How nice is this?

It's been five days since the reef was reset. I knew I'd need some time getting used to the new look of the reef. Duane begged me to turn on the 20,000K lighting Saturday evening because "your rock is so white!" under 10,000K lighting. Not surprising since it had about 60 lbs of corals shading it for the past couple of years, right?  After he was done gluing the last frags in place, I did flip over to 20,000K so he could see his handiwork.

By morning, the water was pretty clear again, and it felt like the upper section of my reef was missing. Willing myself to be patient -- still it was tough. Each day I get a little more used to it. 

This evening I was cleaning the glass of the 400g, and realized how nice it was to be able to do so without worrying about hitting any SPS corals during that process. I'd call that a perk.

I moved a few frags from my other tanks into the 400g. I've had a small chunk of favia hold its own in the 60g Anemone Cube for two years, which is now in the 400g low on the rockwork in the back of the tank. I had some blastos in the 60g Frag System, which was moved to the top of my rockwork to fill in and thrive. I definitely have room for a few more new frags.

Also, I discovered a patch of white coral that I assumed was dead extending polyps. I'm relatively certain it's Sunset Montipora that lost all color being 100% shaded by the massive coral growth that spanned the reef.

Finally, I should point out the biodiversity of life all over my rockwork (see the top image in this blog). I've been using live rock in all my reefs since 1998, and all the sponges, tube worms, pods and pests are all part of my reef. Pests? Well, you never know for absolute sure but I've fought my share over the past 19 years. ;)