I had to get rid of the tank this week in order to move. I had tried to sell the tank, inhabitants and everything for $200, then I tried to sell if for $100, but finally I gave the purchased live rock and all the inhabitants to a girl who worked for the LFS. She had been cool, and was the only salesperson, at all the fish stores in Phoenix, who did not scorn the notion of a skimmerless reef tank with concrete rock ;-) The chunks of concrete rock that had been in the nano I pulled out, and put on my porch in the 100 degree Phoenix heat. I didn't even rinse them. I will ship all of it to NY to use again when I set up the 90 gallon tank.

The Bangaii Cardinal is munching all my pods! He's wiped them out so bad I never see any at all. I've read that their large eyes are useful for night hunting, and this guy must be hunting like crazy. The tank looks great, and I am using carbon full time now.

CRAP! I purchased a new alkalinity kit and found my levels were much better then I originally thought! I purchased some Reef Builder, and began dosing the recommended amounts this week. I also added a Bangaii Cardinal this week and supplemented the lighting with 2 more 13 watt PC's from AH Supply. The new fish is great, and moves very slowly, mostly hanging out in one spot in the tank.

I forgot to dose B-Ionic one day and alk fell again, calc steady at 250ppm. I have been reading that the Red Sea test kits are inaccurate, which may also be my problem. Coraline continues to grow, pod population is very large. I've reduced tank current back to my earlier setting. Summer is here and it is getting harder to keep the tank cool.

Great week. Calc tested solidly at 250 ppm and alk is at 4.7. Since my PH is stable at 8.2, next week it will be 6ml of B-Ionic every day. My salinity crept back up again. I've been setting the salinity at 1.025 with a full tank and evap is pulling it up. The Brown Polyp colony has extended the white substance out quite a bit, and new polyps are growing out of it. Also the coraline is showing up in many more places on my aragocrete. I'm going for 11 days without a water change this week, keeping an eye on some brown crust that's starting to form at the edges of the glass and base.

Coraline on the back glass is becoming denser, more small spots on the aragocrete. Brown Polyp colony is excreting a white substance. I stopped dosing the Marine Buffer, sticking with 6ml every other day on B-Ionic. Added 3 -4 drops of Coralvite twice this week. All other parameters are looking good, and I am extending water changes to every 9 days/25%. Eventually I'd like to get to 15 days without mechanical filtration.

Coraline has really begun to show on both the back glass and the aragocrete. Small spots only, but more locations. I dosed Marine Buffer one time this week which brought my alk back up. The Rio died and I took it apart for a cleaning, before reattaching I swept the rocks clean, then did a 20% water change. I turned the Rio back up to full flow, which seems to have reduced the greener algae in the tank, and increased my coraline growth, especially where the stream hits the far glass. Also started adding a few drops of Coralvite once a week. Now dosing B-Ionic every day, 5ml each part.

I dosed B-Ionic every other day, and reduced feeding to every other day also. The tank seemed to look better with less feeding. Alk and Calc still too low. Salinity was too high, began bringing it back down.

I left on vacation for a week and came back to find the tank was healthy. It was fed twice in a 7 day period by a friend. The Calc/Alk problem is still baffling me. I tested my replacement water and found that the Calc measured 300ppm and the Alk measured 0! The tank parameters are above. Coraline is expanding slowly on the aragocrete and glass.

I stopped with the Marine Buffer (ph concerns) and began dosing 5ml of each B-Ionic part on Monday. One 15% water change and 5 days later my alk is so low I cannot measure it, and the same for the calcium level, very frustrating.

The maroon died Monday morning. The rest of the occupants are fine, with the clam slowly recovering over the rest of last week. I began working to bring the alk up to an acceptable level by dosing Marine Buffer at night and B-Ionic in the morning.

Bad week for the nano... fish and clam began stressing Wednesday. I measured parameters twice a day for three days, no fluctuation (used both kits). Placed an airstone behind a new poly-carbon filter in the Whisper, reduced feeding significantly. Clown began swelling in the abdomen and he is becoming more lethargic. Clam began turning dark in the membrane as well as the middle area which is visible when open. Clam was beginning to stay closed most of the time.

A total of 17 gallons of water was changed from Wed through Friday. I reduced temp swing and brought salinity down. There was a reduction in copepods, which I assume the cleaner shrimp is munching as tank feeding was reduced quite a bit.

Saturday - the clam is looking much better, open and the membranes are looking whiter. I began to feed more, the clown is not eating at all and is hiding in the rock. Measurements above were taken today. Stopped B-Ionic on Wed and went back to Marine Buffer. Calc is steady at 250, which seems odd as I have changed a lot of water.

The rest of the tank looks great, small feather dusters out, water clear, caulerpa is really rooting into the rock. Very confusing.....