Gozer_1

That's definitely not a bad idea. I know my 150 FW is WAY easier to maintain water quality than it was with my old 29. I have to constantly clean up my 20. The 150 just stays pristine. People never believe me that the bigger one is easier to maintain. The key to my success is my Python gravel washer. No More Buckets of water. You just have to add Dechlor as you fill the tank back up. The splashing actually gets rid of a lot of the Chlorine, so you just have to get rid of any chloromine. I was skeptical at first, adding tap water straight to my tank, but after almost 2 years of use I have had no problems. Of course this doesn't work for my SW, with the bottled water thing. I think you will find bottled water to be easier and maybe cheaper than testing all the time and treating for the stuff in the water. Your best other option is an RO/DI Filtration system. These are EXSPENSIVE. I have one that I can only get 75 gallons out of in a 24 hour period, and it cost me around $230 just for the filter. I plan to get a storage system going. Set up my filter so it fills a storage tank when I use it up to change water.

COBettaCouple

sounds like an interesting challenge.. i wonder if some consultation with timg could yield a RO/DI system that would be less expensive.. well, plenty of time to research for us i think.. gotta have a place & the money for a 150g and all it needs. thanks for the info.

Trpimp147

i agree with the bigger tanks are pretty easy to take care of my 10 gal was so hard i donno why just things would change to easy. at least in the 75 gal or 150 you have a few days to relize whats going on!!!

Gozer_1

When you have a larger volume of water you get Pockets of water quality "micro climates". If one area gets a little dirty, your inhabitants have a clean place to go until the spot clears up. Plus, just for the sake of example, 1 gram of ammonia in a 10 gal tank is WAY more than 1 gram in 100 Gals. It takes more dirt to get the water dirty. lol You really see it in large ponds. POckets of algae. Fish favorite hang outs, and totaly "dead" spots.

Radcliffe

In terms of getting bigger tanks- have you checked yard sales? I got 3 (10,29,55) for $50 at a yard sale this spring and have been resisting going to check out all the other sales with tanks ever since!!!

--R

agsansoo

Gozer_1,
Are you continuing to use the "Lights Out" method to keep the algae at bay. You should be doing this once a month. I was going to do this this week, but do to the clown laying eggs, I might have to delay this until next week.

Gozer_1

I have some what. I haven't completely covered it. My recent move across town has brought up some problems. Kind of having trouble getting it squared away lol. The good news is I found a home for the problem fish. He's going to a 75 FO tank. No live rock, no snails, just good filtration and fake rocks to hide in. The bad news is the fish is to smart for fish traps and nets. I think I may have to pull the rocks to get him out. He is REALLY fast. I think I'm gonna take this opprotunity to "start over". I'll pull the rocks, clean em up. Essentially "re-cure", let the snails get comfortable again. Get the cycle stabilized, maybe add a coral or 2, then it's a pair of Percula clowns for me. Maybe I'll even get good enough at this to keep an anemone for them.
Hmm just trying to look on the bright side of this. I will definitely never buy something I don't know every detail of. It's so easy to impulse buy in this hobby.

agsansoo

You don't have to completely cover the tank for the green algae, just go without lights for two days once a month should do the trick. As for impulse buying, I do it all the time ... LOL . 9 out of 10 I regret it later. Everything looks so tempting in the fish store. I remember when I had to take back my pair of killer damsels to the LFS. I had to remove every last piece of live rock in my tank, just to net them ... . Did you ever get any Turbo snails ?

COBettaCouple

Damsels are aggressive? are they rough on clowns or anemones or corals?

Gozer_1

Yes I hear Damsels are devil fish, but that wrasse ate the one I got.

I have pulled out all the rocks and finally exercised the demon. I hope his new owner really believed me. He was excited to get the Wrasse. He wanted aggressive. Good Luck to him lol. The rock project went rather well. I think everything is Ok. Even the featherdusters are back in force already. Sadly I found one of my brand new Turbo snails half eaten behind a rock, but the others (1 Turbo, 3 Astrea and a bunch of Nassarius) are all live and accounted for. It's lights out for a couple days so everyone can get cozy. The tank looks really great now though lol. I can see the coraline algae now yay. I can have a clean up crew now yay. The second part of my snail order shipped out today yay. 30 Ceriths. Yay, I'm so glad I found a new home for my little friend. I miss him still though. He was beautiful and was pretty cool. I just had a reef started, and being in limbo between reef and NO reef was not working.

The Damsel put up a fight......sorta.......

Gozer_1

UPDATE: I now have
5 Chromis
1Tomato Clown
1 Purple Pseudochromis
1 Banded Coral Shrimp
Green Star Polyps, Button Polyps, and a patch of bluish green Zoos I don't specifically have the name of.

The tank is looking great. I have a little bit of algea still but is the battle ever truly won. The snails keep it mowed down but I'd like to get a scrapper to clean it completly off once in awhile. I have a Magfloat that does a good job but the back is hard to get to from behind. The back is all snail tracks. I have one patch of slime that I'm going to have to do some daily attacks and small water changes till it can't recover. But all in all my water quality is awesome and my fish seem totally happy, although, the clown has some strange behavior involving the slime patch. Here's a few updated pictures. I need to get some of the Zoos now that they open up fully.

Attached Images

	5ChromisFL.jpg (73.2 KB, 6 views)
	ButtonsFL.jpg (105.9 KB, 5 views)
	ChromisandStarFL.jpg (101.0 KB, 6 views)
	ChromisFL.jpg (55.8 KB, 1 views)
	ZoosFL.jpg (121.9 KB, 10 views)

COBettaCouple

those chromis are stunning!

agsansoo

I really like schooling fish like the chromis ! How long did the zoos take to open ? It bugs me when they look so great at the LFS, then you take them home and they stay closed for days. LOL

Gozer_1

They started openning after about an hour or two of being in the tank. They only partially opened however. When I got home from work the next day I was suprised to find them all wide open. They looked better than they did at the store lol.

The Chromis are great. They just aren't the same if they don't have friends. I had 2 for awhile and one died. The remaining one hide out nonstop, barely ate, untill I got him a friend. It's fun watching them set their dominance with each other. Flaring their little fins. The larger is for sure the "leader".

Isabella

Wow Gozer, I love your tank and fish !!!