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I will never run UV on a reef. It can cut down on Diatoms and other microalgae but I consider phytoplankton the start of the food chain.

They are beneficial detrivores and excellent supplemental fish food. They are not part of the Amphipod family, they are in the Munnidae family.

Sleep with one eye open.

Those are Munnid Isopods.

I don't know. The picture is fine, I just don't recognize the critter. It's on the wrong side of the rock for Foraminifera so that's not likely.

Just a guess from the pictures: 1 - Galaxea Coral - Galaxea fascicularis 2 - Ricordea Yuma - Ricordea Yuma 3 - Picturous obvoscura - *** Caution *** This thing will crawl out of the tank at night and attack any living creature within 100 feet of it's resting place.

Clownfish do not typically hang out in caves so there is no need to build one for them. They move constantly, even when sleeping but like to stick to an area they adopted. Ocellaris tend to claim an area about the size of an 18" half sphere. Since this is larger than your tank they will claim...

As Flower mentioned, vigorously stir the water as you slowly add the salt. By vigorously I don't mean some small powerhead circulating the water, I mean put some muscle behind it using a wooden spoon. The best results are with a hard plastic paint stirrer on a drill set to high but not everyone...

No, your original Clown is a female as is the Black Snowflake. Two female Clownfish will not co-exist in a 30 gallon tank. They will fight until one leaves or dies.

From a coralline perspective only - the more the better. If you point your powerhead directly at the glass that will be the first spot to grow coralline usually.

My suggestion would be to consider the Fairy Wrasse as your centerpiece. I could not, in good conscience, recommend adding another fish to an overstocked tank.

One other parameter - coralline loves high waterflow.

Just stop adding the Alk and let it come down. It could take a couple of weeks. Your Magnesium could be low now so you might want to test that. Once your ALK is where it should be you can start raising calcium back up - or just do a big water change.

Some type of Triggerfish I would guess.

Coral takes some time to adapt to lighting. Perhaps your dimmers are mitigating the issue. For the rest of us going from 75% illumination (old bulbs) to 120% (break-in period can be intense) is a monster increase in lighting. It can overload corals and they expel zooxanthellae. I know you...

Lux meters are pretty cheap. They are not accurate in how much actual light a bulb produces but they are extremely accurate in measuring how much bulb output changes over time. After using a bulb for a week or so (break in period) measure the lumens. You probably don't need to replace until...

Mandy, are you positive you need to replace every 9 months? How are you determining that?

If it were me I would first get a new test kit and test it again to see if I got a bad test kit. If the test kit is good then make a small batch of new saltwater and test it for Alkalinity to see if that's the source of Carbonate. If it is then I'd check the TDS of my RO water to make sure...

Even if it can make 50gpd doesn't mean you have to make 50gpd. Make what you need and shut it off. The RO waste water is perfectly safe to use in the garden, washing machine, you could even drink it. I send mine to my swimming pool.

If you did the test right then your Alkalinity is WAY too high. This would explain how you got your Calcium below saturation levels.