It was my first attempt at a SW tank, so here is a list of mistakes I made with it.
First of all, the guy at the local fish store convinced me to buy some old substrate that had been sitting in a bucket for over a year, which was not the best looking, but he said it would help the cycle. I didnt bother rinsing this substrate, and it has quite a bit of growth on it, and is a fairly ugly mix of different kinds of substrate, which I do not like the look of. Secondly, I used tap water the entire time, and had a massive algae outbreak. I'm guessing this is mostly due to running my full 85 watt CF lights during the entire course of the cycle. My inverts have done great for the entire time, and haven't had anything die in the course of this tank's life (approx 3 months). I guess the biggest issue is the substrate, which I would like to replace with brand new crushed coral, or black sand. I hope thats enough background info.
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