Wow! Guys, thanks! Thanks for all the support and encouragement.
Next year will be better! Right?!?.. yes! Happy new year, guys!
Until the next screw up and then.. well.. cross that bridge when we get to it..
Bulent, the only thing I added were some turbo snails.. I guess anything is possible.. otherwise I have no idea where it came from.
Dom, you are too kind. I am just a bum with a tank, trying to make it work..
Kevin, I'm not sure why I like it so much when you call me names... but I like it!!
Here's a neat shot I took today.. more to follow..
No tricks on that nitrate test.. I've tested n again and got the same result.
Um.. I'm not sure what dress that is, I must say..
I think the high n is due to two things. One- cheato no longer grows in my system. Won't grow at all! I have an orange striped urchin and he is consuming it all. I have to remove him.. and the cheato. Beside the cheato not absorbing nutrients, the urchin is consuming it and probably converting some of it back to n..
Not sure why the cheato won't grow.. the only thing I can think of is being iron limited.. may explain the high n and p perhaps.. although p has almost always been high.
I am dosing nothing right now, so maybe I'm missing iron..
I'm not in an experimenting mood, however, so I think I'll let the system lead me instead of me trying to lead the system. I will simply remove the cheato and use that sump section to grow out some coral.
Also, I think the slow growth of the corals is also to blame. Once the last of the cheato comes out and the corals grow a bit faster - which is commencing- n may fall a bit..
Also, if more fish die, which is likely, my kole is getting bad and 80% of the fish have a few spots at least, then I'll be feeding less and n should fall a bit more.
AND, if that doesn't work, I have this!
10 liters of siporax I bought from bigshowfrags. Not sure why they had it on sale but I paid $15 a liter. I don't think I bought it all, by the way.
I'm putting it in drain pipe covers. A bit more than a liter fits in each cover.
Yes, I arranged the siporax each by friggin' each! 30 minutes to fill one. Sometimes you just gotta keep up with the Jones'
I've only done two so far. They went into the sump today.
I'll get to the rest over the coming weeks.. We'll see where n goes..
I've been turning my ca reactor up and each time I test, alk remains the same.. Clearly corals are starting to grow again.
I haven't yet figured out how I am going to implement my kalk stirrer. When that gets on line, I'll be able to dose a bit more kalk daily..
Ok.. here's a couple new shots.. here's a top down of the coral on the right of the photo I posted just for Kevin.. it was a recent random pick up from Raja.. clearly it's in the 'matrix' family of tennuis corals..
And while I'm talking about matrix, here's my older pink matrix from Fragbox which I thought I was going to lose.. I may still lose it, actually, but recently, it has regained a slight amount of pe, so I am hoping. I bought another piece anyways, in case this one dies..
I was going to post this last night but I guess RC went offline. Good thing I copied and pasted the whole thing to my notes in my phone.
I got plenty more shots.. I'll get them over the next couple days.
