fishycouple
Member
Hi again:
This is an update on my heavy metal problem which you were all very helpful with. Some of the possible solutions were very creative and I appreciate all of the thought that went into them.
My LFS through the use of the Bio-Filter and Carbon filtration was able to remove the heavy metal from my tank. About 2 weeks ago, he sent me home with an Condilactis Anemone to confirm everything was ok. (Iknow some of you won't be too happy with him about that, but I wanted an anemone anyway, because I think they are beautiful). IT WAS and IS very healthy and happy, and eats twice a week, so far!
My Condy is happy and has found his favorite place in my tank...he is even learning to accept my Gold/Maroon Clown, who fell in love with the condy!
I think I found the source of the metal...(or what-ever it was that wouldn't let me have inverts!)...I was using the filters the LFS recommended, but I also noticed that whenever either my wife or myself touched the crushed coral substrate (purchased in a bag when I bought the tank)..we had sliver-like things in our fingers. We couldn't tell if they were glass or metal, but they hurt, and were difficult to pull out. So we started removing the coral, a little at a time, until we finally have it all out of the tank. The tank is now bare bottomed, with the wet/dry filter and skimmer.
It was interesting that the more crushed coral we removed, the lower the level of heavy metal tested in the tank. Maybe this was a co-incidence, but I don't care..as long as it is gone.
Since then we have introduced some snails and they are doing wonderful!
Last weekend, we put a coral-banded shrimp in the tank and he immediately hid behind our mountain of live rock. The next morning I noticed our gold/maroon clown had a severe wound on his side. It has gotten much better in the past couple of days, and is almost well. He still sleeps in the condy..(oh well!)
I have not seen the shrimp in the past 2 days, maybe the clown ambushed him..lol!
This weekend I plan on flushing behind the rock with a powerhead to see if I can get the shrimp's body out.
I added my first corals at the same time as the shrimp...last Friday....a Green Mushroom Coral and a Yellow Polop. They are both doing very well, in fact the mushroom is bigger here than it was in the store!
Now My QUESTION: I want to replace my removed crushed coral with live sand. Can I add (to my 55 gallon Tank with about 60 Lbs of live rock)live sand at this time? Maybe 20 lbs would give me a one inch bed in the front of my tank, with my rock sitting on the bottom, the sand would be around the base of the front rocks. I am only using the sand bed for decoration and any additional filtration I might gain (in addition to my wet/dry).
Can I add live sand to my aquarium at this point? What kind of cycle can I expect from adding it? Should I add "dead" sand and add an activator later? I would love to have some critters crawling in the sand. Also does anyone know if my shrimp and Clown battle is a natural thing?
Once again, any help would be appreciated...My wife and I are really getting into this reef thing!
Rick
This is an update on my heavy metal problem which you were all very helpful with. Some of the possible solutions were very creative and I appreciate all of the thought that went into them.
My LFS through the use of the Bio-Filter and Carbon filtration was able to remove the heavy metal from my tank. About 2 weeks ago, he sent me home with an Condilactis Anemone to confirm everything was ok. (Iknow some of you won't be too happy with him about that, but I wanted an anemone anyway, because I think they are beautiful). IT WAS and IS very healthy and happy, and eats twice a week, so far!
My Condy is happy and has found his favorite place in my tank...he is even learning to accept my Gold/Maroon Clown, who fell in love with the condy!
I think I found the source of the metal...(or what-ever it was that wouldn't let me have inverts!)...I was using the filters the LFS recommended, but I also noticed that whenever either my wife or myself touched the crushed coral substrate (purchased in a bag when I bought the tank)..we had sliver-like things in our fingers. We couldn't tell if they were glass or metal, but they hurt, and were difficult to pull out. So we started removing the coral, a little at a time, until we finally have it all out of the tank. The tank is now bare bottomed, with the wet/dry filter and skimmer.
It was interesting that the more crushed coral we removed, the lower the level of heavy metal tested in the tank. Maybe this was a co-incidence, but I don't care..as long as it is gone.
Since then we have introduced some snails and they are doing wonderful!
Last weekend, we put a coral-banded shrimp in the tank and he immediately hid behind our mountain of live rock. The next morning I noticed our gold/maroon clown had a severe wound on his side. It has gotten much better in the past couple of days, and is almost well. He still sleeps in the condy..(oh well!)
I have not seen the shrimp in the past 2 days, maybe the clown ambushed him..lol!
This weekend I plan on flushing behind the rock with a powerhead to see if I can get the shrimp's body out.
I added my first corals at the same time as the shrimp...last Friday....a Green Mushroom Coral and a Yellow Polop. They are both doing very well, in fact the mushroom is bigger here than it was in the store!
Now My QUESTION: I want to replace my removed crushed coral with live sand. Can I add (to my 55 gallon Tank with about 60 Lbs of live rock)live sand at this time? Maybe 20 lbs would give me a one inch bed in the front of my tank, with my rock sitting on the bottom, the sand would be around the base of the front rocks. I am only using the sand bed for decoration and any additional filtration I might gain (in addition to my wet/dry).
Can I add live sand to my aquarium at this point? What kind of cycle can I expect from adding it? Should I add "dead" sand and add an activator later? I would love to have some critters crawling in the sand. Also does anyone know if my shrimp and Clown battle is a natural thing?
Once again, any help would be appreciated...My wife and I are really getting into this reef thing!
Rick
