What to feed my tank

[skozzy]

My tank has been running now for 6 days, the life on the live rock and the
small corals that were on it seem to be ok, but some of the life has died
back and now being slowly covered with a white skin, some of the small
corals arn't as bright or colourfull as they originaly were.

I also found a very small fish in the tank tonight too, it was inside on of
the rocks in a small hole. Anyhow, after 1 week from being newly setup,
should I be adding anything to the tank as food ?.. When I setup the tank I
was told to let it cycle and leave it alone for 3-6 weeks, but with this die
off of some parts I am wondering what I may have to do.

[Dragon Slayer]

your die off might be elevatevated by excessive ammonia in the tank from the
cycle. are you testing your water to monitor the cycle? if your ammonia is
high, do enough water change to get it back down to less then 0.05ppm and
this will help save some of the life that is dieing off because of the
cycle. the extra die off is also adding to your cycle time.

kc

"skozzy" > wrote in message
...
> My tank has been running now for 6 days, the life on the live rock and the
> small corals that were on it seem to be ok, but some of the life has died
> back and now being slowly covered with a white skin, some of the small
> corals arn't as bright or colourfull as they originaly were.
>
> I also found a very small fish in the tank tonight too, it was inside on
of
> the rocks in a small hole. Anyhow, after 1 week from being newly setup,
> should I be adding anything to the tank as food ?.. When I setup the tank
I
> was told to let it cycle and leave it alone for 3-6 weeks, but with this
die
> off of some parts I am wondering what I may have to do.
>
>
>

[skozzy]

Ah ok.. Well I had to do a complete change over the weekend, there was an
awfull smell comming from the tank, I setup another 4 foot tank down stairs
with a skimmer and hangon filter, then pumped the water down there and moved
to rocks down to it. I then stripped and cleaned the tank main tank, then
made up some new water.

I kept the sump damp as best I could and also added a pre filter to it as I
found that some of the heavy stuff was sitting at the bottom of the sump,
and I also made a spray bar for it too which I hope to install in the next
few days.

As for the original water, the ammonia was high but was slowly dropping, but
the smell is still in the water, I am not sure if the smell will go away,
but I will be changing upto 200 liters of it within the next few days when
the weather clears up and I have a chance to get down to the beach and fill
the containers I have.



"Dragon Slayer" > wrote in message
...
> your die off might be elevatevated by excessive ammonia in the tank from
the
> cycle. are you testing your water to monitor the cycle? if your ammonia
is
> high, do enough water change to get it back down to less then 0.05ppm and
> this will help save some of the life that is dieing off because of the
> cycle. the extra die off is also adding to your cycle time.
>
> kc
>
> "skozzy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > My tank has been running now for 6 days, the life on the live rock and
the
> > small corals that were on it seem to be ok, but some of the life has
died
> > back and now being slowly covered with a white skin, some of the small
> > corals arn't as bright or colourfull as they originaly were.
> >
> > I also found a very small fish in the tank tonight too, it was inside on
> of
> > the rocks in a small hole. Anyhow, after 1 week from being newly setup,
> > should I be adding anything to the tank as food ?.. When I setup the
tank
> I
> > was told to let it cycle and leave it alone for 3-6 weeks, but with this
> die
> > off of some parts I am wondering what I may have to do.
> >
> >
> >
>
>

[Chris Taylor]

Hi Skozzy

There are differing views here but....

In both the present and previous tanks I've set up I inserted live rock only
after the tank had cycled. And then only in increments. This minimises the
risk of introducing expensive live rock into an environment which may kill
the goodness on the rock (hence the stench in your tank). The smell should
go away but the timescale will depend on how much decay has occured, water
changes are a good idea (no need to tell you as you're already doing
this..). The tank must go through the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate cycle and
should be allowed to occur prior to introducing life.

I'm probably sparking debate on what can be done, but the above approach I
think is safer.

Would your LFS hold the live rock for you until your tank has settled? This
could take about a three to four weeks from the day you first started.
Regards


Chris



"skozzy" > wrote in message
...
> Ah ok.. Well I had to do a complete change over the weekend, there was an
> awfull smell comming from the tank, I setup another 4 foot tank down
stairs
> with a skimmer and hangon filter, then pumped the water down there and
moved
> to rocks down to it. I then stripped and cleaned the tank main tank, then
> made up some new water.
>
> I kept the sump damp as best I could and also added a pre filter to it as
I
> found that some of the heavy stuff was sitting at the bottom of the sump,
> and I also made a spray bar for it too which I hope to install in the next
> few days.
>
> As for the original water, the ammonia was high but was slowly dropping,
but
> the smell is still in the water, I am not sure if the smell will go away,
> but I will be changing upto 200 liters of it within the next few days when
> the weather clears up and I have a chance to get down to the beach and
fill
> the containers I have.
>
>
>
> "Dragon Slayer" > wrote in message
> ...
> > your die off might be elevatevated by excessive ammonia in the tank from
> the
> > cycle. are you testing your water to monitor the cycle? if your
ammonia
> is
> > high, do enough water change to get it back down to less then 0.05ppm
and
> > this will help save some of the life that is dieing off because of the
> > cycle. the extra die off is also adding to your cycle time.
> >
> > kc
> >
> > "skozzy" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > My tank has been running now for 6 days, the life on the live rock and
> the
> > > small corals that were on it seem to be ok, but some of the life has
> died
> > > back and now being slowly covered with a white skin, some of the small
> > > corals arn't as bright or colourfull as they originaly were.
> > >
> > > I also found a very small fish in the tank tonight too, it was inside
on
> > of
> > > the rocks in a small hole. Anyhow, after 1 week from being newly
setup,
> > > should I be adding anything to the tank as food ?.. When I setup the
> tank
> > I
> > > was told to let it cycle and leave it alone for 3-6 weeks, but with
this
> > die
> > > off of some parts I am wondering what I may have to do.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>