As promised... some pictures of the reef's slow progress. I took these with my cell phone, because when I got the camera out to take some decent shots, the batteries died!

FTS:


The left side tower:


Caves on the right side:
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Not surprisingly, because I'm so excited to be back in the SW game, I've been staring at the tank a lot. I'm seeing more life every day.

There are definitely some zoanthids on one of the pieces of rubble -- they must have been very stressed living in a dark rubble bin, but now that they're in the light with good flow, they seem to be recovering. Two of them are beginning to open up, and there are a number that are still tightly closed but look a bit larger than they did.
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Today I went to the LFS, and really lucked out. They had a tank full of gorgeous, FULLY cured live rock -- I guess there's not much call for LR lately, because these stunning pieces had been there for over two months. I found some coral skeletons in the rubble bin, so I bought those as well. Why not, they're really very pretty!

I brought the rock home and did my best with the aquascaping. It's a little less minimalist than I envisioned initially, but I think it's going to make a great...

Got some goodies in the mail yesterday!
- aquascaping epoxy
- kalkwasser
- kalk dosing system
- Instant Ocean salt
- Hana phosphate checker
- drip line for acclimating livestock

I used the salt to bring the SG up to 1.025. I also moved the Remora - it's a HOB skimmer, so I initially figured why not hang it on the tank, but the noise was driving me crazy and I like to see as little equipment as possible. I moved it to the sump and it's working...

This is a re-post of a thread but worth adding here.

Sharks in the home aquaria is nothing new. I bought my first in 1989. It was a common epaulette and I made every mistake with the poor gal. Despite that, I learned that these are resilient animals but deserve a different type of care than your average predatory fish.

Before deciding on species and tank size there are several items that are a must for keeping them. First is a good refractometer. Many, like...