Been a long time

Hey guys i know its been a long time since ive posted. I havnt been posting as the fish tank has been getting me down. Previously i had a beautiful butterfly fish called Todd who died i replaced him with a copperband cousin of his called Sherminator, he died after a few days so i took him back for a full refund as the other copperband they had at the shop had also died so oh well. With the money they gave me i got my self a beautiful Firefish called Amber. Meanwhile one of the clown fish has died and Simone has bought me a belated birthday gift as they finally have Royal Grammars named Monie in stock. Another clown fish died so now i only have one :'( bad times. Then the Royal Grammar died and i all but gave up on the fish tank. The crustacean's were hardly ever about because they dont like the Cynobacteria that is covering my tank. With this black-green slime nearly covering the tank i was about ready to jack it all in. I have since decided to call my remaining clown fish Zissou as that was the name i liked the most :)

After a couple of days of mulling it over i decided to give it one last crack. I decided not to buy any more creatures for the tank until every thing was sorted. I went to the local Fish shop and got my water tested too see if they could help. They told me that i was low on magnesium and calcium, the two things i hadnt actually tested since. So they sold me some fluid top up additives for the tank. With the instructions of put one cap full in every day for a week then do one cap full of each once a week. We chatted some more and after a passing comment that i should make a book about this they showed me the book they recomend, which is a million times better than the 'look at the pretty fish' book they sold me in Havant. After a flick through i saw a man with a siphon i asked what its for. I now realise that the water changes i have been doing every 3 weeks have been taking water from the top of the tank not the bottom ><. So i bought a siphon and now i change my water like this.

I have also put some black out curtains in that room so as to block the natural light as the cynobacteria seems to be growing more on the side of the tank where the window is even thought it doesnt not directly touch it.

Things ive learn't:
Magnesium and Calcium need topping up now and again
Water changes must be done from the bottom of the tank as they are more effective at removing rubbish.
Havant's fish store is really crap, oh wait I already knew that!
Natural light bad, black out curtains good!

So now the bacteria is on a massive decline before it covered most of the tank now it is only on a few rocks and hardly on the sand at all :D Happy days!!