i was having issues with the sps as my alk was not dropping like at all over the course of a couple months. i didn't really know what to make of it, but most weren't dying so i figured well just tank < 1 year syndrome at least they're alive, but wanting to get to the bottom of it i rented a par meter from brs and i had my lights too high up. i figured people had par tested them at 11", 2 more inches ought to be alright. woops. so they were all at like 100ish par, so i've rectified that. but they also don't put out a solid 24x24 area like they claim so there's some seriously dark spots, especially that high up middle rock so i'm gonna budget in a radion and add that soonish. then i can have the lights perpendicular to the tank with the radion in the middle. it'll look kinda janky, but oh well. should've just gone radion to begin with.. live and learn
either way since dropping the lights down to about 9" and doing the water change my alk dropped about 1 point. and i see some clear growth on the acros so that's cool. growth good, dead not good
on my fish restocking i was able to get a couple more fish recently so i got them eating and started hybrid ttm on them, a blackcap basslet, a sunburst anthias, and a sharknose goby.
i really want another leopard and a tamarin wrasse, but those have been hard to find. i asked a lfs to get them, i called to confirm they had them, drove 45 min to get there only to be told they forgot what tank the leopard wrasse was in and apparently the owner liked the china wrasse so much he just took it home for himself. so i drove 1 hour home empty handed LOL. suffice to say, fuck that place
after finishing my last ttm my skunk tilefish started like literally going nuts. he was porpoising out of the water for hours on end
that was looking real spinal injury status so i figured i was gonna lose him for sure, but i turned the flow down and just left him alone and he perked back up. i took this earlier today
so that trio is looking good, all 3 eat really well. the assessor is the lone holdout on pellets, but the leopard and tilefish are mostly cool with them
and lastly, i was on the lookout for some QT'ed sunset anthias psuedanthas parvirostris and finally found tsm was getting some in so i ordered 4 females and 1 male, those will be done with qt and arriving late april. i'll toss them in a tank and observe them for a couple weeks. tsm is kinda tough to communicate with via email, but maybe i can add to that order a bit.
i do have some stuff i'd like to add down the road. kamohara blenny, starcki damsel, a roaops butterfly, and once the coral grows in a bit i'd like to try a less reef safe butterfly. not sure what kind yet, but pearlscale is currently speaking to me. miliaris or fremblii would've been cool, but hawaii closed so that aint happening. i really love falculas and their pacific sister, but those might be a bit too risky for me
either way i have a solid year or two to decide on that