[lynnvangsnes]

Greetings all. I have posted some pics of a couple of hitch hikers I noticed today after rearranging my LR. Check them out...
The first couple are some type of polyp..the other, I think is a type of perhaps porites coral...yeah ok I checked...all that is missing is the Christmas tree worms..
lynnvangsnes - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

[rlcline76]

I'm surprised that no one said aiptasia. To everyone, everything is aiptasia!
It looks like a zoo of some sort. Nice short tentacles...appears to have a mouth of some sort on the disc. Does it close up at night???
Just my guess

[lynnvangsnes]

Yeah, that's kinda where I was heading, although I haven't seen one with that long of a stalk. It has two tiny ones growing around its base as well. I looked up aiptasia to be sure, but it has absolutely no resemblance to that. It pays to be sure right? thanks B

[Fishhead Junkie]

hey lynn, is that a homemade chiller that you made?? if so, how has it been working out for you? looks pretty nifty.

steve

[lynnvangsnes]

Thanks, Steve. The chiller was a good idea and still is, however some engineering changes had to be made, and I did not have the time to make them, as my LR was due in, and I had several issues with the DIY chiller. I bought a real chiller, and still have the DIY, but my wife is now eyeing it to take to school.
The DIY chiller plans I was using, asks for poly tubing. As you can see from the photos, I have two coils totaling around 125 ft. Most (100 ft) was coiled up in the modified laundry soap tub, that contained water with rock salt to keep from freezing. The other coil was in the "freezer" area of the fridge. The tubing was 3/8" id. I used a Rio 600 powerhead to pump the water through the tubing and trickled out back into the tank. It all worked ok, but it wasn't quite enough. The fridge had to run constantly; consider that there is 80 degree water running through the fridge all the time, and it couldn't keep up, although it did cool the tank to 78, which is where I wanted it. The problem is the poly tubing; poly tubing is an INSULATOR. The warm water from the tank was kept warm because of the tubing does not do heat/cool exchange well. To improve this, one could use either stainless steel tubing $$$, or aluminum(no copper!). Both would work well, and would cost more than the poly; how much, I do not know. I think that mod would greatly improve the heat/cool exchange, thus dropping the temp in the tank sooner, and allowing the fridge to actually shut off. An external temp controller would probably be in order after this mod, as I think it would work much better.

[lynnvangsnes]

I'v identified the mystery polyp...I think. It's a protopalythoa.
Blane Perun's Zoanthids Mania. Zooanthids information. Special Care Section on Blue Zooanthids, & Rare Zooanthids. All you would ever need to know about the zooanthids
At least, I know it's in the zoo family. It now has a total of 3 polyps. I have moved it several times to find the opportune light an current position. It seems to prefer a low current, at the bottom of the tank; at least, in any other position, it stays closed.

[rlcline76]

Found your way to the zoo guru's site, eh? I've been there a couple of times myself.

[lynnvangsnes]

It certainly pays to do research, yes?