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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
Yeah, if that doesn't work not sure what I'll do. Ugh. I should have taken them to the lfs when I took the other tank down but they weren't so aggressive or destructive!
Susan's RS Reefer 3xl 900 Fantasy-Dream Build
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Susan Edwards
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First phyto harvest. Doing N and T strains. Have a jar of starter of each for back up and 2 bottles each with some extra which I fed to tank! Started 2nd batch
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
PH at 8.01 this morning so happy with that. Hoping it gets a bit higher. Need to get some macro algae in the refugium after treatment to try and get ph higher at night.
Water level in sump a bit higher from things getting off yesterday. Turned ato off for now. Adjusting valve.
Water level in sump a bit higher from things getting off yesterday. Turned ato off for now. Adjusting valve.
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
Funny story first: I finally got my atk/ato working. Replaced 2 optic sensors and boom! Neptune sent replacements so happy about that. Then, after 4 days, the ato stopped working. Ugh!!!! Unbelievable. Then it started working again. Hubby today confessed that he had turned off power to where it was plugged in in the garage to redo a work area, and turned it back on....
Okay, big news of the day: 1 down, 1 to go!
Control board finally up! Still have some cord clean up. We are going to put a black panel (forget the name of the material but it is the same as my hubby made the light bar from). He'll put stand offs and it will hide the rest of the cords. Tomorrow, we'll mount the battery back up and do the other side which won't take nearly so long. This side had a lot more equipment. Might also drape a towel over the panel to protect from splashes. Or just put that side of the lid insert in. Those damsels splash a lot!!
Also finally, now that it is all mounted, hooked up the 2 cor20s to the apex and got the flow adjusted. Seems to be working. Will test the other energy bar tomorrow to see if it is working. It had some errors when I first tried it.
Hoping we get the UV pump moved tomorrow. Also on the do list
-shave 1 screen down--just a bit too wide
-put ceiling leds in the cabinet
-hook up the 2nd doser--need to order bottles from etsy to mount on pull out
Tomorrow will also do my first water change in almost 7 months. Will vacuum sandbed. Curious to see if there is lots of gunk. When I rake, there is none. Time to get the reef flux out. Will add my media reactor with bags of boyds blue and additional purigen... Will work on awc next.
Also need to test to see if I still have some po4. It is either .04 or .19.... No3 was 06. Dosing 30 ml neophos and feeding more flake and pellet. Need to get rid of the cyano
Realized I had the co2 scrubber hooked up wrong. now we'll see if I can get above 8
back side
voila! Almost done!
Okay, big news of the day: 1 down, 1 to go!
Control board finally up! Still have some cord clean up. We are going to put a black panel (forget the name of the material but it is the same as my hubby made the light bar from). He'll put stand offs and it will hide the rest of the cords. Tomorrow, we'll mount the battery back up and do the other side which won't take nearly so long. This side had a lot more equipment. Might also drape a towel over the panel to protect from splashes. Or just put that side of the lid insert in. Those damsels splash a lot!!
Also finally, now that it is all mounted, hooked up the 2 cor20s to the apex and got the flow adjusted. Seems to be working. Will test the other energy bar tomorrow to see if it is working. It had some errors when I first tried it.
Hoping we get the UV pump moved tomorrow. Also on the do list
-shave 1 screen down--just a bit too wide
-put ceiling leds in the cabinet
-hook up the 2nd doser--need to order bottles from etsy to mount on pull out
Tomorrow will also do my first water change in almost 7 months. Will vacuum sandbed. Curious to see if there is lots of gunk. When I rake, there is none. Time to get the reef flux out. Will add my media reactor with bags of boyds blue and additional purigen... Will work on awc next.
Also need to test to see if I still have some po4. It is either .04 or .19.... No3 was 06. Dosing 30 ml neophos and feeding more flake and pellet. Need to get rid of the cyano
Realized I had the co2 scrubber hooked up wrong. now we'll see if I can get above 8
back side
voila! Almost done!
