Lack of updates

I have two updates that have been stewing for a long time. By "stewing" I mean I've been really lazy about updating this thing. They're even written already- I just haven't gotten pictures together. Life has presented other worthy investments of my after-work hours!

Fortunately both updates will benefit from the additional time that has passed since I wrote them, in the form of photos of progress.


To briefly mention a few interesting things:

I removed the skimmer that had been working (dubiously) in chamber two for several months and gave it back to its owner. Even though the skimmer didn't seem to be removing much gunk, taking it out of the picture has corresponded with a rise in nitrates and phosphates and I now have a mild cyanobacteria problem on the sand bed and glass.

The phosphates and nitrates would be at acceptable levels if my tank wasn't so overpopulated. I will probably end up trading in my female McCosker's Wrasse, who has suffered a little bit at the hands of the clownfish. It's just a question of catching her... she's very wily.

I've added another fish inhabitant since my last update that I'll write about separately.

I have a plan for a major addition to the aquarium system that may or may not go forward. I'll spoil the surprise- I'm looking into an acrylic 5-20 gallon aquarium that I can elevate (probably on a stand or shelf) above the main tank. Baffles in the tank will separate it into three chambers, the middle of which will be 100% dedicated to growing a relatively large amount of Chaetomorpha on a reverse-daylight cycle. This is called a refugium, and they're usually found below the tank. I want mine to be above the tank, specifically so that the gentle overflow of water into my display will carry little critters like amphipods and copepods which reproduce like mad in bunches of Chaetomorpha. With enough light and algae, I should remove the nuisance algae problem altogether and provide an environment for natural sources of fish food to procreate. Furthermore, the pump supplying water up to this refugium will be in chamber two and the overflow return will be to the display; this effectively doubles the water volume passing through my filter floss and will remove particulate much faster.

Buying more snails or growing more Chaetomorpha is a band-aid solution to this nutrient problem. The real issue is reducing poop-generating biomass from the equation; in other words, less fish.

I hate to say I've learned a lesson here because I already knew better... but overstocked anyway. Fact is, understocking a tank is the single best habit you can have in this hobby. It might not be as much fun and you don't get the gee-whiz novelty feeling of adding new and interesting specimens all the time, but you're rewarded in the long term by having a more stable, cleaner system. Two small clownfish would have been perfect.