I've been fighting my share of demons. I learned (
thanks Brett) that I had Red Bugs, treated with Interceptor and believe that I have been bug free since. I didn't seem to lose anything else. My pod population didn't even really take a hit which worries me somewhat, but I'll take it.
I've recently lost a couple corals. I can't yet pinpoint what the cause may have been. The tank seems to have restabalized, so hopefully the worst is over. I did notice that my phosphate levels were high, so I brought that down. I also replaced my carbon, but other than that I haven't really changed anything. All other water parameters are in check.
The best theory that I have is that it was related to lighting. I did allow a fair bit of particulate matter to build up while I was away for a couple of weeks. Perhaps when I cleaned up the water quality the extra light penetration bleached the corals. Just a theory.
I've started to get some algae on the sand. This is really the first nuisance algae that has shown up in the display tank. There's a fair bit of algae in the sump, but it hasn't been a problem before now. I'm not exactly sure what kind of algae this is?
The rock is really starting to mature. I started off with about 250 pounds of base rock and less than 50 pounds of live rock. You can still pick out the original live rock, but the base rock blends in very nicely. Coraline growth has been excellent. You only have to go back about 8 posts to see how much the colour has changed.
I finished stocking the tank with fish. Just for fun, here's what I have.
False Perc Clown (mated pair)
Mandarin Dragonette (1 male, 1 female)
Indigo Dottyback (2)
Royal Dottyback
Firefish (2)
Orange Diamond Goby (2)
Yellow Tang, Purple Tang, Powder Blue Tang, Sailfin Tang, Hippo Tang
Solar Wrasse
Flame Wrasses (mated pair)
Rhomboid Wrasse (3 male, 1 female)
Bartlette Anthias (3 male, 9 female)
Metallic Foxface
Here's a full tank shot for August.
I suck at taking pictures, so when I get a good one it's rather exciting (
for me at least). Here's one of my Mandarin Dragonetts.
.. and one of my wrasses
I really enjoy watching the fish as the sun sets. With the Vertex Illumina lighting, it's a gradual shift from left to right as opposed to a dimming of the entire lighting system. The fish really do behave differently during this time. Here's a sequence that I took this evening.
9:00pm
9:15pm
9:25pm
9:35pm
9:45pm
9:50pm
Check out the Anthias schooling in the last two pics (9:45 & 9:50). They do this every night as the lights dim. 30 seconds after the last light fades, they are completely gone - hiding in the rocks.
Most of my automated systems are working well. I don't spend a lot of time maintaining the tank any more. There are still lots of little projects, like paneling for the stand, but at the moment I am just enjoying the tank. The projects can all wait. I've been building for years now and it's nice that this isn't such a high priority any more.
- Brad