My 29G pre-Reef FOWLR Tank

[VR28man]

So, I've been planning a reef tank for a year (estimated cost $3000 including apex), and I won't have that kind of money free for at least six months. So I decided to go cheap with a small FO-tank, W maybe a bit of LR.

I used a 29G from Petco and one of their Imagitarium (store brand) stands (cost $110 out the door). Since I want to have jawfish, I ordered about 40lbs Caribsea Seafor Super Reef, to get an objective 2-2.5" sandbed for them (they can dig to their heart's content to get things deeper).

Water is from Walmart's filtered water dispenser; I'm not happy that the TDS is 20, but I figure for these purposes it's OK. Salt is Red Sea (regular, not coral pro). I added seachem to remove chloramine, and the readings for that are zero.

So, with that as a background, I began........

....but I had a misadventure: I decided to mix the initial batch of salt in the tank; but not only did I add too much salt (no patience), I also added the gravel first. This caused about a week's of trouble, but the tank is clear now and the salnity is around 35ppm.

Yesterday (8/24) I added a whole (small, 55ml) bottle of Dr. Tim's bacteria mix and his proscribed amount of ammonia (120 drops).

About 24 hours later now, I've done an initial set of tests, parameters are as follows:

Salinity: 35
Salifert NH3+NH4: 0.5-0.6 range
Salifert 'Trate: 10+

I measured salinity with a Red Sea refractometer. I'm not too fond of this; it needs to be frequently recalibrated with the calibration fluid. The measurements are hard to read too. But it's better than the BRS one I also tried (returned because that particular sample was uncalibratable).

Another thing with this tank: I'm using a (trusted) fellow aquarist's bacteria-laden MarinePure block. I hope this will help with the cycling/bacteria seeding process.

 

[VR28man]

And a picture.....

Today's numbers:

Salinity is still around 37 ppt. Once the tank finishes cycling I'm going to remove about 2 gallons and replace it with freshwater.

Ammonia was notably darker - I'd say more towards the 1.0 color on the salifert (WAG: 0.8)

Nitrate was also darker - more towards salifert's 0.25 (WAG: 0.20)

I am tempted to buy Hanna checkers now.

 

[VR28man]

Today's measurements: Ammonia 0.5, Nitrate 10.

I'm a bit surprised Nitrate has gone down, which I attribute to two potential factors: 1) operator error reading these silly color charts 2) the fact that I used a well seeded marinepure (in admitedly a quite small tank for such a small block) might mean that nitrate-processing bacteria inside took care of it.

ETA: per Dr. Tim's instructions (day 3, if ammonia is below 2.0 then) added about 30 drops of ammonia.

 

[VR28man]

8/28 Ammonia was a bit darker than 0.5. Nitrates were almost 25. Based on the Salifert kits.

Seems to me that that ammonia is processed relatively quickly into Nitrate?

8/29 measurements: Ammonia 0.25, Nitrate a bit darker than 25. Edited today rather than making a new post.

 

[VR28man]

I have been doing daily measurements, but haven't posted it daily (much, I'm sure, to everyone's disappointment ) because I've had other things to do.

Ammonia went back down to near zero on 8/30. However, there was an ammonia spike in a bucket where I was keeping some extra ceramic "dry rock" from Caribsea, starfish, and a hermit crab (the bucket originally contained the marinepure, and these were hitchhikers). Since Dr. Tim's recommended adding fish at that time (which I haven't done), I decided that the tank looks roughly cycled, and the tank would be better for these folks than the bucket. [some Caribsea "rock" was put straight into the tank about a week ago, another half stayed in the bucket this week]

So, I added the bucket's ceramic Caribsea rock, the starfishes, the hermit (1), and some other coral rock I got from a beach a long time ago (an eroded dead coral of somesort, and part of a branch of a Pocillopora), which was curing in the bucket.

Ammonia has stayed near zero (to include after one marine algae tablet which disappeared pretty quickly). However, Nitrates are up at a little bit more than 25; my guess is 30-35.

The Caribsea "rocks" that spent the extra week in the bucket have a yellow encrusting type growth; my guess is Diatoms but I don't know. It's hard to get a good shot with the iphone, but I tried to get focus and (especially) white balance correct, and it's mostly there. I am going to add a few trochus type snails, though.

I intend, if ammonia continues to be around 0, to reduce some of the nitrates via a water change, and then add some fish (yellow headed jawfish from KPaquatics) this week or next.

