growyourown- OK, thanks. I will be watching for your links.
Once the tank was filled and running, about 50 pounds of live rock went in. About a week has elapsed since then so it is time to put a test pilot in the tank. A couple of faster growing successful softies from my private aquarium will do just fine for starters. The tank had to be shaded with three layers of window screen to get close to the light readings. Remember, there is a 30 % shade cloth over the entire greenhouse, another 30 % over this end (which actually shades this tank when the sun is as high in the sky as it is right now), plus the three layers of window screen directly over the tank. All of that still gets about 11,000 lux when the light meter is submerged down 1 foot deep in the tank where the egg crate sits. This is a good indicator of how weak our MH lights really are (compared to the sun), even though they look bright to the eye.
An IV line works well for drip acclimation. The drip chamber can be submerged and squeezed to suck the water in, then cover the spike end with a finger and squeeze again to push the water along the tubing. Release the finger and a siphon starts.
The roller clamp controls the drip rate from the tank into the tray. I used a couple of green Ricordea that I got about three years ago from Inland Aquatics. They had them labeled as Ricordea florida and I have no reason to doubt them. They were sold to me on tiny pieces of live rock which is supposed to be the restriction for collecting soft corals from the Atlantic- the rock can only be about the size of a quarter. I started with four from the original purchase, currently have about fifteen in my tank, and have taken about a dozen to the LFS over the years. I have never cut any of them, they have propagated themselves well. I also have a bunch of orange and blue Ricordea, but they are probably yuma since the LFS I purchased them from almost exclusively buys from Pacific sources. The florida and yuma have been growing and laying all over each other in my aquarium without any obvious difficulties so I may eventually go ahead and have all three colors in this single tank. The coral on the left in the pic below had grown onto a small rock which already had some protopalythoa on it. When I tried to break the rock to separate the Ricordea, it got a little smushed.
Now I feel like a nervous parent.
Since the tanks have solid sides and therefore are look-down, the rippling action of the surface distorts the viewing of the corals. A small clear plastic tray from the grocery store placed on the surface allows for clear undistorted viewing. I learned this trick from the guy who owns (IIRC) The Hidden Reef in Indiana. He was an acrylic fabricator as well and had a little acrylic tray on the surface of one of his tanks just to provide an alternate way of viewing so his customers wouldn't have to bend over to look through the side of that tank since it sat about waist high. The Ricordea that I smushed (the one on the right in the pic below) is still a little compacted, but looks like it will be ok. The mesenteric filaments have withdrawn and the mucous has washed away.
