Hey, im the one that had the trouble with the two fish dieing and the amonia going really high, im looking at my tank and i dont know why, but there seems to be this dust all over the place, no really on the rocks below, but on the live rock and heater, there seems to be dust, easiest way to explain it is the asbestos and all grey **** that fell with the two towers, kinda like that. What is it? I also see that the algea from the floor has disappeared. Getting one step closer each day to shutting her down :\
Dust?
- Thread starter Fitch
- Start date
How long has the tank been established
What is the substrate
What did you do to it before putting it in
Did the dust just appear or has it always been there
What is the substrate
What did you do to it before putting it in
Did the dust just appear or has it always been there
well, this was a new project, and i unfortunetly jumped into prematurly. only up about 4 months. I have a crushed coral substrate on the floor, and 40 pounds of live rock in here. The tank cycled and a yellow tang and 3 damsels lived fine, but a dumb gift of a trigger, which died, brought it all down. It died, then the tang. Now the water is slighlty cloudy and this dust has appeared in the last couple of days, and the closer i look, there is some of it on the floor too. I am thinking of just going back to freshwater. If anyone in ct area wants some live rock, i can send u a pic of the tank.
Well, don't give up too fast.. We'll get you going again.. What size is your tank? How did you cycle the tank?How long did it cycle for? The dust sounds like a residue from the crushed coral.
well, major thing is, no skimmer. Oroginally this was just going to have 1 little fish in it and this is all my brothers doing. its a 45 gallon tank, i can email u a pic, and it was cycled with 3 damsels, for about a month and a half, then i introudeced the tang only because my mother bought it without asking me. I want to get a skimmer, but im a senior in high school, and im going to college next year, so its not something i would be enjoying as much. I dont want to spend an extra 200 on a skimmer for that reason. I belive that if i do get a skimmer things would go much better eh? The fish were living in here fine for over 2 months, it was the death of another fish that brought the system down. I am gonna try and see if i can take a picture of the dust, but no gurantees.
Did you rinse the CC? Try some water changes with RO water only. What type of filter? I had this happen to me when I changed my CC for aragonite sand, I had to change my water and replace the filter media alot but it finally worked. Fortunately didn't hurt my fish. But you have to rinse that CC before you add it or you'll have a mess.
Well, let's start form the beginning.. Unfortuneatly you cycled your tank with damsels. This is an ancient form of cycling which unfortunelaty is still beign used today, and is still being recommended.When you cycle your tank with damsels, you are only cycling your tank for that level of a bioload, any additions, will create a mini-cycle. Chances are, when you added in your tang, your tank was adjusting to the higher bioload level, and adding the trigger just pushed it over the edge. I would really like for you to keep your interest in saltwater, so I'm going to recommend a few things that may be frustrating, but in the end, you'll be thanking yourself and glad that you did. First thing I would do, is to try and take the damsels back. 45g is much too small to have three of them togather. You will have some serious territorial problems in the future. With the damsels out of the tank. I would really recommend starting over. Take out the CC and put down a 5-6" sand bed.. fill it up again.. and throw in a couple of cocktail shrimp from your local grocery store. It's going to stink after a couple of days, but it will be worth it.. once you have an ammonia spike that's off the charts, you can go ahead and take out the shrimp (usually around the 4th day or so..) Let your tank finish cycling and take this time to really think what you want in your tank.. I know the majority of you livestock was mostly given to you, but 3 damsels, a yellow tang, and a trigger, is just toooooo much for that tank.. the trigger and tang will need a lot of swimming room and require at least a 55g + tank. and as I previously stated, 3 damsels is just asking for trouble, and, you really want to add any damsel(should you still want one) last, otherwise, it will attack the majority of any future fish you put in. Well, like I said, a little tedious and time consuming, but trust me, you'll reap the benefits and enjoy the hobby a lot more....
what about a skimmer? i would like to get one, but im not sure that it is worth it, replacing the CC wont be bad, but i am running a filter in this tank, what is ur recomendation on that?
With a DSB, and live rock, you won't need the filter, you can take teh media out, and use it as an additional powerhead, but otherwise, it's pretty much useless. A skimmer by all means is not required.. They do take a lot of junk out of your tank, but unless your tank is requireing prestine water conditions (more so with your more delicate fish) then why waste your money.. It is something that you can look into in the furture.
DSB? whats that haha, i figure that i will buy a bag of Southdown Tropical Play Sand which is 50lb, and ill seed it with live sand and put the live rock over it, and do that shrimp cycle. Ill post more info tonite, gotta get some work done haha.