Sorry this is long... I'm a newbie.
Diatom... my tank is overstocked? I started with 2 damsels, a whisper filter and and undergravel filter with a powerhead, and the tank cycled. Eight months later one of the damsels died (got up in her fish house (which is no longer in the tank) and died from lack of oxygen. I added 2 small percula clown fishes and a royal gramma. The levels in the tank were normal. I had to give the blue velvet damsel away because he was getting to big and was a bully.
When I added the 20lbs of LR, the fish store said get rid of the undergravel filter because it was an accident waiting to happen. I put two small powerheads at different levels behind the LR to circulate and keep debris from laying in the back. The crushed coral and sand are at about 2" in depth, but not behind the LR. I have a Whisper filter with Fluval Media stones, a Skilter (Protein Skimmer/Dual Filter). I have two Coral Life lamps: 1 50/50 and 1 Full Spectrum Super Daylight.
So what's in the tank: 2 very small yellow-tail damsels, 2 small percula clowns, 1 royal gramma and 1 small (young) purple tang. There are about 4 hermit crabs and 3 snails. There is 23lbs of live rock. (I added two very expensive pieces with a nice algae bed for the snails and to seed the tank).
I've had slight levels of Ammonia and Nitrite because the tank is re-cycling. When I did a 25% water change today -- there was very little extra food debris at the bottom (Hermits doing thier job?. I'm going to re-test tomorrow. I do small water changes all week and 25% on the weekend.
I was told that the Tang will be fine for 6 month to a year before she will need more room. Everyone gets along and there is lots of swimming space.
What do you think?
