Something's happening

Well, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been fastidiously checking in every day, but here’s the first sign that something is actually happening. I tested the water again today and there’s a definitive difference in the nutrient load, indicative that biology is happening. The phosphate has halved, going from 10 ppm at planting down to 5 ppm on day four.

	2 Jul	6 Jul
pH	9	9
Ammonia	0 ppm	0 ppm
Nitrite	0 ppm	0 ppm
Phosphate	10 ppm	5 ppm

That is the oxygenators doing what they are supposed to do: pulling dissolved phosphate straight out of the water column and taking it away from the algae in the process. Four days is a short window and one halving is not a trend, so I want to see it hold. Ammonia and nitrite are both still at zero, and the pH has not moved off 9.

I also added a little water ramp made from some old sun-bleached bits of wood I found on a beach years ago, so that any bugs and critters that fall in have a way to climb back out. Not much has changed from day one to look at, but this is a patient game we’re playing here. Wait and see.