Live Rocks die

Question
Good day. I have a 45 gallon saltwater tank. Everytime I purchase live rocks they seem to only live about 2-4 weeks. My Leather toad stoole lasted about that long also.  Note, I've never had any of these alive in my saltwater tank at the same time. The rocks have now grown a hairy fugus (well the one thats been in the tank dead for about 6 months. should I remove the dead rocks?  Also my star fish seem to last only 3-6 weeeks.  I've had my water checked and all is fine but my Nitrate.  I just purchesed an Aquaripure Denitrator.  Is this thing
worth all the money I've spent on it?

Your assistance would be very much appreciated.

Abdull

Answer
Hello Abdull, (sp?)

I am sorry for all the troubles you are having.  I can hear some frustration.  (Understandly)

Can you please let me know more about your tank?  How old is it, what type of system do you have, does it have a sump, or cannister filter, or ???

How deep is the sand bed?

I am concerned and or confused about how you can tell that live rock is dead?  Live rock contains live organisms, that are not visible.  (same with sand)

IT is those organisms that digest/process the nutrients and convert them from ammonia borne to nitrate borne...

The hairy 'fungus' is probably hairy algae.  Which could be a seperate issue.

But, you should not disturb the sand bed or the live rock, cause each time you do, it changes the nutrient load in your tank.

I would leave the rocks in your tank, and watch things like perameters of your water when topping off and when adding saltwater..  (do you mix your own salt water?)
Starfish are kind of hard to keep and need a well established tank, so they may actually be indirectly related to the other issues.

The de-nitrators work, but they will not be sufficient if you dont have a good maintenance schedule.  (you still need to do water changes often, etc.)

But, i would look for the source/ reason why your nitrates are always high and try to fix the problem, and not focus on the symptom.

Please let me know the information, and i will look at this again.


Thanks,


Mr. Bill