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After making myself (literally) do all my water testing today on both systems, I'm quickly reminded why I prefer to only run one reef at a time. Those people that run multiple tanks or frag systems deserve heavy praise for being able to keep so many separate systems thriving. I noticed some bits of corals turning white in my reef, but I kept blaming it on shade rather than a water quality issue. Today, I ran through all the Elos test kits, twice since I have to measure the 400g reef as well as the 60g frag system.

I tend to overthink everything, and like to work systematically toward growth both for my business as well as the youtube audience I've acquired over the past couple of years. Some videos are easy to do, others are very involved both in the filming process as well as the editing portion. My goal is to be informative and still semi-entertaining so as not to bore people. We all lead busy lives, and don't have the time to watch every last word / frame of a video, yet I actually worry about every last word and frame before I compile and upload it for the world to see.

I don't remember when the Easy Blade came to market, but it's a piece of plastic that you glue to a Magfloat magnet.  Affix a nice clean new razor blade (it's a specific one for this device), and you can work your way around the tank, carving off stubborn algae, coralline, and get into those corners that normal magnets can't quite reach. I like to use it near the sandbed too, so that area is crystal clear to see invertebrates doing their thing. And around the top rim, carving off whatever clings there.  It also takes off calcification on rimless tanks.

Just a heads up to everyone, there's a lot going on. I had expected to get the newer version of the website done by now, but this project below took up all my time for the past couple of weeks. Melev's Reef may be down briefly over the next week as some technical stuff is being handled behind the scenes.  

This is Minion, my new CNC router setup. The installation has been quite a process but it is nearing completion and should be running soon.

I've had people ask me how I deal with ich in my tank. Apparently they think I have a secret. I have bought all kinds of fish over the years, but you never hear about ich issues. Yet, based on posts by others it's like the majority of you are constantly suffering from this problem.

Sea World has been on the defense due to social media pressure in recent years, and I don't feel it is warranted whatsoever. 

Years ago, I came up with an acrylic bracket to keep food in the display tank instead of letting it float across the surface and into the overflow (thus down into the sump, wasted and uneaten).  I called it the Eheim Chimney, as it was made to fit the Eheim Autofeeder system.  Turns out it fits the Apex AFS just as nicely.  I usually suggest the person simply put it on top of the overflow box since that's a great place where it won't be knocked off into the tank.  If the overflow box doesn't have a lid, I can make that as well.

Today is the 3rd day of 2017. What all did you do to your tank over the past couple of days to prep it for the new year? And if you did a lot of things, every wonder if that was a good idea or a bad one...?

Sometimes we get really proactive and attack our system, fixing everything we can while our hands are wet, so to speak. "I'll clean this, adjust that, add this... might as well correct that... remove this, push this over, glue this down, etc.." and it kinda devours your time and you change so many things at once, it can be detrimental.