Day 16 - Friday 13th - Around 8pm
Sorry... no updates yesterday night. I was really really busy replacing the timer.
Opening the RSM hood is definitely more than a kick in the butt... It is a major PAIN. The worst part was indeed the screw covers... No less than two hours of effort to discover that the timer was improperly connected. One more hour to figure out that the bad connections had fried it. One more hour to get electrical connectors at the Home Depot and finally one more hour to test and put back everything into place... Obviously RedSea do not QA-Test this part before shipping to customers and this is VERY BAD!
Yesterday night, Nitrites were way in the red - above 1ppm - and, today are a bit in the pink - probably somewhere between 0.5 and 1ppm. Hopefully, it is maybe now time to think about the cleanup crew...
Good news: Brown diatoms are receding. Slimy algae are receding. Now are blooming light green algae that look like turf, some of the rocks, plenty on the glass. I can see here and there some pods, without having to actively search for them. Good signs, I believe.
I found out yesterday night, when dealing with the hood, that one of the pump was not pumping much less that its twin sister (pumps are feminine gender, right?
) The pump intake was swallowing a bit the sock of the carbon filter. I put a small layer of floss on top of the carbon bag to keep it at bay from the pump. I have now much better circulation and consequently no surface film at all today. Furthermore, the tank is also now absolutely clear of microbubbles.
I also very religiously used the turkey "blaster" to clean up the rocks, very effective indeed.
I plan my first water change either tomorrow or Sunday if nitrites keep on going down. It should be a big one, right? Something like 10-15gallons/ 30-40 liters..
Your questions/remarks:
- Yes, I have tried to leave enough room on the sides so that I can clean with a magnet cleaner. I do not plan to clean the back side - I hope that pink coralline algae will soon colonize the area so that the machinery that's behind will become totally invisible. Therefore, I am using the back face to stabilize some rocks.
- I think I will order the HYDOR FLOW thingy next time I order something online from MarineDepot. Cheap and it cannot hurt.
- The Koralia pump is unfortunately another eyesore. I will try to avoid it for now since my plan is to stick with "easy" corals.
- The cleanup crew: If everything goes well, I will get next weekend - not tommorow - half a dozen of snails and maybe only one blue legged hermit. The Red-legged ones are getting too big. I have been researching the subject and I finally decided on:
* Astrea
* Cerith
* Nerite
* Paper Bulla (Not often talked about but get awesome "reviews" in my book!)
No Turbo or Margarita, as I have read many times that they are temperate or cold water species. I also plan a truckload of empty shells for the potentially agressive hermit.
- The planned future livestock
A carpet of Zoanthids,
Two or three Feather Dusters, ( Sabellastarte sp. )
Two or three Shrimps ( Lysmata, Alpheaus sp. )
Three fishes, no more, maybe :
* Amblygobius goby ( Court Jester )
* Nemateleotris decora ( Firefish )
* Amblyeleotris guttata ( Orange spotted goby )
If all these guys can live happy together, I will declare SUCCESS...
Thanks all for visiting.