Can someone point me in the right direction. Please!!

rsalinas5

rsalinas5

New Member
Hello Guys and Girls,
I am fairly new member and a newbie to saltwater aquariums. I recently took the plundge and converted my 75 to saltwater. It has been running for about a little over a month. I currenlty have about 30 lbs of live rock and about 40 lbs. of live sand. I have a lionfish and a yellow tang and about 15 hermit crabs. Im running a rena Xp3 filled w/ just ceramic rings and an emperor 400 also w/ ceramic rings. But what im confused about is that my water has a lot of like sand or debris floatig around. When im cleaning the glass, and i move the water around i get the same thing, like if you can see the salt or something.

Thanks. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Welcome to the boards!!
Unfortunately, I have more questions than answers.
1 month is not very long, do you know about cycling??
Do you have any test kits? Which ones and what are the results??
Do you have ro/di filter, buy water, or just use tap??
Do you premix water before adding to tank??
Does the "sand" seem to be swimming or just float up when disturbed and then settle back down?? Is it on glass constantly??
Maybe thats enough for now, and ,if possible, pictures are always good.
 
rsalinas5

rsalinas5

New Member
First off, thank you so much for helping.
1 month is not very long, do you know about cycling??
Yes, i have give alot of water off established tanks, which i was told would help speed up the process. I have alot of brown stuff, which was also told means my cycling is pretty much complete. So i bought crabs. LOL
Do you have any test kits? Which ones and what are the results??
Local fish store, free test. I have not invested in my own yet. Just the cheap stripes from Wal-Mart.
Do you have ro/di filter, buy water, or just use tap??
Buy water.
Do you premix water before adding to tank??
Does the "sand" seem to be swimming or just float up when disturbed and then settle back down?? Is it on glass constantly??
Its just floating around, constantly. But im not sure if its sand or bubbles or something, but it really stinks seeing it all the time. Im to the point where i dont really like to have the light on for people to see, cause its everywhere.

Ill try to post some pics after work. Thanks again.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Do you remember what your last test results from lfs were??
If it is air bubbles, I would suspect cannister filter. When you get home, try shaking the cannister a little and see what happens!! Also, you can open it up and see if there is alot of debris collecting in your ceramic rings. The cannister could be constantly blowing it out! If it were me, I would add at least one sponge to each cannister.
Does anything(spray bar/powerhead/etc.) blow directly on or near the sand/bottom of tank??
 
rsalinas5

rsalinas5

New Member
No, nothing is pointing or even near the sand. I just cleaned the canister filter and added the rings yesterday. I left the sponges on the bottom of the cansister. Then added the rings in the other baskets. But the thing is, its had that debris or whatever it is ever since i started the tank. But ill try to put up some pics at 5. Maybe you can help me out.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Rsalinas5
http:///forum/post/3150248
No, nothing is pointing or even near the sand. I just cleaned the canister filter and added the rings yesterday. I left the sponges on the bottom of the cansister. Then added the rings in the other baskets. But the thing is, its had that debris or whatever it is ever since i started the tank. But ill try to put up some pics at 5. Maybe you can help me out.

Add some ativated charcoal to the caniaster to polish the water...do you have a skimmer, and how many power heads are you running?
 
rsalinas5

rsalinas5

New Member
Is charcol and carbon the same thing. I have just one powerhead, and its pointed toward the top of the tank. I dont have a skimmer, i have read that u really dont need one, but im fairly new, and kinda skidish of the whole overflowing thing. Ill be posting some pics soon. Do u think it could be that i dont have enough live rock, i dont think so. But u all would now best.
Thanks Flower.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
IMO, if you are going to keep predators, a skimmer would be highly recommended. And you've basically committed yourself to that with the lionfish :)
It is a lot of fish in a 1 month old tank...old water does not speed the cycle, it merely transfers dirty water from one tank to a new tank. The live rock and sand is what is the primary help there.
It is important in particular to know your nitrate readings...and definitely don't go for new fish for some time yet :) Adding a lionfish changes the sort of fish you can keep quite dramatically. In the world of sw, a 75 g tank is not huge, and is probably the smallest you would want to really go for both the tang and the lionfish. But that also means it uses up a lot of the room available for other fish.
A picture would help to understand what you are seeing in terms of stuff floating.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Hmmm, its definitely not bubbles, right?
Do you have any mechanical filter - a filter pad somewhere? Looks like in your existing filters you only have biological media?
 
rsalinas5

rsalinas5

New Member
The only filter pads i have are the one that came w/ the canister filter. Should i replace them? What do u think about adding some carbon, maybe to the emperor?
 
rlablan

rlablan

Active Member
When I ran canister, I had on of the baskets (the 1st in line that the water hits) full of fiber fill. ***** sells it for 3.99 a bag, called like "pets luv" or something and it's enough for a month or so... you can buy the same stuff for like 12 bucks at a fabric or craft store and it's like 4 months worth. Anyway...
Stuff a media basket full. Do one in each canister if you want, and I mean really stuff it full. That will grab alot of crab out of the water... especially those really little particles that float a ton. When you do your weekly water change, pull it out and toss it, and replace. You have to change it atleast weekly. Mine is positively BLACK after 5 days or so... I change mine in my filter now every 5 days and I also don't run a skimmer at this time but will be.
the fiberfil takes that place of what is called a "polishing pad". It is alot cheaper and does the exact same thing.
A skimmer will help with all the little floaties though.... Start with that and see if it helps.
The fiberfil also helps with micro bubbles.
 
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