I used to think that my quickie off-the-top water changes were “cheating”. Coming from the freshwater world where I spent years suctioning the bottom of the tank, scooping water quickly off the top didn’t feel like a “real” water change. I’ve changed my mind. Off the top is (for me) the way to go unless I’ve got Something Disgusting on the substrate.
Since getting Kyo, my first little reef fish for my little reef, I’ve been dropping in food pellets. I’ve noticed a thin film on top of the water about mid-week after a Friday water change. Protein, of course. The skimmer takes care of most, but the film on the water gets scooped off with the 1 gal. weekly water change. Kyo dislikes the film and the small bubbles that accumulate in it; it seems to interfer with his sighting and picking off food pellets.
Of course any mis-hits or any pellets that escape him benefit the hermit crabs and Kalimba, the shrimp, so they’re not complaining. They’re fat and happy by week’s end. 
I did 1 gal. water change in the mini-reef, rinsed the sponge filters and did a 1qt. water change in the picoreef late this afternoon. Over the past week I’ve been testing and adjusting the Ph, adding 1 tsp superbuffer every other day. Ph this morning was 7.9 and was 8.2 prior to water change this afternoon. I added superbuffer this morning after testing. That was my third dose in a week. As always I’ve seen an increase in amphipods as the Ph is slowly creeping up. Today’s dose will probably keep it up and stable for a while.
About mid-week another egg mass appeared on cave rock, on the left side towards the back, right in the middle of a mass of algae. Presumbly Drew cleaned the spot before laying the eggs, but still, it’s not a good spot. I’m having a difficult time remembering to call “him” her. I really need to find a boyfriend for her; she’s one hot-to-trot snail right now.
One final thing to note is that the algae on cave rock where the eggs are is the same type that I pull off the outflow of the skimmer. It reminds me of the algae I’ve seen on the jettys. Which is pretty there, but I can’t say it has the same effect in my mini-reef.
