Went to Exotic, and what did I do? I purchased some fish... Since the Ammonia/Nitrite levels were doing fine I assumed it would be fine to add some small fish. So I bought:
• 2 x small Percula Clownfish
• 1 x small Paracanthurus hepatus (Pacific Blue Tang)
• 1 x Pink Leather Coral
• 4 x Turbo Snails
• 4 x Red Legged Hermit Crabs
• 2 x Peppermint Shrimps
• 1 x Brown Brittle Star
When I got back home I saw an explosion of brown algae on the front side of the tank - on the live rock and on the substrate. I guess the white light, daylight, high phosphate levels and dKH buffer additions fueled them.
Oh yeah - the LFS tested my phosphates and they were *very* high.
The P. hepatus was very stressed when I bought it - it swam into a crack in the display rock in the LFS. When I added it to my main tank it immediately went into the live rocks on the LHS of the tank never to be seen again.
The two percula’s seem to be doing fine.