My saltwater aquarium is about 7 days old. I have a 55gal with an overflow system that goes into a custom made sump tank with no skimmer right now.(friend says no skimmer is ok for now).sump tank has 10bs live sand in it. I have 2 big hermet crabs, 6 small hermet crabs and 2 damsel fish and 12 live rock with brisle worms in them to start things up. 1 damsel died and my friend said i should have left it in to build ammonia and to see if my aquarium can handle it. oh...and my sand just started turning brown....................SHOULD I LISTEN TO MY FREIND? DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE?

Attached Images

20110408110606.jpg (224.8 KB, 4 views)

You started cycling with way too many animals. I suspect you Ammonia level is very high. Make sure your SP Gravity (> 1.018), ph (>7.9) and Temperature (>75) are what they should be. Don't add any animials and add limited food for a few days. Most inverts are very sensative to water quality, and if it goes bad, are the first to die. Protien Skimmers take a while to get started but still provide some needed aeriation.

the ammonia is perfect and everything else i tested is spot on....my sand is turning brown and so is rock. rock is 2 yrs old from friends tank....everything you said is pretty much what im doing...i just dont wanna put any fish in my tank to die on purpose like my friend said.

i wouldn't have put the inverts in yet. Also instead of using a fish to die, go get yourself a table shrimp and toss it in.

__________________