Well I see I've neglected this thread for close to 1.5 years now, so I figure I should update it. The following few posts are a copy/paste from another board I frequent. For anyone that is interested, please forgive me if some of it doesn't make sense, chronologically. I have paid a bit more attention to the other board thread, but here there is a big gap.
Wow, no update since March/08. I guess it's time. I haven't been happy with the progress of this tank, but more on that later.
Recent changes to the sump. Refugium out, ZeoVit in. EuroReef out, BK in. No more canisters. No more Nitrate Sponge. No more RowaPhos. Running carbon passively. I also added a grounding probe.
Very happy with the skimmer, although it is taking a while to break in and is still skimming quite wet. The cup was cleaned late this morning.
Tank shot, left side.
Tank shot, middle.
Tank shot, right side.
I lost the Clown Trigger in late April due to unknown causes. Perhaps cyanide? Then again, I had it for 2.5 years so perhaps not.
The giant mushrooms did not work out. They slowly disintegrated. Not sure why. Might try a smaller one again when I think the time is right.
In August/08 I introduced four new fish. Blue Ring Angel, Niger Trigger, Yellow Tang, and a Cleaner Wrasse. The Angel and Niger are twice the size now. The Tang is not entirely happy, hence the grounding probe. I think it has improved. The body anyway (HLLE), but fins are still ragged.
Did the annual major sump cleaning in November. Going to increase this task to semi-annually. In December/January I did 13 x 20% water changes. This was to bring the NO3 and PO4 down. Last year the sump cleaning was enough for that, but not this time. ZeoVit didn't do it for me either (wishful thinking). NO3 is now 5 and PO4 is still up at 0.1. Okay Zeo...you can now do your thing.
As you can see, this tank is still dull and brown. Mushrooms have no colour whatsoever. Zeo is supposed to help that too, but I'm not expecting any dramatic colour improvement on that alone. What I think this tank really needs is a lighting upgrade. So that's the plan. I have a scoop on a good condition CoraLife Aqualight Pro 3 x 150W MH unit for an awesomely reasonable price. Looking forward to getting it on there. Just waiting for the seller to receive his new lights.
Stay tooned and cheers,