Ft. Lauderdale Beach, Florida

This trip was a very last minute decision. A friend had some Jet Blue vouchers up for grabs so we jumped at the chance for a free trip. Unfortunately the combination of available destinations & the fact that my wife hadn’t updated her passport after we were married severely limited our options.  I was initially unimpressed with the idea of going to Ft. Lauderdale but the West Coast (for now) and certainly the Midwest were out of the question for this vacation.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the town and it’s beaches are.  The image I had of the area was one of Spring Break mayhem and heavy commercialism. Instead we found Ft. Lauderdale to be a prestine, subtle, seaside community. Not surprisingly the boardwalk was jumping in the evenings and there were lots of great restaurants and shops to occupy our nights.  There were also the typical ocean related distractions (parasailing,  jet skis, etc.), boat charters & some excursions including a trip to the Everglades that will have to wait until our next visit.

What I was excited about however was the fact that Ft. Lauderdale has some natural (though very modest) reefs of it’s coast that can be snorkeled so I jumped at the chance. I’ve snorkeled man-made reefs in the past but this was my first natural reef.  The pics that I got are not fantastic but very rough seas (from a potential hurricane that thankfully just nicked us really) and poor visibility made it difficult for me to get the best shots.

Hope you enjoy them and the video!

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The reef is doing well, everyone appears healthy and I’m seeing some growth in the Zoas, Duncans & Yuma’s. I’m particularly excited that my expensive, orange ricordea Yuma has produced no less than 3 new babies. The zoas I’ve added this year are starting to spread over the rocks and weir where I have them magnatized and the Duncan is somewhere around 7-8 heads. I removed a Tarot Tree, Xenia & Yellow Polyps and gave them to a fellow local reefer as they were beginning to grow out of control.

I’m selling my Remora Skimmer and have ordered what I hope will be a more efficient skimmer in the CPR Aero Force. It’s only slightly more expensive than the Remora was but the reviews I’ve read and the conversations with other reefers I’ve had indicate that this will be a good upgrade. It’s due in on Monday and I hope to get it installed this week.

CPR Aero Force

Performed a 20% water change, removed the chaeto and rock from the sump and placed it in one of the buckets while I cleaned the detrius that had accumulated in the sump with a powerhead with a hose connected to it. I also trimmed down the chaeto and believe I’m seeing good growth.

Updated the firmware on the Apex to the lastest version and notice a big speed increase on page loads. One nice new feature is the ability to backup and load settings. I also installed the I/O Breakout Box in preparation for adding a WaterBug leak sensor as well as float sensors for an ATO system that I desperately want to get designed and installed this month. More on that later…

Removed the pinkish ATI T-5 bulb from my lighting system and replaced it with the stock 10k bulb until I decide what will be the permanent bulb. Getting the bulb twisted back in the endcap was a test of my patience and I almost lost. Took a q-tip with some baby oil on it and lightly greased them up and that did the trick.

Added several more corals including some SPS, Favia, another Yuma, more Zoas and another really need looking Duncan. Look for new profiles on these corals soon.

Calibrated the PH probe and was happy to see it wasn’t way off when it came in from the factory but it seems it was reading a bit low. PH still hovers in the high 7′s to very low 8′s and I’m still investigating the cause of this. Would like to get it up around 8.3 as I think it may be inhibiting coral growth.

Used the water based Minwax Polycrylic on the stand to aid in cleanup and to protect the wood from salt erosion. Looks great.