And an FTS:

 

[VR28man]

I did get 4 nassarius snails and add them (my first purchased livestock). They have been eating the hypothesized "diatoms", but only one of them is coming out at all, and usually at night (s/he doesn't like the day or when the kessil is on).

Livestock now includes one very small hermit crab (picked up off the floor at fragfest while I was cleaning the floor, who has been unlocated for like 3 days), lots of small starfish (came with the Marinepure) and a few very small larval size snails (possibly came with the marine pure, possibly came with the beach rocks since i didn't notice them before I started trying to cure the beach rocks).

Nitrates were around 20 and I did a ~50% water change, so things will be a bit more hospitable for the snails. Will take pH, ammonia, nitrate measurements tomorrow, but I am a bit worried about an ammonia spike if the snails died (since I can't see them

), but as of tonight ammonia still is 0.

 

[VR28man]

Received two (mated pair) pearly jawfish today from KPaquatics*. Acclimated them (temperature equalization, and then added ~20ml of tank water about every 3 min for 30 min, per the sticky on RC that says miminze acclimation time, and even if there's a big differential do not acclimate any longer than 30 min unless it's a very fragile fish), and added them**. So far they are doing excellently. They stick together and have started building a burrow (behind the Marinepure). That being said, I kept the Kessil 360WE on all afternoon, and feel they might have been more comfortable if it was off.

They have even started eating a little bit - fed them a cube of Omega One "Predator food" - Mysis, Brine shrimp, bloodworm combo- from Petco because I forgot to order Mysis before they arrived! I put the cube in tank water, then sucked it into a turkey baster and expelled it into the stream of the powerhead. This kept all kinds of wormy things floating around the tank which definitely got the Jawfish's attention, though I'm not sure they ate much of it.

A whole cube was also bit too much, I think, but the snails came out in force. Two of them were out during feeding time, and I saw what I take to be another's antenna. Later, after lights out, I saw three out and the antenna of the fourth. I added four, but have only seen one out at night at any given time, and was worried some of them may have died. But, I've had no ammonia spikes........

Salinity was 34, pH 8.6 (with a pH pen). I've been keeping up my ammonia and 'trate measurements until today, and did not see any changes yesterday. I'll check things out tomorrow to see if the fish/feeding has led to elevated ammonia levels.

And as an aside, I may add a small amount of display macroalgae (small calcerous piece and a carefully chosen caluerpa species, not a prolific go sexual type), but after that this tank is done with additional livestock for at least a month. I'm already worried I added too much (4 snails, two mature jawfish) too fast (over 1 week, maybe two weeks into the tanks life)


* FL Keys based collector. Customer service was unresponsive to queries for the past week, but I was asking somewhat annoying questions maybe; they also just got back from their vacation, and were rushing their last shipments out while preparing for an imminent Cat 5 hurricane Irma that may ruin their business, so I cut them slack here. They took the money easy enough. Packing was excellent. They apparently dumped Fedex for UPS recently, and UPS was a load of drama - missed the first overnight delivery date, was able to deliver the "overnight" pack but missed their 10:30 guarantee; I had to go out and find the driver at around 12PM so I could go to work; fortunately I found him a few blocks away and he let me take the package after showing his license. I wish KP aquatics the best during this time, and hope they can get back on their feet soon!

However, the bag showed a pH of 7.5 (measured immediately upon opening) and salinity of 25 (! - I thought it may have been a fluke, but I checked the tank immediately before and after and it gave a consistent 34. Obviously, I measured salinity only once before starting acclimation, and afterward measurements are useless)

** I thought that since these were my first fish, I didn't "need" to quarantine them. However, looking at it a second time, I may have to deal with the possibility of them developing Ich or somesuch in a month, which would be easier if I used a q-tank. Well, worst come to worse I can remove the snails, the gravel and the marinepure and have a 30g quarantine tank if there's an ich outbreak. or maybe just tear the tank down and rebuild it - not like there's much there yet.

 

[VR28man]

Video for today. Will be adding today's measurements later - overall, the measurements for the past few days have been stable.

 

[VR28man]

So, the jawfish have been in for a week. Initially, the moved under the Marinepure, but for better or worse I didn’t like that (or where the Marinepure was) and so I moved the Marinepure to the other side the the tank and buried it deeper.

I was also worried about the jawfish; I only saw one out “guarding the den.

