5/8/2017 - Day 365 - ONE YEAR OLD!
Woo-hoo - made it without any major problems. A few unfortunate events with various fish and more coral than I care to think about, but each one taught me something; something I likely needed to know to get as far as I have and will surely need in the future.
I don't really have any great insight to post - it's been a long day of work and "honey-do's". I did manage to snap some pictures, however! I would have preferred to get them mid-day to get the really good extension, but - alas - such was not to be. Ah well; they'll do to document progress, I suppose...
First up; a full cabinet shot. Hey @jsker - still got the baby picture above the tank!
Full Tank Shot (now with cleaner sand):
Some things of note:
- Both clowns are still alive and doing well. They have lived in the zoa garden (among the longer polyps), but now prefer the duncan forest under the arch.
- There's a little pink dot in the lower middle of Star Destroyer Point (on the right). That's one of my original corals - a pink gonni. It wins the award for The Coral That Can Hang On The Longest. It never opens, yet also (seemingly) refuses to die. One of these days I'll figure out how to make it happy...
- Grazer on the left has solidly entered "Snail Time". This happens every night I fill them (which I make sure to do in the AM most days). By night, the snails move in and crawl over each other to get at the leftovers. Seen here are some of the larger specimens in the tank - all of which are from that second (major) round that actually survived.
Left side:
That purple cespitularia started off as a wee tiny thing. I've already chopped it back once to keep it contained on that rock in the corner, too!
Right side:
So glad the rock nems are doing well. I've killed numerous BTAs and won't get any more until I have the time to sort out why...
So that's where it's at. I'm fighting with a hair algae infestation currently. I pulled out about a golfball during the pre-anniversary cleaning, yet there's still more. I would have gotten more out, but Peek-a-Go (the blenny) bit me when I tried to clean it off his home. I left that patch alone... Not really sure what to do about it, to be honest. I've pulled it out a few times now, yet it seems to come back stronger and in more places. So I suspect that while - yes - I'm removing some; I'm also distributing little pieces of it around the tank. I've got the macro down below to try and "outgrow" it, but the macro is not really doing well (I suspect my lights aren't what is needed.. sigh). I could try blacking out the tank, I suppose, but am concerned that a fair number of my corals are on the edge of survival as it is...
Wife has approved the chiller purchase, on the condition that I don't buy any more corals. I'm just going to assume she means "at the same time". I'm sure that's what she meant... My plan is to pick up a chiller during the next BRS group buy (unless there's not one in May, then I'll just order it soon). I'm not really looking forward to having an extra thing outside the cabinet (especially with a baby who now crawls!), but it's better that than I continue with an overly warm tank...
I guess that's about it for now. I'm going to try to get into some kind of thread update cadence; keeping this up-to-date really drives me to keep the tank clean and give it some (more) attention. I've got a Triton test that's been received, so hopefully my next update will include those results! If not, I'll find something to blabber on about, I'm sure. Thanks for following along and being involved!
Woo-hoo - made it without any major problems. A few unfortunate events with various fish and more coral than I care to think about, but each one taught me something; something I likely needed to know to get as far as I have and will surely need in the future.
I don't really have any great insight to post - it's been a long day of work and "honey-do's". I did manage to snap some pictures, however! I would have preferred to get them mid-day to get the really good extension, but - alas - such was not to be. Ah well; they'll do to document progress, I suppose...
First up; a full cabinet shot. Hey @jsker - still got the baby picture above the tank!
Full Tank Shot (now with cleaner sand):
Some things of note:
- Both clowns are still alive and doing well. They have lived in the zoa garden (among the longer polyps), but now prefer the duncan forest under the arch.
- There's a little pink dot in the lower middle of Star Destroyer Point (on the right). That's one of my original corals - a pink gonni. It wins the award for The Coral That Can Hang On The Longest. It never opens, yet also (seemingly) refuses to die. One of these days I'll figure out how to make it happy...
- Grazer on the left has solidly entered "Snail Time". This happens every night I fill them (which I make sure to do in the AM most days). By night, the snails move in and crawl over each other to get at the leftovers. Seen here are some of the larger specimens in the tank - all of which are from that second (major) round that actually survived.
Left side:
That purple cespitularia started off as a wee tiny thing. I've already chopped it back once to keep it contained on that rock in the corner, too!
Right side:
So glad the rock nems are doing well. I've killed numerous BTAs and won't get any more until I have the time to sort out why...
So that's where it's at. I'm fighting with a hair algae infestation currently. I pulled out about a golfball during the pre-anniversary cleaning, yet there's still more. I would have gotten more out, but Peek-a-Go (the blenny) bit me when I tried to clean it off his home. I left that patch alone... Not really sure what to do about it, to be honest. I've pulled it out a few times now, yet it seems to come back stronger and in more places. So I suspect that while - yes - I'm removing some; I'm also distributing little pieces of it around the tank. I've got the macro down below to try and "outgrow" it, but the macro is not really doing well (I suspect my lights aren't what is needed.. sigh). I could try blacking out the tank, I suppose, but am concerned that a fair number of my corals are on the edge of survival as it is...
Wife has approved the chiller purchase, on the condition that I don't buy any more corals. I'm just going to assume she means "at the same time". I'm sure that's what she meant... My plan is to pick up a chiller during the next BRS group buy (unless there's not one in May, then I'll just order it soon). I'm not really looking forward to having an extra thing outside the cabinet (especially with a baby who now crawls!), but it's better that than I continue with an overly warm tank...
I guess that's about it for now. I'm going to try to get into some kind of thread update cadence; keeping this up-to-date really drives me to keep the tank clean and give it some (more) attention. I've got a Triton test that's been received, so hopefully my next update will include those results! If not, I'll find something to blabber on about, I'm sure. Thanks for following along and being involved!