May / June 2001

5/25	No more hand feedings for anemone and corals. They seem to be fine without them. Less hands in the tank.
5/25	Added 20 pounds of live sand.
5/01	Disconnected the UV!! Big step convinced by conversation with Dr. Ron Shimek.
5/01	5/01- started DT's photo plankton 15 ml 2x week. Will increase if I see results.
March 2001
3/01	Adding Roti rich 25-30 drops 2x week.
January 2001
Additives and feeding	I discontinued the use of Roti rich twice a week as well as coral vital 3 times a week. I was having a hair algae problem due to what I believe was an over abundance of nutrients in my system. I try to run my systems as "natural" as possible so I was not crazy about using additives in the first place. I am hoping that the addition of the refugium will supply a good source of micro organisms for the system.
	I also switched to Vita Chem. from Kent marine zoe. Same thing and cheaper.
	I have reduced my feeding to 1 1/2 to 2 frozen cubes 3 times a week again in an effort to reduce the high nutrient levels.
Fish	Diadema Basslett moved to the 40 gallon. Over the next 2 months, I will be adding 2 gobies, 2 wrasses and a mandrian. Exact ones are still being researched. I am open to suggestions.
Inverts	75 blue leg hermits has been reduced on purpose to 10. I added 30 astrea snails 8 turbo snails left. They die very quickly. Don't know why.
Stoney Corals	My pink stylophora is gone. The frag fell to an unreachable place and perished.
Equipment	I set up a 10 gallon refugium piped directly to my sump with a maxijet 600 turned down for a flow rate of about 10 gallons per hour. I set it up with 8 pounds of live Atlantic aquaculture rock, a 2 inch sand bed and 2 kinds of calurpa: Caulerpa mexicana or Caulerpa taxifolia not sure which one. They both look the same. and Grape Caulerpa Algae (Caulerpa racemosa) I seeded the refugium with a detortive kit from Inland Aquatics. This contained the following: over 100 Mysis shrimp, several Gammarus shrimp, a bunch of amphipods, copepods, 6 peperment snails, 10 baby bristle worms, 10 mini brittle stars, 3 stomatella Varia. I also removed all bio media from my sump. My goal in my 225 reef is to run my system as close to 100% natural as possible . I am trying to avoid using as many processed additives as possible and develop the reef system to maintain its own inhabitants. I believe that the refugium has taken me one step closer to this goal. It is still a long term goal.