Here's our reef at five months, and you can see it has been thriving. The coral growth is amazing, and no problem algae has recurred to date. See notes below.
Photo © Stan & Debbie Hauter
Our 92g reef tank at five months.
What's New?
12/29/07: 1 Yellowheaded Sleeper Goby (Valenciennea strigata).
02/11/08: 2 LPS Torch or Pom-Pom Corals (Euphyllia glabrescens), and 1 medium Blue Starfish (Linckia laevigata).
03/02/08: 11 tiny Red Mushroom Corals (Discosoma (Actinodiscus) sp.)
03/03/08: Removed the mated pair of Black Percula Clowns and placed them in a tank for breeding, and added 1 small Red Saddleback Clownfish (Amphiprion ephippium).
We have NOT done a water change on the tank up to this point.
We started this reef tank five month's ago with tap water filtered through a standard drinking water filter, and continue to use tap water with a few drops of Kordon AmQuel added as our top-off water. Due to a substantial amount of evaporation, we add one gallon of water every two to three days.
By regularly adding calcium and iodine, providing foods for the corals, occasionally adding a pH buffer, and keeping to our regular maintenance routine, the water quality has remained steady and our reef tank has been thriving.
No Recurrence of Problem Algae So Far
After treating our reef tank with Chemiclean Red Slime Remover on 01/22/08, up to this date there have been no further problems with the green and red slime algae. Whoo Hoo!
Beneficial Macroalgae
The green macroalgae in the tank is intentional. We let it grow because it is a natural source of food for most all of the motile animals in the aquarium. They eat it, which in turn keeps the algae in check. It is also beneficial to the system because it consumes nitrate and produces oxygen.
Amazing, But True Facts About Our Reef Aquarium
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