Okay... Gonna try an "accepted" set up.

[Rob in Puyallup]

Congrats, Ken!

We're all here to help!

[Mustafa]

Reason I am asking is that I have all green algae rocks in my nano-tank, and I noticed this week that there is purple algae growing on a few of them.

There are lots of algae and cyanobacteria species than can be reddish, purple, pink etc. Unless your algae are hard and "crusty" to the touch, kinda like actual coral, they are not coralline algae. Have you touched them or tried scratching them?

[yoster]

Yep, it is definitely hard. The green fuzzy algae I can wipe off with my finger easily, while the purplish algae I have to scrape off with my fingernail. The sellers of the live sand I bought that I used with this nano-tank advertised that there was a very high success rate of coralline algae growth. So far it only has appeared in spots on 4 rocks, and it is a nice contrast to the green.

[Mustafa]

Interesting. Let's see how they develop in your tank. Given that there are quite extreme salinity variations in certain ocean environments (bays, estuaries etc.) I can imagine that some coralline algae have adapted to varying salinity levels...along with a bunch of other marine life.

[KenCotigirl]

Rob my 'stubborn' tank has produced another surprise. When I was looking at my shrimp I saw a berried shrimp with only 5 eggs. I at first thought it was the momma with 20+ eggs. She looked a little less red than I thought but I know shrimp will drop their eggs. Coming back later I saw the dark red momma with her brood of 20+ eggs. So now my 'stubborn' tank has two berried shrimp at the same time. About a month from now I hope to see a couple dozen larvae floating about.
Ken

[Rob in Puyallup]

Congrats on that, Ken!

I still have 3 berried in my Bookshelf tank and two in the old ten gallon.

Shrimplets soon, everywhere, it seems!

[Mustafa]

Any updates on the larvae in any of your tanks?

[Rob in Puyallup]

Hi Mustafa,

The answer to your question is yes...

I've been very busy for the past 6 weeks or so. Aside from feeding the Opae Ula Bookshelf tank and topping all three of them off as necessary, I've neglected them.

Tonight (in preparations of a two week vacation to England, leaving this Friday), I worked on 6 of my tanks. My mini reef, my 39 gallon Hex with Malawa shrimp and the three Opae Ula tanks.

When I finished I took some time to look them over, (the first in ages). The reef tank is looking absolutely beautiful, the zoanthids and corals doing fantastic!The Sexy Shrimp dancing their jiggs. The Malawa Shrimp multiplying like mice.

Then to the Opae Ula Bookshelf tank... (I have a thread on it here, somewhere!). I really tore this tank up tonight. The chaeto went nuts, filling up a good half of the tank, (removed about two cups of it, compressed.) Removed quite a lot of the red mini cotton ball looking algae as well. After I completed the water change (about 10%), and everything settled, I sat in front of this tank to soak it all in. It had been weeks since my last gaze into this tank. Within a few minutes my old eyes adjusted, then I started seeing mini Opae Ulas chowing down on the front glass of the tank. I've seen gobs of larvae, this was the first time I've seen juveniles grazing as their parents do. There's at least 10 shrimp of this size, and loads of "head down' swimming larvae in the tank. I have no idea how many I removed when I pulled out the excess chaeto.

The filter continues to run, the snails and hermits doing their thing. The feather duster worm that came attached to one of the live rocks has grown it's tube another inch or so.

Pictures are attached:

[Rob in Puyallup]

and here's the worm.

[Mustafa]

Thanks for the update! Glad to see that you have offspring running around in the tank! Maybe your partial neglect actually helped. Don't worry about having taken out larvae with the Chaeto...the larvae usually dart away. I'd be more worried about having taken out tiny, benthic postlarvae. Although many of those dart away, some of them just sit there and refuse to leave the protection of the macroalgae. Once you get back from England, please do me a favor and measure the salinity in this particular tank again. It's interesting that the feather duster worm is actually growing. In this particular tank there are enough nutrients for them to filter out, but it's interesting that it seems to be dealing with the lower salinity just fine.

[Rob in Puyallup]

Hi Mustafa,

I just checked. Specific gravity is currently 1.012 at about 72 degrees f.

Using an old fashioned bobbing hydrometer.

[Mustafa]

Thanks! Ok, seems like "normal range" Opae brackish water. I was just wondering if your salinity had maybe crept up a little over time.

[Rob in Puyallup]

A couple berried opae... Here's one of them from this morning...

[Rob in Puyallup]

(In my Sexy Shrimp tank. A Tailspot Blenny, with it's comical face.)

[BostonJill]

(In my Sexy Shrimp tank. A Tailspot Blenny, with it's comical face.)

Awesome picture Rob.