My last post was about two months ago but a lot has been going on.
I finished replacing the T5 bulbs over the fuge. $200 total but well worth it.
I'm trying to encourage copepod growth so I removed the fairy wrasses from the sump. I also need to remove a mandarin and a rhino file fish. I did, however, add a bunch of cheto which is now happily sucking up nutrients!
I'd been running the dosing pump about 5-6 months. The lines were right next to a return pump. I realized I was growing more coralline algae in the sump then I was corals in the aquarium. I had wanted to keep a clean look with no tubes running through the wall. Oh well, I finally broke down and tapped holes in the wall. Everything in the display is looking much better now.
Since the aquarium was started I'd been topping off the aquarium by hand. With a mostly open-topped 125 gal for the sump I was loosing gallons a day. In mid June (just before an extended trip) I purchased Tunze ATO unit. It was well worth the investment. Salinity is far more stable and everything is just a little easier. I dare say ATOs are like timers for your lights: once once you've used them you're never going back lol.
That's been a lot of the infrastructure stuff.
On the crappy side I've been dealing with astria stars. I added some harlequin shrimp and they'd been doing a good job managing the population for a few months. I've never been able to figure out where they settled but I'm noticing an up-tick in stars again.
Wonder if I lost maybe one or both.
I've also had Dino flagellets show up along with nuisance algae. The flame fin tang isn't interested in helping me out lol. I upgraded the phosphate reactor to a TLF 550 and moved it from sump to tank. This has kept the algae in check but not eliminated it. The Dino's haven't been too bad but I want them gone. I'd tried doing a series of h2o changes but far from knocking them out it actually encouraged growth. Water from the RO unit is fine, still trying to figure out why this started. Anyhow I've purchased a coralife x6 turbo twist sterilizer. I've never used sterilizes myself and I've heard many mixed reactions over the years. I think in this targeted application it might get me over the hump!
The good- well I've met a lot of new folks the last 7 months and I've been busy trading. Nearly everything has been zoas (which are what I love) but I've also added a few chalices which are starting to grow on me.
The ugly- I had another limb come outta the locust tree in my backyard. It was ~6" off the power line. Now the whole tree is going to be removed. It's a bummer but necessary as it's been dropping big limbs the last two years.
