I was away for a few days. The ATO, lights and skimmer were all fine while I was gone and for three days there were zero feedings of any kind. As expected, leaving the tank completely unattended led to an outbreak of good things. All forms of algae have receded and almost all fish and corals are looking well. The only negative thing was the second head of our hammer coral died. The hammer was in the tank for six weeks. One head died and the other met its demise about 10 days later. The corals that came in the same order are all doing very well. So far, our only unexplained casualties were all three shrimp and now the Hammer coral. The Duncans are looking much better, but still have not fully opened to my expectations.
Over the past week I added a few more Trochus snails and to add variety I added some small Nerites. I do not expect the Nerites to do much really, but their tiny size will allow them to get to detritus in some tighter spots. I also added some Turbo snails. I ordered ten from LiveAquaria and requested 1" or less in size. They sent me six 2" snails. Hmmm... oh well, we will see how they fare. I only worry because none of my rocks are secured by anything other than gravity. A 2" Turbo may be able to move a supporting piece. We shall see.
The last thing to note is I did a major equipment cleaning when I returned from our trip. The gyre and skimmer were disassembled and vigorously cleaned and the back chambers were scrub brushed well. The gyre and skimmer were not as bad as I expected, but both are flowing through better. I find the Chaetomorpha LED is causing a good amount of Cyanobacteria in that back area, so I will need to keep on that before it blocks or covers the Chaeto.
That is all for now. I forgot to take pictures today, so maybe I will get some tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
Over the past week I added a few more Trochus snails and to add variety I added some small Nerites. I do not expect the Nerites to do much really, but their tiny size will allow them to get to detritus in some tighter spots. I also added some Turbo snails. I ordered ten from LiveAquaria and requested 1" or less in size. They sent me six 2" snails. Hmmm... oh well, we will see how they fare. I only worry because none of my rocks are secured by anything other than gravity. A 2" Turbo may be able to move a supporting piece. We shall see.
The last thing to note is I did a major equipment cleaning when I returned from our trip. The gyre and skimmer were disassembled and vigorously cleaned and the back chambers were scrub brushed well. The gyre and skimmer were not as bad as I expected, but both are flowing through better. I find the Chaetomorpha LED is causing a good amount of Cyanobacteria in that back area, so I will need to keep on that before it blocks or covers the Chaeto.
That is all for now. I forgot to take pictures today, so maybe I will get some tomorrow. Thanks for reading!