6/14
So it has been a little over 2 weeks since my last update and there have been a few developments!!!
So I was on the road to defeating my Dino bloom and the tank was really starting to look great again. But like always there is a "but" with these tanks, it was time to conduct my second water change in the tank. The monthly water change was fuel for the little bit of Dino that I had in the tank and it was trying its best to take off again. So after fighting this for a month, I decided that it was time to take some aggressive action and went the UV light route. I installed it (See below), stirred up the sand and cleaned the glass every night to release as much into the water column as possible, and after 3 days, Dino's are gone!!!! Haven't seen a trace of them. So knock on wood, this is the last time I will see of them.
AQUA UV 8 Watt Inline: So for the size of my tank, I opted for the 8 watt inline Aqua UV. The installation was pretty straight forward but there were a few changes that needed to be made. The Aqua UV inline version only had 3/4" barbs on it for the tubing so I had to do a few changes to my plumbing. Luckily, the Sicce 1.5 I had in my return chamber had both a 1/2" and 3/4" tubing adapter so that was straight forward as far as routing that tubing. I had to get an adapter to change the 3/4" outlet from the Aqua UV back to 1/2" for the return into the tank. While I had the Sicce 1.5 out, I turned it up fully just to make sure it could overcome all head loss of the installed UV. Started the pump, checked for leaks (NONE) and then plugged the UV light in. Overall it installed with little effort. I have it temporarily hanging on the back of the tank while I look for a more permanent bracket setup for it, as it is not as clean of an install as I prefer with my tank setup. But again, 3 days of running the UV light and no signs of Dino.
The Anemone: So the Nem has been driving me crazy as he has been on the move, walking, floating around the tank, hiding in corners, trying to get his arms chopped off, trying to kill my coral, for the last 2 weeks. So I decided to try something out with him to see if he will settle. I had set up all kinds of flow variations with the MP10 powerhead initially to try and mimic as many different ocean environements that the Mobius controller would allow me. Friday (6/11) I picked just the tidal swell enviroment to see if the Nem would settle in to a spot and get used to that one current in the tank, and low and behold he did. (SO FAR) We are only a few days into doing this and if it works I am guessing this will be the environment that will have to stick around for a while so he remains happy and locked in to his current spot. Oh and we did get him a second clown fish. They are both hosting him and were the main reason for grouding him when he was floating around the tank. Together they make quite a team together. So we now have a snowflake and a picasso together.
My Goby has also started swimming around the tank recently. I thought it was super neat at first and then I started reading about them wanting to jump out of the tank when they are swimming around. He almost always goes back down to where his shrimp lives, but I fear he is doing research on his suicide attempt.... In the mean time I am spot feeding him just incase he hasn't been getting enough from the clown fish and his swimming is just him looking for food. I will keep everyone posted on this one!!
Overall, its been another busy two weeks in the tank. I will post pictures later today of the Aqua UV installed, a hopefully still settled Anemone, and a Goby that hasn't committed suicide. Life in the small tank world is crazy!!!
