- While replacing the sponge filter and adding the Matric stones, one of the stones got into the impeller of the filter. In order to remove the stone, I had to remove the impeller assembly which required me to get the water out of the filter. In the process, I accidentally got a bunch of the gunk from the filter into the tank. Yuck.
- I may have replaced the media too quickly after each item: my water is a bit cloudy but the livestock seem to be fine. Looks like I may have caused a bacteria bloom which, hopefully, will subside quickly and with no ill affects.
- I believe I did not do a great job with my last water change. I was unaware that you needed to have the salt mixed and aerated well before changing the water in your tank. I thought you could just mix up some salt, test the salinity and add it to the tank once it was good. Upon adding the new water to the tank, the corals got pretty unhappy and closed up. The snails got super active after about 15 minutes though. Maybe they were happy to have fewer nitrates in their water...
- I hadn't done a test of my water parameters in awhile; just salinity tests with the refractometer. My filter media has been in place for a few days now so I figured the tank may have stablilzed a bit to have an accurate reading of the water parameters. What I found was not good...
- pH: 7.2
- Ammonia: .5
- Nitrite: 1ppm
- Nitrate 160ppm
Fortunately, I had some saltwater mixed up so I could perform a water change.
On a happy note, I have a ton of Copepods swimming around in my tank! I was worried that the Hammer Coral I had gotten brought in a parasite or something but apparently they are super beneficial and a good sign of a healthy tank!
I would also like to come up with a way to take interval photos of the tank for when I get more coral to see if they attack each other at night so I know if I need to move them. It'd also be neat to be able to have a live stream of the tank so I can check on it at home during the weekend.
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