Another year seems to have drifted by so I suppose it is time for an update or two.
Over the past year or so, I've struggled with keeping my Ca/Alk levels up. I continuously tried to get MORE out of my Ca reactor, but I was frustrated that I was burning through CO2 at a startling rate. I had basically given up because I wasn't willing to spend any more $ on CO2 and I couldn't get any more production out of the reactor when my CO2 solenoid died.
I replaced the solenoid. MAGIC! All of sudden, I stopped going through CO2. Turns out that the solenoid must have been leaking badly for a long time. (yes, I checked for leaks many times but must have missed it somehow). So now I'm back to trying to raise my Ca/Alk and push my reactor harder.
I also became frustrated with constantly fighting with the peristaltic pump that drives the reactor. Not only do you need to change the tubing every few months, but the pump drive dies every couple of years. I decided to just flow the reactor continuously and put a JG solenoid on it to shut it down in the event of power failure. So far, this simpler arrangement is working well and I've got my Alk up to as high as 9! (Typically, It had been down at 6.5 for the past year or so)
Life and Death: Following the great power failure, I lost my Atlantic Blue. It is hard to say if it was related or not, but he got really sick and died in the weeks that followed the outage. Just recently, my eyelash Blennie died. His death seemed kind of "normal" to me. He seemed to just start to look quite old...his appetite diminished and he just faded away over the past few months. I didn't keep a record of his time in the tank, but my Atlantic Blue was just over 6 years.
The rest of the fish continue to thrive. Most of them have been in there 7 years now. Moe (Blonde Naso) and Corona (yellow tang) will be 8 years in a few months. Female clownfish will be 10 years in March. (Still laying eggs like clockwork every few weeks)
Coral still grows like mad...even though I have not replaced my halide bulbs in over 2 years and my T5 ballasts have all died. Eventually, I'm going to have to replace all the lights and will probably go LED at that point.
There is an ongoing war between the orange fire coral and other corals. Basically, if I keep the tank parameters healthy, the good coral holds its own. If I let things slide, the fire coral takes over. I can't face the project, but my entire live rock probably needs to be replaced in order to remove the fire coral. I'll probably need a crowbar to get it out as all my rock has become fused into one 500lb lump.
A couple of pics:
