The Accidental Aquarist

[MahinaMommy]

So see what happened was.... (lol) kids "accidentally" bring home coquina. I decide to teach them a lesson in responsibility. We get live sand salt mix ect make a tank for them on the porch and study a week or so. THEN my lovely neighbors who support our homeschool ventures, bring us a starfish and some crabs. I quickly relize we need a bigger tank. 50 gal craiglist cartridge filter. Well invertabrate study is great starfish eat coquina throw in extra shells for crabs which entertain us with naked antics and regular wrestling matches. THEN niagra blow out at 2 am water every where (on the porch) Rescue everything in all available 10 gals and buy a new tank on the quick next day. We got a 36 gal bowfront set it up and put everything in after about a day a few at a time over a week...thinking NOT knowing. Well after a few months salinity ph all good no amonia,..BUT nitrates and toxic. Told by LFS start over, canceled order for clowns (my oldest son who is a spectrum kid has wanted clowns for 7 years or more so this is the end goal). Bought more salt 2 bags sand and about 30 lbs dry rock. I am going to have to put everyone back into 10s and wait a cycle (which I DO NOW understand) I thought we would do some coral and bought lighting but after being told rudely by LFS that wattage does not matter nore spectrum and that my tank being a bow is too deep. Feeling like throwing in the towel,....BUT must keep swimming! I have read a lot over the past few days as I know my suckie filtration is not going to work. I am space limited and have a small farm we maintain so trying to keep it simple. CAN I use rock only as bio filtration and maybe use a hangon UV filter? The filter we bought said it could be used for salt but I am sure I should get a few lashes for believing what I read on a box. Any help for the greenhorn?

 

[tkeracer619]

Hey MahinaMommy, thanks for posting here and researching. It's pretty cool you are going through all this for your kids.

Here is my suggestion. Keep it simple. All you need is rock, water, some type of flow, and keep the temperatures in check.

What filter do you have, it is probably just fine but the media may not be.

Read through the stickies at the top of this forum and they will give plenty of insight. If you have specific questions please ask them and we will do our best to help you out.

Also, ignore the rude LFS some of them are very grumpy and get frustrated easily with people new to the hobby. We tend to have more patience.

 

[MahinaMommy]

so run filter just as water mover with no cartridge? 1-2 lbs per gallon dry rock plus 40lbs live sand. We have a dozen hermits and three stars will they deplete the sand of good micro buddies? OH and we have a cleaner shrimp. Also will these guys suffer being put in a fresh set up (using teh salt from teh puple bag that is ready go no wait) should I add some icky toxic water. AND if tank is so toxic how come they are alive still. One starfish is knicle size we call him prop he had three legs and he has grown back two half nubs so we felt we ,ust be doing SOMETHING right?? Thanks for teh support feeling beat down by teh LFS when I would not buy a 500.00 light sytem. AND yes I always type the TEH its my jamacian accent LOL

 

[tkeracer619]

It can take a long time for inverts to die off, sometimes as long as 6 months.

Purple bag is probably Instant Ocean, you never want to mix the water in the tank, always in a bucket.

When you say toxic? Can you elaborate? Regular water changes will reduce nitrates and will help keep the other minerals in check. You do need to add fresh water (that has no chlorine, we prefer Reverse Osmosis) to compensate for evaporation.

You will need a few tools.
-A way to measure salinity (a calibrated refractometer is the go to)
-A test kit (the basics are ammonia, nitrate, alkalinity, calcium)

In regards to the filter it all depends. Which one did you buy? If they have carbon they are fine. Often people just run filter floss in them but the filter floss does need to be kept clean as any rotting material on the media will cause high nitrates.

Thanks for saying you are Jamaican, I made sure to read your post in my best (pretty terrible actually) accent :lol:.

Starting fresh may be a good option but I don't think it is absolutly neccesary. It may just reset stuff and cause a mini cycle (ammonia and nitrite spike) which would be more harmful to the livestock than simply high nitrates.

The stars will likely eat what food they have available and then starve, they really need a mature tank to thrive but some of them will eat prepared foods. Really depends on the species.

Can you post some pics of the tank so we know what you are working with?