new and needing help please

[connie1961]

Well, this is going to be long I think. I am new to this. Went to the LFS and purchased a 29 gallon set up. Eheim filter, thermostat, crushed coral and bacteria. Followed the instructions. Filled the tank with water and let it cycle. Was told within two weeks to add some live rock and some crabs and a shrimp. Did as they told me. Again let the tank cycle. About a month went by, the water was good. Went to another LFS and they let us buy a Manderian. <shame shame shame> Of course this Manderian starved to death. And they also told us to buy a Cow Fish. Another huge mistake. The Cow Fish died as well. Found another LFS and this man was awesome. He made me bring in water samples. The ammonia was high and so were the nitrites. He told me he would not sell me anything until my water was 100% good. As he has been in this business for 28 years and takes his fish very seriously. Told him everything I had been through and he said he would help me out. Such a nice guy! Every week I took a sample of water. Ammonia was still high and so was the nitrites. He kept giving me free samples of TLC bacteria. The little 2 ounce bottles. Told me to take them home, add to the water and let is cycle for a week and to come back. Finally went in and the ammonia he said looked beautiful. And the Nitrites looked great. Salinity was very good. Nitrates were excellent and so was the PH with the help of adding buffer each week. By the time all of this took place, the tank was about 2 months or so so. I bought somemore live rock and I bought Reef Vital DNA. He said to add 1 teaspoon for about two days and 1/4 teaspoon every day thereafter. Said to come back in a week. I read the back of the bottle and it said that this product can cause inaccurate readings with Ammonia and Nitrites. Said with some test kits it can show both of these items very high. I have a saltmaster test kit and the owner of the LFS told me to purchase the Fastest kit. It was the best. So after adding this Reef Vital DNA stuff, on the Ammonia level it read as high as it could with the Fastest kit. With the Fastest kit, it showed my Nitrites awesome. When I tested the water with the Saltmaster, it showed the Ammonia was awesome and the Nitrites were through the roof. So with the Ammonia Level good with the SaltMaster and the Nitrates good with the Fastest, I went back to the store and he said everything looked good and I could buy some pretties for my tank. We bought a Devils Hand, a beige bubble and another one I don't know the name of. Sits on white coral. Looks kinda like zoos. They extend out of the coral and wave around. Green. And he said I could have a clown fish. So home I came, happy as a darn lark. Added all of my new pretty stuff. Within 2 days my bubble thing died and now the Devils hand is dieing and the green zoo is not doing well either. And my Clown fish died. I also bought a cleaner wrasse a while back. He is now dieing. And after all of this, my Ammonia level according to the Fastest is through the roof and my Nitrites are over 0.02. I just cannot win for losing. I have algae growing in my tank. The live rocks are purple with stuff and orange. I have feather dusters growing like crazy. But for the life of me, I can't get anything else to live in my tank. Except for the crabs. And with this Reef Vital DNA stuff, and it causing inaccurate tests, I don't know where my water is at. I have done 2 10% water changes and that helped with the Ammonia Level. I am so lost. All I want to do is have pretty fish and pretty things growing in my tank.

Does anyone have any suggestions? :help: Thanks bunches Connie

 

[airforceb2]

Here we go Connie,
Step 1: Stop listening to any LFS employee. They may seem like they are helping but they still own a business and want to make a living like anyone else.
Step 2: Go to the library and get a couple books. Reading is a must in this hobby.
Step 3: Stop adding chemicals to your tank, nobody puts chemicals in the ocean...you don't need them in your tank (yet). As long as you do regular (20% every 2 weeks) water changes with RO/DI water and mix your salt 24 hours in advance, you will get all the nutrients you need to cycle your tank.
Step 4: Corals are very delicate and require pristine water quality plus intense lighting. You will either need a small Metal Halide light for that tank or some good Power Compacts.
Step 5: Read, read and read some more.

 

[connie1961]

Sir:
Thank you for your reply. I will do as you have instructed and stop adding chemicals to the tank. I will continue with the 20% water changes every two weeks. I also did not know that you had to mix the salt water 24 hours in advance. Thanks for your help, as I go running to the library.

Maybe some day, I can add pics of my fish tank, but until then my tank is fishless.
Connie

 

[beth]

Have you read any hobby books? This is really essential, I believe, for new Hobbyists. Tops, would be Robert Fernner's "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist.". If you don't have it, get it. Well worth it.
Spend another 2 mos here at Saltwaterfish.com LEARNING.
Just off the top, crushed coral is not very good choice for reef tank. What are your filters, lighting?

