Winning The War And I'm In Love
So the tank is now almost 3 months old and the dreaded green hair algae war appears to be turning in my favour. The sand bed still has the odd spot of it here and there but the big clumps of it have all gone.
The Phosguard did a superb job of binding the excess phosphates up so for over a week now my Hanna test results have come back at zero. I did lots of water changes, totally cleaned the sump of all detritus, cleaned out the weir, completely cleaned the sand bed and brushed off what I could from the LR.
Given its likely that the LR is leaching phosphates, the Phosguard is still in position for the time being so I can keep on top of it all and vigilance is key still. With all that said, I'm happy with progress so far.
The other piece of news for this week is that I'm in love. This morning I dropped into my LFS to have a look at their new stock and get a few bits and pieces.
I have never been a lover of Catalaphyllias (Elegance coral) before. In fact (and I can feel some of you gasping in horror) I thought they were quite ugly in fact. I had decided that they were too ugly for my tank. However, my LFS posted some pics last night on FB of new stock they had with some lovely looking Cats. I posted a comment saying I loved those and wouldn't mind one.
When I went into the shop this morning, I saw one this morning that I quite liked. It was bright lime green and when I asked the price and then if I could have it, my trusty LFS staff member showed me one he was keeping especially for me and it was GORGEOUS!!!!!!
This Cat has purple tips, is a gorgeous green and is utterly divine. From someone who never liked Cats before, I have to say this little gem is now my absolute favourite coral in the entire world. Utterly gobsmackingly in love :)
In comparison, this Goniapora has been doing my head in. When I saw it in the shop about 6 weeks ago, it was healthy, open and quite pretty. I bought it home, dipped it in Revive and it seems to never have recovered. Some days it will open just a bit, but never, ever fully. I've tried changing it from one place to another, I've fed it, put it in the light, taken out of the light, told it I loved it, yelled at it and threatened it with the sump. I have two other gonis, both of which are doing very well but this one defies logic. I may well throw it at the back of the tank in disgust I think!
The Phosguard did a superb job of binding the excess phosphates up so for over a week now my Hanna test results have come back at zero. I did lots of water changes, totally cleaned the sump of all detritus, cleaned out the weir, completely cleaned the sand bed and brushed off what I could from the LR.
Given its likely that the LR is leaching phosphates, the Phosguard is still in position for the time being so I can keep on top of it all and vigilance is key still. With all that said, I'm happy with progress so far.
The other piece of news for this week is that I'm in love. This morning I dropped into my LFS to have a look at their new stock and get a few bits and pieces.
I have never been a lover of Catalaphyllias (Elegance coral) before. In fact (and I can feel some of you gasping in horror) I thought they were quite ugly in fact. I had decided that they were too ugly for my tank. However, my LFS posted some pics last night on FB of new stock they had with some lovely looking Cats. I posted a comment saying I loved those and wouldn't mind one.
When I went into the shop this morning, I saw one this morning that I quite liked. It was bright lime green and when I asked the price and then if I could have it, my trusty LFS staff member showed me one he was keeping especially for me and it was GORGEOUS!!!!!!
This Cat has purple tips, is a gorgeous green and is utterly divine. From someone who never liked Cats before, I have to say this little gem is now my absolute favourite coral in the entire world. Utterly gobsmackingly in love :)
In comparison, this Goniapora has been doing my head in. When I saw it in the shop about 6 weeks ago, it was healthy, open and quite pretty. I bought it home, dipped it in Revive and it seems to never have recovered. Some days it will open just a bit, but never, ever fully. I've tried changing it from one place to another, I've fed it, put it in the light, taken out of the light, told it I loved it, yelled at it and threatened it with the sump. I have two other gonis, both of which are doing very well but this one defies logic. I may well throw it at the back of the tank in disgust I think!
