How To Clean and Maintain Corals and Their Tanks

Salt buildup around the cracks in a coral tank makes observation difficult.

Cleaning the outer glass makes it easier to see and clean the inside of the tank.

Red algae, which is rather ornery stuff, sticks in little circular patches to the glass on the inside of the tank. It requires a razor to scrape it off.

The razor is already rusted and clogged with gunk from algae of days past.

After the algae has been scraped off the walls, it is time to siphon up said algae and snail poop on the bottom.
The snails eat a lot of the algae in the tanks (mostly the green algae), but their poop is also not good for the corals or the little microcosm they dwell in. Thus, using simply gravity, it is necessary to clean up all the little particulates and excrement on the bottom.

Lastly, here are some little snails at work, eating away the algae on the walls and subsequently excreting it all over the bottom of the tanks. Humorously enough, instead of the trail of slime left by land snails, there is often a trail of small oblong snail excrement left behind when they move along.

The Experimental Marine Vivarium

The touch tank in the Experimental Aquarium: where long stretches of time are lost as curiosity and playing with the harmless marine organisms distracts one from other priorities. It is a source of endless fun.

One of the largest sea anemones I have ever seen resides fearlessly in the touch tank in the experimental aquarium. It has some very pretty pink tips  

An unattached sea anemone resembles a true flower. This photo is too dark, but the anemone is like a sticky bulb out of which long tentacles reach.

The sun finally came out today! The air was warm, the breeze was pleasantly cool, and the waves were back to normal size (not big, but definitely not flat). Woo-hoo, perhaps summer has come once again to San Diego.

Some Acropora yongei corals dwell happily in their warm sea water tank under bright white light. I'll be taking care of these animals (yes, indeed, they are animals, not mere plants or rocks) now that Caroline is going back to Creighton University in beautiful Omaha, Nebraska.

The snails in the coral tanks actually help clean the algae quite well. Unfortunately, they also poop in disproportionate amounts. Even when there is only one little snail in a tank, there seem to be feces all over the bottom that must be siphoned out of the tank as often as possible.