turning brakish tank 2 marine, advice please

[bigfatfish]

& keep it in water for the journey home, so hopefully no die-off will start.

[Chillyfish]

yeah thanks i no wat causes ammonia, i realoise now the spike is caused by the bateria in the rock dieing,
2 raise the ph, can i place crushed coral in the filter or does it have 2 be in the tank? iv got a fine sand which i would like 2 keep free from bits, is it just a cause of trial+error, keep on addin till u reach the desired ph?
carryin live rock in one of them polistyrene boxes!
wat does live sand do?? is it just like live rock?? if u have live rock then is the sand nessasary?

[JoseDepacos]

Live sand is worthless imo. Have you tested your ph? Does it need raised? And no, you will need to add things to the TANK that will raise it. Not the filter.

[Pufferpunk]

Sand becomes "live" when you add LR to the tank.

[Chillyfish]

cool, im slowly gettin there!! thanks 2 all my teachers!
my ph is at 7.5 so i definatly need 2 raise it, also my calciums at 280, iv been told it should be around 400.
iv also been told though i need 2 check my magnesium, as this will have a affect on the calcium/ph.
i think my problems been from cheap salt,
wat i need 2 no now is if i have low mag+cal can the live rock still go in at 1.020+ survive a few weeks, until i sort out the minerals? or is that detremental 2 the rock?
im goin to use the florida crushed coral 2 raise the ph etc.

[Pufferpunk]

What salt are you using? For a reef tank, I prefer Reef Crystals, over cheaper salts.

[Chillyfish]

no it was just a general porpose marine salt, id didnt reolise the diff before, but im gettin some reef salt now, prob red sea etc
now i no y a 20kg tub was so cheep!!
do u think it would b ok 2 add some rock??

[Chillyfish]

iv just been offered a good price on "crystal sea marine mix"
has any one tried this? they say its big in the US,
my old salt was aqua one, i wont b byin that again!!
anyone heard about crystal sea??

[Pufferpunk]

I never heard of it but it looks OK to me.

[Chillyfish]

I never heard of it but it looks OK to me.

cool il give it a go then, sorry 2 keep askin,
but wats ur thought on puttin a few bits of L R in??
just i might b able 2 get some this weekend, + need 2 no wether 2 go 4 it or wait?

[Chillyfish]

iv got some tropic marin salt now,raised the ph+calcium + put live rock in,
the puffs love it!! thanks 4 advice,
iv put pics up in my gallery, go have a peek!!

[Pufferpunk]

No reason to buy the most $$$ salt around.

[Chillyfish]

ha ha no, i got a very good deal, mix up with the products!! so very happy!!
have u seen the pics?

[Pufferpunk]

Where?

[Chillyfish]

in my gallary "chillyfish"
i cant put them on here as there 2 big,
i just put up a pic of a creature in my live rock? its red+white striped, looks like sort of a starfish? or worm? any ides wat it is?