Don't know y I Can't keep Inverts

[tcoco]

OK here's a question I have a 55 gal with a Wet/Dry I built. The tank has been established for about 8 weeks. I have about 10lbs of live rock will be adding more later, crushed coral bed, and a sealife 75 protien skimmer that I'm still trying to get to work properly. the salinity is 1.023, Ph 8.3, ammonia 0, nitrate 0 this has been stedy for about 3 weeks. 1 week ago my sand siffter star disintegrated, and out of 12 snails 1 is left, and I also lost one feather duster and one emerald crab. The fish are fine no problems there. What could be killing off my Inverts any suggetions. I also have been useing distilled water for topoff and water changes.
Thanks for any advise

 

[beth]

Well, you're trying to get inverts to live in what is basically a FO environment.
You said your nitrates are 0, is that nitrites or nitrates? What is the other reading?
cc really is not an appropriate medium for starfish let alone snails. The sharp rough edges of cc is way to harsh for the delicate tissues of these animals. They can’t move around on this type of substrate with any ease, let alone turn those large pieces of cc over in search of food. Emerald grabs are omnivorous with an emphasize on vegetable material. Their primary food source is algae they pick off of LR. With only 10lbs of LR, the source of algae off the rock is insufficient. Same for snails. You didn't say what type of snails you have in your tank, but most snail diet consist of microalgae and diatoms. They will die if you don't have a food source for them. And, if you haven’t noticed, snails eat every waking moment—thus the food source must be plentiful.

 

[tcoco]

Its nitrates and mexican turbos I don't have a tester for nitrites as of yet. Maybe I'll remove some of the cc and put in some live sand. That point was never brought up of but it makes a good argument. My LFS thouse guy never can give me a straight answer. Any idea what maybe happened to my feather duster since he didn't move what made him die. Thanks again

 

[tcoco]

I am acclimating by placing the bag in the tank to get it ajusted to the temp. and I pour about a cup from my tank into the bag untill full then dump about half out and do it all over again about 2 times then I remove the inverts and place them into the tank. And for the salinity level I bought it into the LFS and they used their refractometer and they said it was 1.023.

 

[beth]

What type of tank do you have? Feather dusters are basically reef tank inverts, or FOWLR that is well-established and not heavily mechanically filtered. Feather dusters rely on suspended food in the water column. Does your water have this type of food supply?
Again, as I said, you do not have a tank setup that will accommodate these inverts. It is not a good idea to just randomly set up a tank, or, I should say, a particular type of aquaria, then try to deviate from what that type of system will support.
Adding LS to an existing cc substrate will not accomplish what you are looking for. Smaller particles of sand will quickly sink to the bottom of the sandbed, leaving the cc on top. Nothing accomplished.
I would suggest that you spend time learning more about the hobby and the inverts that you seem to want to include in your system. That is the only way you will have successes. There are many good books out there, and, of course, you are at the right online sight for learning.
LFS’s rarely provide good advise.

 

[tcoco]

I don't know about that type of food supply the guy at the LFS told me he would be fine (again not a whole lot of info just make the sale and get out of my face) and he will just feed off of whats in the water they told me as long as I had a current he would feed on the bateria in the water. And as for the sand I was thinking of removing the cc and putting the sand in its place. Thanks for all the help I'm still very wet behind the ears From now on I will do alot more research and not just take my LFS advise. By the way if I was to keep the cc what would be good tank cleaners?
Thanks again

 

[broomer5]

Hi tcoco,
From your other thread regarding the skimmer.
I have a 55gallon with 6 damsels 5 turbos 6 green emerald crabs. The tank has been established for about 8 weeks I just bought a sealife 75 skimmer for my sump and when I first set the tank up I used some water conditioners not knowing the aloe in this crap would make my skimmer over react and bubble up alot!
What exactly was this conditioner you added to the tank ?
Brand name ?
Is this a brand new 55 gallon tank - or was it ever used for anything else ?
Was copper medications ever used in the tank - now or before ?
What materials are the wetted parts of your DIY wet/dry/sump made out of ?

 

[beth]

If you want to keep snails, stars, etc., I would suggest removing the CC. CC is really inferior for most systems, but you can use it for a FO aquria or, in a limited capacity, as top decor for the sand bed.
BTW: marine animals don't have nutritional needs met via consuming bacteria in the water.... All animals need to eat other animals or plants or byproducts of such.
If you are interested in a good book, I'd recommend Bob Fenner's, The Conscientious Marine Aquarist.

 

[tcoco]

It was a declorinator and a stress coat with aloe in it I don't remember the exact brand but it had a fish on it with glasses.
this tank was used foe fresh water tank before and a salt water before that.
No copper from me
I made it out of a new ten gallon fish tank and some scrape plexiglass from a poster frame

 

[bang guy]

From the list of inverts you mentioned all of them require an extended acclimation period. I believe that is most of the problem.
I'm also suspect of copper poisoning. Was any of your equipment or substrate purchased used?

 

[tcoco]

nothing was used every thing was new except for the tank which I had 1.5 years ago and it had fresh water fish in it

 

[broomer5]

I suspect it's the distilled water, but that's only a guess.
Have you used this same brand of distilled water from the beginning, or have you ever put tap water in the tank ?

 

[tcoco]

In the beginning I used tap water? Untill I was doing some reading and asking questions and people told me that RO water is the best but if I didn't have a system then Distilled would be even better then RO water alittle more money in the long run but a better choice I was told. I'm I wrong?

 

[beth]

The problem with distilled is the copper coils used in the distilling process. Not all distillers have copper coils, but, if you want to have a reef tank, you'd have to verify that.
I've been using Winn Dixie distilled water and have had no problems so far.

 

[tcoco]

How would I know if they have copper coils or not?

 

[broomer5]

You can test the water for copper.