How do i know if my sand is dead

for the first 5 years i was in this hobby i just used my well water and that was when i had some of my best tank, it all depends on where you live. in the city it is a different story this really could have played part in the death of all your livestock. but if your water is pretty clean right out of the faucet i would suspect something else

 

can someone please tell me what i need to do to fix this mess ive created

 

I would guess, keep doing water changes with ro/di water until your water parameters improve

 

if it was my tank i would empty the tank clean it and get new sand and only use rodi water.

 

Ok, there's not much to go on, but like a good detective, here's my theory.

tank was established for one year the cause of death was not adding livestock too fast. She went to do a water top off with some well water. Put it in the tank and went to bed. Either there was something in the water or the top off water caused a massive salinity change, which caused one of the condy's to die. Which in turned killed another condy and then the third. The water was so fowled by the deaths of 3 anemones that the two clowns also perished. An anemone neuclear domino effect wiped out the tank.

 

That's what I would do.
Still didn't get an answer on what kind of rock was in it before, but I'd also make sure I only used live rock, not lava rock.

 

Well water tends to be very hard water & may have high levels of iron, thus creating rust. I have well water & my rust levels are very high. After a year living at the new house we installed a water softening system with a sand trap to filter the water. I do have a RO DI System & I still have to change my sediment filter once a month on it, due to rust.

Something is a mist. What was done different that caused your livestock to get killed? Some questions need to be answered.

How much sand do you have & what is it?
How much live rock do you have?
Do you have a skimmer, what is it?
Do you have a clean up crew & how much of it?
What kind of food do you use, how much do you feed, & how often?
What do you use for salt?

This may sound odd, but we have had people using play sand, rocks found in their yard, under sized skimmer, having 3 snails & 2 crabs in a 150gal tank, feeding 3 times a day & used rock or table salt. Not saying this is in your case, but make sure all is well & going in the right direction.

End result the problem may be your sand. If that's the case you may want to throw it out, wash the tank, buy new sand & start over. Sounds like a pain, but in the end it will be easier.

 

kimberly

I dont know i think i have crushed coral or something . When i bought the tank they said it had live sand. Just a couple peices of live rock , and lava rock, yes i have a protien skimmer i have a hard time getting to act right ,i dont have anything at all live in the tank no crabs snails nothing. I killed everything . Please help me.IS THERE SOMETHING LIVE I CAN PUT IN IT TO HELP? SOMETHING THAT WONT DIE FROM WHATEVER IVE DONE

 

Did your remove the lava rock (will not work in a sw tank usually)

Have you re-cycled the tank and and do you have current parameters.

Specific gravity
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
pH

What have you changed since all the tank inhabitants died?

When you say live do you mean animal or bacteria?

Sorry I am a little confused I know, but if you could clarify some things we might be better able to assist you.

Also the best thing I can recommend as this point is to read the following link throughly.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/whats-important-successful-tank-108699.html

 

If you haven't changed your water or done anything to fix the original problem, then you don't want to be adding life things in your tank ? they will just die, you need to fix the problem before you can add live things into your tank.