Well I didn’t have to worry; on moving the Marinepure last Sunday the other jawfish came out; both were reasonably active and eating for Sunday and Monday. After moving the Marinepure they started remaking their den. They put a lot of work into it - they have an apparent tunnel and they’ve moved every single one of the fairly abundant shell and ceramic rocks into a part of their den. It takes up about half the (30X12) tank (2.5” overall sandbed) and has many apparent shell or small rock covered entrances.

Still, they hide. I only see the small one when it deigns to pop its eyes out of the den (and remove its shell door). They won’t eat, at least not with me around*.

Neverthless, even though this is my first update in a week, I have been doing measurements each day. Salinity has been stable at 33ppt, ph has swung from 8.4-8.7 up and down. Today, after feeding maybe too much Mysis, ammonia MAY have swung up. Nitrate went up from 5 to 11-12 within a day or two of me starting to feed; from 11-12 yesterday now it’s gone down a bit to 8-9. (i.e. it was darker than 10 two days ago, now a bit lighter than 10 on the Salifert color scale. Quite imprecise. )

All other inhabitants of the tank (4 nassarius snails, 1 very small hermit) accounted for (though the snails also like digging and it’s sometimes a bit of guesswork; but I saw all four full body a week ago and sometimes I count 4 antennae sticking out of the sand). Brown algae (presumably diatoms) are growing now on the glass, and are on many parts of the Marine pure. However, they have disappeared off of many of the Caribsea artificial rocks they were on at first, presumably eaten by the snails.

I will probably add some more artificial “Reef safe” small rocks (by Caribsea) and a scoop or two more of Caribsea shell substrate.

FTS forthcoming..........


*feeding procedure: give them about half a cube of Omega One predator food (Brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, blood worms, skeeter larvae) or 5ml or rehyraded, formerly freeze-dried Mysis, per day. Spit directly on top of their den with a needle-less syringe. After descending for a bit I turn the pump back on, to keep the food particles flowing in the tank and encourage them to eat like the planktonovores they are.

 

[leahfiish]

Looking good. I have a pair of jawfish from kp aquatics too. I would give them a lot more sand so they can have a vertical burrow to fit their whole body in. It seems to make them a little more comfortable.

 

[VR28man]

Thanks. I have been considering adding more sand. I may do so next week, when I get back home.

 

[VR28man]

Finally had time to post an update. I have been keeping measurements and observing the tank, but I haven’t had time to type out my thoughts. I apologize that this is disjointed; I’ve written it over several days and it integrates several posts, which probably leads to some syntax errors.

Video link is below as well……

(just to remind people: inhabitants were previously a large marinepure subbing for live rock, about 2-3” of sandbed, a mated pair of pearly jawfish from KP aquatics and some nassarius snails, and a hermit crab)



Anyway, several things have happened since my last post in this build thread:

Algae cycle: I only heard about the nitrogen cycle when I first planned the tank; I thought that once ammonia was reliably turned to nitrates I was done cycling and I could add fish. That happened at about the one week mark with Dr. Tim’s bacteria in a bottle, ammonia drop additions and a “live” marinepure.

However, I did not know that people recommended several months wait AFTER the nitrogen cycle was stable, to allow the algae cycle to go through: briefly said first diatoms, then cyanobacteria, then green algae. I *think* that’s gone through now, because as of my last water change I had a good amount of green algae in the tank. With that said….

Pest algae: was growing a bit before my last water change - not out of control, but noticeable. During my water change I wiped a lot of that out. I also have added a few more snails. Finally, I’ve also added some macrolgae which I hope will absorb the nitrate and the PO4

Lighting: after having gotten a Kessil 360 tuna, I decided I needed something in the greener spectrum to grow the macroalgae and replaced it with a $40 supposed growth LED.

Macroalgae: I added some macroalgae from live-plants.com: Caulerpa sertulariodes (a somewhat less prolific, fern shaped species of this genus) - with C. prolifera and cupressoides mixed in - and Rhipocephalus phoenix (calcerous “pinecone” algae). I chose the Rhipocephalus because I wanted one of the odd-shaped calcerous macroalgae. I chose C. sertulariodes because I wanted a fast growing, nitrate absorbing and easy to care for macro; this one looked less dangerous of overgrowth and sexual sporing than others of its genus, its fern shape is quite pretty, and I found that it’s edible for humans. (though in the end I also got prolifera and cupressoides in the bag as well; the former being particularly fast to grow, and neither of which are palatble to humans)

The growth of the various Caulerpa has been good with the new light, but not spectacular. I’m not seeing any growth in the (much slower growing) Rhipocephalus. Part of me wants to get a proper grow light, and perhaps dose a small amount of iron.

