 6" in size, which was required, as he was probably going to encounter some aggression, initially.

Powder Blue Tang

Sure enough, once he was added, a pecking order ensued and he faced some aggression from the Hippo Tang, Purple Tang, and Chevron Tang.  Luckily, his disposition was also slightly aggressive and he held his own.  Now, the aggression has subsided for the most part and gets better every day.

Filter Sock Holder

I have a filter sock that filters the water at the outtake of my protein skimmer.  Currently, nothing holds it in place except a small tab located on the filter sock that slightly grips the outtake tube.  However, it tends to fall off once the sock fills up with water.  Therefore, I started shopping around for a filter sock holder, but couldn't find any locally.  I decided to create my own out of acrylic.

Now, when the filter sock fills up, it stays in place.  The water may spill over the sock but any debris that comes out of the outtake is captured in the sock.

New Fish and Inverts - School of Chromis and Sand Sifting Starfishes

I was looking for some small schooling fish that would occupy the middle water level.  I decided on a small school of Blue-Green Chromis, purchased from a local fish store.  I would've picked up more but I'm saving some bio room for small school of Lyretail Anthias in the future.

Blue-Green Chromis

They are a joy to watch, as they stay mid-level and move as a group.  They are also a nice contrast to the large tangs in the tank.


Also, I picked up two sand sifting starfish to assist my existing cleanup crew.  They are great at keeping the sand bed clean.

Sand-Sifting Starfish

New SPS Corals - Cream with Purple-Tips Plana and Pink Rosaria

We picked up two SPS Acropora coral colonies, from one of the local fish stores.

Acropora Plana

This colony of Acropora Tenuis is cream colored with blue on the ends of the branches and deep purple tips.  Definitely one of my favorite corals in the tank!

Pink Rosaria

This colony of Acropora Rosaria is pastel pink in color.  I suspect the color will deepen once its established in the tank.

New Anemone - Green with Pink Tip Bubble-Tip Anemone

I  visited an old acquaintance today, as I hadn't seen his tank for quite some time.  He had made a lot of changes over the years.  One of the changes was the addition of an extremely large sump that was plumbed in his basement.  The sump was an old lobster holding tank, and he had moved his two anemones there a few years ago.  Well, they split multiple times and now there are dozens in the tank.  This image displays just a small section of his tank.

He was gracious enough to give me one of the anemones.  I picked a small-medium sized anemone, as I didn't want it to be too large in my tank.  Some of his anemones are extremely large.  I also picked up two large cleaner shrimp from him.

Here is an image of the anemone once it was in my tank.  There's my yellow belly Hippo tang in the background!

It has moved around a few times, looking for a comfortable place.  I'm hoping my pair of orange clownfish find it soon and host.

New Coral Frag - Christmas Millipora

I picked up a nice coral frag of a Christmas Millipora from a friend... thanks, Kat!

Christmas Millipora

I placed it on a coral mount and its doing well in the tank.

New Coral Frags - Pocillopora and Red Digitata

Today, I acquired two frags from a fellow reefer from one of our local reef forums, Atlantic Region Reefers Group ... thanks Paul (aka, fishnet)!  I picked up his Pocillopora frag, which was really the size of a small colony.  While there, he was nice enough to give me a small frag of his Red Digitata.  Here are both frags in the following image:

I mounted both of them on some live rock.  Both the Pocillopora and Digitata are fast growers and, in a few months, I'll post another image to compare how much they've grown.