July 16, 2006–January 11, 2009
Phase 2 of The Plan was supposed to be adding invertebrates, more specifically: getting a featherduster. After all, that’s the whole reason I set up an experimental nanoreef tank. As it turned out featherdusters marked the approximate mid-point of Phase 2, rather than the beginning of Phase 2. I fell prey to the lure of impulse buying and got my first invertebrate—a turbo snail (who I named Joe Turbo)—on July 16, 2006. Then when MACNA was in Houston fall 2006 I couldn’t resist getting a small inexpensive colony of zoanthids, zoanthus sociatus. The turbo snail did not survive, passing away a day or so before MACNA. 
The zooanthid colony more than doubled in size before mysteriously declining. With one polyp remaining, but not thriving, I re-homed it by donating it to a display tank at my LFS in Oct ‘07 before moving everything from the 10 gallon nanoreef to a 29 gallon mini-reef. Three months after I got the zooathids I got an astrea snail (named Astrid) to handle the algae which had gotten completely out of hand. The astrea snail made some inroads in the algae situation, though not as well the turbo snail did, so I bought a tiny red-legged hermit crab (named Calypso) to help out. In April ‘07 I got two more snails, a Turridrupa cerithina which is a substrate-dwelling sand-sifter and another snail of an unknown species which also spent part of the time under the substrate, and part time at the waterline. Then on May 6th, 2007 I had the thrill of discovering a featherduster hitchhiker in the tank! 
I got a featherduster thanks to Astrid, the astrea snail. 
Sadly, both the Astrea snail and featherduster have now passed away. I acquired another hermit crab of the same type as Calypso, naming her/it “Cali”. Some months later I acquired a third hermit crab (of the same type) which I named Cortez.
When I set up a 29 gallon mini-reef in the fall of 2007, I got more live rock, one of which sprouted what appeared to be small white sponges. (Though they didn’t survive, the name “sponge rock” stuck.) I moved the rocks, substrate and invertebrates (two hermit crabs: Cali and Calypso) and the Turridrupa cerithina snail (Drew) from the 10 gallon tank into the new tank. Amphipods hatched out in the tank about two months after I had everything in it. 
I also spotted a small bristleworm of some type, which has since multiplied. With the addition of more live rock in 2008, I acquired a hitchhiker snail tentatively identified as Stomatella varia.
The algae situation on the original Fiji rock changed, with bare smooth areas appearing where it appears some type of corralline algae has gotten a foothold, though it is still the primary habitat of an unknown species of microalgae (aka “nuisance algae). Other algaes in the tank include two different species of Halimeda, one with small segments and one with much larger segments. One of the new rocks (ledge rock) sprouted Neomeris annulata macroalgae. I also purchased some unusual macroalgae (possibly Dicthyota sp.) which goes through periods of growth and decline and looks very nice.
Featherdusters! On January 26, 2008 I got two Seballastarte featherdusters, over two years after I got my first piece of Fiji live rock and began this blog. I later got a third featherduster, but it was short-lived. Ideally, I’d like three featherdusters in the tank, but since the two have been thriving for a year now I’ve decided to move on to Phase 3.
I added more rock in 2008 until I had 28.5 pounds, a half pound short of the minimum recommended amount for a 29 gallon tank. I may get one more rock to put on top of the ledge rock at some point in the future.
I also added two peppermint shrimp in 2008, despite some trepidation that they might not be compatible with the featherdusters. I began with one full-grown (or nearly so) shrimp with the idea that I could move him to a small tank of his own if he became a problem. After some months it became apparent that he had no interest in molesting the featherdusters, so I got a second smaller peppermint shrimp, who also turned out to be well-behaved.
Phase 2 is completed. Though I could have declared this as soon as I acquired the featherdusters in January 2008, I waited a year do the final assessments and close out this page. Though I may acquire one more featherduster and one more rock during 2009, I think the tank and its inhabitants are ready to move to Phase 3: corallimorpharians. 
