substrate???

[cajastan]

This may sound crazy, but my lfs has done this with success. I have an Eclipse System 6 that I have converted to a saltwater tank. The first week in January I set the tank up with about 2 inches of a crushed shell mixture (recommended by the lfs) tap water with instant ocean added and placed some rocks. I'm assuming they were live rock - they had some green hair algae growing all over them. I let the tank sit for a while to cycle and monitered all my levels. The ammonia spiked then fell and the nitrites spiked and fell. My gravity has been hovering around 1.021 or so and my pH has now risen to 8.6. From what I've been reading on this forum, I see that my salinity needs to be bumped up and that my pH is too high. I've also been keeping my temp around 79. I've got tow books that both said 75-79 degrees. You guys all recommend 82-84 degrees.
So now after all that, here's the question? Should I add a layer of sand over the top of the crushed shells to make a thicker layer. I see that most of you prefer a deep sand bed, but since I only have crushed shells, I'm concerend that I won't get a good biological sand bed.
I've added a few fish without much success. Poor fishies! I only add one at a time because it's such a small tank. This past week I added a jewel damsel who seemed to be doing fine, but died on the fourth day. Did I over feed him? Was the water too cool, my pH too high, salinity too low? I know the tank has cycled, so I'm stumped as to why the jewel damsel croaked on me.
Any help you can offer would be great!!
Thanks

 

[slick]

Well if your going to put sand in the tank you need to take out the crushed coral. Then put in 4-6 inches of sand. Not sure why you fish died.

 

[thomas712]

Wecome to saltwater fish forum
If you think it will work for you, you could stick with the Crushed Coral, however most of use do prefer sand as it does make a much better filter. I would say most of us do not like the thought of mixing crushed coral and sand together.
As to the temp, some of us keep it that high but not all. I prefer 78-80 and it works fine for me.
Your salinity is at the low end of acceptable but could go to 1.025 and be fine. The ph is at the high end of acceptable but I would not have it go higher than it is. What time of day did it read 8.6? Time of day will make a difference.
When you say your ammonia and nitrites fell you do mean to 0 right?
Thomas

 

[cajastan]

I usually test my water mid morning, but yesterday when I tested it was late afternoon when the pH was high. Both my ammonia and nitrites fell to zero, but when I tested yesterday afternoon (the damsel died yesterday morning) my nitrites were .03. not too high, but I figured the bacteria were just doing their job getting rid of the ammonia the fish was creating. To bring up my salinity and bring down my pH should I just add some more saltwater with a heavier saliniy?
I need to get all that crushed shell out of my aquarium before I add the sand. That should be fun! Will this be a problem with the cycling of the tank? Will I be starting all over with the cycling process. If so, is live sand absolutely necessary or can I just buy regular sand. I guess I'll syphon out all the water into a plastic container and put the rock in there while I get rid of the crushed shells. Should I leave the sediment in the bottom of the tank and put the sand on it - that would be the bacteria wouldn't it?
Thanks for your help. This forum has been very helpful so far, but since I have no clue what I'm doing you guys are my lifeline.

 

[thomas712]

Changing over from CC to sand now is the best thing you can do. It is much more tirersome and difficult to do with an established tank. You may need to start over. Use fresh RO water and salt.
Thomas

 

[birdy]

I am not sure how many gallons the eclipse 6 is. I also would recommend some more LR, you want at least 1lb per gallon of water this will help your filtration since eclipse filters are not the greatest.