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
Probably just 20% as that is approx 40 gal and the size of my brute. I'll have to learn where that drops my water line and mark it so I can drain into the tub. With my saltwater change station, I can change up to 60 gal max now but will most likely keep it to 40-50.
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Susan Edwards
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2nd panel is up! Not so many loose cords dangling on this side. The panel we add will take care of it. I have enough apex energy bar spot left I'm going to plug in the lights and just set them to always on. Added a small rolling cart from Michaels to hold "stuff". Will free up "office" space! The Dehumidifier will go on the left side if there is room. We still have to mount the 2 battery back ups for the mp40's on the wall and I have an inkbird heater controller to hook up. But am well pleased. If ever (bite my tongue) I set up another tank, this will all be done before water!!!)
To help protect equipment from splashing--In a 10x10 room, there was not enough space to mount away from tank and those dang damsels splash water 3-4 feet away! So I put the inserts on the clearview lids on each end. Leaving the middle section insert off so lots of air exchange. I'll have to watch tank temp. Will have to decide if I'll just turn ac down or need to get a chiller. Am also relieved that the energy bar is working. Had some errors last time I tried it.
I was also a good reefer today. I did a water change. I split my hose set into 3 sections. 1 to remove water, 1 to fill tank, 1 to empty brute can. I removed approx 4 inches and filled approx 30 gal or 15%. Here is what I learned with my tank.
1-need a better siphon! Barely got it going as I was using the 2' phython vacuum tube. Ugh! Need to buy a better siphon
2-vacuuming the sand bed is a waste of time and not worth it. In my old tank, a vacuum meant tons of icky brown gunk out of the sand bed. This tank none. There were a couple area with some stuff. But not enough to warrant the risk to corals (using a 2' attachment).
3-my aquascape is such that it is difficult to manuever without knocking over frags or breaking sticks.
4-I'm better off raking every week or 2. I raked the right side and no debris. I vacuumed the left and none. Tried to vacuum up the cyano but it wouldn't suck up. Along middle back, there was some stuff so I know to rake good back there.
5-Will add to my cuc.
6-Next water change, I'll use the manifold and do a quick change and just rake before
it was nice to be able to shut the returns and have everything return to normal after! Happy I got the apex and Cors behaving with each other. Loving the apex. Need to master feeds now so I can shut off with 1 button.
Next step is to get the awc going. Haven't decided whether to do daily or 3 times a week etc. I don't want to run it while I'm gone for a week in May but can get it set up. Need to read up on choices. Can I just turn it on daily when I am here to do the 1-3 gal water change? That is my preference until I gain confidence.
Hubby's next job is the return pump and the leds in the cabinet. Hooking up the 2nd doser can wait. He ended up working from home half a day even though he "took it off!" Grrrr
Tank is nice and clear. I added 3 bags of boyd's blue and 4 recharged bags of purigen. Using the media reactor. Just popped in sponge, 2 bags purigen, 3 boyd's and sponge. Hoping that is okay to do! Also a new bag of matrix to the 1st chamber. I labeled with a plastic label the date. I have lots of old bags of matrix and denitrate that I want to replace.
These control panels were worth the money
excuse the dead plant...
Almost 7 months old
To help protect equipment from splashing--In a 10x10 room, there was not enough space to mount away from tank and those dang damsels splash water 3-4 feet away! So I put the inserts on the clearview lids on each end. Leaving the middle section insert off so lots of air exchange. I'll have to watch tank temp. Will have to decide if I'll just turn ac down or need to get a chiller. Am also relieved that the energy bar is working. Had some errors last time I tried it.
I was also a good reefer today. I did a water change. I split my hose set into 3 sections. 1 to remove water, 1 to fill tank, 1 to empty brute can. I removed approx 4 inches and filled approx 30 gal or 15%. Here is what I learned with my tank.
1-need a better siphon! Barely got it going as I was using the 2' phython vacuum tube. Ugh! Need to buy a better siphon
2-vacuuming the sand bed is a waste of time and not worth it. In my old tank, a vacuum meant tons of icky brown gunk out of the sand bed. This tank none. There were a couple area with some stuff. But not enough to warrant the risk to corals (using a 2' attachment).
