Having a few problems, need HELP!!

M

Mooch28

AC Members
Dec 24, 2004
809
0
0
Toronto (Brampton)
Hey guys, first off, tank is a 110 gallon with 30 gallon sump, and a built in refuge. Now i have decent flow at around 15 times turnover in the tank. Nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, phosphates, copper are all ZERO and have been for several months! R/O water is used. No corals (yet), and a few fish. Two clowns, one tang, and one scooter. Also, 30 baby hermit crabs.

Problems:

1. Snails for some reason just do not survive in my tank. I put them in, and they either die after a few hours or the overnight. I accumulate them, by dripping for a few hours too.

2. Coraline in my tank, is just not taking off.

Now my KH level is a little high, as i think i have buffered too much. It's at 13-14 DKH. PH is pretty stable at 8.1-8.2, and calcium levels have been kept steady at 400.

I just don't understand why snails are dieing in my tank, doesn't make any sense at all. Maybe you guys know something i dont. Also, i don't know why coraline is not taking off. Their is some present, but it's not spreading.

The only think i can think of for coraline, is the salt im using. Instant Ocean, which i have heard, but am not sure, that it is low in magnisium. Can any one confirm this?? So i started adding Reef complete by seachem, which is calcium with traces of magnisium. Although i only started yesterday, so im not sure it's working.

Help would be much appreciated,
Thanks!
 
I use Instant Ocean, and never have any problems with coralline algae growth. What's your lighting?

On the snails--how many do you get? For them to be dying within 24 hours, that's pretty serious. What's the salinity? All from the same source?
 
Lighting is MH. 250 DE pendants (two) at 14000K. They are placed 8 inches above water, so heating is not a problem. Temp fluctuates from 79-82 from day to night.

As for salinity. 1.025 constant. I use a Refractometer so it's fairly accurate.
 
Lighting might be discouraging certain types of coralline. Purple coralline doesn't do too well under MH. Red and green corallines do, however, so if you don't have the right coralline introduced yet in the tank, then it could be a while. Just have patience.
 
Yep--I agree. When I upgraded from VHO's to MH, I lost most of the purple coralline, but the red and greens just exploded. A few of the plate types of purple did very well, but the 'standard' purple was only present on the undersides and sides of the rocks.
 
Huum thanks guys.

Well ive tried, mandarin snails, turbos, but neither of them survive. And predetor im not sure, because ive seen them just stop moving, and eventually die in the same spot, with no visible signs of attack.
 
OrionGirl said:
I'd try nassarius or cerith--they're more useful, IMO, than turbos anyway.
Click to expand...

But snails are not surviving. Im worried to put any other snail in the tank and have it die off........

Any other ideas why snails are dieing anyone??
 
Different snails will have different survival rates, hence my suggestion to try different snails than those that haven't survived. If other inverts are surviving, then it's unlikely to be something in the tank, so it's either the source, transportation, or the type of snail.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom