OK so i'm new to this forum and I joined it because I really need some help on this subject because I've been looking all over the internet for the answer to my question but just can't find it. OK so i'm probably gonna get paid out for this but I think I can take it. I'm new to saltwater aquariums and I've been through the long process of setting mine up, and I used crushed coarse salt to set up my marine water. I'm wondering if this is acceptable I understand that proper marine salt has lots of trace elements etc etc, but I bough a bottle of Marine Buffer from my LFS and it has sodium, magnesium, calcium, strontium and potassium in it so I thought that maybe crushed coarse salt + marine buffer (which also keeps ph at 8.3) would be acceptable. Anyway so I had my tank cycling for about 5 weeks and my ammonia was 0 my nitrite had spiked a little it was at about 0.25 and nitrate was between 0 and 5. So I went to my LFS had a chat to him about my tank and asked if he recommended putting a fish in my tank to help it cycle, needless to say.. the fish died =(. now my BIG question, WAS it because of the nitrite levels that my fish died (the fish was a leather jacket) or is it because of the salt I used
?? please help it's driving me crazy. I used town water because I had no other option but I used a water treater. My tank specs are 6foot long by 2.5 high by 2 wide. I have a 4 foot sump with a 3500L/H return pump and I 20kg of coral rubble, 400g of matrix and ~1kg of noodles in my sump. If you need anymore information please just ask, also my tank water has a yellowish/brownish tinge. Thanks in advance and I hope to hear from whoever can help

Well you should have used a commercial salt mix but for a fish only tank you could get by.

I would add macro algaes to balance out and stabilize the tank. A good place is your sump if you add some lighting.

for a cycle fish I recommend a single male molly as they are very inexpensive and plus acclimating the from FW to salt is good experience.

If you can I would test for calcium, magnesium, and alk (KH) and add calcium chloride, epsom slats, baking soda repecfully to get those in acceptable ranges. (look up diy two part, dr holmes-farley)

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Thank you very very very much, you've been more than helpful and yeah I plan to do a FOWLR tank, not a lot of LR but some mainly for looks and bio-filtration. Yeah well I will look up that DIY and take some water to my LFS to be tested. Thanks again.

Does your water come out of the tap off colored or just the water in the tank is?

Nah the water coming out of my tap is crystal clear, I live in Brisbane, Australia, so the water is decent quality. What happened was I put the water in my aquarium, I dissolved the salt, then I added the sand, I used aggregate sand and this made the tank fairly cloudy. It had been washed and used in my older tank and made it cloudy as well and I washed it again before putting it in my new tank but because there was such a large amount of it some dirt etc still remained, now my water is CLEAR, but, it still has a yellowish/brownish tint. Thanks

A bit of activated charcoal might remove the tint, or it will clear in time with water changes.

Sounds like you're well on your way. You've gotten some good info so far and there isn't much I can add. Since you will apparently be using media instead of live rock for biological filtration I highly agree with "beaslbob's" recommendation for macroalgae in the sump. Your media will produce lots of nitrate which the macroalgae will help to control. You will have to monitor nitrate regularly and probably plan on regular water changes to reduce it to safe levels. You will most likely want to light the sump (which will become your fuge) on a schedule opposite your tank lighting.

Good luck!

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Doc

Dr Hank's 200 gallon Reef Tank
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f46/drhanks-tank-3440.html

Ok i'll have a chat to my LFS about getting some of that then, lighting wont be a problem because the man I bought the set up off gave me a light for the sump so thats cool. alright well yeah i'll get to it and hopefully it'll go good and i'll let you guys know some time in the future, thank you again to everyone.