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I'm so glad to see this thread. I have been a total failure at keeping chromis, and assumed that it was a problem on my part. Knowing that others share this difficulty eases my conscience a little.

You could do saltwater in this tank, but there are some caveats. First, three gallons is very small, which means that water quality will change very quickly. Tanks of this size are generally considered for "experts only", since someone very familiar with saltwater systems would be able to...

When I set up my 220g tank I added a couple of pieces of lr from another tank and proceeded to cycle with dead shrimp, but got no spike in ammonia or nitrates, although algae did begin to grow on the sand. Sounds familiar? Your tank is cycled, and you are clear to slowly add livestock, leaving...

My guess is that the live rock you added has sufficient bacteria to process what you are adding - when nitrates rise you will know for sure.

Before I read the first post in this thread I already knew the answer to the question in the title - YES. My rule is that whatever tank you have is too small, and you just have to convince your wife/husband/SO that you must have a larger tank. Over the 40+ years that I've kept salt water fish I...

I couldn't agree more - most corals will completely change their growth pattern when exposed to unidirectional flow. The cost of 2 gyre units is presently prohibitive, given the alternatives, which work well.

I'm with Flower about the phosphate and nitrate - zero readings don't mean anything. The hair algae are using these ions, so the observable levels are low, but still available. Do not change your lighting to more white light - white light contains red, which is the wavelength that algae use...

Just look up how to culture copepods on the internet. They are actually easy to grow in sufficient numbers to sustain a mandarin dragonet. It can be done in a 3L soda bottle.

Nice start! I can't tell for sure, but it looks like your rocks are on the sand. They should be in the sand, resting on the bottom of the tank. Otherwise, sooner or later some organism is going to undercut some rock, and the whole thing will come down. Ghost feeding will take a while. Easier and...

Many years ago my mother gave me very sound advice when I was questioning spending some $$$ on a hobby. She said "That's why you work, to afford your pleasures." A wise woman. Over the years my circumstances have changed many times, but I always kept my thinking on that advice, big tank, small...

You are doing fine with the gsp on the back wall. I had a 40 gallon breeder for about 7 years with a gorgeous back wall covered 100% with gsp - it makes a beautiful waving background for everything else in the tank.

Tony - the tank looks good. You can't be doing much wrong, but I do have a couple of suggestions. Your low pH may be due to the bioballs, which provide a highly aerobic site for ammonium conversion into nitrates, and produce a little acidity, which can lower the pH. You have plenty of live...

40 years ago, before we knew about live rock I cycled my tank with ammonium chloride after calculating the appropriate concentrations, and I have used this method ever since. Martin Moe has published extensively on this technique.

Regarding #3: You could put a check valve on the return line so that in the event of a power failure you won't get back-siphoning through this route. If you decide to go this way keep in mind that it seems to be a rule of nature that check valves invariably fail during a blackout. The best...

They are definitely carnivores. This is a photo of my RBTA consuming some extra meat in the form of a peppermint shrimp who got too close.

Easy - Quarantine for 6 weeks. These fish are susceptible to ich, and you don't want to introduce this into your display. It will tolerate hyposalinity, so if you want to treat prophylactically that's the route to go. Put the fish into a display that is 6 feet long at a minimum, and that has...

I have found that mixing clowns in a FOWLR system leads to conflict sooner or later. In my reef tank clowns are more successful because they will easily identify anemones or filamentous corals as hosts and cooperate. Last week I saw a system that had one of the largest anemones I have ever seen...

Generally speaking, I like to locate my skimmers in the receiving compartment of a sump so that the skimmer gets the least processed water to work on. Having the skimmer in the return compartment feeds it water that has already been processed by algae, bioballs, and whatever else you have in the...

AWI does have an ASOV. They are also incredibly easy to deal with. I was ordering replacement carts yesterday and mentioned that the inline TDS meter was not working. The AWI person then said he would throw a replacement in the box, no charge. The system is at least 10 years old and still they...