My puppy is all grown up after 2+ years. This is my first pup as an adult, and I just can't describe how amazing it has been. Everyone is different, but I don't think I could ever live without a dog in my life again. She's an extension of me. I guess this breed (like many others) are considered "velcro dogs," and there's not a moment she's not within a few feet of me at any given time. Right now she's curled up on her bed next to my desk. If my chair moves ever so slightly, she'll pop up and see if we're going to do something.
She gets me into a great routine of relaxing daily outings. Instead of just going for walks around the neighborhood, I'm excited every day to explore with her. Sometimes it's urban outings, and in the winter, it was hiking all over the place.
She reminds me of the joy of being present. She reminds me that life is fleeting, but fulfilling if you can see even the smallest things as valuable.
The best thing is, I've realized that owning a dog is all about "working" together. Play and interaction for us is hiking, trail running, cross-country skiing, and more... but throughout it all we spend most of the days/time training. Learning new tricks, practicing polite manners, and more. She's a working type of dog with a strong drive, and channeling this into "play," has been amazing.
TL;DR: Now that she's matured a bit, I've been spending more time on the tank. Here are some updates:
1. I got a Reefi Uno to replace the Hydra 52HD. I bought an extra case to paint it white. The Hydra fan, I believe, stopped working. I liked the Reefi because the "reflectors" keep it from glaring everywhere, and being in my home office I wanted that. It's compact size was really cool. I liked that I was supporting Daniel, who is a hobbyist himself who is really responsive and cares about the reef community. Aside from that, the Hydra's cool white LEDs were just too harsh on the corals I believe, so I wanted to try the Reefi's ability to overpower some of the blues to give the tank the whiter look I was hoping for. So far so good. It's a bit more purple, but I'll slowly keep adjusting it.
2. I started up my algae reactor again. A fellow hobbyist nearby gave me a big chunk of his chaeto and I'm now dosing 3ml of Brightwell Chaetogro. I'm hoping this will help grow chaeto this time to help overpower some of my algae that's growing on the sand.
3. I stopped dosing Amino acids and NoPox. I actually did this by accident as I was so busy I forgot to refill them, and realized that after a long time of not dosing, my dinoflagellates never came back. So what the heck, just stopped. Now I had two heads on the DOS empty, so I'm using one now for the chaetogro. This just feels more sustainable now.
4. I changed out from dosing Aquaforest Components for Alk/CA to simply using b-ionic Alk and CA solutions. This actually has helped a lot with the corals, and I'm starting to see a lot more growth and less "stunted" looks after the last 4-5 months. I should have gone this route from the beginning.
5. I'm going to be adding two AI Nero 3 pumps, and then using my maxpect gyre on a low setting pushing water down and behind the rockwork instead. I think I want to try a more chaotic flow, rather than the super distributed gyre only flow. These are ordered and I'm waiting for them to be delivered next week.
6. Now that the alk/ca levels seem to be good and my SPS have been looking great, I've added two mini-colonies of Shades of Fall and BC Battlestag. I've also added a small red robin stag frag. I lost my Walt Disney frag because it fell into the rockwork, bummer. So now I'm at those three pieces, a sunset montipora, and a recovering pearlberry (at least I think it's a pearlberry).
7. I ordered an Avast Plank feeder. I hope that using reef chili and other foods will help the tank thrive a bit more, especially feeding throughout the day. I haven't been feeding the tank at all, other than TDO pellets for the fish.
That's it. So just waiting on the new pumps, avast plank feeder, and paint my Reefi's case white. I'll post photos tonight.