Given that i don’t have any algae eaters right now in the tank, I intend to prune it occasionally. I will first let the fronds grow big (maybe 6-7”) and then start pruning it.

Cats: my cat discovered the tank and would regularly harass the male jawfish (discussed more below) by jumping up to him and chasing him corner to corner (I've put newspaper all over the front of the tank as a temporary measure) - since then, both the male and female jawfish been very skittish. I am going to get a paper, magnet attachment to make a “front cover” on the tank to be placed when I’m not at home.

Bristleworms: they’re apparently quite common in the sandbed now. I saw about a 3” one a few days ago (my first notice they were there) and now looking there are little ones under most of the small rock rubble pieces, and I’m sure I’d see more if I dug through the sandbed. I presume they came with the algae, and that I did not rinse/quarantine. However, reading about this on the web, I’ve come to conclusion that they are generally beneficial, pending anything actually eating my (presently nonexistent) corals.

Snails: I added about 25 small snails. I intended only for 10; reefcleaners sent me double my requested amount. I’ve given about half of them away; I regret it a bit now because there is still lots for them to eat, but we’ll keep cool about this. I *think* one of my nassarius snails died, but my accounting of them is nowhere near reliable.

Bispira worms: there were 1-2 of these on the Marinepure block at first. I now dub the population officially out of control. There are like 50 of them on the Marinepure.

Obviously, this means that there’s too much detritus in the tank….


Detritus: when I stir up the sand a bit, a cloud of small stuff comes out. It isn’t big and doesn’t go far, but still……. Two water changes ago, I was feeding the jawfish everyday, about 2-5mL of rehydrated (with tank water) mysis a day. Since they stopped eating, I’ve cut that down, and I’m really struggling with their feeding schedule right now.

Measurements: two water changes ago, Nitrates got to be about 30 and pH went down to 7.5-7. After that water change, it went down to like 8, and now that the macroalgae are growing it’s went down to around 5 (going back up to 11 after a week), now down to around 2 after the last water change . I got a phospate kit (Salifert and Hanna), and the measurements went from 0.3 or so before the last water change down to 0.1 right after, now back up to about 0.18.

This again suggests I’m letting stuff build up and I need to cut feeding.

Alkalinity absorbtion has been pretty heavy; since my last water change (with Red Sea Coral Pro salt), the alkalinity went from 177 to 160 over the course of four days. I attribute this to the Bispira, and possibly to things living in the sandbed.

Anyway, my raw measurements as 10/29, about four days after the last water change, are: Ammonia 0, Nitrate 2.5 (up from 1 in the past week), pH 8.0ish on salifert (7.7 on the pH pen), Alk 164 (down from 177 4 days ago after the water change), Phosphate 0.10-0.13 (from the Hanna. Salifert suggests darker than 0.1 but much less than 0.25), salinity 34

(side complaing: my copy of the Hanna PO4 checker is not an instrument for measuring PO4 down to two significant digits ppm; variations between measurements can easily be up to 0.07ppm between readings. Unfortunately, I'm also having a hard time discerning the differences the Salifert PO4 kit; next time I'll double the dose per the instructions.


Jawfish: I got Mr. and Mrs. Jawfish about a month ago, shipped from the Keys right before Irma hit (due to the cluster that inevitably was UPS in that area at that time, the next day air shipment took two days. I drip accumulated over, I think, 30 mins. There are no other inhabitants of the DT besides some snails. And yes, I intend to quarantine future purchases, or purchase quarantined fish from a trusted vendor and WAMAS supporter/member). Mr. Jawfish (the problem one) has not been active in that time, and has not been visibly eating*. (feeding regime: freeze dryed mysis kept in 5ml tank water for a few minutes, with garlic powder and selcon added) Usually, he just stayed in the den while Mrs. generally poked her head out and used to eat in my presence (and come out when I stood next to the tank). From the point they arrived, one or both of them have been very active building and rebuilding their den.

Come about two weeks ago, when algae growth picked up in the tank and water parameters suffered, they both started hiding themselves. Mrs. would never appear. Mr. would hang out outside their den, in the corner. Den modifications appeared to stop for 2-3 weeks (that being said, I've not done rockwork before and after pictures; they may have done comparatively subtle modifications).

