Still Reefing
It’s been a while!
This year has been tough - it started with a separation with my partner and in the midst of such a major life upheaval reef keeping had to take a back seat.
I was very fortunate that a friend had agreed to care for the tank while I settled in a new home.
The whole process was tough - tearing down the tank to move it was heartbreaking in itself and the C. Isosceles did not survive the move. RIP Mr Sparkles.
I didn’t see the tank for the next three months.
After settling in to my new apartment, I organised moving the tank back and a bunch of shit had gone south:
- Fish losses: C. exquisitus, C. Shutmanni, P. flavoguttatus trio had all died before the move, Nemateleotris magnifica died during the move. The C. Lineatus was rehomed as he would create problems introducing new wrasses (he was a real jerk)
- Pests: Aiptasia, Bryopsis and Valonia had been gaining a foothold in the tank.
- Coral decline: almost lost 2 master scolys, lost an awesome acan and a NPS gorgonian
- Refugium decline: Stomatellas, mysids and one species of amphipod had dissappeared
- Equipment failures: Refugium lights and one of the Giesseman razor fixtures mysteriously broke
Anyway, having been moved twice this year the tank has been back in my care for a while now and it's started to find its groove again.
The lights have been replaced, I tried the Kessil H80 fuge light which has been performing great.
Still dealing with the pests above, but I'm winning a war of attrition:
- a Kole tang and Foxface are helping
- AiptasiaX works but finding every aiptasia is hard
On a side note, I purchased a DSLR last week :)
Thanks for reading :)
This year has been tough - it started with a separation with my partner and in the midst of such a major life upheaval reef keeping had to take a back seat.
I was very fortunate that a friend had agreed to care for the tank while I settled in a new home.
The whole process was tough - tearing down the tank to move it was heartbreaking in itself and the C. Isosceles did not survive the move. RIP Mr Sparkles.
I didn’t see the tank for the next three months.
After settling in to my new apartment, I organised moving the tank back and a bunch of shit had gone south:
- Fish losses: C. exquisitus, C. Shutmanni, P. flavoguttatus trio had all died before the move, Nemateleotris magnifica died during the move. The C. Lineatus was rehomed as he would create problems introducing new wrasses (he was a real jerk)
- Pests: Aiptasia, Bryopsis and Valonia had been gaining a foothold in the tank.
- Coral decline: almost lost 2 master scolys, lost an awesome acan and a NPS gorgonian
- Refugium decline: Stomatellas, mysids and one species of amphipod had dissappeared
- Equipment failures: Refugium lights and one of the Giesseman razor fixtures mysteriously broke
Anyway, having been moved twice this year the tank has been back in my care for a while now and it's started to find its groove again.
The lights have been replaced, I tried the Kessil H80 fuge light which has been performing great.
Still dealing with the pests above, but I'm winning a war of attrition:
- a Kole tang and Foxface are helping
- AiptasiaX works but finding every aiptasia is hard
On a side note, I purchased a DSLR last week :)
Thanks for reading :)
