Everything is going great with my 20 gallon long aquarium. My ammonia and nitrites didn’t see any huge spikes and were only elevated for two days after switching. It made me nervous but I’m glad it didn’t last long. Through the use of my refugium, one saltwater plant, denitrator filter media, and biweekly water changes, I have managed to reduce my nitrates to below 5 ppm.

My mandarinfish and clarkii clownfish are both doing great. My current livestock is as follows:

• (1) Clarkii clownfish
• (1) Mandarinfish
• (2) Narcissus snails
• (3) Cerith snails
• (1) Turbo snail
• (4) to (6) Blue-legged hermit crabs

I also have some coral in the tank now:

• Pulsing xenia
• Blue/green mushrooms
• Clove polyps [grew off initial live rock]
• Brown button polyps (some with neon green center)

Some folks over at ReefLounge.com helped me identify the growth on my live rock pictured below as clove polyp coral.  What a nice surprise!  I suppose they like my tank conditions.