Giving up!

jdennysgir

jdennysgir

Member
Hi everyone,
First of all I would like to thank everyone for all their help. Such a great site and wonderful people. Secondly, I am here to find out for sure what to do. I have spent hundreds (yes, hundreds) of dollars on fish in the last year or so. As of this date I have one big damsel and one yellow watchman goby left. Also a few snails and some hermit crabs. I can't afford it anymore. I have tried everything including taking my water to the fish store and having them analyze it. I can't seem to keep the parimeters in check even with water changes. I use RO water. Anyhow, I have deciced to go back to freshwater. One question I have is can I keep the live rock when I take out the sand and replace it with gravel? Or should I get rid of the liverock also? My tank is a 44 gallon corner tank with a fluval filter system. I can't believe I had 2 seahorses for over a year with not near as much trouble as I have had with saltwater fish. Any comments would be appreciated. Also, I have a clownfish and a pearly jawfish due to me from SWF that I will not be buying. Don't know if someone else could get these or not. Thanks.
 
barchtruong

barchtruong

Member
you need to have a good biological system running in the tank
and the parameter needs to be really consistent
Post your tank parameter and daily/weekly up-keep that you have done rountinely in the past year for the tank then great people on there can help you out.
I don't see how fishes die if the tank has the right parameter, SG, temp, filtration system and flow.
 
andy51632

andy51632

Member
u can't put live rock in freshwater. How much lr do you have. You might try to sell it. I think u will be alright if u stay in this hobby. It sounds like u need to purchase some different equiptment. Have u been using this site for information or have u been listening to the lfs?
 
buffett

buffett

Member
i agree post some info for everybody to check, post some pics of your set up, anything and everything can be useful, theres no such thing as too much info to me especially when dealing with this hobby
 
sly

sly

Active Member
Are you interested in us talking you back into saltwater and working through it or have you already made up your mind to go to freshwater?
Sorry to hear about your losses but there has to be a solution for you.
You will not be able to keep anything once you move to freshwater... different organisms, even different bacteria.
 
jdennysgir

jdennysgir

Member
I have been using this site all along. I test for salinity, ammonia, calcium, nitrates, nitrites and ph. I can pretty much keep these in check all the time. There must be some other water paremeters that are going wrong. My tank has a "dirty" look on the rocks and I have never produced corraline. Would a skimmer definitely help me? I also have a mh light. The tank is a 44 gallon, not sure how much live rock, a fairly good amount though, a fluval filter, and 2 powerheads. It has been up and running for at least 3 years now.
 
jdennysgir

jdennysgir

Member
As much as I have already invested in this, I would prefer to get the problem straightened out. I love saltwater fish! Any more info. I will also post a picture, although there are already several on this site somewhere. Thanks.
 
barchtruong

barchtruong

Member
Your inverts died because you didn't have your salinity hi enough.
You need to keep the tank at 1.024 min. 1.026 for the hi.
You don't have coraline algae cuz there is not enought Calcium in the tank.
That's is one of the reason why Inverts died.
If you do FOWL tank, you don't have to have skimmer, but you have to do weekly water change at 5to10%.
Check you PH level and ALK.
If you PH is below 8.0 and ALK is <6, that would explain why livestocks died.
 
andy51632

andy51632

Member
Hey look at my tank. This is after I cleaned the glass. I am not giving up. Start posting your test results and figuring out how much live rock you have. Skimmer would really help and you have a metal halide. Thats more light then me. You could have a awesome setup.
 
barchtruong

barchtruong

Member
Originally Posted by jdennysgir
I have never checked alkaline and ph does tend to drop. How do I keep these in check?
AHA......

bingo......
That is what you've been missing in the past 3 yrs.
That told me you didn't do your water change regularly.
Cuz If you do water change regularly, you don't even have to check P.H. level and ALK, cuz fresh mixed salt already have enuf of those chem. to bring your tank to the safe zone.
Do water change weekly and add calcium sometimes, you and your pets will all be happy
 
ridomart

ridomart

Member
Don't quit, there is probably something simple that your not checking. Check for copper, do you use a refractometer, type test kits, where do you get your water. thease people can find out what your doing or not doing.Don't listen to the LFS.type salt has a lot to do with perimeters.LR needs to be seeded with some that already has coral line. I don't know enough to help but I'm sure thease people will!
 
sea slug

sea slug

Member
baking soda will keep the Ph up put in about 1 tbsp per day untill you get a good read-out
and as for the skimmer, I don't care, what other people say,
you are infinitely better off with a skimmer
(even a cheap one is better than nothing)
...........but not the Fission nano-skimmer those abomitable
 
jdennysgir

jdennysgir

Member
Lol I know, that is what I am trying to tell you! Other than the fish always dying I can't stand the looks of it! Anyhow, here is what I just came up with Temp is 77 degrees
Salinity is taken with the coralife deepsix plastic thing 1.025
PH 7.8
Ammonia .25 Could be due to recent clownfish death, didn't find its body.
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Those taken with the Saltwater Master Test kit
Calcium 460 taken with the Nutrafin calcium test kit.
I took out approx. 5 gallons of water yesterday on my water change.
I have an appointment right now, but will be back soon to check the site. Thanks again for trying to help me.
 
barchtruong

barchtruong

Member
SW hobby is like waxing the car,
the more time and efforts you put in, the better looking the tank will be.
you need to commit to it if you truly want to have a good looking sw tank.
Spend some time and take out the PH and scrub off the urgly stuff
Use a PH and blow all the urgly stuff off the rocks and clean you Fluval often.
You can take out one rock at the time and put it in the bucket with the tank water and gently brush them with a new soft tooth brush.
Ur PH level is quite low.
you need to keep it at 8.2. 8.0 is the worst case.
Change your salt to different brand if you have low PH and Alk prob. all the time.
Don't add anything in the tank for awhile until everything looks clean and good.
Don't forget to clean the glass every 2,3 days with the magnets.
 
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