Rimless Reef

Well, its time for a "state of the tank" update.

Just wanted to list some things I have noticed, for better or worse, in the tank so far:

A. Since placing the Ati Pro Color bulb in the tank again two weeks ago, corals with purple pigments have become incredibly intense. My Valida, Tri-color, Purple monster, and even purple coralline algae have become noticeably more purple. I have also noticed an increase in corraline growth but it probably isnt due to the bulb.

B. T5's may lighten your corals. My corals are lighter now then they were in my 225gl. The new tank may be "cleaner" because of my over sized skimmer(Deltec AP851) but I think T5's are doing their part. The old 225gl had much more light(1400W vs 378W now), but had deeper colors in the corals. I'm not complaining though. I would rather have lighter, colorful corals instead of darker, less colorful coral.

C. My skimmer was offline for over a month due to a defective part. During that time, Murphy decided to kick his law into action and one of my clams died. The death of the clam caused some Dinoflagellates to appear. Now, after a month of cleaning and water changes, I am pretty much rid of them.

D. As mentioned above, My skimmer was offline for over a month. It has been on now for over week now and is pulling out an amazing amount of skimmate. I am having to empty it every two days. And the skimmate is pretty thick! I'm happy it is working but am afraid it may end up sterilizing my tank. I will watch it another week and see if the skimmate production calms. down.

E. I have noticed something funny in my tank. Every coral is growing normally, but there are a few exceptions. All blue SPS's in the tank are growing at 3-4 times the rate of everything else! I cant tell you why they are growing that much faster, but I wont complain. My acans are also growing very fast, seems like a new head is popping up every 4 days.

F. Running a powerhead in the sump has made a big difference. Before running it I had a nasty build up of detritus on the bottom of the sump. I siphoned it all out and placed the powerhead in. So far, so good.

All in all I am happy with the progress of the tank. Everything is growing well and the tank is stable. I cant wait until next year! By that time my tank should be looking decent.

Thanks for looking,
Peace out!
Sonny.

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