Heater Off!

Well the power went out briefly on Monday, and somehow my heater was turned off. All other devices were fine, except the heater. Unfortunately for my coral and fishes, I didn't realize the aquarium was so cold until today. When I noticed the problem, it was at 69 degrees. In fact, I only thought to check the temperature after I put my hand in the tank to target feed my coral.



After checking the graph of the temperature, it looks like there is only a couple of days of data showing, indicating the power loss we briefly experienced on Monday. Going forward, I think I'll change the default status of the heater to "ON", and I'll make sure to check the temperature more often. While there is no loss yet, my Maxi-mini Anemone and my Torch Coral are looking unhappy. I'll keep an eye on this closely.

24 hours later...

The Nano-cube is still cloudy. I cut up a filter sock and added it into the overflow. The tank is clearing up slowly. Started adding Microbacter7 to the tank. I'll seed the sand with some sand from an established tank, and I'll add some live rock from the same aquarium to speed up the cycle. More to come...

Setting up a 28g JBJ Nano-cube

Still cloudy. Looks like we'll be here a while!

I'm starting the tank with some CaribSea base rock, Aragalive Aragonite sand, and I'll be inoculating the tank with Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7. I'll post more when the sand settles!

First Photo Update of the Year

RKM-NET Module Signature

 Just in case you were wondering how my tank is doing...

What we can learn from "sexy" fish

[Image source petslobby.com]

Guppies are one of my favorite freshwater fish. Not only are they beautiful to look at, they can actually teach us a lot. According to an article on msnbc.com, single guys can learn a little from our small, freshwater friends. Female guppies who are not in the mood to mate will blend into a crowd of "sexy" guppies (guppies that are willing to mate).  The male will then choose another guppy, which will allow the female to relax.

If you've ever kept guppies, you'll know that sexual dimorphism is present as males are more colorful and have "prettier" tales than female guppies. The unfortunate part is that people tend to buy a handful of males and a couple females and trouble brews. It's recommended to always have a ratio of at least 2:1 female to male guppies. The more females you have per male, the better. The males will literally mate the females to death... Poor guppies.

Read the full article, Sexy guppies shed light on human singles scene MSNBC.com.