Week Old 155 Gallon Bowfront. cycling?

IMO, live rocks with live sand should go a long way in cycling your tank quickly. Nothing wrong with adding a few "break-in" fishes but I don't see it as an absolute must either. Having said this, time wise you're looking at least a few weeks of wait: The longer the safer. Due to time constraint I gave mine just one week then moved everything over from my old 12 gallon and added some more from new orders. I did experience a good dose of diatoms with brown/green water for the next one week. But since then, thanks to my skimmer, water and diatoms both cleared up with no loses to livestock. There's still a bit of nitrate to level out until my live rocks and fuge system catch up to equilibrium.

Make certain to design an effective fuge system for chaeto cultivation. Mine is a dual fuge system for alternate and overlap chaeto growth. And if you're getting a chiller avoid the cheap for safety's sake.

 

If you haven't added any fish, then you can really speed up your cycle by adding a half cup of pure ammonia in your tank. This will force bacteria to grow to push the cycle along, and it will eliminate the posibility of losing the starter fish, or having to deal with damsels after the cycle is complete.
As for the gurgling sound, when your overflow drains into the sump, how is that connected? I have a 90 degree elbow on my sump lid (I just added that yesterday), so the drain enters horzontally before the elbow, and the gurgling toilet bowl syndrome went away immediately. I'll add a pic of that tonight when I get home.

 

got 2 chromis.. but i like them.. hopefully they'll survive.. the overflow intakes were different lengths initially.. but i ranged them out properly which sort of fixed it.. slight gurgle but i'm interested in the 90 degree thing.. post a pic here if you don't mind.. thx!

 

Sure, I'll get a pic tonight when I get home. Chromis are good to start with. They are hardy enough to withstand initial cycling and aren't as testy and territorial as damsels.
You can also try 45 degree elbows to help the water flow, a 90 will slow it down slightly. My Lowes didn't have any 1" tapered inner slip to 1" slip for a sump bulkhead inlet, so I was stuck with the 90.

 

chromis are damsels. And trust me, I have seen some pretty mean ass chromis, especially when you get 2 male chromis together, or some other odd combinations. When in larger groups, 4,5,6, per say, they become a pack like group, being able to pick on other fish because of their large number.
Honestly, the yellow tail blue damsel gets too much bad hype. I've never had a problem with my blue damsel, biggest baby in my tank. It gets chased around by my occelaris clowns, my tang, and I swear my sixline has even scared him off before. I also have friends that have tanks with blue damsels that are equally as docile. Don't believe the bad media about blue damsels- most fish will outcompete.

 

Yeah, I agree. My LFS has a chromis without a tail and it is MEAN! The owner said the little beast has drawn blood and terrorizes all of the other fish in the tank and is impossible to catch. I have a yellow belly bluedevil and he is a meanie. He always attacks my hand when I go to clean the tanks and remove the powerheads. He always darts in, bites and darts off under the rock. My 4 striped damsel gets hassled by him all the time. My maroon clown will keep him in line when that happens sometimes, it's actually pretty funny to watch when it happens.

 

Glad to hear I picked such a friendly fish.. I think they're trying to mate actually.. lots of fluttery and lip sucking going on.. some hind quarter bumps as well.. somethings going on in there..

anyway.. ammonia is up to 1.0 nitrites and nitrates are at 0.. whats the average peak of ammonia before it starts to drop off? Chromis seem to be doing just dandy.. live rock is starting to get the brown coat flake stuff

 

I think it really depends upon the fish, (in reference to territorialness) because ive had one chromis who was extremely nasty, and now i have one that got picked on by everyone until i made some changes. Another example of such is that i have a royal gamma who is extremely aggressive (when i was under the impression that they are an extremely shy fish), and i have a spanish hogfish who wont pick on anyone, (even though i was told they are very aggresive) but will give a nasty bite if picked upon (he has been in there the longest as well). So in my opinion it really depends upon

A) the actual fish itself
B) the order in which they are put in
C) Whether or not the fish are from the same area (In my years of practice, fish from the same region always get along)

 

Your fish are spoiled. They get to ponder the great work of Van Gogh.

 

I have a 155 bow and really wanted a hood for it. I love yours! With halides yet! I could only afford the T5's for now, but its working good. You have some pics of the hood and inside? Might give me ideas. Good luck with it dude and keep the pics comin!