I am making this post so I can express my thoughts to people who may understand. No one in my house really does. Same with close friends, which I don't have many of.
I would like to apologize in advance for this post of mine being so long winded. And I do thank and do appreciate anyone who bothers to read through it all. I truly can understand if I get a bunch of TL;DR.
So I basically suck. I know I do. I fell off. I stopped taking care of my aquarium for a while now. I know I need to do better . I am trying now. This long winded post should prove it .
There was a point in the past year that I really started ignoring/neglecting my aquarium. Mainly after my father unexpectedly passed away. I just haven't been in the mood. Besides being my father he was also my best friend. We spent every weekend together working on all sorts of crazy DIY projects, for at least the last 10 years. And I am not a child, I am in my 40s.
He even helped me do the aquascape for my aquarium. Although salt water aquariums were never his hobby, but he did appreciate what he saw in mine. Expensive as it may be.
I still am not over it and don't think I ever will be - but I have started to get on top of my aquarium again.
I did not do a water change for at least 4-5 months (until 3 weeks ago). I didn't change the RODI filters for at least 8 months (until 2 weeks ago).
I did take care of these things very recently and do have a new RO membrane on order.
I didn't clean my ATS for at least a year now .
My ATS was a DIY I built with my father.
I still haven't cleaned it, but will do it soon. Its cold out. When its not that cold I'll do it .
--
Unfortunately I did have some losses in my time frame of neglect. I have also had some growth explosions.
I lost a beautiful purple tip frogspawn. It started from 2 heads, and it grew to about 15 heads. I noticed it wither away and die in about a week .
I lost a cookie monster SPS frag which was really starting to grow nicely before I fell off. It is not 100% gone yet. But I don't have very high hopes for it now. I was never great with SPS to begin with.
None of my fish died. They all look very healthy. Including a green mandarin I have had for about 8 years and a Blue Spotted Jawfish I have had for about 2 years now. Plus many others.
--
Had a AOI zoa frag gifted to me from an awesome reefer I met from these forums. It has exploded into a full pledged colony now. Probably about 100 or so polyps now.
--
Before I fell off and started neglecting my aquarium I fragged a cantaloupe sized branching neon green hammer, about 16 branches. The mother hammer is still about the same size (does not help that clowns have hosted in it for years). The frag is now about half the size of the mother colony.
--
I added a RBTA about 18 months ago to try to get my clowns away from the hammer. The clowns refuse to leave the hammer alone anyway. But now I have about 15 RBTA's. Which I am currently selling off slowly to locals for super cheap.
--
I am basically giving away Pulsing Xenia to anyone who will take it (except stores).
--
My finger leather has grown from about 5" across when open to about 20" across when open. I am planning on fragging that very soon. To either give away or sell if I can.
--
So many other things...
--
My ricordea's have started growing out of control.
I have several other Zoa colonies that have exploded. One main colony must be over 400 polyps (i didn't count, its a lot).
--
There is some more I'm sure, but I've already probably bored most of you who got this far so I'll stop.
--
To the nitty gritty;
My Neptune trident stopped working at least 4 months ago. So my Alk,Cal,Mag readings were - I have no idea. Yet my DOS kept on dosing 2 part.
So I fixed the trident a few days ago. The sample line was clogged and needed to be replaced and the little adapter for the sample line was clogged, I unclogged it with a needle.
Then I recalibrated it, made sure all solutions were good and full, and let it run its tests.
CAL 600
Alk 7.9
Mag - 1380
Ran Hanna tests and they corroborate the trident test results.
I also tested for PO4 and NO3.
Phosphate 0.10
Nitrate 13.4
PH swings from 8.35 down to about 8.0 daily.
Temps never swings more then 1 degree. Between 76 and 77.
Salinity stays at about 33.5ppt
Par is at about a max of 300 at top shelf. (I need to replace my T5 bulbs)
So just today my wife showed me a picture of an amazing looking Goniopora (Pixie Dream).
Needless to say, I haven't added any new live stock to my tank in a long time.
But I may. After i do a few water changes, clean the ATS, target to get my PO4 down to 0.05. Raise Alk up some and lower Cal down some. Then I may.
Thank you all for taking the time to read my recent experience in this wonderful, crazy, unpredictable, laborious, rewarding, life long hobby.
-Alex
I would like to apologize in advance for this post of mine being so long winded. And I do thank and do appreciate anyone who bothers to read through it all. I truly can understand if I get a bunch of TL;DR.
So I basically suck. I know I do. I fell off. I stopped taking care of my aquarium for a while now. I know I need to do better . I am trying now. This long winded post should prove it .
There was a point in the past year that I really started ignoring/neglecting my aquarium. Mainly after my father unexpectedly passed away. I just haven't been in the mood. Besides being my father he was also my best friend. We spent every weekend together working on all sorts of crazy DIY projects, for at least the last 10 years. And I am not a child, I am in my 40s.
He even helped me do the aquascape for my aquarium. Although salt water aquariums were never his hobby, but he did appreciate what he saw in mine. Expensive as it may be.
I still am not over it and don't think I ever will be - but I have started to get on top of my aquarium again.
I did not do a water change for at least 4-5 months (until 3 weeks ago). I didn't change the RODI filters for at least 8 months (until 2 weeks ago).
I did take care of these things very recently and do have a new RO membrane on order.
I didn't clean my ATS for at least a year now .
My ATS was a DIY I built with my father.
I still haven't cleaned it, but will do it soon. Its cold out. When its not that cold I'll do it .
--
Unfortunately I did have some losses in my time frame of neglect. I have also had some growth explosions.
I lost a beautiful purple tip frogspawn. It started from 2 heads, and it grew to about 15 heads. I noticed it wither away and die in about a week .
I lost a cookie monster SPS frag which was really starting to grow nicely before I fell off. It is not 100% gone yet. But I don't have very high hopes for it now. I was never great with SPS to begin with.
None of my fish died. They all look very healthy. Including a green mandarin I have had for about 8 years and a Blue Spotted Jawfish I have had for about 2 years now. Plus many others.
--
Had a AOI zoa frag gifted to me from an awesome reefer I met from these forums. It has exploded into a full pledged colony now. Probably about 100 or so polyps now.
--
Before I fell off and started neglecting my aquarium I fragged a cantaloupe sized branching neon green hammer, about 16 branches. The mother hammer is still about the same size (does not help that clowns have hosted in it for years). The frag is now about half the size of the mother colony.
--
I added a RBTA about 18 months ago to try to get my clowns away from the hammer. The clowns refuse to leave the hammer alone anyway. But now I have about 15 RBTA's. Which I am currently selling off slowly to locals for super cheap.
--
I am basically giving away Pulsing Xenia to anyone who will take it (except stores).
--
My finger leather has grown from about 5" across when open to about 20" across when open. I am planning on fragging that very soon. To either give away or sell if I can.
--
So many other things...
--
My ricordea's have started growing out of control.
I have several other Zoa colonies that have exploded. One main colony must be over 400 polyps (i didn't count, its a lot).
--
There is some more I'm sure, but I've already probably bored most of you who got this far so I'll stop.
--
To the nitty gritty;
My Neptune trident stopped working at least 4 months ago. So my Alk,Cal,Mag readings were - I have no idea. Yet my DOS kept on dosing 2 part.
So I fixed the trident a few days ago. The sample line was clogged and needed to be replaced and the little adapter for the sample line was clogged, I unclogged it with a needle.
Then I recalibrated it, made sure all solutions were good and full, and let it run its tests.
CAL 600
Alk 7.9
Mag - 1380
Ran Hanna tests and they corroborate the trident test results.
I also tested for PO4 and NO3.
Phosphate 0.10
Nitrate 13.4
PH swings from 8.35 down to about 8.0 daily.
Temps never swings more then 1 degree. Between 76 and 77.
Salinity stays at about 33.5ppt
Par is at about a max of 300 at top shelf. (I need to replace my T5 bulbs)
So just today my wife showed me a picture of an amazing looking Goniopora (Pixie Dream).
Needless to say, I haven't added any new live stock to my tank in a long time.
But I may. After i do a few water changes, clean the ATS, target to get my PO4 down to 0.05. Raise Alk up some and lower Cal down some. Then I may.
Thank you all for taking the time to read my recent experience in this wonderful, crazy, unpredictable, laborious, rewarding, life long hobby.
-Alex
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