I haven't posted anything in a very long time!! My tank is doing GREAT. It's 15 months old now - I am still using the stock skimmer and pumps, and I did add a Vortech MP20. I've had great luck using only Distilled Water for my PWC's as well. I've lost a few things here and there, but I have learned a lot along the way. My current inhabitants are: pair of B&W Clowns, one Royal Gramma, one YWG, one Blue Starfire Damsel, one Lawnmower Blenny, and one Flame Hawkfish. My corals include a few mushrooms and zoa's, GSP, pulsing zenia, hammer coral, superman ricordia, two plate corals (hitchhikers), one SPS which I think is called a Pineapple SPS, one red and one green Monti. I have a blue-legged hermit, a red-legged hermit, a sand-sifting starfish and various snails. I no longer have any shrimp because they keep disappearing without a trace. I suspect that what I think is a gorilla crab is eating them up. They are not just molting where I would see traces remaining, they just disappear.
And as of yesterday I have two BTA's - I had one, but yesterday it split. I did a lot of reading online here at RS and at "Karen's Rose Anemone Portal", and after researching both sites I believe that the Anemone's split was not caused by stress, but that it is a happy camper!! The two BTA's are hiding out just a little in a shadier spot than prior to the split, but are slowly coming out of hiding. They are both bubbled up and have very good color - in fact one is much more colorful than before the split. I'm keeping an eye on them, but I really think they are doing OK. My water parameters are excellent, and everything in the tank is doing great and growing.
Besides the gorilla crab I have another inhabitant which is getting on my nerves!!!! I can't remember the name, but it is those snails that send out the thread-like webs throughout the tank. These things are a nuisance in my opinion and they are spreading. They have such sharp edges and I tried scraping away a few of them, but they came back. I think I will have to use the superglue trick soon, unless someone has a better solution.