@Adam .... My vision is based on aquaponics. The way I have it set up now is water is taken out of the tank and flows into a canister filter. The outtake is in a planter box above the tank. The planter box is full of lava rock with Peace Lily and then flow back into the tank with the hope that it has been through the entire nitrogen cycle. There are two planter boxes and each planter box has a canister paired with it. The sponges in the canister and the lava rock contain the bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrites into nitrogen. Then the plants feed off the nitrogen. And of course the gold fish provide the ammonia.
Here is a picture of the tank a few days after I stocked it. I am thinking the issue might be with the river rocks leaching minerals in the water that the goldfish could not handle yet the snails could. Or, maybe a disease came to the tank when I added the snails. i didn't quarantine them after all. I knew better. My bad. And it could be as simple as not doing enough water changes. In any case, I need help getting this back up and running. I don't want to spend days doing it.
So I am willing to pay for that help as I don't have family or friends here in Utah. Anyone willing to show me some charity and grace to help me with this, I will be very grateful and will be as generous as I can for the help.
Keightley