• Q1: High Stakes & Hard Lessons

I started the year with a significant setback when my Lowboy tank crashed due to a massive alkalinity spike. I identified the cause as raw Kalk powder being sucked directly into the doser intake, which was a harsh reminder to always double-check that the input is clear of sediment. During this time, I started using Instant Ocean Purple salt, but found it pushed my Alkalinity to 15.0, nearly double my 8.0 target. To manage pests, I treated the system with Flatworm Exit and immediately followed up with Charcoal to protect my livestock. Mechanically, my 75G system struggled as the Jebao Pump 1 required new tubing to try and finally raise the Alkalinity. 

• Q2: Manual Interventions & Salt Shifts

By the second quarter, I shifted my focus to manual corrections to bypass the volatility of my dosers. I began adding 100ml of Kalk manually via syringe, knowing this would raise my Alk by exactly 0.3 dKH. Realizing the IO Purple salt was keeping my parameters way too high, I transitioned to Fritz Blue salt. For maintenance, I deep cleaned the 75G frag racks and used Revive and DipX to assist LPS corals that weren't doing well. Sadly, I lost my Spotted Mandarin after it got caught in the suction of a Maxijet pump. 

• Q3: Strengthening the Foundation

Mid-year was defined by a major push to correct my Magnesium, which was chronically low at 1010–1110 compared to my 1440 target. I increased my mix strength from 35g to 50g of Seachem Magnesium to compensate. A major milestone was "Day 1" of AFR (All-For-Reef); I mixed 800g into 5L of RO water and started dosing. While my Calcium finally reached my 440 target, it occasionally crept higher to 450 due to the AFR. I also took time to "aquascape" with a purpose, moving all Frogspawn to the right and Hammers to the left side of the tank.

• Q4: The Algae War & System Refinement

The end of the year was a battle against nutrients and algae. I initiated Flux RX treatment; the 75G responded well, but the 50G required repeated treatment for stubborn brown hair algae. I successfully installed a Fleece Roller to improve my mechanical filtration. Alkalinity management remained a "seesaw"—I frequently stopped and restarted AFR on the 75G because levels were creeping up past my 8.0 goal. By December, I was using Phosphate-E via a solo-cup drip method to refine water chemistry and ended the year experimenting with a 10G water swap between my two systems to help balance parameters.

• This picture was taken after a  three week vacation, click here for the video.  Luckily nothing major happened. The big thing that helped me is the Eheim automatic feeder, security cameras, and smart plugs.

• Also I added a jebao gyre pump vertically mounted in the rear right of the tank. Because of this, the flow changed a little bit, and my giant green rock flower anemone on the lower right of the tank moved. Its been there for so many years, and this is the first time it moved.

• The biggest growth I can see are the plate montiporas. There is this green montipora that was on the lower right of the tank, and now it is in the upper right. It was dying before, and now it is showing growth. I am happy.

• I also removed the two RBTA in the middle right of the tank, and moved it to my lowboy. I replaced it with my favorite sarcophyton.

• The green torch, middle left of the tank, now have two heads. I believe they call it "cotton candy"

• I am thinking of selling the purple tipped hammer, a video here, because i have too many of them and wanted to introduce another species of hammer.

• So I ended up rebooting the tank. The eggcrates were placed in there since Aug. 2007, and the zip ties holding them together all snapped and became brittle. Some of the PVC legs are on its sides and were deformed because of the weight of the rocks and corals.  I replaced them with black eggcrates and this time I 3d printed the legs. Also I developed these extensions to hold the corals, also 3d printed, so I can move them anywhere and change the height of the coral if it needs be. I really liked it, it is very modular. More information can be found here.  If you look closely, the corals are all floating on these 3d printed black extensions, except for the anemones that are in the rock itself.

• You will also noticed that the toxic green palythoas in the front covering the bare bottom floor are gone.

• I also added a few corals that came from the 40 breeder (now gone). These are the montipora caps in the right side of the tank.

• A lot of the tri-color validas have been given away and rehomed. I still have one big colony left, on the upper right corner of the tank.