Each year, I like to do a video on the anniversary date of the reef. Last month, my reef turned 9 years old (Nov 10, 2022). By that, I mean the livestock has been in this glass aquarium for that duration. I filmed it from many angles, to make a nice video (linked at the base of this article). I’ll describe my system and the associated gear while you enjoy some eye candy.
I did it. I changed water in my reef. Crazy, but true. lol
As I mentioned yesterday during the livestream, I was going to do a water change this weekend. I ended up changing 62-gallons, which is basically what the skimmer section and the return section of my sump holds.
My 400g reef and the 60g Anemone Cube turned six years old on November 10th. I hope you enjoy this up-to-date tour of where things stand for 2019, and give you a little insight into what makes it work. It's a mixed reef filled with corals and fish, and I try to let it grow naturally instead of constantly pruning corals.
It's been another month. The 400g has been running for 5 years and 7 months as of tomorrow. I've been dosing 40 ml of Nopox daily for 58 days. It looks like nitrate is finally approaching 10 ppm (looks like 15 ppm today via API), down from 50 ppm. Phosphates measured .1 ppm (Elos)
Other parameters:
Just wanted to post these here since they document progress over time. :)
It's been 1522 days, or exactly 50 months since the 400g was restarted. And it's really looking more beautiful each day. I'm enjoying the open space above the corals, seeing how the acroporas have room to grow upward and the fish to swim. The reef is so colorful, and especially so when it's only lit with XHO lighting. I wish you could see it the way I see it because the camera just can't capture the beauty that the human eye can.
It's been five days since the reef was reset. I knew I'd need some time getting used to the new look of the reef. Duane begged me to turn on the 20,000K lighting Saturday evening because "your rock is so white!" under 10,000K lighting. Not surprising since it had about 60 lbs of corals shading it for the past couple of years, right? After he was done gluing the last frags in place, I did flip over to 20,000K so he could see his handiwork.
Last Saturday, Melev's Reef had a viewing party. Locals were invited to watch the transformation of the 400g which was desparately in need of a major clean-out. Corals had grown into massive colonies, completely shading whatever was beneath. Flow was obstructed, and the prettiest view was really only from above. Daily I saw the dead supporting skeleton holding up the living section above, and it was hard to 'like' my reef in that condition.
