"rich" wrote in message
news:76ZYa.101880$o%2.45345@sccrnsc02...
Hey Tom,
Its not that the chemistry is that complicated in a salt fish only tank,
its that in a small tank, when things start to go wrong, they go wrong
quickly with little time to react or to let your fish slowly get used to
the
changes.
Honestly if you want to try again at a salt tank, I would suggest at least
a
tank with 36" in length. This does a little more for you. It gives you
some more gallons (diluting whatever is going wrong) and it gives you more
surface area for your undergravel filter(which is what im assuming you
will
be running), hence more bacteria to help stabilize ammonia and nitrite.
if
your worried about the number of gallons(i.e. because of apartment rules
or
something like that) then I would go with a 20 long. Its in the same foot
print as a 29. While less water(which means testing more often), it has
more
surface area than the 29(helps reduce levels quicker).

as far as the fish, cycle only with the damsels and don't add the clowns
until the tank is good and stable (meaning you've seen both ammonia and
nitrite peak and drop to 0).
And an anemone is not required to keep your clown happy and healthy. A
good
diet and clean water will do that.


I hope this helps a bit.

Thanks. So you say a 20 gallon long? OK, but why an undergravel filter? I
can surmise from your post that this
filter leaves bacteria in the tank to stablilize ammonia rather
than sucking it out to an exterior filter. I had an undergravel
filter on my 10 gallon fresh tank years ago, and while it worked
amazingly well, when it was all said and done there was a TON
of debree under it. What are the methods and rules of cleaning
that out?
Thanks,
Tom