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...

After a 4-year hiatus, I've decided to switch back to reefing. I left the hobby when I got pregnant with my son (well, sort-of; we kept fish, but switched to FW because it was simpler to care for and there were no dangerous critters in the water). Now that he's nearly four, and can be trusted to keep his hands off the tank (as well as choose the inhabitants and even help care for them a bit), I'm very happily returning.

My last reef was a 90g RR. After years of use and a toddler's...