I recently made a few changes in the tank and got rid of a few large sps colonies including the aussie gold, rainbow granulosa, green birdsnest and RR prometheus. I've filled those gaps with frags of orange passion, cherry bomb, and various millis. One thing I didn't take into account was how much alk and calcium those colonies were sucking up. I quickly found that my alk/cal levels had risen quite a bit because of it and had to make some adjustments.
I'm also thinking about getting rid of the large zoa rock pictured below to make room for a clam bed. My only concern is that getting rid that many mouths at once could disrupt my tanks nutrient uptake causing a spike. I know that zoas suck up some nutrients, I'm just not sure how much. Anyone have any idea?
I also added 6 new fish;
-3 more lyretail anthias for a total of 8. I was a little worried about adding more anthias to an existing school, but they were integrated with very little squabbling. I love anthias, they bring so much life and color to the tank.
-2 springeri damselfish. These guys are really pretty, I'm surprised that i haven't seen them in more tanks. They like to hang out in between the staghorn branches. Reminds me of pictures you see of reefs with fish living in the shelter of coral
-1 Lubbocki fairy wrasse. This guy is a real beauty, but I have rarely seen him in the last week. He hides in my zoas most of the day, coming out only to feed. Hopefully he gets more comfortable soon.
While I was scraping coraline off of the overflow in the back, I had a rare vantage point of the tank and thought it would make a nice picture. If only I could find a way to get rid of the light reflection
My next goal is to get my tank in a position to run itself for at least two weeks. I'm going on vacation in a couple of months, and while i'll have a house sitter, I want the tank to be pretty automated. The biggest thing will be integrating a kalk stirrer instead of just dosing out of a bucket that I mix every week. I have the Avast K2 on its way, we'll see how that goes. I also plan on putting a ring camera inside the stand and on the side of the tank so I can monitor things occasionally when I'm gone.