[Dudester]

Speaking of toadstools, last night I saw an emerald crab perched atop mine last night. This was observed during a late night flashlight tour, which I often enjoy. I was concerned at first, but all of the polyps around the crab were fully extended, indicating that the coral wasn't stressed at the least. This morning the crab remained on the toadstool, but in a different location, and again surrounded by beautifully extended green polyps. I just thought this was noteworthy.

In other news, I finally got around to hooking up my calcium reactor. I'm not running it right now, however, since it's not yet programmed into the controller. This week is extremely busy with work, and then the Tool concert on Wednesday night, so I may need to wait until this weekend to get it running properly.

I also cleaned out my filter socks for the first time. Man, that was nasty. I can't believe that much detritus has been settling in the sump and/or circulating through the system. I didn't do a good job of cleaning, but did a search here on RC and learned a better way to clean them. Namely, I plan to turn them inside-out and spray the heck out of them with a garden hose spray nozzle, then let them drip dry. Many people place them into the washing machine with some bleach, but it will be a cold day in hell before my wife lets me put a detritus-laden filter sock into our washing machine.

New RD4.5 is on the way!