2014

I wasn't real involved with this tank in 2013, mostly just waterchanges and feeding as I was focusing on turning my 29g FOWLR into a decent soft coral reef tank. I didn't take any photos of the tank and continued to battle Caulerpa, Bryopsis, and Gelidium nuisance algaes.

Now in 2014 I decided to make a stand against the algaes I've been fighting for the last 8 years and started running GFO. I purchased a Two Little Fishies Phosban Reactor 150, a MaxiJet 600, and RowaPhos. I'm using 3 tablespoons of RowaPhos in the reactor and had to cut a hole in the tubing into the reactor before the ball valve to keep the pump from being really noisy. I also turned the back of the AquaPod back into a refugium powered by 1 Osram 660nm 3w LED and 2 CREE XT-E Neutral Whites. The first and third chambers are filled with live rock rubble and the Bryopsis seems to be outcompeting the Caulerpa in the refugium for now.

I also finally made an LED fixture for this tank using aluminum U channel strips glued together and the arm of my old JBJ Viper fixture. I'm running 6 CREE XT-E Royal Blues, 1 CREE XT-E Cool White, and 1 CREE XP-G R5 Cool White on a 700mA driver tied in with the refugium LEDs. Many of the LED domes came off so they may need replaced down the road but for now the spectrum is a nice 20K look I've always liked.

                                                                    June 14, 2014

                                                                           July 9, 2014                                                                     

                                                                      July 9, 2014
Still battling Gelidium but the Bryopsis and Caulerpa are growing much slower for the first time in years. Hopefully the GFO was the missing ingredient to finally make this tank how I want it.