Mistakes, please some help and advice

[faerieannette]

So I removed all the crushed coral that came with my tank and put in 4 1/2 inches of pool sand. I paid way too much for a quick crew with reefcleaners. I lost my pj cardnal and my fire fish in the process of switching over to the dsb :-( My tank is looking real ugly with hundreds of dwarf cerths everywhere. My tangs fins started looking ratty this week.

 

Do I need some live sand to seed my dsb? or should i cut my losses and remove it. I am starting to wonder if it was a good idea at all...

 

 

I put in an algae wafer for my tang (he loves them!) the cerths gathered around it and devoured it. then the sand under it turned black and extended down along the glass to the bottom of the tank. This is the only change i have seen in the sand bed. I haven't seen any of the bubbles that you want to see in a healthy sand bed. I have only had it in about 4 weeks so I know i need to be patient but i am worried because of all the horror stories I have read. I welcome all opinions and advice.

 

also anyone want some dwarf cerths?

 

-Annette

[FearTheTerps]

did you place all the sand in at once? usually adding that much new sand will cause a cycle, which could explain the lost of the fishes. Its usually best to just add a small amount over the course of a long time. Did you test your water after adding the sand? you would have noticed a spike in ammonia which is the start of the new cycle.

 

With it being in there for 4 weeks already I dont think you would need any live sand to seed it, but it couldnt hurt either. Someone else can chime in about the pool sand, I dont have much experience with anything but aragonite. I know certains types of sand will contain lots of silicates which can lead to diatom bloom, but I dont know if pool sand is silicate based or not.

 

As for the ceriths, I dont need any, I have over 300 in my 55 gallon. Those lil buggers reproduce like rabbits. I noticed a bunch of smallers on the glass the other day so I'm guessing its way over 300 now, a the last time I counted was 3 weeks ago. They are the only clean up crew I have, and other then having some film algae on my glass the tank is spotless.

Edited June 13, 2011 by FearTheTerps

[karavak]

I could use some actually.

 

Also, you might want to slow down with adding things to your tank. The eagerness to rush in will cause problems.

 

What are your parameters? You probably need to do a few water changes to try to balance things out.

[LanglandJoshua]

I was going to chime in, but as usual Mr. Terp here has you covered. This guys always on WAMAS, and is always tons of help.

 

But As for sand, it could just be something with the sand. I personally would test my water if I were you. Then if anything is high, water changes. If the chemicals are really high, maybe a 40% water change. Other than that, maybe a 20-30% change.

[zygote2k]

So I removed all the crushed coral that came with my tank and put in 4 1/2 inches of pool sand. I paid way too much for a quick crew with reefcleaners. I lost my pj cardnal and my fire fish in the process of switching over to the dsb :-( My tank is looking real ugly with hundreds of dwarf cerths everywhere. My tangs fins started looking ratty this week.

 

Do I need some live sand to seed my dsb? or should i cut my losses and remove it. I am starting to wonder if it was a good idea at all...

 

 

I put in an algae wafer for my tang (he loves them!) the cerths gathered around it and devoured it. then the sand under it turned black and extended down along the glass to the bottom of the tank. This is the only change i have seen in the sand bed. I haven't seen any of the bubbles that you want to see in a healthy sand bed. I have only had it in about 4 weeks so I know i need to be patient but i am worried because of all the horror stories I have read. I welcome all opinions and advice.

 

also anyone want some dwarf cerths?

 

-Annette

how about a little background info on your current set-up? filtration, lighting, water source, etc. more information is needed for a correct diagnosis. Water parameters? What kind of test kits are you using? Are they out of date?

[faerieannette]

Thanks for the responses guys.

 

The tank is a 4 ft long 120 gallon. I tested with with a "quick dip" ammonia test kit and a API Nitrate test kit. Both levels read at 0. I am using the following filtration system http://www.seasave.net/Invention_of_the_Month.html I have been using tap water aerated and treated with a dechlorinator. I age the salt water overnight for water changes. I do not have a top off system so the salinity has fluctuated in between topping off. The current inhabitants are a sail fin tang "Sunny" and a PJ cardinal "PJ pal Hal" a small piece of cup coral, a cleaner shrimp and a pepetmint shrimp. and an orange and green monti cap frags and a ton of snails.

 

I had the tank set up and cycled for 2 months with live rock. I added a firefish, then 2 weeks later a sailfin tang, and about 2 weeks later and two pj cardinals and the cup coral and everything seemed great. The crushed coral needed to be vacuumed with every water change and was generally pretty nasty. I know my filtration system was pretty inadequate despite being told that it was "idiot proof and basically took care of itself" I thought that switching out the cc for a dsb would give me additional filtration. I removed about a 1/4 of it and added a bag of home depot play sand. That is when i lost the pj cardinal. Their was a sand storm and the tank was milky for days. I decided that i wasn't going to do that again. When it cleared up Pj Pal Hal's friend Sal was gone. everyone else looked fine. After that I did a large water change and decided to use pool filter sand because it would not cloud up like that. I removed almost all the crushed coral and put in the rest of the sand sand all at once. That is when I lost the firefish, Hercules. Even still after that everything seemed fine.