3-my aquascape is such that it is difficult to manuever without knocking over frags or breaking sticks.
4-I'm better off raking every week or 2. I raked the right side and no debris. I vacuumed the left and none. Tried to vacuum up the cyano but it wouldn't suck up. Along middle back, there was some stuff so I know to rake good back there.
5-Will add to my cuc.
6-Next water change, I'll use the manifold and do a quick change and just rake before
it was nice to be able to shut the returns and have everything return to normal after! Happy I got the apex and Cors behaving with each other. Loving the apex. Need to master feeds now so I can shut off with 1 button.
Next step is to get the awc going. Haven't decided whether to do daily or 3 times a week etc. I don't want to run it while I'm gone for a week in May but can get it set up. Need to read up on choices. Can I just turn it on daily when I am here to do the 1-3 gal water change? That is my preference until I gain confidence.
Hubby's next job is the return pump and the leds in the cabinet. Hooking up the 2nd doser can wait. He ended up working from home half a day even though he "took it off!" Grrrr
Tank is nice and clear. I added 3 bags of boyd's blue and 4 recharged bags of purigen. Using the media reactor. Just popped in sponge, 2 bags purigen, 3 boyd's and sponge. Hoping that is okay to do! Also a new bag of matrix to the 1st chamber. I labeled with a plastic label the date. I have lots of old bags of matrix and denitrate that I want to replace.
These control panels were worth the money
excuse the dead plant...
Almost 7 months old
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
okay, so ya'all can have a good laugh. I put the inserts into the clearview lids on the left and right sides to keep splashes off my control boards. So I went to dose my phyto. I dump about 250ml split into each side where the gyres are. I dumped the first glass right onto the insert.... Forgetting it was there and no netting! Then a couple hours later, when feeding pellets for the night crew, I did the same thing! Frozen foods always go in thru the doors but pellets I usually just toss in. Whoops....
Ato working still. Hoping the cyano is better with the flow change
planning to harvest my phyto today. Be my second batch! Half my fridge will be phyto lol's. Sending some to my bil!
Ato working still. Hoping the cyano is better with the flow change
planning to harvest my phyto today. Be my second batch! Half my fridge will be phyto lol's. Sending some to my bil!
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
Added today's phyto harvest. Soon my fridge will be all phyto lol's. Even sent 2 bottles to my son in law!
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
Dealing with bad cyano. Reef flux got rid of almost all algae but left me with cyano. Trying to not use chemiclean as it messes the skimmer. I have a week vacation mid may so want everything working correctly! Here is what I'm trying:
Stopped nopox for now as it can feed the cyano
Aimed the RS 45 gyres more down for flow on sandbed. When they run backwards, I think they get the surface.
Cut lights down by almost 2 hours. 10 hrs. 10-8 with ramp up and down. Cut white from 12% to 11%. Have 1 office ceiling light that shines on tank but I don't think that is strong enough to affect?
Getting po4 up. Being more aggressive in using the neophos. 10-30ml a day. Split if more than 10 into 2 doses. Once I can get it at least close to 1 regularly I can use phosguard to bring down if I need. Right now I just need it to be consistantly back
Dosing MB7 bacteria. Small amt daily for a week. Will use MB clean once a week. Keeping an eye on no3 and po4.
---no3 at 13.9 and po4 at 1.4 after dosing 10 ml neophose 3-4 hrs before.
Adding spiruila to food and coral food to help po4. Testing every other day or 2 to keep any eye.
Dosing some iron and will restart the coral colors (ABCD) . Adding back some AB+ Had really cut down with the bad algae
Will blow off rocks with a turkey baster tomorrow. Maybe using the turkey or coral feeder I'll try to suck some of the thicker stuff out.
Have a large cuc arriving next week. Lot of ceriths.
