Thane Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 On Sunday I went to the LFS and bought 5kg of living rock, brought it home and put it in my tank. Filled the tank with water and well, just sat there and watched. After a few minutes there was life... there was this orange "sea lice" I think it's called and it stopped on the edge of the rock and stayed there... very cool! I thought. So yesterday morning I awoke to see it dead, along with another and what I thought was a bristle worm (was half in a hole in a rock) also dead. Finally I decided to take out all of the dead things of the tank. On revoving the 2 sea lice, I decided to remove the bristle worm as well... but before that I noticed something else at the back. Took that out and it turned out to be a star fish (falling appart), but not the normal type, the one's with the long thin hairy legs, and the "bristle worm" was a larger one... just saw the legs. I felt terrible and still do! What I would like to know is, what did I do wrong and is it normal for things to die off like that? Thanks in advance... There is also a pic of my tank, it's 45 liters with 5kg living rock and 8kg sand Link to comment
seabass Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 We are missing some information here. Your SG should be around 1.024 to 1.025, your temp should be around 78 to 80, you should be using RO/DI or distilled water, you should have mixed your saltwater for a day before using it, you should not have used detergent to wash anything used for your tank… Link to comment
Thane Posted September 23, 2003 Author Share Posted September 23, 2003 My temp is 25deg and my SG is at 1.022 as the guy at the LFS said it should be. I brough the "ready mixed" salt water from the shop as well. I didn't use any detergents in my tank either. So do you think it could have been that the SG is too low? or the water that I bought was bad? Link to comment
blk_g20 Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 1.022 is probably fine for fish, most people here shoot for 1.023-.025 Link to comment
seabass Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 I agree, raise your SG a little, but that isn’t the problem. What equipment do you have (like a HOB power filter or powerheads)? Where did you get your sand? Link to comment
Thane Posted September 23, 2003 Author Share Posted September 23, 2003 I'll raise the SG, must I mix it a day before or can I just add? This is my first "salt" tank, so I'm brand new at this. The sand is from the coast... I've got a powerhead that does 550 l/p, basically a sump behind the tank with carbon, amonia scrubbers, bio-balls, sponges and that sort of thing. There seems to be a good water flow (lots of surface movement) Link to comment
TOY215 Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 sand from the coast??? hmm... did you pick it up yourself or did the LFS sell it to you? Link to comment
Thane Posted September 23, 2003 Author Share Posted September 23, 2003 Actually, it's a mixture of bough and picked up. We went to the coast last year and picked up sand on a remote beach (full of shells etc) and kept it in a closed bucket until now (was picked up in December). My mom used some of it for decorations etc... but there wasn't enough so I mixed it with bought. Was that a bad move? Looks great though ??? Link to comment
dharned Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 "I'll raise the SG, must I mix it a day before or can I just add?" I hope you dont mean dropping salt into the tank! If you want to raise the SG, i'd recommend mixing some water that is 1.027-1.028 and dripping it in SLOOOOWLY. If you dont have something to drip the water in, use a turkey baster and give it a small blast of your mixed water near the powerhead. Wait about 30 mins, then repeat the process till you tanks SG is where you want it. Remember, rapid changes in the environment will stress life in the tank and possibly lead to death. I might get flamed here as that way might be too quick as well. It's just the approach I would take. Remember, there is no rush if you existing water is about 1.023. I can't tell you if the sand mixing was a great idea. Sand that sits a year in a bucket sounds stale to me. Was it moist with sea water the whole time? And don't forget you may have introduced parisites and nasties into your "secure environment." Link to comment
dharned Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Oh, BTW... trust your LFS only after you are sure he is knowledable. You wouldnt believe how many post are up here on what "the LFS guy told them" vs what is true/correct. As far as I know, 1.023 is acceptable, but not close to the SG in authentic ocean water. Ocean water is 1.025-1.026. Home aquariasts/fish stores keep it low (1.022-1.023) sometimes to reduce occurence of parasites and such. Link to comment
birdman204 Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 when my salinity is too low, ( not often ) i just wait for evaporation. is this wrong? Link to comment
TOY215 Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 if nothing is suffering from it i dpn't think there is anything wrong. but your gonna have to fill it back up sometime. so when you fill it back up make sure you ofill with whatever SG water you already have in the tank. ie. if your tank water is at 1.023 after the evaporation, make sure you top off with water that is 1.023. if your tank levels are too low (1.021) then slowly top off the water level with water of a higher SG until the tank's SG is at the desired level. if any of this is wrong someone please correct me. thanks Link to comment
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