nottinainthere, May I ask, are you near India or somewhere in that part of the world? The reason I ask is because of some of the phrases you use. I talk to lots of people from India, and they would say "I'm still having 3 chromis..." when the way it would be said in the U.S. is "I still have 3 chromis'" To me, it's not right or wrong, just
language. For some people it's difficult to accept the way others talk.
People in the other forum were cruel and uninformed to say those things about you. It seems like you are really trying to do good with your aquarium. We can communicate. We just need to take it slow.
We don't really need to ask any more about the light, because we can say for sure that it isn't enough to grow much coral.
Only the soft coral called mushrooms will grow with that light. But it is almost not enough light for them. The light that you might consider is a 30-40 Watt Power Compact (PC) Fluorescent light. You probably have 220 voltage electrical power in your country. Am I right? I do not know what sizes of PC lighting are offered for 220V.
The 2kg rock is about 5 lbs. That's not enough in my opinion. The fish need more LR to hide in and more LR would help your tank do better,
but first we need to talk about circulation.
The HOB filter is moving the water a little, but not enough. Can you get a
powerhead? That's a pump that runs underwater. It needs to move about 700-1000 gals.(approximately 3000 liter - 4000 liter) of water per hour. Two smaller 500 gph (gals. per hour) powerheads is better than one 1000 gph powerhead. More water movement will also help increase pH because the water is able to expel carbon dioxide (CO2) faster. More about CO2 in another paragraph below.
From what you said, I'm thinking (
or here I could also say "I think"
or "I assume") that you have a hang on the back (HOB) mechanical filter. That's a good thing for a 16 gal.(~60l) tank. Do you have access to
activated carbon? It would be very good right now to use activated carbon. It kind of takes the place of a skimmer and big water changes.
During the first month, more frequent water changes are necessary.
Now you can cut back to 10% monthly with no bad effects if you use activated carbon as described below. But always remember that large water changes can save a suddenly distressd tank.
You added too many fish, too soon for the filtration capacity. That's why they died
. It wasn't the crushed coral, it was the new tank. How deep is the crushed coral on the bottom? It should be at least 2 inches or about 5cm. Three to four inches would be better, IMO. The term Live Sand (LS) simply says that there are bacteria and tiny organisms growing in and on the particles of substrate; your crushed coral.
Aragonite is the mineral we want the LS substrate and the LR to be made of. Aragonite helps keep pH and Alkalinity where they're supposed to be.
This reminds me to tell you to get a marine aquarium book and read it. Be careful though, any book older than about 10 years may have too much misinformation. This hobby is improving rapidly.
I don't know what geoliquid is, but for a new tank, supplements are usually not needed and are usually harmful rather than helpful. It's possible for an uneeded or overdosed additive to push pH down, requiring bufffer to raise it. Also all the fish you had and the feeding required for them was pushing your pH down.
Half of the bacteria that are eating the organic material (fish waste) in the water and substrate require oxygen to live. Those bacteria give off carbon dioxide (CO2) as do the fish and other little animals starting to grow from the LR and in the LS. When there is a lot of CO2 being given off, it pushes pH down.
If you can get some activated carbon, about 1/2 cup in a mesh bag, and place it in the HOB filter, that would clean the water of organic material. Cleaning the filter and replacing the carbon weekly should really help. After another month the carbon can be replaced monthly and the filter cleaned only when it's getting dirty.
I've said a lot here, probably too much all at once, but let's keep the discussion going.
Edited by Mark Peterson
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oh no i felt so stupid haha sorry im not in india i'm from singapore , and i've stayed in states for like the first 5 years of my life before moving here. so it's rather different language as we are using english from the UK. but i speak more of american accent it's just that sometimes i just rush through the forum 'cos it's just too time consuming. whatever it is , you guys could understand my stuff right ? like what i'm writing , i hope so or it'll be difficult to communicate.
Mark Peterson wrote:
I never thought hell would freeze over, but for Mark to say that.... well I can't think of any other explanation.
I wonder how you justify the expense and time spent on such a silly hobby 
, and because he has a lot to learn. 
and because he was treated so 
by the ordinary forums, and because he wants to do it right 
his efforts to get the right information 
and because he lives so far away that he can't come to our meetings 
from all us friendly WMAS people!