Going to work on awc tomorrow. At least get it so I can just do some 1-3 gal a day but manually for right now. Need to find out where to take water from sump--skimmer section? New goes to return I believe. After doing my 1st wc I learned it is just too hard to vacuum the sandbed. Esp. as I have to go up and down a ladder to move around the tank and that risks banging into corals and frags. My damsels do enough damage there. So I will rake and try to suck some cyano out with turkey baster (while damsels attack my hand!) and rake and blast.
Off tomorrow so can devote some time to tank.
Stopped nopox for now as it can feed the cyano
Aimed the RS 45 gyres more down for flow on sandbed. When they run backwards, I think they get the surface.
Cut lights down by almost 2 hours. 10 hrs. 10-8 with ramp up and down. Cut white from 12% to 11%. Have 1 office ceiling light that shines on tank but I don't think that is strong enough to affect?
Getting po4 up. Being more aggressive in using the neophos. 10-30ml a day. Split if more than 10 into 2 doses. Once I can get it at least close to 1 regularly I can use phosguard to bring down if I need. Right now I just need it to be consistantly back
Dosing MB7 bacteria. Small amt daily for a week. Will use MB clean once a week. Keeping an eye on no3 and po4.
---no3 at 13.9 and po4 at 1.4 after dosing 10 ml neophose 3-4 hrs before.
Adding spiruila to food and coral food to help po4. Testing every other day or 2 to keep any eye.
Dosing some iron and will restart the coral colors (ABCD) . Adding back some AB+ Had really cut down with the bad algae
Will blow off rocks with a turkey baster tomorrow. Maybe using the turkey or coral feeder I'll try to suck some of the thicker stuff out.
Have a large cuc arriving next week. Lot of ceriths.
Going to work on awc tomorrow. At least get it so I can just do some 1-3 gal a day but manually for right now. Need to find out where to take water from sump--skimmer section? New goes to return I believe. After doing my 1st wc I learned it is just too hard to vacuum the sandbed. Esp. as I have to go up and down a ladder to move around the tank and that risks banging into corals and frags. My damsels do enough damage there. So I will rake and try to suck some cyano out with turkey baster (while damsels attack my hand!) and rake and blast.
Off tomorrow so can devote some time to tank.
blaxsun
10K Club member
In my experience ceiling lights have a negligible (if any) effect on the tank. Now you know why I don't vacuum my sand bed (same logistic issues and, well - Oolite).
For AWC I would probably pull from your media chamber (post filter sock) just to avoid anything clogging up the line and return to your skimmer chamber. I can't recall if you were using a DOS for this, but with your sump setup and layout you can probably clip both lines together right on the left edge of the media chamber baffle (one on either side).
For AWC I would probably pull from your media chamber (post filter sock) just to avoid anything clogging up the line and return to your skimmer chamber. I can't recall if you were using a DOS for this, but with your sump setup and layout you can probably clip both lines together right on the left edge of the media chamber baffle (one on either side).
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Susan Edwards
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Good on the lights. Yeah oolite is not vacuum friendly.
Good tip on where to put my lines. That would totally work
So far totally loving having the apex set up. Just the leak detection to get set but returns and atk seem to be working right.
ca and mg and alk all dropped after my 15 % water change so am having to dose more to get them back where I want them. Upped the dosing plus a bit extra manually. PH actually hit 8.1 today. Will recalibrate. Need to look up how to do it again lols' I have enough stuff to do them all as I bought extra.
blaxsun
10K Club member
Out-of-the-box the Apex doesn't seem spectacular. That is until you start adding modules and custom programming tweaks into the mix. Then it starts to take on a whole new life!
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
My DOS is hooked up! Set to do 2 gal between 8-10pm when I'm here. I'll prob leave it off until I'm at my desk to watch. Set up today put more in than took out, so I need water level back and salinity right before I do another attempt.
Will also calibrate each head and see if it works. Planning to do 2 gal each night which I hope will get tank back on track and help with cyano. The week I'm gone I'll leave it off.
