Quick Update on the tank

Well, my algae still persists.  But, this is normal as you reach the end of the Nitrogen cycle.  This is where patience really comes into play.

My ammonia and nitrites are down to zero, but my nitrates are still way high.

Why?  Here are some reasons:

• Remember that the tank existed for about 18 days with no filtration, just a recirculating flow and  6 fish adding lots of detritus (read: poop) because the plumbing was not done.
• The live rock that came with the tank was not to my satisfaction and I have since replaced all of it over the last 3 weeks (4 times).  This meant almost starting over.
• I have re-aquascaped the rock several times (the last time was yesterday and hopefully THE LAST TIME).
• I had no refugium until last Sunday, so there was no additional biological filtration besides the liver rock.  The fuge now has lots of chaeto, real live sand, and more live rock.
• My clean-up crew (CUC) is not enough to keep the nuisance algae to a minimum yet.

So, those are the reasons.  Regardless, the algae seems to have leveled off and might even be dissipating slightly.  The skimmer is pulling out lots of good junk.  The fuge is working well.  The CUC is catching up.

My nitrates went from off the scale (over 200ppm) to about 60ppm) now.  I am hoping that I can move over the BioCube contents (fish, rock, coral) this weekend.

As a test, I moved my purple gorgonia this weekend and it is doing very well.  I also moved over my queen conch and bought 2 additional conchs.  They do wonders on the sand bed.

I lost one of my 5 emerald crabs.  Found his carcass in the back corner.  Not sure if I crushed him in my aquascaping efforts (as I suspect) or for some other reason.

I am seeing lots of life in the tank now.  Bristleworms, copepods, mini feather dusters.  Plus, there is a nice full size feather duster that is very pretty that hitchhiked in on one of my rocks.  He is doing well, too.