my tank started in a 55g and had it for 2 years in that. then it upgraded into the 72 bow for about 3 years. so if you would considder one span of it then 5 years. i only considder it 3 becausei used new sand and obviously more water.
i was using normal water when i origionally set it up from which was well water. then when i switched into the 72g i started using deer park water that i bought from a hardware company down the road from me and did water changes and top off with. when i tested both water elements it says 0 nitrate.
i started using my ro unit about 3 months ago.
my sand is the ocean direct from caribsea and my lr came from a lfs, a few friends, online, and a fellow mr what i bought from. my rock was pretty simple. tonga plate, kupang and premimum fugi. very clean looking and before i got all my rock i had it running in a garbage can for a week with skimmer, heater, powerhead and about 50 red leg hermit and 10 holloween hermits.
my fish i feed hikari mysis shrimp and san fransisco bay plankton. i soak my food in my tank water, once its unfrozen i pour it into a net and dispose of the water it sat in and refill a cup of water and put the food into that water and feed. id say they eat 3 times a day in small doses of food. just enough so its all gone within 2 minutes about. my corals i feed marine snow, phytoplankton, and cyclops every few days.
for additives i dose brightwell kalk in a kent drip bucket. refill it once a week. every now and then some kent iodine. use to do purple up but stopped awhile back. seachem fussion 1 and fussion 2. i dont dose these chemicals alot though, only every now and then if my water parameters go down in cal, mag, dkh ect. but my levels tend to stay good with that.
my fuge right now consists of like 4 pounds of rock, two giant handfulls of cheeto with alot of critters. there is enough so that you cannot even see the other side of the fuge. there is also some grape calerpa, halmedia, and some clove looking things. like i said though mostly cheeto from my friends 250g tank that is amazing so i know the cheeto was good. very viverent green and grows like crazy. i already have to trim some down because it is coming out of the water now.
why im using the pads? well i use it just to polish the water and take out any extra food or waste.
and no i dont have a canister filter. i use to years ago on my smaller 30g tank and found out the hard way that that is a nitrate factory.
i also have a biocube that is all pure sea water that i bought and use the ro water for water changes and top off and that has 0 nitrates. its just this darn 72g