So far the ato is working, so that is a relief. Ph still not as high as I'd like and my ca/alk/mg are all a bit low since the water change. Manually adding to the dosing. Not sure why it all dropped so much.
forgot to post last night lol's.
Will test no3 and po4 tonight after work to see where the tank is. Hoping for po4. I'd take slightly high and work down at this point lol's. Hoping no3 is still good with no nopox.
Will also calibrate each head and see if it works. Planning to do 2 gal each night which I hope will get tank back on track and help with cyano. The week I'm gone I'll leave it off.
So far the ato is working, so that is a relief. Ph still not as high as I'd like and my ca/alk/mg are all a bit low since the water change. Manually adding to the dosing. Not sure why it all dropped so much.
forgot to post last night lol's.
Will test no3 and po4 tonight after work to see where the tank is. Hoping for po4. I'd take slightly high and work down at this point lol's. Hoping no3 is still good with no nopox.
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
12 hrs or so my tank will be 7 months! It's been a rather wild and crazy ride. We had a nice smooth beginning and then the wave began with a horrid algae break out. Used reef flux and got bad cyano! Dosed chemi clean today!
I was really hoping to not use chemicals this tank but corals were suffering in both cases. Problem started when I thought I had very low no3 but actually it was over 20 (thank you Hanna!). Then PO4 bottomed out. today, no3 at 15 and po4 at .19. Dosing 10 ml neophos. Will take it to 5 and wait a few days. Stopped nopox due to the cyano. Dosing mb7. Was going to wait out the cyano but I'm going on vacation in a week and want the tank dealt with before my house-sitting friend arrives. Plus the skimmer is nuts so I want a week to get it dialed back in. Friend knows nothing about fish tanks!!!
Plan to do several larger AWC changes when the cyano is gone instead of 1 big one. For some reason, since the last 15% water change, my alk/ca/mg are all lower. So I'll do 4 gal a day until I go. Plan to turn off the awc while I am gone.
Achievements:
ATO seems to be working
AWC seems to be working
Co2 scrubber doing some good. Recalibrated the ph probe and my numbers are even better!
Turned off heaters as from here on out I won't need them. Will have opposite issue
Love the clearview lids and inserts.
Still to do
move uv pump to main sump
finish hiding wires on control panel-the one hanging down. We're going to add a black panel below the control panel.
mount battery back ups
mount led lights in cabinet
mount 2nd doser (after I'm back) and order dosing bottles
Catch dang damsels so I can get more fish
Need more corals! And Fish...
Corals are doing good esp. since the ph raised a bit. Have some good PE on some acros.
My 7 mo takeaways are: Going from 6' 125g with 35 gal sump to a 240 system almost 7 feet was a huge jump. Not just in gal. Tank is 5' tall, same as me. 25 deep which is a lot for my short arms. Old tank was 18". So there are challenges just with the size. Then of course, there is the equipment lol's. But no regrets. Perhaps I might have gone a bit shorter but I love what I have. Also maintaining this tank takes a lot more time. Esp. learning the apex and the extra bells and whistles I went with. Pics tomorrow to mark the 7mo plus anything I forgot haha
I was really hoping to not use chemicals this tank but corals were suffering in both cases. Problem started when I thought I had very low no3 but actually it was over 20 (thank you Hanna!). Then PO4 bottomed out. today, no3 at 15 and po4 at .19. Dosing 10 ml neophos. Will take it to 5 and wait a few days. Stopped nopox due to the cyano. Dosing mb7. Was going to wait out the cyano but I'm going on vacation in a week and want the tank dealt with before my house-sitting friend arrives. Plus the skimmer is nuts so I want a week to get it dialed back in. Friend knows nothing about fish tanks!!!
Plan to do several larger AWC changes when the cyano is gone instead of 1 big one. For some reason, since the last 15% water change, my alk/ca/mg are all lower. So I'll do 4 gal a day until I go. Plan to turn off the awc while I am gone.
Achievements:
ATO seems to be working
AWC seems to be working
Co2 scrubber doing some good. Recalibrated the ph probe and my numbers are even better!
