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 State of the Tank: (cont.) |
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| Also, my nitrates are still at zero, thanks, I believe, to a combination of the Korallin Biodenitrator and stepped up husbandry. And this is all the more remarkable when you consider the fact that I am still using FOUR 50-micron filter socks in the sump to combat the microbubbles created by the huge volume of water passing through it every hour (10,000 gallons plus). I have given up on 'fixing' this problem completely as it would take drilling the tank and rerouting the plumbing and, quite frankly, I don't think I have the stomach for all of that right now. The bubbles are not really distracting (to me) so I've stopped worrying about them. Obviously, they're not going to bother the corals if you consider what they encounter on the reef crest every day. And cleaning the socks is not that big a deal anymore since I purchased a little 'apartment' washing machine exclusively for this task. We used to wash them by hand because 'you-know-who' had a real problem with my putting them in our 'real' machine. So the little one seemed like an appropriate fix. It's manually filled and emptied and fits neatly under the tank's catwalk. Capacity isn't much more than the four socks though but it does a really good job on them. And for those who asked, yes, we use bleach then put them through the spin dry cycle but we always let them air dry completely before reusing them in the sump. Never had any problems doing it this way. |
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Now, as we move on to livestock, I DO have a couple new things to show you. YEAH, I DID SAY I DIDN'T PUT ANY NEW CORALS IN THE TANK. I SAID NOTHING ABOUT FISH!!! It's been awhile, hasn't it? Just about a year, in fact. But during all of '05, I found myself so busy working on getting the corals and equipment in shape (not to mention dealing with everything from red bugs to phosphate poisoning), I had to put fish on the far back burner. I don't plan to do that this year. In fact, now that everything seems stable, I wouldn't mind not putting ANY new corals in the tank this year. Really! At this point, I would rather simply grow out and deal with the stuff I have. Maybe I've finally hit coral burnout, I don't know. But it's going to really take something special to make me try to squeeze in another acro right now.
By the way, if I backslide, feel free to call me on it. I don't really think I can go an entire year without adding something new but I can promise you I'm not going to jump on every pretty piece you people wave under my nose any more. Don't believe me? Watch.
So, back to fish...
Well, I finally went and did it! I got myself a Regal  .
This is a Red Sea Regal Angel (the Red Sea variety have the orange 'chests') and is currently 3 1/2" long. As of this writing, he has been with me about |
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