give up, start over, or keep going?

thats fine you should post what you got

 

i was at the LFS earlier today, and they have some pretty nice fish... a panther grouper (only 2 inches or so, looked fine except you could easily see red under the gills; didn't know if this was normal for such a small panther, or if it was a sign of suffering from ammonia or something)...they had a really pretty pair of ocellaris clowns, but they were selling them as perc's at 17 a piece, so i decided to pass on it.. another nice looking fish was what i believe is some kind of wrasse, but i'm not sure... its about 6 or 7 inches long, 3 different colors, face is red, about an inch or so back is green, and the rest of the body is brown... i think those are the right colors... oh yeah, he's long and skinny... they have a TON of condy anemones... but i have a question about them... on some of them, all you could see were the white tentacles with pink/purple tips, but on others, they had a massive stalk/foot/whatever they're called... and the colors of the stalks range from white to pink, to a very dark red... i think on the stickers of their tank, it said "haitian purple tip anemone"... is this the same thing or something different? i remember reading somewhere that there is one that looks a lot like a condy. but i was just curios

 

Twan, if you cant top off with RO water consider water from your home depending on its quality. For a few years I did water changes in my 30g reef without any problems, but my local water is clean. You can fill up a 5g salt container with tap water, treat it for chlorine and chloramine and store it for top off use. You can even run it through a canister filter with charcoal before using it.

 

Fosters and smith has the 5g bucket of salt(160g) for like $42 shipped
Saltwater Aquarium Salt: Aquarium Systems Instant Ocean & Reef Crystals Synthetic Sea Salt

 

well, the problem with using tap water from here, i tried it once, and my nitrates jumped from 20 to around 80... that was just from a top off... plus, the declorinator i used sent my skimmer out of whack MAJORLY!!!!! speaking of charcoal filtration and stuff... i bought a bottle of "aqualibrium" water today (new kind, thought i'd try it)... of course its drinking water, but i was reading about whats so special about it, and it says the purification process includes hich pressure reverse osmosis, charcoal filtration, and ozonation.... in theory this would be about the absolute best water for saltwater, right? but at .99 a liter, it kind of ruins it... i wish the local wal-mart sold the RO water... at 10 or 11 cents a gallon, it would be better than distilled... although i know that i should still check the water each time, because they may let their filtration stuff get out of hand... what i'm thinking about doing, since i may be moving out soon, is keep using the distilled water, or find another source of good clean water, and then have an RODI unit installed in the new house... i'll also have a bigger aquarium in the new house (originally planned for a 75 with a similar setup as to what i have now, but saw a complete 180 gallon system plumbing already installed, sump, stand, canopy, and i think lights, included)

 

Thats RO water.

 

well, good news! the anger has subsided for the time being, and i've decided to keep up with the aquarium! everything seems to be doing better, except for the fact that i've got so much algae i can't use my suction cups on my heater or powerheads anymore... but i've got coralline growing on the glass and equipment (saw my first bit of pink yesterday! whoo!) my blenny's doing fine, i just realized that he comes out a couple of hours after the lights have been turned on... all my parameters are good (nitrates at 40ish, but thats great considering where they have been before)... my bubble algae has started a retreat (but it comes and goes anyway for some reason...) one day my rock will be covered in the stuff, and the next, about half of it will be gone, and a few days later, it will come back for a day or 2.... oh, and the fact that joes juice works like a beast makes me happy (getting a free bottle of it to handle one aiptasia sure beats buying a bottle, or even buying a peppermint shrimp!)...