Turned off heaters as from here on out I won't need them. Will have opposite issue
Love the clearview lids and inserts.
Still to do
move uv pump to main sump
finish hiding wires on control panel-the one hanging down. We're going to add a black panel below the control panel.
mount battery back ups
mount led lights in cabinet
mount 2nd doser (after I'm back) and order dosing bottles
Catch dang damsels so I can get more fish
Need more corals! And Fish...
Corals are doing good esp. since the ph raised a bit. Have some good PE on some acros.
My 7 mo takeaways are: Going from 6' 125g with 35 gal sump to a 240 system almost 7 feet was a huge jump. Not just in gal. Tank is 5' tall, same as me. 25 deep which is a lot for my short arms. Old tank was 18". So there are challenges just with the size. Then of course, there is the equipment lol's. But no regrets. Perhaps I might have gone a bit shorter but I love what I have. Also maintaining this tank takes a lot more time. Esp. learning the apex and the extra bells and whistles I went with. Pics tomorrow to mark the 7mo plus anything I forgot haha
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
ugh. Shutting skimmer off as it is overflowing. I have the drainage line draining into filter sock, but don't want to wake up in the am with skim bubbles all over my floor. Have it turned all the way to least air I can. Why I hate chemi clean lol's
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Susan Edwards
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Wow!! 1 dose chemiclean yesterday cleared all of it overnight!! Will start doing 6 gal water change a day to equal 20% and tomorrow will add my boyd's and purigen back in. Will continue to dose 4 ml neophos to be sure po4 does not drop and start low with no pox for the no3 to keep around 10
Tank at 7 monthis is looking awesome. Now to keep it this way!!
Look Ma!!! no Cyano or algae!!! Added a few coral pics. Skimmer is off so water not very clear. Excuse the tubing for the airstones while treating chemiclean
Tank at 7 monthis is looking awesome. Now to keep it this way!!
Look Ma!!! no Cyano or algae!!! Added a few coral pics. Skimmer is off so water not very clear. Excuse the tubing for the airstones while treating chemiclean
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Susan Edwards
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Busy Day!!
Skimmer has finally settled after Chemiclean. Just hate that it screws up the skimmer for so long. Did 2 days of larger awc's of 15 gal, and 3-4 5 gal changes. Need to address my salt needs when all my current salt is gone. My alk/ca/mg dropped a lot. Doing extra dosing to try to get it back up.
alk 8.49 from 8.6-8.9
ca 387 from low 400's
mg 1414 from 1500
Cleaned the observation tank with 2 clowns. replaced most of the sand, added more rock and water change as I had used reef flux. Got a new ato so that is working. Figure I want to put a nem in there eventually. Need to test numbers
Cleaned my freshwater 40g. Removed 2 bags of fern type plants. Now I can see the fish... Went to petsmart and got some new. Wanted some snails. girl said plecto would eat them. Wanted another algae eater. Girl said plecto would eat it... I'll go back and get some dang snails.... Should have ignored her.
One more day until I leave for a week. So nervous leaving my tank! But at least it looks pristine!
Skimmer has finally settled after Chemiclean. Just hate that it screws up the skimmer for so long. Did 2 days of larger awc's of 15 gal, and 3-4 5 gal changes. Need to address my salt needs when all my current salt is gone. My alk/ca/mg dropped a lot. Doing extra dosing to try to get it back up.
alk 8.49 from 8.6-8.9
ca 387 from low 400's
mg 1414 from 1500
Cleaned the observation tank with 2 clowns. replaced most of the sand, added more rock and water change as I had used reef flux. Got a new ato so that is working. Figure I want to put a nem in there eventually. Need to test numbers
Cleaned my freshwater 40g. Removed 2 bags of fern type plants. Now I can see the fish... Went to petsmart and got some new. Wanted some snails. girl said plecto would eat them. Wanted another algae eater. Girl said plecto would eat it... I'll go back and get some dang snails.... Should have ignored her.
One more day until I leave for a week. So nervous leaving my tank! But at least it looks pristine!
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