Budget Beginnings

Euphylliaphyle · Apr 10, 2026

Euphylliaphyle · Apr 10, 2026

Full ICP-MS results:

Euphylliaphyle · Apr 12, 2026

Dendro polyp extension during peak light period. It's not even fish feeding time yet, and coral feeding day isn't until tomorrow.

Two more mouths to feed. This Caulastrea head is dividing, looks like 1:3.

Euphylliaphyle · Apr 14, 2026

Toby's gone. This morning before lights came on I caught a glimpse of something wrong, out of the corner of my eye, on the side of a powerhead. It was Toby. I was much too late. He was one of our favorites.

RIP

Gumbies R Us · Apr 14, 2026

Euphylliaphyle said:
Toby's gone. This morning before lights came on I caught a glimpse of something wrong, out of the corner of my eye, on the side of a powerhead. It was Toby. I was much too late. He was one of our favorites.

So sorry about your loss.....

Calmwaters · Apr 15, 2026

Euphylliaphyle said:
Toby's gone. This morning before lights came on I caught a glimpse of something wrong, out of the corner of my eye, on the side of a powerhead. It was Toby. I was much too late. He was one of our favorites.

RIP

So sorry for your loss.

Euphylliaphyle · Apr 17, 2026

4/17/2026 Test Results:
● Dosing 2.5 ml/day AFR starting 2/21/2026.
● Tests are post-today's AFR dosing.
● Phosphate tested before a.m. feeding.

○ Ca: 465 ppm (nc/7d)
(target: 400-450 ppm)
per Salifert titration
○ Alk: 8.2 dKH (+0.3/7d)
(target: 8-12 dkH)
per Salifert titration
○ Mg: 1,350 ppm (nc/7d)
(target: 1,250-1,400 ppm)
per Salifert titration
* Stay with 2.5 ml/d AFR.
○ pH: 8.1
(target: 8.1-8.4)
per API colorimetric
○ Salinity: 1.0260 SpG/ 34.9 ppt
(target: 35 ppt)
per TropicMarin hydrometer
○ Temperature: 78.9°F
(target: 73-84°F)
per Weber digital therm.
○ Ammonia: ppm (not tested)
(target: 0 ppm)
per API colorimetric
○ Nitrite: ppm (not tested)
(target: 0 ppm)
per API colorimetric
○ Nitrate: ppm (not tested)
(target: 5-50 ppm*)
per Hanna Checker
○ Phosphate: 0.21 ppm (+0.08/7d)
(target: 0.06-0.3 ppm*)
per Hanna Checker

Euphylliaphyle · Apr 22, 2026

Reef Alert!
GSP colonistas broke contain from GSP Alcatraz mesa!

Lower right, in front of Duncan. I don’t normally run blues, but these guys barely show up under whites.
I'm going in!
Too bad I didn’t see these yesterday before I blew off the rocks, scraped the glass, raked the sand and did a water change.

Euphylliaphyle · Apr 22, 2026

Adding another step to my water change day routine: Examine tank under blue lights before getting wet.

Euphylliaphyle · Apr 25, 2026

One week into dosing trace elements based on ICP-MS. This past week I added:
I⁻, 1 drop daily (MS)
Mn, (Nano)10 drops daily (MS)
Mo, 3.3 ml daily for 5 days (MS)
K, 1.75g daily for 4 days (DIY)
B, 0.066g per day for 2 days (DIY)

MS = Reef Moonshiners product
DIY = mixed myself

The first DIYs were selected because I had everything needed on-hand.

We'll see what happens.

Euphylliaphyle · May 6, 2026

This week I started dosing the following DIY traces:
Ni, 0.4μg daily for 4 days
F, 93 μg daily for 6 days
V, 0.3 μg daily
Rb, 74.3 μg daily for 3 days
Zn, 1.8 μg daily for 2 days
Se, 2.4 μg daily
Fe, 1.2 μg daily
Co, 2.4 μg daily
Cr, 2.4 μg daily

I hope I pass this math & chemistry test!

CHEM101 is a tiny dot in the rear view mirror. Nope. Just disappeared over the horizon.

Euphylliaphyle · May 10, 2026

New discovery: Micro Serpent Starfish. I was blowing detritus off my GSP mat with a turkey baster, causing the polyps to close and giving me a clear view.

Euphylliaphyle · May 15, 2026

5/15/2026 Test Results:

● Dosing 2.5 ml/day AFR starting 2/21/2026.
● Tests are post-today's AFR & trace dosing.
● Phosphate tested before a.m. feeding.

○ Ca: 460 ppm (+5/14d)
(target: 400-450 ppm)
per Salifert titration
○ Alk: 7.1 dKH (-0.7/14d)
(target: 8-12 dkH)
per Salifert titration
○ Mg: 1,320 ppm (+15/14d)
(target: 1,250-1,400 ppm)
per Salifert titration
* Up dosage to 3.0 ml/d AFR.
○ pH: pre-dawn: 7.9, 7.9 mid-day
(target: 8.1-8.4)
per API colorimetric
○ Salinity: 1.0264 SpG/ 35.2 ppt
(target: 35 ppt)
per TropicMarin hydrometer
○ Temperature: 77.9°F
(target: 73-84°F)
per Weber digital therm.
○ Nitrate: 38.7 ppm (+3.5 /8 days)
(target: 5-50 ppm*)
per Hanna HR Checker
○ Phosphate: 0.43 ppm (+0.23/14d)
(target: 0.06-0.3 ppm*)
per Hanna ULR Checker

** Replace RowaPhos, 2 tbsp to target 0.20 ppm (3 tbsp recommended for 32 gallon tank http://rowaphos-calculator.com/ ). Replace when >0.30 ppm again.

** Dose Alk, 27.4 ml RHF R1P2
(7.1 -> 8.3 target)

** bump AFR 2.5 -> 3.0 ml/day.

** re-test Alk, phosphate, pH in 4 days.

Euphylliaphyle · May 17, 2026

Added two new corals yesterday. A teal claw Micromussa lordhowensis (the artist formerly known as Acan) and a Chalice of some type. Very happy with both of these, but not with my phone's camera. These are much better looking in person.

Euphylliaphyle · May 21, 2026

New hitchhiker discovered: Feather Duster Worm!

Euphylliaphyle · Monday at 7:20 AM

Installing ATO and AWC in the form of Smart AWC Duo G2 by AutoAqua. Here is the back room side of things:

Tubing, wires and buckets labeled and color-coded:
Red = waste
Blue = salt mix
White = RO/DI

This is 25' from the tank, in the laundry/ salt mixing room. The homemade dolly is for moving buckets of LFS RO/DI from the garage to here, and moving it into the open for salt mixing as needed, then storing on-deck salt water and RO/DI.

Vinyl tubing and 12v wires for pumps run inside the wall, through the floor and through the encapsulated & climate-controlled crawl space to the closet behind the tank. Then up through the closet floor and through the wall behind the tank to the tank and controller (located inside the tank stand).

More to come, but I'm waiting on the proper pump wire extensions to complete the tank end.