HELP, Saltwater Tank

Hey just reading through your forums nice place here and all seen helpfull.

Right I have a Marine Fish Tank setup, been up and running for 2 weeks now, First things first. I brought the tank of my mate in tank pump, Aqua Pro 2 pump lights and all other stuff, I have added new sand, new water, added salt the first couple of days the water was cloudy but my mate said this is OK and normal and it will clear within a couple more days, the water cleared so its now been a week. Went down the local pet shop and ask them for advise to speed things up a little, He gave me some sand and a bag of water from his tanks, 2 days later I brought some live rock's from him, everything is fine this is now 10 days everything still fine I brought a couple of turbo snails 2 days later the sand started going brown , this I worried about but contacted the pet shop and he said this is fine , OK , now on the 13th day my water started going a greeny brown colour it was disturbing and did not look right , on the 14th day I woke up to go to work this greeny brown colour in my water was getting worse so I cleaned my in tank pump filters , that night I got home from work and it was worser than ever I tryed to contact the local pet shop but they are shut today, I have done all my nitrate's testing ph lever and ammonia and salt water testing nearly every day all say fine except the nitrate level witch is high but the pet shop said that's normal.

Can anyone help me to solve this problem I'm worried ill have to start over as anyone had this problem if so please help me asap because I want to set this right or if I have to wait let me know about the process thx.

 

I have took a couple of pictures this 1 is 3 days after setup




Now here is the tank at the moment I'm worried some1 please help me I hope these pictures can show you how bad it is.

 

Help me please

 

HI LooN - Welcome to FishLore

If your tank is only two weeks old it's interesting that you have a high reading on nitrAtes. Some questions -

What kind of rock do you have in the tank? Did it come from a saltwater tank or freshwater tank? The rock looks pretty bare.

What are the exact readings for the water parameters - Ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte and pH.

Are your invertebrates still alive? Inverts will not tolerate very high nitrAte levels for long.

What is the total wattage of light and tank size (gallons or liters)? Is the tank next to a window?

How often are you doing water changes?

Let's answer these questions and we can proceed from there.

Thanks,
Mike

 

The rocks you see in the first picture are just normal rocks from a shop (not live Rocks) I added some live rocks also now (saltwater) made a rock effect useing the normal rocks. I have a 40 galon tank light wattage I'm not shaw (my mate has had this tank running for about a year b4 he sold it to me. Like I said I got new sand new water new salt etc.

Nitrite = 5.0
Ammonia = 0.25
pH = 7.8

I have been out today and brought a couple of things my mate said to look at.

Nutrafin CYCLE and API ACCU-Clearadded the right ammount.

I also got some new FLUVAL 4plus special carbon filter pads witch the pet shop advised me.

the accu-clear says when added the right ammount shout clear water within 7 hours (lol) do I hope so.

but if this info can help you please reply and explain your thoughs thx

 

And the tank is not next to a window mate and I don't have invertebrates in there yet just 2 turbo snails. And I haven't done a water change because the guy at pet shop said my tank will do a bacteria multiplication with nutrants etc

 

ok - You should see an improvement in water clarity using the carbon with your internal filter. I've not used the accu clear before but it may help as well, although the carbon may essentially render the accu clear useless. The tank will have to go through the nitrogen cycle and using the cycle product you mentioned should help kick start the process. Some people think it works and other disagree. I'm in the skeptical camp on that one. Even it that product doesn't work the live rock you bought should help the nitrogen cycle even more so.

https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm - more info on the cycle

Your 7.8 pH is on the low side, generally you need a reading in the 8 to 8.4 range - what is your hydrometer reading for the specific gravity level? Also, what temperature do you have the tank set at?

Another crucial component you're going to need is a protein skimmer. You didn't mention it and I didn't see any other intake tubes for a skimmer in your tank.