couple of questions

jojoandphia

jojoandphia

New Member
So I have this 55 gal tank and have Crushed Coral in it. I want to change to live sand. What is the best way to change without messing everything up? I don't have another tank to put the fish and snails in until it cycles.
Also what is the best lighting? I don't have any corals, I just want the best lighting for the fish and live rock.
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
The first thing is why don’t you like the C.C. and the fact that you may not realize that C.C. is live sand if you define live sand as a substrate that supports beneficial bacteria.
Most of the C.C. that I have seen is coarse and you will want a thick bed 3-5 inches.
You can put the sand in a tub with an air stone and cycle it before adding to your tank.
If you are not going with high light corals then it is between T5 HO or Compact Fluorescent lamps
 
jojoandphia

jojoandphia

New Member
So after I cycle the live sand just add it to the CC? Do I have to take the CC out completely or just add the live sand to it?
At the lfs they keep telling me the fish are dying because of the CC or the lighting. I have had the water tested dozens of times and it always comes back fine. I am so confussed. Everything just dies.
 
A

azul1994

Guest
You would need to take out the CC because the live sand will just sink to the bottom.
 
chaosmom

chaosmom

New Member
are you acclimating your fish right? How long can u keep them before they die? What fish have you tried? What are your parameters? --ammonia and nitrite and ph and nitrate? Ill see if i can help
 
jojoandphia

jojoandphia

New Member
Ok so this weekend I am going to get some live sand and get the cc out.
Well I don't have a test kit so I am not sure of the exact amounts, but I have taken it to 3 different local shops and they all say the water levels are fine. I guess I better buy a kit this weekend when I am out,
I have had many different damsels, chromis, after a while they die probably about 2-3 weeks. Once I had it going for awhile so I got some fish from here, and before the 15 days they were all dead. I got a pearlscale butterfly, mandarain goby, sailfin Tang and a sixline wrasse. The only other thing I have in the tank is 2 giant snails that I got at a lfs. No clue what kind and I just fished one out because its dead too.
Maybe I shouldn't keep fish.
I feed them a varity of brine, pellet and flake so I have no idea what is going on.
 
chaosmom

chaosmom

New Member
imo you started with to many fish to soon. how did you acclimate them? that really could have been your biggest problem. some can make it two weeks until the finally succum due to acclimating them incorrectly
 
chaosmom

chaosmom

New Member
check out the fish before you pick them up next time. theres no way you would have been able to keep the goby or butterfly anyway with out a very mature tank.
 
jojoandphia

jojoandphia

New Member
I have had the tank for a year. I started with 6 damsels. I just recently got the other fish. I think I need to start over. What is the best fish to start with other then damsels? I thought 6 damsels for 55gal was not to many. How many would you start with?
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
If you don't smell an egg like odor from the tank water you can add the new live sand to the old live C.C. and mix it in. The odor I am referring to is hydrogen sulfide gas that would be trapped in the substrate if it was to deep and was not mix every so often but I doubt you have a 6-inch deep C.C. bed.
PS: C.C. of 3-5 inches will work as well as any store bought “Live Sand” because it becomes live sand.
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
The cycle is the time it takes the bio-filter to grow big enough to convert the ammonia into harmless nitrogen gas.
 
jojoandphia

jojoandphia

New Member
Sorry I thought you ment something else. Anyway anyother thoughts on why they all die? I followed the acclimation process. Are there any fool proof fish out there?
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
Water
Nitrate 0
Specific Gravity 1.023-1.026
Temp 73-80
PH 8.0-8.4
Ammonia 0
KH 6-10
You need to test your water to know or do you do water changes and how often
 
jojoandphia

jojoandphia

New Member
Well I do water changes about every two weeks when there are fish in the tank. And I have had the water tested time and time again. There has never been a problem with that. Right now there are no fish so I haven't done a change for maybe 3 weeks. I keep hoping that things will get better. I had the water tested again tonight and all the levels look good. I really want some fish in the tank, because I am running it for 1 snail right now. The lfs keeps telling me that snails don't tolerate bad water levels and they are the only thing that has lived more that 2-3 weeks. Should I start over with damsels? I really don't like those mean fish. All I want is a peaceful tank.
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
Your nitrates may have spiked when you added the four fish
Correct me if I am wrong about you adding the fish all at the same time
 
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