My Reef Addict Diary

On my way home from work I tell my hubby that I would like to head to the LFS before we depart on our trip to see the family before the weekend. He gives me the green light to shop a bit and shop is what I do.

I head over to the LFS with the excitement of a 5 year old in Disney World, a grin from ear to eat. I get to the LFS and peer in to every tank they have for at least 5 minutes each! Decisions, decisions. I decide that instead of the cucumber that I was going to pick up I will settle for a couple of zoa colonies and a GSP frag. I make this decision because the cucumber in question is a plain old pink cucumber, not knobby or anything and not the filter feeder I desire.

While at the LFS I notice one of the zoanthis frags has a couple of aiptasia on it and decide that I still need this colony. I get them all home and glare in to the bag. "This is war!" I shout at it while the hubby and dogs look at me funny. He knows what I'm talking about once he sees the bag. I dump all of the new coral in to a tupperware container so I can take a good look over my new gems. One of my new zoanthid colonies has a present waiting for me. I look over on the side and I see something reddish orange and encrusting. It has little green polyps coming from the encrusting coral. I got my first SPS.....by accident honestly because I wasn't paying attention, LOL. What to do, what to do. I go over it with a dental pick and an eye dropper to make sure that I don't miss any critters that I don't want in the tank. All looks good so I sit this beauty at the highest point in the tank. Heck, I'm almost tempted to glue the entire colony to the tank wall to make sure this baby gets enough light!

Once the first colony is in my scowl is back. I think of the two aiptaisa on my other zoa colony. I set out to find my tweezers and say, "The hell with it!" The aiptasia are fully extended and are making the surrounding zoas uncomfortable. I can't have any of this. The zoas are pulled in enough that I can see that the aiptasia is not rooted to the frag plug itself.....It's simply attached to the zoa mat. Wonderful! With the precision of a plastic surgeon I push the zoa polyps back a little more and using my pinkie nail as a scalpel I scrape that bad boy right off. I manage to get the entire beast in one fell swoop. I rinse the spot off with fresh water and wait for the other aiptasia to emerge. As I see the tentacles start to extend I move in to the same action I performed previously. Quick as a whip its done and I am aiptasia free once again.....as far as I can tell right now. We shall see if any others emerge and believe me, I am on the hunt.

 

Yup us too..hardly watch TV we watch the life in the tanks...have 3 channels brackish water tank is the Underwater/Aquatic Soap Opera, Nano tank is the comedy channel, the 46 dunno yet, is under construction (home improvement channel???....lol)

 

This is a great thread! I should have my wife read it so I can prove to her that I'm not going through a mid-life crisis and that as addicted reefers we all share a unified state of mind and behaviors. LOL I spend so much type perched in front of my tank the legs in the chair I sit in have begun to wear the fininsh off the hardwood floor. And I know that grin you got going into your lfs...I get the kid on Christmas Eve butterfly feeling every single time I am going to pick something new out/up or have a package coming in the mail.

 

this thread is awesome I was happy she added another "diary entry"....I am subscribed

Hmmmm Whippy - have you considered captioning & narrating the next Discovery Channel series?

 

LOL! I have a bazillion gallon bucket of salt that I used to use as a chair in front of the tank. I would sit a throw pillow on it so I wouldn't end up with "bucket rings" on my legs or anything, hahahahahaha!! That bucket has since moved under my stand so I just sit on the floor and watch in sheer awe.

 

That's too kind! I appreciate that you guys enjoy my writing about the tank!

 

yeah "bucket ring butt" is a variation on the "waffle @$$" that results in sitting on one of the classic nylon strip woven lawnchairs!

Cant be having any of that! LoL

 

Hahahahahaha!! Especially on a hot day in shorts when you stick to everything you sit on

 

yeah like vinyl "car seat keester" !!! There's a name for all of them lol!

 

I'd be in the same boat but my tank is in the dining room so the chair is right there.
You little volley has me crackin up;D