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As usual, I've got good news and bad news...

The good news: I'm going on a trip next week! 5 days of FREEDOM!!!

The bad news: there's no way my rents are going to be able to take care of my tank (at least not with the 5 topoffs a day)! Or anyone else, for that matter!

The solution: DIY Gravity-Feed Anti-Siphon Auto-Topoff!

5 gal bucket/storage tank - $1
Anti-siphon float switch - $11 (at Menards (hardware store))
5' 1/2" ID vinyl tubing - $3
DIY 1/2" Bulkhead (1/2" FF threaded coupling, 1/2" MF threaded coupling, 2x 1/2" flat gaskets)
Misc fittings
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Total cost: ~$15

I need to get more tubing... I thought I had enough, but when I tried to hook it up I was 6" short! I'm gonna go buy some more tomorrow after the store opens.

I did test the thing out... all of my seals are good, and the thing works flawlessly in two buckets that I set up outside. Hopefully I'll have it running by tomorrow afternoon

I'll post pics up tomorrow after I get it running

Okay, didn't have time to get pics of it up before I left...

But I got it finished and on the tank! It worked wonderfully all week, and is still going just fine It's 2:30am now, otherwise I'd take/post some pictures... I'll do it later...

The tank took the unsupervised vacation very well, surprisingly. Nothing died! ALL of my xenia is looking REALLY bad... it's all closed up and shriveled up! Other than that, all of my livestock is doing great.

For some reason my temp was 82F (normally 79F... if it spikes, it doesn't go above 80F) when I got back, so all of my corals were closed up/not happy. I don't know how the temp got that high... I set up a couple extra big fans blowing on it the entire time I was gone (dissipates heat into the air... evaporation lowers temp), so I didn't think it'd be a problem... but it was.

So I've basically killed 4 different kinds of xenia (every kind I've ever attempted to keep alive), but I've only killed 2 (pink birdsnest and green pocilliopora) SPS corals (out of 5 that I've kept--the others are staghorn acropora, elephant skin, and horn)that I've kept. Ain't that a tid bit weird?! And the only reason the two SPS's died was because they were never under more than 16w of light since I had them!

Anyway... I'll post pics and stuff up in the morning...

G'nite!

The xenia should recover with lowered temps and a good water change. Good to hear everything survived vacation. I'm always nervous when I'm gone like that.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well, all of my xenia (except for one little chunk in the sump, which ain't lookin' too happy, but is at least opening daily) totally kicked the bucket! I got my temp back down and everything stable, but it still ain't happy!

Everything else is doing GREAT though! I added another fan and another 23w 8000k light to the tank today, and everything seems to be taking it alright.

I built a new macro lens for my camera today, and WOW it works! I can't focus on anything farther than 1/4" an inch away!

Here's two pictures of a microstar. In the first one, you can see a dark colored column behind it... that's the edge of a 1/8" sheet of glass!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/PoisonWaffle/microstar.jpg

In the 2nd pic, the thing's body's diameter is less than 1/16th of an inch!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/PoisonWaffle/microstar2.jpg

When the main tank's lights turn on this morning, I'm going to feed the tank and see if I can get some cool pictures of random things eating (snails, etc)! I'm gonna see if I can record a video of a snail eating off of the glass

And ya know what?! The lens is waterproof! So now I can stick it into the tank!

Anyway, I'm having fun with the new lens and the tank!

Other than that, no new updates on the tank...

Nice shots....how does one "build" a waterproof macro lens?

Anyhow, sorry about the xenia. Mine's been ticked off a few times and recovered ok. Usually a good water change helps.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Sorry for the delay in responding, Matt.... totally forgot about my thread o.O

I built my macro lens out of a 2"-> 1 1/4" F/F PVC adapter and a 1 1/4" 25mm telescope eye-piece The 2" end fits over the lens of the camera

Tank update: My Tubestrea opened up!!! I've had it for almost a month and it hadn't done anything! I'd checked it both night and day to see if it'd open up, but I never saw it do anything until last night. I knew it was still alive, because it still had flesh over it's openings on the tips of the skeleton. I wasn't able to feed it because I either wasn't able to catch it when it was open, or it didn't open. Anyway, it finally opened up last night and I started freaking out! I turned the lights on to see it's full color and to get some pictures of it (will upload later... camera battery is dead).

The xenia is totally gone... there's absolutely nothing left of it...

All of my other corals are doing great, tho. SPS's are growing. My rhodactus is growing another mouth/starting to frag itself/forming a colony. My elephant ear is growing. The GSP's have spread all over the neighboring two rocks...

Tube worms have taken over my tank! They're growing like mad in the corner of the tank (yes, on the glass!) next to the drain. Not talking about the little curly-q guys... the dusters in the corner are a couple inches long already! I've also got this other funky yellow-colored species of tube worm that came on a frag... they get about 1/4" tall and grow perpendicular to the surface that they're on... I'll have to take some pictures of them.

And I've got some funky algae that looks like cyano...

Anyway, I'll post up some pictures and stuff later...

Careful with the elephant ears when they get bigger...they have a tendancy to close up around small fish similar to an anemone and make 'em disappear