So one Sunday in May I discovered this: Here's the story. Just after 4am on Sunday morning I woke to the sound of house alarms ringing in the neighbourhood. So annoying! Then it registered that the reason house alarms sometimes trigger is usually related to a power cut, so I groggily reached for my phone to check on the tank. The first thing I noticed was that I'd received a disconnect notification from the return pump which was confirmation that there was a power issue. I tried checking on the tank via the webcam but it wouldn't connect so I tried the bedside lamp. That switched on so clearly the power was restored, I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I got up in the morning the house alarm display was showing an error code but I didn't care about that because immediately after I discovered the water level in the DT was abnormally low. The return pump was not working!! Whatever kind of glitch in the power/internet had knocked out the controller for the return pump and it had not restarted again, this had never happened before. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and water immediately started flowing again. However as soon as water began recirculating the temperature monitors started alarming. I watched as the temperature dropped to 23.5. OK, hopefully that wasn't too bad but 15 minutes later I noticed the tank was starting to look a bit cloudy, uh oh. I checked the refugium and found a significant gathering of mini brittlestars. The temperature dip had triggered them to spawn on mass. I have never seen so many little waving legs in my life, they were everywhere. Up in the DT brittlestars appeared out of every nook and cranny, climbing up literally every coral to spawn. I knew I had a fair few in the tank but I had no idea there were that many. The water got cloudier and cloudier so I started prepping for a water change. Fortunately nothing has been too badly affected by that event but it's not something I'm eager to repeat. I do have multiple temperature probes in case of failure but they are all positioned in the sump. I moved one of the sensors up to the DT so if it happens again I will be alerted but having said that the audible alarm is so puny I doubt I would hear it at night. I should probably invest in another temperature probe for the profilux because when that sounds I most definitely hear it and it scares the life out of me.
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It's been almost 8 months since I added the Christmas tree worm rock so time for a proper update. I think things are going pretty well but I don't have a 100% success rate. A few of the worms have vanished (a total of 7 since introduction) for reasons unknown to me. Probably food related but I don't know for sure. The remaining worms (approx 33 of them) seem to be fine, in fact some are bigger and have extended their calcareous tubes quite considerably. Hopefully this is a good sign. I still have all 4 Paguritta crabs (tentatively identified as Paguritta morgani) and the tiny barnacles, spionid worms etc. Sadly I think I have lost the tunicate recently, it was being overgrown by the Cyphastrea and repeatedly covered by sand thanks to a Tigertail cucumber who has taken up residence underneath the rock. I regret not acting sooner to deal with the cucumber/sand situation. The Cyphastrea is growing really well, it has completely covered all the free space on the rock except for one small area which I always found strange. Then, when recording this update, I finally discovered the reason why, there are two teeny tiny gall crabs living in that location. It's only taken me 8 months to discover them, lol (they measure just 2mm wide so are easily missed). As luck would have it one of them shed that very night leaving the empty exoskeleton right by the entrance to his hole so my identification was confirmed. I find them pretty cool but then I find most things reef related fascinating. Since they don't appear to be doing too much damage so I'm going to leave them be. Another short clip of the Paguritta crabs because they are just so cool! Also.... what's that? There's something moving in that hole! My surprising discovery of the gall crab(s?). The video is not the best quality (a bit of an understatement there) but the tiny gall crab can be seen in the area of rock not covered by coral (right of centre). I think there is a second one in another hole above and to the right of the first one. A few macro photos of the gall crab shed exoskeleton that only the most dedicated of reefing nerds are probably interested in, lol. The details are quite hard to make out. Underside: Topside, the carapace looks reddish but that's just algae growth, the new skeleton is whitish is colouration. Side view: View of the crab in her hole the morning after shedding.
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AuthorHi, my name is Lisa and I live in Derby, UK. I am a self-confessed reefaholic! Archives
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