Well, sorry I haven't updated in a while. On top of everything with family, trying to keep the tank from stalling out, and everything, my husband had surgery to have his pacemaker replaced Tuesday! HAHA!! Plus 2 toddlers - - - its been a little nuts in the Cooper household!
So - the tank is going well!! I have been ghost feeding for almost 2 weeks! I put some table shrimp in to spike my ammonia - but it never got above .5. I know this isn't a "spike" but the bacteria I used are supposed to prevent a spike. So - I guess they did their job! I was nervous about fish, so I did the cycle OLD SCHOOL! I got snails from reef cleaners, and he has been amazing, but we are on day 2 - and about 90% of them haven't come out yet! Hoping most of them do, but we will see.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate hanging around 10-15
Calcium 400
Sailfert: Alk 1.82, KH 5.1 (I am not sure what these should be, but I started testing them. A friend sail alk should be 7.5, but the chart on this test only goes to 5.6. It says mg/L. . . not sure how to convert) Any help with chemistry stuff is welcome!
I just purchased a magnesium test, as well as EVS dosing of calc, alk and mag to have on hand. I won't do any of that until I do a water change this weekend.
I got some new corals. They look ok. I was just upset because one came WITH aptasia on it! So - now I have to make SURE to QT that until it is gone or figure out how to switch plugs. I haven't dipped them yet but I will tonight. I moved my corals from my old tank that I had in QT to the main tank, and they seem to be very happy there!
I turned the skimmer on a couple days ago and all is well! Seems to even be dialed in pretty well!!
I had one of the cardinals in QT lose part of his tail!! Everyone said it looked like aggression, so I gerry-rigged a container for the bully! HAHA. By morning it had come apart and he was out. My husband was supposed to separate them while I was gone, but having no clue what he was doing, he waited until I got back. Well . . . stubby's tail is growing back already and I have seen NO aggression since then! Maybe the threat of locking up the bully alone knocked some sense into him! HAHA. The gobys and Cardinals are all doing great!
I am QT'ing a pair of black clowns for my sister in law who is keeping my old 120. Treating with prazi now - and they are doing well also! I already have them trained to eat from my hand. Going to be hard to give them up I think!
I am hoping to add clowns on Saturday or sunday. I am now running my kessils about 6 hours per day hoping for the diatom bloom soon! (Not sure how long that takes to start after using lights).
So - its all coming together!!
Excited to see it all working and full of life! Here are some pics over the past week!
