Today I spotted copepods in the substrate, very tiny ones. Or let me rephrase that, I discovered tiny creatures in the crushed coral substrate that I guessed must be copepods, guessed because they were mobile and tiny, so I couldn't see what they were. But then late at night (1 hour ago), after a party we held today at home, using a flashlight I saw larger ones swimming in the open water. I could see these larger ones have a body just like this picture from Melev's reef. These are night creatures it seems, as I hadn't seen them in the daylight.
This is a good sign, it seems like the base ecosystem is establishing itself in the tank. Copepods will be a source of food to other animals, and will eat the detritus others produce too. It seems like the crushed coral substrate is a place where they are reproducing well.
Other good signs were that:
1. I saw bubbles in the substrate, probably a sign that the bacteria that transform Nitrate to other stuff plus Nitrogen are well at work in the oxygen depleted area of the substrate.
2. The rocks are getting many greenish, purple and red spots/areas. Red (dark red) are few, and I'm not sure what they are, probably coraline algaue. Purple and green are here and there in larger quantities. I understand purple is coraline algal, and greed is normal algae.... let's see.
Regarding the strange thing that appeared in my tank Sept 16th, looked like aiptasia or a zoanthid.... well, the ReefCentral folk believe it is aiptasia. During the last week it gradually receded then disappeared yesterday.... therefore I was concluding it wasn't aiptasia, as those pest are super resistant to everything. But.... today I saw it again, extending its body. Couldn't get a good picture, as it is quite small, but it really seems like I'll need the shrimp that eat aiptasia....
As soon as I get better pictures I'll post them over here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment