Tag Archive
Troubled reef – 1st birthday of new tank
My latest tank had its 1st birthday some weeks ago and let me tell you there’s little to celebrate. For the first time ever I’ve actually considered quitting the “hobby”. It all started 15 months ago when after a long and serious illness I was able to “restart” my old tank. After a lot... »
NP-Biopellets, the story so far
After a couple of months I still had some measurable nitrate (2.5 ppm) and phosphate (0.04 ppm) and I decided to really go “overboard” and ordered 3 more liters of NPBs. »
Tank update, October 2009
Phosphates are finally getting close to “zero”, currently 0.07 ppm PO4 Nitrates are dropping again, currently 0.5 ppm NO3 I think the corals are starting to grow again! I sold Achilles tang and Niger trigger to local hobbyists but added 8 Anthias, 5 P. squamipinnis and 3 P. dispar The new skimmer, ATB Medium, is... »
Latest additions
Last week I received an animal shipment from Mrutzek Meeresaquaristik. Once again, Mrutzek Meeresaquaristik provided excellent service, something that is unfortunately not common in EU online shops. All animals were in good condition although the Colopometra sp. crinoid was understandably damaged during the shipment. I’m happy to report that it is already recovering fast, I can... »
Weapons of Nutrient Destruction: cone and pellets with sugar on top
I have recently added two new components to my nutrient export methods, a cone shaped skimmer and a new filtration media called Biopellets. I also continue to use my old and proven CaCO3 slurry filtration and DOC (dissolved organic carbon) dosing. I’ve also experimented with another method based on microscopic clay particles. Here is... »
It foams. I’m back.
After months of problems I think I’m finally back on path to a nice reef aquarium. The problems started when I made the stupid decision to replace a well working nutrient export strategy overnight to something I had no experience with. I stopped vodka and sugar dosing and started dosing moderate amounts of Tropic... »
“My reef aquarium” updated
I’ve removed the “my way” page and updated info in “My reef aquarium” page. I’ll try to update it more frequently in future… I’ll take a new full tank shot as soon as I get my new skimmer, the ATB Dual Cone with AirStar (known in US as econo 1050). Should be here next... »
Summer break is over – a quick update
Kids started a new school year and rains are here so I guess it is time for me to start blogging more frequently… I can only hope that the coming autumn will bring better luck with it as the last couple of weeks have been very difficult for me and for my tank. Some... »
Tank update, July 2009
Note! I now work mostly with my laptop and although it’s a fantastic (Unibody Macbook), I don’t trust it’s display enough to make any kind of color correction. So I’m shooting in JPEG (I usually shoot RAW) and just resize the images. My experiment with Tropic Marin Reef Actif backfired pretty badly; I’m still... »
Back to spirits (Updated)
My experiment with Tropic Marin Reef Actif took a huge hit today as I measured some water parameters this morning. As I started using Reef Actif a few weeks ago I also stopped the Vodka + sugar dosing because I read some very promising comments about the Reef Actif’s ability to lower nutrient levels... »