riptide
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hello All... Great Site....
I have recently relocated from Atlanta to Houston and converted my 4 year old fresh water setup to SW. During its operation as a freshwater tank I placed undergravel filter plates under the substrate (2" approx) to give the "Cross Section of Life" look I wanted without the extra weight of the additional substrate, kinda spacing the gravel up a bit.. This was my first tank and I enjoyed more than incredible success... Never having any water quality, algae, or fish death issues... All with a single Magnum 350 filter (carbon) and minimal (10% every 6 months) water changes, carring approx 20in total fish length. I went ahead and used the same setup in the new SW environment, adding a wet/dry 10 gal additional filtration and a UV sterilizer. I have since learned during that I may have accidentally created a plentum type de-nitrafication system taking advantage of the anaerobic space under the undergravel plate. I did not use live sand in my new tank, originally leaning toward fish only, but have since wanted to add some inverts... All my levels test at 0, although it does run slightly low on ph and alkalinity.
And now the Question.... Should I add a couple of inches of finer live sand to my crushed coral substrate bed?
My total population is a follows:
2 striped damsels
1 marroon clown
4 small redlegged hermits
3 large turbo snails
55 lbs live rock (FIJI and covered with pink and purple coraline)
I had my water tested at the LFS recently and was told everything was A-OK.... But my 3" BiColor Angel just up and croaked, Im mystified at what might have caused his demise. Clarity is incredible, tons of microlife including hydroids, copes, amps, small macro algaes, etc... Do have a small amount of Brown algae in overflow. I am hesitant to add any inverts until I understand this death. Any suggestions?
I have recently relocated from Atlanta to Houston and converted my 4 year old fresh water setup to SW. During its operation as a freshwater tank I placed undergravel filter plates under the substrate (2" approx) to give the "Cross Section of Life" look I wanted without the extra weight of the additional substrate, kinda spacing the gravel up a bit.. This was my first tank and I enjoyed more than incredible success... Never having any water quality, algae, or fish death issues... All with a single Magnum 350 filter (carbon) and minimal (10% every 6 months) water changes, carring approx 20in total fish length. I went ahead and used the same setup in the new SW environment, adding a wet/dry 10 gal additional filtration and a UV sterilizer. I have since learned during that I may have accidentally created a plentum type de-nitrafication system taking advantage of the anaerobic space under the undergravel plate. I did not use live sand in my new tank, originally leaning toward fish only, but have since wanted to add some inverts... All my levels test at 0, although it does run slightly low on ph and alkalinity.
And now the Question.... Should I add a couple of inches of finer live sand to my crushed coral substrate bed?
My total population is a follows:
2 striped damsels
1 marroon clown
4 small redlegged hermits
3 large turbo snails
55 lbs live rock (FIJI and covered with pink and purple coraline)
I had my water tested at the LFS recently and was told everything was A-OK.... But my 3" BiColor Angel just up and croaked, Im mystified at what might have caused his demise. Clarity is incredible, tons of microlife including hydroids, copes, amps, small macro algaes, etc... Do have a small amount of Brown algae in overflow. I am hesitant to add any inverts until I understand this death. Any suggestions?
