If you can't go to the Ocean, bring the Ocean to you!

You may wonder what I've been up to besides writing my next novel, being a housewife and mother, and taking care of my granddaughter?  Well, I've started a REEF tank.  What is a REEF tank?  Picture taking a small piece of the Great Barrier Reef, putting it in a glass Aquarium and keeping it in your house. There you can enjoy all the colorful corals and rocks, tiny creatures like crabs and snails and shrimp and clams, anemones and clown fish. In fact, there's all sorts of gorgeous creatures you can add.  Trouble is, it's not easy to start one or maintain it and there's so much to learn.  But so far so good. 

Without boring you too much with the technical details, the first thing you do is cycle the tank. You fill it with water, add special salt until it's the right salinity, add filters and pumps and a protein skimmer. Buy a good LED light that mimics the sun and then add live sand and live rock. The tank must then sit for at least a month, usually two while it goes through it's cycle of getting rid of toxic chemicals like Ammonia, Nitrate, and Nitrites. As the good kind of bacteria rise to eat the bad kind, these poisons are eliminated and then you can add some initial creatures.

For me it took six weeks before my tank cycled. You may wonder what Live rock is.  Live rock is harvested from the sea and is encrusted with coralline algae and inhabited by a multitude of marine organisms. The many forms of micro and macroscopic marine life that live on and inside of the rock, which acts as an ideal habitat, give it the name "live rock".  It acts like a biological filter for the reef system and can greatly benefit any tank. ALSO.. as the tank matures, the little creatures that live in the rock start to come out.  For example, just a few weeks ago, I spotted this baby starfish clinging to the side of my tank. He is no bigger than the tip of a needle. Cute huh?

Since then, Ive added three soft corals, one anenome, one shrimp, several crabs and snails, and two clown fish

Soft Coral

Snail

Another soft coral

Another soft coral

One of my crabs!

My shrimp and anemone

For some reason, my anemone is all closed up today. He's either sick or tired or just moody. The white tentacles are from Jacques, my shrimp who is trying to take over Mr. Anemone's cave.

A close up of my shrimp, Jacques!

Here's the entire tank!

 

Cool, huh?  I'll post periodically on my progress. It's an exciting hobby. Plus, since I can't live right next to the ocean like I'd like to, this is the next best thing.  Now, If I can only find a real mermaid to put in there. That would definitely be inspiration for my next book!  

Have a great weekend!

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