Can inverts that live under the sand, and die cause problems?

[thisissimple]

Sounds like you need a series of serious water changes. With nitrates this high, I am also wondering about the feeding that is going on.

What kind of other filtration is there on this tank and what is it stocked with.

There are several good skimmers on the market, and many can be found used if you live near a big metro area (check here and craigslist to start with)

good companies include aqua-c, euro-reef, asm, cpr... Stay away from seaclones, or maybe try some of the mods that are out there to help their effectiveness. My major beef with them is cleaning. Almost impossible.

 

[FLESHY]

Do you siphon your gravel? Is your filtration system clean?

Making your h2o CLEANER is never going to shock your fish in a bad way. Would you die if you came out of a gas chamber into fresh air?

Siphon the crap out of your substrate and do a massive h2o change.

We need to get these values down to like 10.

 

[Heathd]

MACROS!!! DO SOME MACROS!!!

Or do a water change and run some purigen for a short fix.

 

[Pazzoman]

Ok I will do water asap...wish my mom would let me do them now....

To answer the following question from thisissimple, I have a 5-6 voltain Lionfish, 3-4 inch blue throat trigger, 3 inch foxface, 3inch maroone clownfish and a 8-12in snowflake eel.

The voltain and snowflake eat silversides by tongs so I know that none are decaying in the water. The other fish I place a few flakes and watch. If they seem to have eaten it all, I put in a little more and I stop. I also have like 40 hermit crabs ranging from different species to different sizes. Some are tiny like the head of a nail and one of my hermits is the size of a hand ball...also I have some margarita snails (20). I'm worried about placing plants because I don't know if 54watts or marine glo and 54watts of regular florecent bulb is enough......and the foxface.

Tomorrow as soon as I get home from school I'll keep doing large water changes and remove all the rocks for vacuuming the sand...

Also how should I clean the fx5, I did it last week by rinsing everything except the bio media (All rinsing was done in tank water). I cleaned out the canister by washing it with fresh water but then dried it with towels before adding media.

 

[FLESHY]

MACROS!!! DO SOME MACROS!!!

Or do a water change and run some purigen for a short fix.

Or do both...like some evil genius(es) on this website. Muwhahaha!

Ok I will do water asap...wish my mom would let me do them now....

To answer the following question from thisissimple, I have a 5-6 voltain Lionfish, 3-4 inch blue throat trigger, 3 inch foxface, 3inch maroone clownfish and a 8-12in snowflake eel.

The voltain and snowflake eat silversides by tongs so I know that none are decaying in the water. The other fish I place a few flakes and watch. If they seem to have eaten it all, I put in a little more and I stop. I also have like 40 hermit crabs ranging from different species to different sizes. Some are tiny like the head of a nail and one of my hermits is the size of a hand ball...also I have some margarita snails (20). I'm worried about placing plants because I don't know if 54watts or marine glo and 54watts of regular florecent bulb is enough......and the foxface.

Tomorrow as soon as I get home from school I'll keep doing large water changes and remove all the rocks for vacuuming the sand...

Also how should I clean the fx5, I did it last week by rinsing everything except the bio media (All rinsing was done in tank water). I cleaned out the canister by washing it with fresh water but then dried it with towels before adding media.

Theres only one way to find out if your tank can support macros...and that is to add some. I just redid my tank, so I probably wont have much to sell until January, but when that rolls around I could send you some in a flat rate box if you wanted me to.

When washing your filter I would just use FW for cleaning everything except for permanent bio media...I would clean that badboy out at least once a month...maybe twice. (For those on this website that tend to get a little carried away with canister maintenance.)

What are your nitrates at NOW?

 

[Pazzoman]

Lmfao, as we speak I'm about to do a massive water change, take out all the rocks (place them in tank water) and clean all the sand...with a vac. Also I'm gonna clean out my filter again.....so the carbon and the clear max get rinsed....biomedia just gets untouched...right?

Also that would be great for the shipment of the plants....how much would that be? Also you should have them in Jan?

 

[Pazzoman]

2 hours later....the nitrate is now between 40-80

 

[Pufferpunk]

Any "bio-media" used with SW systems, are considered nitrate factories. SW filtration consists of live rock, a good protein skimmer & powerheads for flow.

 

[Pazzoman]

..I wonder if I could put live rocks in one of the baskets of the fx5......probably better for a sump.

 

[Pazzoman]

No...ouch as in...that is commonly referred to as the worst skimmer in the hobby. They are a pain to get set up just right, and even then arent the best.

I dont get down on them as hard as most people because I had one for a couple years and it DID work better than nothing, and because it was my first skimmer (I got it with my used system) I had nothing to compare it against. Look into AquaC...not too expensive, and a world of difference. Also very user/beginner friendly.

Ok I'm looken up some of these skimmers now....also when I did a water change for the first time with a pump.....i was disappointed. I filled a trash can with saltwater (about 25 gallons of water)...i used the this pump thats rated 80gph.....the water didn't make it pass the entire hose....

I probably need to get a 360gph...or more