melev

Sometimes running a reef tank is like raising a kid. You do everything you're supposed to and they still misbehave and don't even grasp the concept that it will do itself in in the process.

Two days ago, it was time to dose Prodibio. The water looked good, the corals vibrant. I added the proper amount of each vial, including their new Coral Vits vitamin additive. That stuff has a citrus-like smell to it. Once it hits the water, the sound of the reef changes as it pours into the sump. It's much louder, almost obnoxiously since it affects water tension. This'll only last a few hours though, so not a deal breaker. Later that night after lights out, I dosed Prodibio's Reefbooster -- their microfood they recommend. The tank got very cloudy but that's completely normal. Here's a video I shot a while back when using it:



A few hours later I turned on the skimmer but the body filled up with water and virtually zero bubbles. Both Coral Vits and Reefbooster will stop a skimmer from bubbling for a while, but at 3 a.m. seeing a skimmer full of glassy water didn't make me feel good about going to sleep. To err on the side of caution, I decided to do a water change. 50g later, the tank was a little less cloudy and the skimmer began to look like it might kick in so I went to sleep.

When I arose, the Apex had notified me via text that the skimmer was off due to the waste collector being full. Not surprising at all, I drained that container and the skimmer resumed. The tank looked good, no ugly surprises or carnage. The water draining into the sump sounded normal, not noisy any longer. All day, everything was normal. Last night, I fed the reef around 8:30 p.m. and by 10:00 p.m. the lights went out -- except for the Radion over the Anemone Cube. It was glowing blue, no doubt in Full Moon mode. A while later it shut off and all was dark.

Around midnight I noticed the water level in the skimmer had dropped about two inches which was odd. Working with a flashlight, I made a small adjustment. That is when I noticed that the tank was rather cloudy. It seems that the water change, the feedings and the full moon effect encouraged the anemones to spawn. Essentially my nice clean reef that is perfectly happy had a bunch of sperm polluting the system a day after I just exported waste from the system. Just like a kid, messing up his room after it looked perfectly clean.

Adjusting the gate valve on the skimmer to find its efficiency spot, I was able to dial it into pulling out the smokey cloud. Here's some of it an hour later.

Overnight it pulled out more and today the water looks nice and clean, completely normal. I would have preferred it if the messy stuff had happened before my recent maintenance because that seems more logical to me - to get it all out. Spawning events aren't necessarily an evil thing. Corals can feed upon it as can fish - but in a closed ecosystem there is a delicate balance as well as a tipping point.

I'd like my reef to behave, please.