 

[puffer32]

We will help you achieve the pretty tank you want, do as others have advised and read like crazy!

 

[sw65galma]

Another thing people forgot to mention...
Patience is the key. There is no instant gratification in SW hobby.
The ocean took Billions of years to develop..You can't recreate it in a week or a month.
Fish Must be added 1 at a time....No more than 1 per month in your size tank. And also I wouldn't recommend more than 4 small fish in that size tank.
Certain things shouldn't be added till you tank has had fish in it for 6months without deaths...Like anenomes, coral, and starfish.

 

[connie1961]

i asked around and we got some pc lights. we have a 10,000k 2x65 watt lights with an acitnic blue and lunar lights. our filter is an eheim filter. we asked the local fish store about filterls and he told us they did not make them small enough for our tank.
we keep our tank at 78 degrees and we have close to 30lbs of live rock. we also have a wave maker for the under water currents.
we have about 15 crabs (red leg and blue hermits) one turbo snail, and a peppermint shrimp that hides 24/7. Feather dusters have been popping out of our rocks like crazy and a few other polyps. we have also noticed 2 or more bristle worms in our tank. are those bad?
we have a hard time taking pictures with our camera so i cannot provide you a picture of our tank at this time.

 

[connie1961]

Thank you so much to everyone for their help. Patience, yes, sometimes a hard thing to deal with. But I want to make this right, so Patience it is.
I do have a question though. Reading all of the posts about crushed coral and I seem to agree with everyone's thoughts. My crushed coral use to be white, but now is covered I think with algae and does not look good. If sand is a good thing to have, do I need to remove all of the coral and put sand in the bottom or will that mess up my tank even more? Or can I just add sand on top of the coral? If I can add sand, what kind of sand do I add? The live sand or is there some other kind of sand that Salt Water Aquariums need? Sorry for so many questions, but did not get a chance to hit the library yesterday. Thanks again for your help!

 

[puffer32]

I would take all the CC out, even below the sand it can cause problems. Then you can go to your local home depot and see if they have any southdown or old castle play sand and put this in first. I wouldn't recommend other brands of play sand, Then you can get a bag or so of LS from your lfs to put on top of the play sand, save you money because the LS is pretty expensive and you will want at least a 2 inch sand bed. Hope this helps.

 

[airforceb2]

Yes, take out the CC. If you pour the sand on top of it, the sand will eventually settle down under the CC and you will be back where you started. Seeing that you are in MI, you will probably have a hard time finding Southdown or Old Castle...they are prominent to the East Coast. A good thing to keep in mind is to take a little bottle of white distilled vinegar to the store with you and pour it on seperate samples of their sand. If the sand fizzes, you can use it in your tank. If all tests fail, you will have to resort to paying the LFS rates. You will need to get around 40lbs of sand. You can get regular aragonite sand (about $30 for 40 lbs) and if possible, take sand out of the stores display tank. If you can, grab a 20lb bag of Aragalive. Put the aragonite down first and then sprinkle the aragalive on top of that. Within a few weeks, your entire sand bed should be alive.

 

[connie1961]

Thank you again for your help. Well I found what you told me to get. Came home took all of the coral out, rinsed the sand for what seemed forever. put it down in the order you told me to. But even after rinsing the sand until it seemed clear, my tank is very very cloudy. Will this dust ever settle? And how long will it take? When the dust settles from this sand, is it always going to be dusty when something touches the sand, like the crabbies walking around? Thanks again!

 

[airforceb2]

The sand will settle and when it does, take a turkey baster and blow off your rock. Once this is done, you shouldn't see any more cloudy water. The crabs shouldn't make a mess at all. The only fish I would worry about is an engineer gobi. I know they throw a lot of sand around but I'm not sure on how cloudy the tank gets.

 

[puffer32]

No, it won't get cloudy from the crabs walking on it, it will settle in a day or 2.

 

[jbreneman]

Where in Mich. do u live? :happyfish

 

[celacanthr]

Originally Posted by connie1961
our filter is an eheim filter. we asked the local fish store about filterls and he told us they did not make them small enough for our tank.
i dont think there is such a thing is there

 

[connie1961]

question about the engineer goby. are they white and yellow and eat the sand and sift it out through their gills? we were at a store and we saw probably 5 or so of them just diving head first into the sand. it was quite a sight to see.
the tank is doing good at about 3am right now. we can see pretty good on the lower half of the tank.

 

[scubadoo]

Connie...send me an email I will send you info that will help you through the initial phase of the hobby . My email is superidiot@cox.net Please use the search feature on this website as well.