Lance's 225 gal tank

[Lance]

(Bad News; Good News; More Bad News; Some more Good News; and some more Bad News)



I haven't been on here in nearly a month due to health issues: I was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery on Oct. 17th. The surgery went well but unfortunately they found more tumours, which were scraped and sent off for analysis. After three weeks of waiting, the results just came in: Tumours are non-invasive. I am now officially cancer free!
I am still several weeks away from going back to work, but ahead of schedule on the Old "mend-o-meter".

Not nearly as serious, but never-the-less disturbing, is how badly the tanks suffered while I was gone. The 90g was hit the worst: the pumps running the GFO reactor and the skimmer packed it in at some point. Combined with no skimmer or GFO, the tank was badly overfed and the nitrates and phosphates went through the roof. Algae and red slime kinda went wild and Aiptasia boomed with all the excess nutrients. Yesterday I showed my wife how to do a large water change and I got the skimmer and reactor back on line. Also went on an Aiptasia hunt and the tank is looking better now. Unfortunately most of my SPS did not survive.
The big tank fared better. After a large water change the nitrates and phosphates are back to acceptable levels.
All-in-all, it's been a pretty shitty month but I still feel like one hell of a lucky bastard!