Clean up crew

Thanks! I thought it would be neat too. I remember when I first started looking into SW, asking how long this would take for a CuC was vague at best. There's a ton of variables and my thread/tank is by no means representative of every tank, but it does give something solid for people to look at for comparison purposes.

 

I would keep the lights the way you want them and what is best for your plans in the future...corals etc... The film algae outbreak is going to happen, the crew will tackle it, they will just need some time to find it. If you find that the algae is hard to scrape and doesn't feel gooey then it is coralline, (comes in a rainbow of colors), then they won't clean it. If it is that stuff on the front of the glass though, it is film algae. The copepod population will decline soon.. (they THRIVE on diatom blooms), unless you feed plankton. With proper plankton dosing you get keep their populations up and be well on your way to keeping copepod eating fish like dragonets.

 

Pics for today.


You can see the film peeling away in this one





Here you can see some peeled away and is now stuck to the rock





Here's another shot




And another

 

I win! I found it! :

This is it.

 

it does look like the face.

 

Very small amount left on the glass. I took two pics, one of each spot.







I'm going to go ahead and clean the glass with my mag-float tomorrow and pick up 2 peppermints and 1 skunk.




And awesome news (but no pic), I discovered a dwarf brittle star. That is pretty awesome, I think. Feels more 'real' with a sea star ;D in it.

 

well I guess the "100%" by the 25th didn't pan out. I was close though, and that should count for something.

 

Updates. Here you can see, vaguely, some film left on the glass. Before I cleaned. That was pretty much the extent of what CuC hasn't got yet off the glass.




I cleaned the glass as planned with mag-float. That thing rocks.






Here's a close up of the rock. Still have a bit to clean there. It's not too bad and getting better!





You can see some diatom on the substrate here in this closer up of my chiton





I've added 2 peppermints and 1 skunk Saturday. The skunk has since molted. They all seem happy. And shy of the camera

I've got some small patches of grass growing on the rock and the chitons seem to be searching them out. They clean that right up, a whole patch at a time. It's neat to watch (in sloooow moootiooon).


So I'll track this a bit longer with the rocks and substrate. I'll also try to catch a before/during/after shot of the grass/chiton war.


I have now experienced Nerites escaping three times. I put those back in.


Oh and I've also cleaned up some rubble junk off the substrate to give it a cleaner look.

 

long term?

How is your tank looking now? Did you get any shots of the "turf" war?

 

hey! it's been over 2 months!! How's it look!?