Back in the saddle

[ACBlinky]

I'm sure this happens to other people... right? Life got busy, REALLY busy, and our reef slipped to the bottom of my priority list. For quite a long time I've been filling the ATO reservoir, occasionally dosing kalk, and feeding the fish. period. Oh, I empty the skimmer cup and change the filter sock when I think of it.

Last week I really opened my eyes and saw that while some of the corals were thriving, others were looking poorly, and the neglect was starting to show. Aiptasia anemones were popping up all over, leathers had spread and were crowding/smothering other corals, and everything had just about stopped growing (except the Kenya tree... that stuff would grow in any conditions).

So yesterday I smartened up. I did a 30% water change, cleaned the gunk off some of the powerheads, zapped the Aiptasia, I washed the filter socks and put on a new one, stirred up the chaeto ball in the sump, turkey basted the rockwork, cleaned the glass, and spot-fed the corals.

Woke up this morning to a happier tank.

I don't know exactly why I went into this sort of reef coma where I barely looked at the tank for six months, but I'm awake now and back with a vengeance.

 

[Stork141]

Dont worry at all its called the summer. At least for me its that way. Summers are normally crazy busy with vacations, kids, trips, ect and when its nice out side the last thing you want to do is be inside working on the tank. During the winter it gets dark earlier and you dont really want to go outside so all of a sudden you start to notice your neglected child in the basement and bam back into reefing mode again. For me its a endless cycle that i try to break ha.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I think a lot of us have gone through that period with our tanks.

 

[ACBlinky]

It makes me feel better knowing that other people have done this -- it hasn't happened to me, at least not this way, before. In a way, it has probably been good for some things; no hands in the tank, no new additions (not even a snail), and not a single rock has moved. No rearranging, no moving corals, lights and heater on timers and controllers... it has been on autopilot.
The fish are HAPPY, healthy beasts. They probably love the lack of change! The only thing that actually seemed remotely unhappy were the few LPS and the Xenia, which were all slowly, slowly shrinking away. Now after the water change the Xenia look grouchier still, but the stonies are puffy and eating. I'm guessing they were missing nutrients and/or suffering from chemical attack (the tank is FULL of leathers).

I'm planning on twice-monthly 60g water changes, about 30% of the total water volume, and soon I'll be replenishing the hermit and snail population, but other than that, I'm going to keep leaving things alone with one difference -- no more outright neglect, just proper routine maintenance

Oh, and if anyone happens to pass through Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and wants some leather frags, come on by! We must have 50 frags growing throughout the tank, it's getting ridiculous.