LED Upgrade
Things are moving along. More veligers have metamorphosed into sluglets, and they appear to be feeding and growing. Come back soon for photos.
Box of Slugs and Bryopsis Growout 11/9/14
I squeezed in a little time to upgrade the setup over the past week. Improvement 1 is the 10 gallon dedicated Bryopsis growout tank on the lower level. The new Evergrow S2 LED lights are supposed to have the optimal spectrum for macroalgae growth (hence the reddishness of the light).
Improvement 2 is the replacement of the ancient compact fluorescent fixture on the Box of Slugs with an Evergrow d2040. Nice little unit, with controls for the blue and white channels. Made a quick and dirty frame from angle aluminum to raise it up to light more of the tank. Still could use a bit more spread.
Next steps include a more controlled environment for hatching and a system for larval growout. As always, stay tuned.
I think this is most interesting and edifying. You are building a real ecosystem for Elysia. Very nice indeed.
Fortunately, they seem to be simple slugs with simple needs. Given the apparent ease of propagation, they could turn out to be a fantastic model mollusc for studying development and neurobiology.