BC29 train-wreck back under control

[mpderksen]

I open myself to being mocked here, but wanted to share to hopefully spare others from my blatant stupidity.
For a few years I had a REALLY successful and beautiful 10g nano with a homemade LED setup. Until an Aphasia outbreak of epic proportions took it down since I didn't do my homework and get on top of it. So what's a tank-lover to do? Why, go bigger, of course! So I got a BC29. I did the mods, including the In Tank conversion, Reef Keeper Lite, and even an MP10. Man, this was going to be MUCH better than ever before.
But hey, I'm a pro at this, and things were so easy in the past, so I cut corners on the cycling time. I didn't want to wait to transfer my favorite pair of false percs, nor have to maintain 2 tanks for very long, so as soon as I could, I moved them over and trashed the 10g. Shockingly, things weren't quite so easy. Snails would fall off the glass, die, and poison the tank. Soon I was dealing with Cyano, and death, death, death. I thought a little school of green chromas would be really nice. But clearly my maroon clown (the replacement of the pair of false percs that I had since given away) decided they were in HIS neighborhood, so he picked them off. More death, more sadness, and then more Cyano.
I resorted to drugs. Not for me, but to kill the Cyano. Worked like a charm. White sand was back. Cool! I had it all solved now. But hey, where'd all this macro algae come from? Red and green. Some looked like ferns, some were like tufts of grass. No worries, a quick read on the Internet and I found out a yellow Tang is just the thing! So I got one. Algae was gone in a few weeks. Then, my poor Tang told me that he didn't like living in a shoebox by dying. Oh, the fine print says that 29g is too small for a Tang. I basically put a gun to his head by putting him in there.
So now the algae was coming back, and I hated my tank. Instead of the beautiful, trouble-free mini-ecosystem, I had a polluted and ugly reminder of all the money and work this hobby had taken from me.
Then, I had a realization that was so simple I should be punished. With the 10g, I had an Emerald Crab and 2 hermits. Plus, it was so easy to just do a 1g water change each weekend that I rarely missed. With the BC29, I was so protective of my snails, thinking only they could control my algae, so no hermits. And the MOST obvious was that my water change schedule was every 2-3 weeks with 4g, since that seemed so much more "convenient".
So what did I do? I picked up 6 little hermits, and an Emerald crab, did a BIG water change, and started a regular schedule. I also got a tux urchin that eats like a goat and has been making short work of problems. I've cut down on feedings (I was too lazy to cut the cubes in half, even though this was the proper amount for my tank) and shortened the photo-period to 10 hours instead of 12.
No, it's not perfect yet, but it's cleaning up fast. I have reminders in my phone and calendar for regular maintenance until I can get back into the habit.
Bottom line: you can't violate the rules because you think you're special. Water changes, proper feeding/lighting and stocking with appropriate, compatible livestock is vital.
Once I'm sure I can trust myself, I want to alter the rockscape to a more pleasing configuration and add some more softies. This time, I'll get advice FIRST, and then follow it.

Michael

[Biocubehqi]

That's a lot of oops.

Good luck, 'eh.