[LaurentSeattle]

Day 14 - Wednesday 11th - Around 7:00pm

I went to Fred Meyer after work and got a bottle of wine and most importantly a turkey "blaster", the biggest model I could get.

After that I went to the LFS to get one additional rock to complete my "mountain" of LR. I also get some rock rumbles to visually balance a bit more the lower part of the aquascape. They do not carry the "fresh" product recommended by ReefMack so I passed on the NitroBac equivalent they proposed me.

When home, I started to pump around the rocks and remove some slimy algae with the "blaster". It seems that I have a lot of decaying organic stuff on the rocks and I removed a bunch of cr*p.

After a while, the "crapstorm" calmed down and I tested again for Nitrites (NO2) and it is still above 1 ppm. Then I tested for nitrates (NO3) and it is above 50ppm. I did not perform a test with diluted water. My preliminary conclusion is that I have so much of a die-off on the rocks that the bacteriae cannot handle the situation. I would verry much appreciate your comments about the above...

Temperature was 35C/98F in Seattle today - an all time record - and even 104F on the Eastside, farther from the ocean! Temperature in the tank had reached 32C/88F when I came home. I immediately open the hood to get more evaporation and less heat. The extra cooling fan is certainly totally useless, pumping air in the circulation chamber. Opening the skimmer lid will help much more. I have no idea if the high temperature are stimulating or inhibiting the cycling process. Anyone?

I got my replacement timer in the mail tonight. It was mailed last Friday, the day after my phone call. I called them at 11am Pacific, 2pm Texas time. Not too bad, RedSea, thanks! Now, I have to remove the hood, disconnect the lights, dissassemble the lighting system, etc, etc... The instructions leaflet is about 20 pages!!! The beauty of integration indeed!!! I will do that tomorrow, hopefully.

ReefMack: I have adjusted the orientation of the pumps heads. Thanks. The gate seems to be just fine... Most of the surface stuff is now gone.