[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks Dawn! I'm having a hard time believing it too! I just kept plugging away and eventually the magic happened. There was plenty of hard work involved, of course, and I may have gotten some key decisions right. But like you said, it's hard to believe, when things actually work out. I'll take it!

Today I did a little tank modification, removing a bit of the tank top, that was causing a shadow. This will make placing plants easier, at the the right end. I pulled the rock with bubble algae out and did my best to remove it, without harming the others. I also decided to remove the Caulerpa, since it looked to be a variety I don't want. I was hoping it would be C. mexicana, with it's dark color and thick fronds. Instead I think I had C. sertulariodes, which is thinner and lighter colored. I think it would be best for anything growing on the back wall to be darker than the grasses. I shuffled a couple of live rocks too, to get the mystery red macro and sargassum in better light.

I came up with an idea to alleviate my closed loop problem. Since the biggest issue was the water level drop in the outgoing chamber, I put a stand pipe in place. This fixed the water level but not the micro bubble issue. So I'm still unable to run the pump anywhere near full power. I'm thinking of trying adding a 'U' at the top to get the opening below the water level, where the bubbles are. I'll try that next and report back. Ideas welcome!