The Moment You Wonder Why.
I had an amazing visit today at the home of a local reefer many people would know as Xixau. I was overwhelmed by his system. It is quite possibly the most lovely reef I've ever seen in person. An extraordinary collection of big healthy colonies in a rainbow of colours. I came home from viewing this magical wonderland of precious and beautiful corals to my glass box of rocks and limp jelly like corals.
I've had my Maxspect Razor on blue spectrum only for a few weeks after I had a flush of hair algae and cyanobacteria bloom. The algae blew up while I was in hospital- the husband did his best but it was just growing like mad. Since turning the lights to blue only, the corals actually haven't looked bad, things have grown and I have seen colours develop that were just shades of brown before. When I looked at the tank this arvo, things just looked floppy. Nothing looked right. I turned the lights onto a preset program- they have white and blue obviously and I was a little bit shocked at how flipping ugly the tank was. My corals were flaccid (the salinity was off slightly). I stirred up the substrate a little, the coral rubble i added recently to help prevent the fine sand from flying around is a little green and brown with some algae in spots- it is doing its job. I still don't know if that was a good idea really... but ever moving sand dunes is frustrating. The upside is that the majority of the hair algae is gone. The downside is that the rocks are still fuzzy. They pretty much always have been- they have been covered with remnants of dead hair algae and colonial hydroids for a long time. I scrubbed the rocks down as best as I could this evening. I'm catching as much of the waste as possible with 2 filter socks and filter wool in the top of the overflow (why can't someone make a filter sock that slots into that rectangular space?). In a nutshell, I'm pulling as much crap out as possible. I need to run tests on the params tomorrow.
As for "the moment you wonder why", well, I found myself looking at my system and just wondering why I have this aquarium, why I put my rocks the way they are, why I have sand that blows, why I don't just pull it all down and start again... I don't know if I can do any better. I don't really know what I'm doing. I have read so much theory, but my aquarium is not where it ought to be. I have no clue whatsoever about the lights. I just don't know what the best settings are. I've battled with it for months. Things will go ok for a while, but then something changes. I wish there was a person who could just magically fix it. I wish I had more coral than rock. I wish I didn't have huge boulders of Texas Holey Rock and random little bits of live rock. I wish I had a scape like Richie's where the actual rock is just tiny seed and the corals become the primary focus as they plate and encrust. I want more coralline algae :( I had a flush of growth recently which was a bit of a mystery and exciting- but it's always sporadic and ceases just as quickly as it began.
I dunno. *shrug* I just don't know what to do. I don't know how to go past this stage in my reef's life.
I think I have used far too many "I statements". Sorry about that... so many thoughts...
I've had my Maxspect Razor on blue spectrum only for a few weeks after I had a flush of hair algae and cyanobacteria bloom. The algae blew up while I was in hospital- the husband did his best but it was just growing like mad. Since turning the lights to blue only, the corals actually haven't looked bad, things have grown and I have seen colours develop that were just shades of brown before. When I looked at the tank this arvo, things just looked floppy. Nothing looked right. I turned the lights onto a preset program- they have white and blue obviously and I was a little bit shocked at how flipping ugly the tank was. My corals were flaccid (the salinity was off slightly). I stirred up the substrate a little, the coral rubble i added recently to help prevent the fine sand from flying around is a little green and brown with some algae in spots- it is doing its job. I still don't know if that was a good idea really... but ever moving sand dunes is frustrating. The upside is that the majority of the hair algae is gone. The downside is that the rocks are still fuzzy. They pretty much always have been- they have been covered with remnants of dead hair algae and colonial hydroids for a long time. I scrubbed the rocks down as best as I could this evening. I'm catching as much of the waste as possible with 2 filter socks and filter wool in the top of the overflow (why can't someone make a filter sock that slots into that rectangular space?). In a nutshell, I'm pulling as much crap out as possible. I need to run tests on the params tomorrow.
As for "the moment you wonder why", well, I found myself looking at my system and just wondering why I have this aquarium, why I put my rocks the way they are, why I have sand that blows, why I don't just pull it all down and start again... I don't know if I can do any better. I don't really know what I'm doing. I have read so much theory, but my aquarium is not where it ought to be. I have no clue whatsoever about the lights. I just don't know what the best settings are. I've battled with it for months. Things will go ok for a while, but then something changes. I wish there was a person who could just magically fix it. I wish I had more coral than rock. I wish I didn't have huge boulders of Texas Holey Rock and random little bits of live rock. I wish I had a scape like Richie's where the actual rock is just tiny seed and the corals become the primary focus as they plate and encrust. I want more coralline algae :( I had a flush of growth recently which was a bit of a mystery and exciting- but it's always sporadic and ceases just as quickly as it began.
I dunno. *shrug* I just don't know what to do. I don't know how to go past this stage in my reef's life.
I think I have used far too many "I statements". Sorry about that... so many thoughts...