75g Lurking danger and Leafy Seadragons

[vlangel]

Today I decided after wiping the glass that I would rinse the pre-filter, (or attempt to since the lever to unlock it was so tight). It turns out that I had to unlock the hose connector lever (and leave it unlocked) to break the suction so then the pre-filter lever moves very easily. Sometimes I am a buckethead when it comes to setting up new things! Anyway, I am so happy with how easy rinsing the pre-filter is,,,I don't need to move the canister at all. I will just wrap a towel around the base of the canister to catch the little bit of water that weeps out when I unlock the pre-filter and lift the assembly into a Tupperware container where I can transport it to be washed. It wasn't very dirty today, I am thinking that I don't need to rinse the pre-filter more than every 2 weeks.

Right before Thanksgiving I will add a fine sponge and carbon to the top basket to polish the water. I will clean that right after our kids head back and that will give me an idea how quickly that fine sponge gets clogged.

I will say that this BioMaster 850 with the heater and pre-filter were the right choice for my me. Its giving me everything I needed/wanted in filtration

 

[vlangel]

Some pics after yesterday's water change. Ignore the dirty diatom sand and the crazy photo bombing fish! LOL

 

[vlangel]

Fridays are water change day. I do about 7-10 gallons. I dose Flourish on Fridays as well. I dose AFR on Mondays.

Today I decided to see where NO3 and PO4 were. Exactly the same as last time I checked: NO3 10ppm and PO4 .5ppm. I was going to rinse the prefilter even though the flow is good but now I am kind of hoping that some trapped food or fish waste is turning into NO3 since I would like to see that a bit closer to 20-25ppm, so I did not rinse the prefilter.

As far as how things look; the fish look amazing. They are so peaceful with one another. None of the fish are scratching or scraping themselves. They are all eating like pigs.
For the most part the coral look good too. One zoa frag is mostly closed but I am just leaving it be. There are zoas near it that seem to be thriving so I don't think its the location. The hammers that I did not expect to make it are continually improving. However my usually beautiful purple Photosynthetic Sponge has paled to a very pale purple. I guess they have expelled the algae in their tissue for some reason that I can't even guess at. I plan to just let them be and hope they right themselves. Most of my macroalgae are doing well, even with the Foxface and Tang trimming on them. The Shaving Brush and moss balls seem to be favorites. I am hoping their growth can keep up with the fish nibbles. The Codium is the nicest I've had. The reds are holding their own but still are not growing like what I had in the 56g. Who knows? Maybe too much white light. The mangrove looks good but growth is slow. So that's about it.