Johnny Reefer's FOWLR

[Johnny Reefer]

Thanx for asking.
Water parameters as of yesterday:
Temp: 80.6F
pH: 8.15
Alk: 10.2 dKH
NO3: 20 ppm
PO4: .25 ppm (Time to replace the RowaPhos).
SG: 1.022

The Toadstool and Colt corals didn’t make it. Most likely due to high Alk. I use ReefBuilder in my top-off tank to try to maintain it. A previous Reef set up I had had a 45g top-off tank. I would use 12 Tbsp of ReefBuilder in that tank and it would maintain the Alk at around 10 dKH. The top off for this FOWLR is a 90g. So it would stand to reason that 24 Tbsp would do the trick. But the FOWLR Alk was dropping. It got down to 6.4 dKH. Well, since I moved and am now in a different environment, the evaporation rate is less than expected. So I bumped the ReefBuilder dose for the top off tank to 36 Tbsp. Wrong thing to do, I guess. As summer came, the evaporation increased. That and the fact that while doing a water change one time, I forgot to close the top off valve. Thus when I was pumping water out of the sump, the top off was putting water in. Not much. Probably only about 5g…10g at the most. But it certainly didn’t help. Long story short, the Alk went up to 17.6 dKH. I think the Toadstool and Colt didn’t like that very much. All things being good….Zoas do not do well in this tank. It appears to me that something eats them. They just slowly disappear. Palys in this tank don’t do well either. They stick around, but they do not thrive. Mushrooms, on the other hand, do great. Most of them, save one, are full and robust. Not sure why the one isn’t fairing well, because it once was full and robust as well. Needless to say, I’ll be getting more ‘shrooms for this tank. Now that the Alk is back down, I’d like to try a Toad and a Colt again also.

As for the fish….I guess they are growing???? Haven’t really noticed any growth other than the Clown. It is definitely bigger, but not by a substantial amount. It’s disposition is still the same. Haven’t noticed any berserk behaviour yet, as I’ve read Clowns are prone to do when they get older. All 5 Triggers still are getting along.

Other than that…not much change.

Edit: The Pink Tail is bigger also, but not by much.

Cheers,