bwaller76
Love my tanks!
Ok wasnt sure where to put this thread so I thought in the new to reefing would be a good choice. So at the beginning of my saltwater tank hobby I had a 20 gallon tank while I got my other tank set up. I decided to get some lace rock as a cheap alternative to buying live rock! These pieces were fabulous and looked sooo good in the tank. In the 20, the rocks were quite well, I did large water changes and had a bloom that was always there but my two snails and algae grazers kept up on it very easily.
The next part is where everything went awry. I got my 55 gallon tank setup and cycled it and everything was stable. So I then decided to tear the 20 gallon down and use the lace rocks in my 55. This was quite possibly the worst error of my saltwater career! Soon after doing this my tank turned so brown I almost quit the hobby. Nothing I tried would remedy this problem...new sand...lights out with garbage bag cover, five snails... So finally me and the wife sat down and brainstormed about what could be the cause then it struck us.
The one variable that I had not changed was the lace rock. We decided to try taking it out and seeing what happened. Needless to say my tank went from dark dark brown to the picture below. This saved me from quitting the hobby and now everyone oogles at my tank when they come over. (I even have a bucket so that ppl can just sit and watch it). So word to the newbies, dont make the mistake of skimping.
The next part is where everything went awry. I got my 55 gallon tank setup and cycled it and everything was stable. So I then decided to tear the 20 gallon down and use the lace rocks in my 55. This was quite possibly the worst error of my saltwater career! Soon after doing this my tank turned so brown I almost quit the hobby. Nothing I tried would remedy this problem...new sand...lights out with garbage bag cover, five snails... So finally me and the wife sat down and brainstormed about what could be the cause then it struck us.
The one variable that I had not changed was the lace rock. We decided to try taking it out and seeing what happened. Needless to say my tank went from dark dark brown to the picture below. This saved me from quitting the hobby and now everyone oogles at my tank when they come over. (I even have a bucket so that ppl can just sit and watch it). So word to the newbies, dont make the mistake of skimping.