Aaarrrggg
New member
When the sand started looking like Fraggle fur I gave in and treated with Chemiclear. Worked wonders on the cyano but the diatoms remained pretty bad for a while. I guess adding that extra bag of sand (=silicates) just before introducing the BSJ didn't help matters there.
Apart from the obligitary (old fashioned) large water change after the Chemiclear dose; the WCs have been performed soley by the Litermeter automatic waterchanger. I even left everything on auto pilot when we went away for 5 days!
Speaking of the waterchanger... we decided to spruce up the fish cupboard a bit with some decals!
When the tank started getting grotty around the 5mth mark I began to worry that slow/constant WCs might not cut it long-term; but the tank came through that (with a little help from Dr Tim's Waste Away bacteria) and it looks better than ever now! Here are some close ups of the Marco rocks getting nice and purple!
Shot looking down on highest shelf rock (the yellow circle is the top of the lawn marker peg used for aquascaping)
IPSF critter update!
Spagetti (aka Mama Mia) worm burrows have popped up throughout the whole sandbed. (Extreme close up, those are grains of sand)
I accidentally turned up one of the sand clams, so they're alive and well too. Managed to snap this pic before it disappeared below the surface again (they're surprisingly fast.)
Around the time of the "Supermoon" (extra large full moon) I started noticing these tiny "Metroid" looking things appearing on the glass:
After some research I believe they are Strombus Snail eggs! I've been careful to avoid them when cleaning the glass.
The pods have continued to multiply. Looks like amphipods have a taste for the strombus snail egg sacks:
I'm resisting the urge to run out and buy a mandarin. Being a good girl and waiting till Christmas.
Apart from the obligitary (old fashioned) large water change after the Chemiclear dose; the WCs have been performed soley by the Litermeter automatic waterchanger. I even left everything on auto pilot when we went away for 5 days!
Speaking of the waterchanger... we decided to spruce up the fish cupboard a bit with some decals!
When the tank started getting grotty around the 5mth mark I began to worry that slow/constant WCs might not cut it long-term; but the tank came through that (with a little help from Dr Tim's Waste Away bacteria) and it looks better than ever now! Here are some close ups of the Marco rocks getting nice and purple!
Shot looking down on highest shelf rock (the yellow circle is the top of the lawn marker peg used for aquascaping)
IPSF critter update!
Spagetti (aka Mama Mia) worm burrows have popped up throughout the whole sandbed. (Extreme close up, those are grains of sand)
I accidentally turned up one of the sand clams, so they're alive and well too. Managed to snap this pic before it disappeared below the surface again (they're surprisingly fast.)
Around the time of the "Supermoon" (extra large full moon) I started noticing these tiny "Metroid" looking things appearing on the glass:
After some research I believe they are Strombus Snail eggs! I've been careful to avoid them when cleaning the glass.
The pods have continued to multiply. Looks like amphipods have a taste for the strombus snail egg sacks:
I'm resisting the urge to run out and buy a mandarin. Being a good girl and waiting till Christmas.
