Three Weeks Later

Things have been pretty uneventful in the nano reef as it approaches its first month. The good news is that everything has been consistently stable for the past two weeks:

• Temperature: 80° F
• Specific gravity: 1.024 ppt
• pH: 8.3
• KH (alkalinity): 10° dKH
• NH₃/NH₄ ammonia: 0 ppm
• NO₂ (nitrite): 0 ppm
• NO₃ (nitrate): 0 ppm
• Calcium: 560 mg/L
• Phosphate: 0

The calcium level is a bit high. Ideally it should be somewhere between 400–500 mg/L. A level this high shouldn't be too alarming but fluctuation in levels can cause pH and alkalinity levels to fluctuate as well, which isn't a good thing. For now I'll have to monitor the calcium level carefully to make sure it stabilizes. On the plus side, this high level of calcium is probably responsible for the rapid growth of coralline algae.

As far as livestock, today I found an empty nassarius snail. Not sure if it died on its own or if it was attacked by one of the hermits. The hermits have been playing nice with the snails all this time though so I'm ruling that possibility out for now. My clean-up crew in general can't seem to keep up with the algae growth so I will have to add a few more recruits.

With the tank's steady progress and stable parameters, I might just be ready to throw in my first coral this weekend.