Oppa Chromie Style

Rearranged the rock and coral a bit...

Saturday was reef maintenance day. To go along with the BioPellet experiment, I should post my test results:

Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
Calcium: 420
Alkalinity: 7 dkh
Magnesium: 1500
Salinity (SG): 1.025
pH: 8.1

So far, Nitrates look good... BioPellets seem to be doing their job. The test results were decent enough considering the lack of attention I had paid to my aquarium. I do want to increase the Alkalinity and pH a little bit, but not too worried in the short term.
An algae outbreak of several forms (mat algae, hair algae, cyano) had taken hold recently. I attribute it to excess nutrients, and I believe that my automatic fish feeders has helped contribute to the issue. I will need to reduce the feedings to only 1-2 times a day with the feeders. Water changes will also solve many issues.

I used Seachem Phosguard to remove the phosphates. I had never used this product before, but sure enough it worked quickly and efficiently. I just added the amount to a filter media bag and tossed it in my filter sock. The media is good for up to four days, and was removed accordingly. I'm debating whether I will run one of my Two Little Fishies Phosban reactors with GFO... Don't want to run another powerhead, though.

 

A little super glue goes a long ways...

A lot of my rock was covered in either hair algae or a mat algae (yes, I had both). I tried manual removal, but that wasn't working well. Also, there were some tough to reach areas. I decided to remove some of the most algae covered rocks, and also made some changes to the rock structure. I removed the center rock work and removed the rock that was towards the edges of the tank. This allows for open areas and better access to the sides for cleaning. While doing this, I also had to move some coral around. This was the worst part as I had to break coral off from the rock where it had already been encrusting. I also dropped some rocks while moving it around, and broke large pieces off of several coral including my birds nest. I was not thrilled, but I was able to put these coral to use.
I decided to put the pieces to good use and glued them to frag plugs: my clumsiness is another man's benefit. I can also note that a little glue goes a long way, and those little tubes continue to leak glue after you're done. Hence the layers of glue on my fingers. Not too fun, but It sure beats the awful smell from aquarium epoxy.

Made some frags for the guys at work...

And so my water is changed, my rock has been rearranged, and some lucky fellows will get some frags... and yes, the glue has mostly come off my hand. Oh joy!