During this whole time, I've not fed them; I tried feeding once or twice in the hopes they'd get food but I've seen no evidence they emerged and ate it, so I stopped feeding them absent Mrs. Jawfish coming out of the den. However, after a Wednesday water change which made the Mrs. emerge, on Thursday PM I put in around 100 live mysid shrimp. She promptly emerged and ate a few. By Friday AM I could only see a few mysids and by Sunday I saw none (other potential consumers: I have a plague of tiny, 5mm tube diameter fully extended Bispira-type feather dusters). Since the Wednesday water change she also seems to open the den in the late morning; when I turn on the lights and leave for work it's closed but by the time I get home it's open, she looks out some, but closes it within 15-20 minutes of my return.

I got Mr. a piece of PVC pipe to hang out in a week ago, he lived in it for a bit, then under it, then next to it. Then, a few days ago, he put a whole bunch of sand and live rock rubble in its entrance, which I took as a good sign (I want eventually to get another piece of largish-rock to bury in the sand, to form their second den/the second bedroom of their den).

Friday, he was under the PVC pipe, with his tail flat on the gravel behind him. I thought he was dead and dying, especially since he had not (appeared) to move much in the preceding week. I poked him with a net very gently, and he moved under the pipe quickly (dispelling my dying theory, fortunately). By Sunday I believed he was under the pipe, but nthen I looked and he's no longer there; he either died and was eaten by my snails (far less likely) or he went back into their den (far more likely).

Anyway, I have not observed him eating in the past month, and for the past several weeks he's been generally hanging out in the corner of the tank and listless. Thus, I've been worried he might have a disease, Brooklynella as a WAG from reading various fish books. The trip certainly stressed him out, as well as the cat. However, I cannot see any signs of anything odd on his fins or body. And for each time I'm about to judge him "definitely sick", he does something oddly normal like go back into the den or start covering his pipe with sand and rock rubble.

As of today (Monday), the jawfish do appear to open the “door” to their den in the late morning and close it when the see I’ve gotten home from work, seeing me over the newpaper I’m using to keep the cat from bothering them. However, today, it seems they did a lot of burrowing work - two water changes ago I redid the sandscape and made them a “hill” about 6” high of sand and rubble. I’ve seen evidnece they’ve been playing with it; to include changing the location of their “door”, possibly building secondary and tertiary “doors. And today the “hill” has to be at least 8” high.



If read the above, thank you. but of course I understand if folks don’t want to go through it all.

In summary, it seems to me that I need to seriously get the nitrates and phosphates under control. It may not yet be disastrous scale yet, but if I ignore it it might. It’s made harder by the deep sandbed. Given that the jawfish are not regularly out and are skittish when I feed them, and possibly, sick, I’m in a bit of a bind, especially now that I need to take off for two weeks.

I kind of wish now I didn't use the marinepure block, and that maybe I got different fish instead. But what's done is done; I wanted jawfish (and they are fun when they come out!) and the already live marinepure helped the tank get up to speed fairly quick. I am thinking of changing things around, though

What next:

- I need a skimmer. I’ve identified one. Even though I’m in a big financial rut right now (only necesities in the tank, for now), I think this counts as a necesity.

- I would like to add some live rock; premium aquacultured rock from Florida. 1-2 large boulders, maybe 10-15lbs.

- I have received a zoa in trade; it’s in quarantine

-I’d like to get a Kessil H80, or other good looking grow light for them. That's way down the list of things I need to buy, though.

- I’d like an MP10; but unfortunately my financial situation has put me off a good deal for one, and I don’t see getting one of these for another few more months. (current pumps are two cheap marinelands; maybe a total of 10X flow.

- future livestock would be maybe at most 3-4 individuals of some the following: Royal Gramma, filefish, PJ cardinal, maybe a small flasher wrasse. I do hope to upgrade this to a bigger tank, but this is looking more like next summer vice this winter as I originally hoped. I also, after I’ve got a lock on the parameters, want to add at most 1-2 of some of the following: Porites lobata, a Montipora,or a nonphotosynthetic gorgonian.

- part of me is even thinking about getting and oveflow and sump, especially if the larger, apex controlled tank is more and more of a pipe dream. But, again, I have very limited resources now and other priorities.

Video of the tank, before and after the water change:

 

[VR28man]

I’ve seen the jawfish more. I may be because they are out more, but I think its’ because I’ve figured out (and am home more) when they come out (10AM-6PM or so).


Anyway, I saw the Mrs. out, and fed her amply (and she ate amply), in the morning on Thursday and then again in the evening. Most of the time when i see them, they are still in den with the door closed, but on Friday and Sunday I’ve seen them out and fed them. I also think that Mr. and Mrs. swap out when they eat - first one grabs food, then the other - while there’s always one in the den at any given time.