 

I ordered a clean up crew from reef cleaners and some macro algae for my other tank along with some limpits, and conchs I split the crew between my 60 gallon hex and my 120. All of the flordia cerths were dead and so was the conch but they stayed in the tank for a while so i am thinking that that messed up my water quality. I have a ton of dwarf cerths and they ate more then half the macro I bought with them which is a little annoying. Anyway I also got cheato which i put in the sump with a clamp lamp. As far as lighting goes i just have complact floresents and a spot led on the coral frags. The cup coral was doing great until this week when Sunny started looking ratty. The cup coral is starting to loose its color. The monti cap frags i have look good and so does the mushrooms there are a few star polyps which seem content.

 

I got alot of bad/misleading information from the people who I bought the tank form (it is a pretty long story) and I do not want to discuss the details on a public forum. I just want to work towards fixing the situation and prevent further mistakes and deaths.

 

I appreciate the wealth of knowledge here and the the kindness I have already encountered with the members.

 

I am thinking i need to add critters that will actually stir the sand bed . I can see the white sand in the corner under all the tan pool filer sand and it is apparent that there is none of the desired movement i have read that you need in a dsb.

 

I know I need better lights and R/O Rilter for water. I want to eventually redo the sump/fuge and possibly get a skimmer and set up an auto top off system. Unfortunately none of these things are going to happen in the near future. I had no idea what i was gettign into expense wise when i made the switch to salt water. I had previously always had freshwater tanks.

 

thanks again,

 

Annette

[Chad]

Unfortunately there are far too many stories of salt water hobbyists that start out like this.

 

Take a deep breath and let's cover some basics. From an equipment standpoint, there are things that can make it easier for you in the long run, but that is stuff that can be dealt with in time. For the moment, extra diligence in basic husbandry will stabilize things so you can bet a handle on what is going on.

 

A key to saltwater is stability with water properties, so let's work on that first. Don't make ANY more setup or livestock changes for a little bit, nothing good happens fast in a reef.

 

1) Do you have good test kits? If not, this is a near-term need, relatively inexpensive and readily available. Take your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and pH readings and post them here, also get in the habit of taking test readings weekly (what you are testing for will change with tank age, but in the meantime just get used to the routine. Doing the basics right will prevent and correct many problems.

 

2) How are you taking salinity now and what is the reading? The most common method that I see newcomers use is with a plastic float-type hydrometer (one where you fill the instrument with water and read where the needle points). Unfortunately, these are pretty inaccurate if not used properly (very sensitive to small bubbles on the pointer, which throws the reading off). Also remember that salinity readings can be thrown off by water temp (so if you are mixing water that is much hotter or colder than where you are putting it the reading may be off. Refractometers are really the best way to go, but are an expense (~$50). If you don't have one, take 3-4 readings with a float type hydrometer (or repeat until you are confident in the results). Don't forget to make up for evaporation losses with fresh water, it seems simple, but you would be surprised at how many do this initially.

3) Find a reliablly good source for water. For your size system, an RO/DI filter is really best IMHO for simplicity and ease (lugging ~15-20 gallons per week for water changes and makeup will get old fast). Perhaps your tap water is ok, but this would be a very small exception, not a rule. It really is best to start with pure RO water. In the near-term, you can purchase water from your LFS, use certain grocery store brands or find water from a bunch of other places (if in doubt, check here, someone will be able to tell you if you should/shouldn't use a particular water source).

 

4) Do weekly 10% water changes religiously with premixed saltwater that has been aerated for at least 24 hours prior to use.

 

Finally, a general piece of advice: There are more ways and opinions on how to do things correctly in this hobby than I can count. I recommend that you get a good book (Fenner's The Conscientous Marine Aquarist is a great start and available in the club's library, I think PM dbartco about it) and build your foundation so you can more easily tell what will/will not work for your specific system.

[stankyd]

Please forgive the side question but is Pool Sand the same thing as diatomaceous earth? I have never heard of anyone using it before. Seems like it would be so light and full of dust/particulate matter that the powerheads would be blowing it around constantly. Does it at least look nice on the bottom of the tank? I used "play sand", like for sandboxes found at home depot with good success only introduced during the initial setup, not afterwards.

 

sd

[Origami]

Please forgive the side question but is Pool Sand the same thing as diatomaceous earth? I have never heard of anyone using it before. Seems like it would be so light and full of dust/particulate matter that the powerheads would be blowing it around constantly. Does it at least look nice on the bottom of the tank? I used "play sand", like for sandboxes found at home depot with good success only introduced during the initial setup, not afterwards.

 

sd

No. DE is much a much finer, dust-like substance used in DE filters (also used in the pool industry). I'm pretty sure that the sand she used was quartz (silicate) sand used in pool sand filters.