Nitrate too high

Its always good to get a test for copper especially in a used tank. Just so your sure have no copper. But I think at 5 weeks, you ammonia or nitrite levels were to high and that's probably what killed your snails.

 

Yes, acrylic tanks will hold copper even worse than glass ones.

 

What do you mean by "middle of your photo period?" I did a 50% water change after the cycle. It didn't help the nitrates much, maybe brought it down to 15ppm. My skimmer says it's rated from 100-180 gallons. About the lights, I read somewhere that using shop lights with 6500K bulbs would reduce nitrates. I don't want to buy some MH or PC lights because as soon as I order my led's I'll be making an LED fixture. I'm going to get a copper test kit asap. Thanks a lot for the advice, it's awesome to get advice from such knowledgeble people.

 

Would I have to ditch the tank if copper is detected?

 

The only way those lights will reduce nitrates is by growing algae, which in turn will feed off the nitrates. Lighting in itself in any form does not effect them.
Also, keep in mind what a manufacturers rating says and what it handles in real life are two entirely different things, and vary even upon manufacturers. That rating will be for coral only, meaning absolutely no livestock. Once you start to get living things in there, the bioload will increase substantially. That's way I always recommend going at least double the rated amount.

Not necessarily, but it can be a pain. You can run absorbing medias like cuprazorb until it has all leached out, but that can take a very long time. Or you can get an ORP set-up and crank the ozone up, and that will scrub out the copper. But you have to first determine where the copper is coming from. It might not be the tank, it could be that cheap pump.

 

how did u test ur salinity?
i just recently found out my salinity was at 1.035 when my swing arm was reading 1.024
i was having a problem with keeping snail and shrimp and i think that was the cause. i am still in the process of lowering my sg though so i haven't tested it yet.

 

Just tested the water for copper. Thank god there is 0 copper. Salinity could be it, I'm just using an instant ocean hydrometer. Specific gravity is 1.021.

 

Good news on the copper... but... I'm sorry to say, IMO,

you don't really know what your SG is at.

You'll get a handful of folks that don't agree, but that hydrometer is pretty much not accurate.

Highly recommend a refractometer (I forget if this has been gone over already in this thread). 30 bucks on eBay shipped.

 

Do you think I could start adding livestock? Should i do snails again or try a fishy? Thanks for all the replies, you guys are the best ;D

 

Normally, I'd say it's time to add one fish. (You know about only adding one fish at a time several weeks apart, right?)

But I also normally recommend to get the CuC established first. Sounds like you don't have that done yet.

So I recommend you backtrack to getting your snails setup and prove to self they're going to live and then get the fish.