I threw down the gauntlet at the beginning of April and set the challenge of 30 posts in 30 days and with some last minute scrambling, was able to complete the task! It feels good to get that many posts out and provide my readers with some interesting topics. A definite challenge, this task brought out some great topics I had in my head and I really hope you all found them enjoyable.

Tropic Marin has been a leader in the aquarium industry for over 30 years and they are using technology to get the word out about Tropic Marin products through the company’s new virtual webinars. The program connects hobbyists directly with the company representative over the Internet through special webinars for local Tropic Marin dealers.

I’ve got two colonies of zoanthids that were doing awesome and spreading like wildfire but over the last few weeks have noticed what appears to be receding and bleaching polyps. One colony is a Tubb’s Blue that began to pale shortly after noticing the skirt “arms” were growing quite long. The other is an unknown that is green with a burgundy/brown skirt that seems to lose polyps. For a while both colonies did not open and I did notice some small specks on the closed polyps. I am not 100% sure this is zoa pox but the symptoms do explain my troubles.

I’m going to tell you something and promise not to laugh? I’ve never seen the movie “Finding Nemo” but the good thing is the movie did not inspire me to get into the hobby so “Nemo” was not on my list as the first fish I bought. When I got bitten by the saltwater bug in the mid-1990s I wanted to get a Flame Angel, an anemone and some clowns. I have yet to get the anemone opting for a frogspawn coral but have a pair of Oscellaris or False Percula clowns in the tank. The interesting and peaceful fish are a great addition to any reef tank.

An interesting article on All Headline News titled “New Study Finds Humans Can Help Some “Super” Coral Reefs Recover From Effects Of Climate Change” is a small step away from the normal doom-and-gloom of the devastating human effects on coral reefs and provides a glimmer of hope.

If you recall, one of my mantras for Blue-Collar Reefing is to know the difference between cheap and inexpensive. Granted, this is definitely about the cheap side of things but a great way to stretch your budget getting tons of little additional tools and goodies to help out in the hobby. Take advantage of the dollar or 99¢ stores around-you’d be surprised what you can get.

I wanted to do a spotlight on a friend’s site since it was through my site that we met. Tatu Vaajalahti of Finland has a great site as his outlet in the hobby called “Grumpy Old Reefer” and I just love his tagline–opinionated and most of the time grumpy postings about reef aquariums.

Here I am sitting in front of the post editor screen scratching my head for a cool and unique post. I steal a glance at the tank…yuck! Red slime algae and I already wrote on that. I turn my head to the right and look at my dry erase board asking for divine intervention and inspiration. Nope, no note from God. Wait! What is that in the corner? Hmmm, my “original” fish wishlist from over a year ago when my tank was dry and collecting dust and it seemed as if I’d NEVER finish my stand. So I decided to take a look back and see what fish I wanted to add and how it progressed.

After my post the other day on cooling the tank, I decided to start a project that has been mulling in my mind for a while. Granted this one is nothing fancy and even borderline hack but it works until I can carve out some more time to do it up a bit better. I grabbed a four pack of 12VDC PC cooling fans from a Fry’s Electronics for $14.95, grabbed an old 12VDC transformer, a piece of acrylic scrap and some Velcro to rig together a three-fan cooling unit.

Yesterday our local reef club had the pleasure of having Paul Baldassano visit to talk about the evolution of the hobby and share with us the trials and tribulations of his nearly 40 year-old tank. Yup, I did not stutter the man has a tank that has been in operation since the early 1970s and I tell you, this guy is the ultimate blue-collar reefer.