Weird things I came back to:
1. Nuvo 10g AIO was clogged, so ATO emptied putting water level to the screen top (salinity dropped 1.026 -> 1.024... benefits of using a water bottle ATO is not overflowing or too huge salinity dip).
2. RFA "shed" skin of its foot and had a walk, found on the side glass, obviously passed between the hammer/octospawn/torch--they are not happy at all and hiding today; Pulled out the shed mucousy skin and found it was covered in TDO pellet mush, like 20+ pellets-worth of mush--apparently the new Eheim autofeeder/feeding ring wasn't working very well. I tested it beforehand, but obviously not enough.
3. Gorgonian seems to have shed skin as well. All polyps were retracted.
4. PO4 > 3, up from the 0.5ish level I was at before leaving. Haven't even checked NO3 or other parameters.
What to do? Well, my coworker took out the Seachem Matrix and live rock rubble from the back chambers yesterday in case it was causing the clog. Didn't smell great sitting in still tank water overnight. Cleaned out chambers, wiped down pump, and found that the culprit for the clog was the filter floss--despite coworker rinsing it out every 2 days, seems like the inside between the course and fine filter pads was gummed up with TDO pellet mush. Water was barely going through it. Changed 3 gallons of water, replaced Matrix and Rubble, added new Carbon/Purigen/Phosguard, and added a few drops of Prime in case ammonium decided to creep up.
Good news:
1. Tank didn't seem to crash, got to it in time, although will keep holding breath--I know a lot of the negative effects of these swings can manifest way down the line... fingers crossed.
2. Clam seems unaffected so far by the swings, fingers crossed.
3. Tailspot blenny and firefish still alive, just looking hungry.
4. Moved the RFA back to the sand bed and it seems to have re-attached and opened up again, fingers crossed.
5. Some polyps coming out of gorgonian again, fingers crossed.
6. 2 out of 3 crabs found alive (green porcelain hiding or no longer with us).
Now to figure out how to failsafe the tank for future business trips/vacations... Thinking that the fish might have to learn to fast over the weekend if I can't dial in the autofeeder. Switch from coworker rinsing filter floss pads to changing new ones every 1-2 days.
1. Nuvo 10g AIO was clogged, so ATO emptied putting water level to the screen top (salinity dropped 1.026 -> 1.024... benefits of using a water bottle ATO is not overflowing or too huge salinity dip).
2. RFA "shed" skin of its foot and had a walk, found on the side glass, obviously passed between the hammer/octospawn/torch--they are not happy at all and hiding today; Pulled out the shed mucousy skin and found it was covered in TDO pellet mush, like 20+ pellets-worth of mush--apparently the new Eheim autofeeder/feeding ring wasn't working very well. I tested it beforehand, but obviously not enough.
3. Gorgonian seems to have shed skin as well. All polyps were retracted.
4. PO4 > 3, up from the 0.5ish level I was at before leaving. Haven't even checked NO3 or other parameters.
What to do? Well, my coworker took out the Seachem Matrix and live rock rubble from the back chambers yesterday in case it was causing the clog. Didn't smell great sitting in still tank water overnight. Cleaned out chambers, wiped down pump, and found that the culprit for the clog was the filter floss--despite coworker rinsing it out every 2 days, seems like the inside between the course and fine filter pads was gummed up with TDO pellet mush. Water was barely going through it. Changed 3 gallons of water, replaced Matrix and Rubble, added new Carbon/Purigen/Phosguard, and added a few drops of Prime in case ammonium decided to creep up.
Good news:
1. Tank didn't seem to crash, got to it in time, although will keep holding breath--I know a lot of the negative effects of these swings can manifest way down the line... fingers crossed.
2. Clam seems unaffected so far by the swings, fingers crossed.
3. Tailspot blenny and firefish still alive, just looking hungry.
4. Moved the RFA back to the sand bed and it seems to have re-attached and opened up again, fingers crossed.
5. Some polyps coming out of gorgonian again, fingers crossed.
6. 2 out of 3 crabs found alive (green porcelain hiding or no longer with us).
Now to figure out how to failsafe the tank for future business trips/vacations... Thinking that the fish might have to learn to fast over the weekend if I can't dial in the autofeeder. Switch from coworker rinsing filter floss pads to changing new ones every 1-2 days.
