Cant keep nitrates or phosphates and need advice please

[jabberwock]

I wish! But that'll be on my list when I head into the city. I used to have the most beautiful Fiji live rock 20 years ago. Man the life that came with it was amazing. Luckily had nothing unwanted which I was lucky but today it's impossible to get.

You can get it! I am on the East Coast, got mine from Tampa Bay Saltwater. Check them out.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

You can get it! I am on the East Coast, got mine from Tampa Bay Saltwater. Check them out.

I'm in Canada lol

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Hey everyone, nitrate seems to be holding around 4 phosphates is still a struggle keeping it above .030 and I do definitely have diatoms but only on the sand. We're still adding a cap of bactor7 and the Dinos haven't really spread much but they do disappear at night. I finally have all the parts for the UV sterilizer which I'm sure it's going to zap the Dinos pretty quickly.

The corals are still sad. They were doing great until I had the brain fart to change salt brand's. System was fine using Red Sea black bucket but I just couldn't stand the white film it would leave in the rear Chambers and also didn't care much for the 12 dkh. If I would have listened to my gut instead of someone else I probably wouldn't be in this predicament but I can't point fingers at anybody except myself. I didn't know what I was getting myself into by using bio actif salt on a newer system but hard lesson learned. I've been slowly making water changing just using the TM pro Reef salt to dilute the actif water. My wife said that was a waste of money buying the reef actif salt but I told her no, once the system starts to mature we can then start doing small water changes as a means of carbon dosing.

Anyways got a question here, I ordered just a small 5 lb bag of ocean direct live sand. Will it be okay to add the bag to my current sand bed? Even though there are some dinos here and there if I use a small container and simply submerge it and gently let it fall onto the sand bed will that cause any issues? I know you're not supposed to rinse the sand and I do expect the water to Cloud up somewhat but I've got spare filter socks on hand. Is this ocean direct stand going to add more biodiversity to the system?

 

[Pod_01]

Hey everyone, nitrate seems to be holding around 4 phosphates is still a struggle keeping it above .030 and I do definitely have diatoms but only on the sand. We're still adding a cap of bactor7 and the Dinos haven't really spread much but they do disappear at night. I finally have all the parts for the UV sterilizer which I'm sure it's going to zap the Dinos pretty quickly.

The corals are still sad. They were doing great until I had the brain fart to change salt brand's. System was fine using Red Sea black bucket but I just couldn't stand the white film it would leave in the rear Chambers and also didn't care much for the 12 dkh. If I would have listened to my gut instead of someone else I probably wouldn't be in this predicament but I can't point fingers at anybody except myself. I didn't know what I was getting myself into by using bio actif salt on a newer system but hard lesson learned. I've been slowly making water changing just using the TM pro Reef salt to dilute the actif water. My wife said that was a waste of money buying the reef actif salt but I told her no, once the system starts to mature we can then start doing small water changes as a means of carbon dosing.

Anyways got a question here, I ordered just a small 5 lb bag of ocean direct live sand. Will it be okay to add the bag to my current sand bed? Even though there are some dinos here and there if I use a small container and simply submerge it and gently let it fall onto the sand bed will that cause any issues? I know you're not supposed to rinse the sand and I do expect the water to Cloud up somewhat but I've got spare filter socks on hand. Is this ocean direct stand going to add more biodiversity to the system?

I tried the so called live sand, I don’t think it did anything and few years later removed most of it.
It was growing cyno quite well, so some biodiversity but not the right kind for me. You might have better experience.
As for live rock in Canada, I was able to buy 5lb from Frag Box (that is all they had). Will see how live it is, so far it has not turned green like the dry rock I have used. They get it every once in a while so you can send them E-mail and inquire.

Good luck,

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I tried the so called live sand, I don’t think it did anything and few years later removed most of it.
It was growing cyno quite well, so some biodiversity but not the right kind for me. You might have better experience.
As for live rock in Canada, I was able to buy 5lb from Frag Box (that is all they had). Will see how live it is, so far it has not turned green like the dry rock I have used. They get it every once in a while so you can send them E-mail and inquire.

Good luck,

Thanks but I've had a horrible first time buying experience from that company and I wouldn't give him a wooden nickel for anything he has. I however found a place in Edmonton that sells real Fiji live rock at a very reasonable price. Buuuut that's going to have to wait a few weeks. The UV and SDC DC return pump was enough to spend for the week.

The sand I'm thinking shouldn't be a real concern.. in my mind anyways. The dry sand I started out with was dry special grade Caribsea stuff and this ocean direct should sift through the larger grade and at least add some missing biodiversity. Fingers crossed anyways.

 

[Pod_01]

Thanks but I've had a horrible first time buying experience from that company and I wouldn't give him a wooden nickel for anything he has. I however found a place in Edmonton that sells real Fiji live rock at a very reasonable price. Buuuut that's going to have to wait a few weeks. The UV and SDC DC return pump was enough to spend for the week.

The sand I'm thinking shouldn't be a real concern.. in my mind anyways. The dry sand I started out with was dry special grade Caribsea stuff and this ocean direct should sift through the larger grade and at least add some missing biodiversity. Fingers crossed anyways.

I am not their regular customers so cannot comment good or bad.
I suspect the place you are referring to is Aquarium Illusions, if you get it maybe update this thread, I be curious how it turns out. I was going to buy from them few years back but they did not ship at the time.
All other places I inquired about live rock just politely said no one uses live rock and wished me good luck.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I am not their regular customers so cannot comment good or bad.
I suspect the place you are referring to is Aquarium Illusions, if you get it maybe update this thread, I be curious how it turns out. I was going to buy from them few years back but they did not ship at the time.
All other places I inquired about live rock just politely said no one uses live rock and wished me good luck.

Yep I'm pretty sure that's the place. And they do ship, just go at so many pounds to your cart and check their shipping rates which is actually fairly reasonable.

And yes for sure I will update when I do get the Rock in.

 

[Tritie]

I ordered Aquarium Illusion's ocean live rock (the $36.00/lbs). It's apparently seeded in the ocean but if that is the case, it probably wasn't in there long enough. Aside from two bristle worms and some pods, there wasn't any life to it. Not even little feather duster worms or sponges. Pretty much pristine and looks like it had only been in the water a few days. I'm disappointed, but I did purchase for microbiome and hopefully it has that.

 

[Pod_01]

I ordered Aquarium Illusion's ocean live rock (the $36.00/lbs). It's apparently seeded in the ocean but if that is the case, it probably wasn't in there long enough. Aside from two bristle worms and some pods, there wasn't any life to it. Not even little feather duster worms or sponges. Pretty much pristine and looks like it had only been in the water a few days. I'm disappointed, but I did purchase for microbiome and hopefully it has that.

Thank you for the update. That is somewhat disappointing, especially at $36/lb, one would expect some life.
I had similar experience from another store where I was able to buy so called “live rock”. The pieces had some bristle worms and that was all. As for the rock, some are good as in no algae grew on them but few look as fuzzy as ever so not sure how live the pieces were.