I have an extra largish piece of rock which I’ll put in the next few days near their den, which they can use to expand their den (i’ve noticed their den is always near a largish piece of rock they’ve now buried under ~7”of sand).

I also received two zoas in a swap (since I got too many snails from reefcleaners. Or so I thought - maybe I’m wrong). I’ve kept them in quarantine for a week (after a FW dip) and have seen nothing untoward, so I’ve added them. They are open under my kessil 360 and apparently quite happy.

So, overall, I'm pleased with things well. I wish I had some more things (a skimmer, RODI unit, and an MP10 - none of which I can afford at the moment) - but I'm still content with the tank as it is.

However, this feeding has caused, I think, Nitrates and Phosphates to go through the roof. Nitrates today are 10 and Phosphates are ~0.2 according to the Hanna LR checker, I think about 0.1 according to Salifert. (I don’t like this disparity, and am in fact unhappy with the Hanna because it’s not a precison instrument; I think it’s not accurate past tenths PPM phosphate. The results I got were 0.28, 0.18, 0.25, 0.20, and 0.21) I need to learn how to better manage their feeding.

 

[Bradw18]

Looking great!!! I ran my tank for years with out the control of apex. Gotta say it was one of the single best things I could have bought but isn't really nessacary

 

[Bradw18]

Are you running a hob? You can take the filter media out of it and put crushed coral or rock rubble in it and some micro algea to help cut down on the ammonia. Maybe even raise a few pods in there as well

 

[Bradw18]

The mp10s are nice. When I first started out I got on the internet and got some nice power heads for like 15-20. Some people may knock them but after I upgraded power heads I moved them to the sump and still work to this day and havnt once cleaned them all I have to do is clear the chetto off them from time to time

 

[VR28man]

Thanks Brad. Yes, any pictures in the future. When I get the big tank, and save up a lot.

No, there is no sump or anything like that right now. I wanted things to be simple for this one, and also the initial plan is that I'd be getting a larger drilled reef tank, with the sump, by this time.

But that's going to be late I think at least four months. (Honestly, that's why got the 29, because I thought it would make the best sump for the reef tank. However, I've moved away from the 29 serving as my sump. Also, now I regret not getting a 40 breeder instead of the 29 for my temp tank. Especially since I've had like two of them just appear in my area for free that I gave away)

 

[Bradw18]

My first tank was a rubber made container under my 90 gallon freshwater tank just to see if I liked it or not. It was the cheapest set up you had ever seen. No lfs even carries saltwater supplies. Then I found this website and things went down hill from there. I'd stongly suggest getting a cheap hob filter and make it a cheap and easy fuge. It would be very benifital to your tank untill you spent the big bucks on a tank you really want if you were closer I'd give you a 55 gallon that's drilled I bet I have 5 of them left lol. ( I hord tanks) Craigslist is a great place for used tanks and good deals on aquarium equipment. (Seems to be cheaper prices as there's a lot less of us reefers on there competing to buy it)

 

[Bradw18]

The 29 and the equipment you have would be a cheap qt tank for you in the future

 

[VR28man]

Got home after three weeks abroad, leaving (basic) instructions with my neighbor (which he followed). No water change since early Nov, since 10/25; I intended to do it before I took off but was unable to. (I need to do it ASAP)

Tank’s in OK shape. Lots of macro growth (in the form of lots of smaller fronds, not really any super big fronds). Some pretty long gha. Most of the fronds will be removed, and the GHA will be removed during the water change.

Bispira worm population is stable. CUC seems OK. Jawfish have made an additional entrance to their den through a rock I placed (with this very intention) and ate only a week ago. (I think the cat is still a problem).

Salinty is 35-6; Nitrates are about 25. PH is around 8.1-2, with alkalinty at 244ppm (4.8 meq, 13.6 DKH; I asked him to add half a teaspoon of baking soda 3x a week, and that was clearly too much. I will watch consumption, and use that as a dosing basis. And modify my dosing regime - a topic of current high interest research for me). Hanna LR phospate readings were 0.80, 0.33, 0.44, 0.42, 0.38. I am very unhappy about the odd reading (reagents are new and I “zeroed” it a month ago), as well as the fact that this thing’s acuracy is +/- 0.1ppm.

A protein skimmer (and a calcium test kit) is on its way, arriving Friday, as well as 3 lbs of gulf live sand which I will add.

Sorry no pics this time. I want to sleep now after a 22 hour flight + arrive at home errands.