I hate my tank!

[dkcrx]

Fifth my questions
-Any ideas why snails die so easily in my tank?
-Any ideas on how I can get the coraline and pods growing in my tank?
-I have not been testing for ammonia or nitrites as the tank has been running for so long. Should I be? Is there anything else I am missing.
-I never rinsed the dead rock when I got it. Is it possible that they treated it with something harmful that is still in my tank? It looked awfully bleached when I first got it.

Sixth, thanks for listening to my whining and thanks to anyone that can answer.

Sincerely,

Jon[/quote]

1. Snails can be a pain, they need a lot of aclimation time, they can be sensitive to temp and salinity change.
2.Coraline wont grow if your Ca is to high ( PS yours is way to high ) should be aprox 380 - 440ppm.
3.Testing never hurts, if in dout, test.
4.The dead rock could have been bleached, you can solve that isue by useing Prime or any other clorine / cloramine remover. "which I'm sure you did when you add your tap water!" Right?

Anything you may have missed. Was your live rock cured or did it stink when you got it?
the ugly algy is a fase every new tank goes through, sometimes goes away after a couple months, sometimes can take up to a year. if you dont have any corals, or things that require light, turn them off for a week or so it's not a cure but will slow the growth, maby end it if your lucky.
I use tapwater all the time dont waste your time letting it go stagnent, use prime and mix the fresh water( shake it pour it from container to container, whatever you can do to airate it) then mix with your salt or add as top up water.

and most important, be patient, this hoby is all about time and fun.
hope this helps, good luck

[marie]

Patience is the key to this hobby, 3 months is too soon to be throwing in the towel. If it were my tank I would do large water changes (30-40% at least) once a week using RODI water, run some phosphate removers and carbon and keep the lights turned off. If you have no corals in the tank I would leave the lights off for the next month, the hermits won't mind

If you have what looks like brown mucous in your tank then it could be dinoflagelletes. Dinoflagellates can kill snails (it's also aptly named brown snot algae) .