I Just Lost 6 Fish In 2 Days!

[grover19]

Yes i made sure the tank was fully cycled before i starting buying the more expensive fish, i checked with my lfs.

i have 2 powerheads 1 on each side with a 295 GPH rate

 

[Chac]

Yes i made sure the tank was fully cycled before i starting buying the more expensive fish, i checked with my lfs.

i have 2 powerheads 1 on each side with a 295 GPH rate

You flow rate falls way short of your tanks requirements

When you increase the LR Quantity you are going to have to up the Flow rate of your tank to between 15 - 20x

At the mo it is sitting at 4.7x the tank volume, (which coupled with a very low BioFiltration (LR qty) has been a disaster waiting to happen) you should be aiming to turn about 2500 gallon over per hour
(personally mine is a lot higher but this is personally preference)


Have a look at Tunze Streams & Seios as both these are more powerful than bog standerd powerhead (Meaning less of them to clutter the tank)

So you will need to start doing some daily water changes to get your ammonia down

Add live rock ASAP

At the same time increase your flow rate (otherwise you will be buy Live Rock & not giving it enouh flow to do its job)

And keep testing your tank for any Ammonia (NH4) & NitrItes(No2), then reintroduce your livestock (preferable not all at once) back when the NH4 & No2 are both NIL

NitrAtes are not a real worry, obviously the lower the better but your main concideration at the mo is Ammonia (NH4) & NitrItes(No2)

 

[Navarre]

Im sorry but it seems that your LFS has given you poor advice.

The fish you added was far too many and far too soon. When the tank has initially cycled it can only support a couple of fish at best, any more than this and you will be producing more ammonia than the bacteria can handle.

Your liverock simply isnt enough either, you already know the correct amount to use so i urge you to do this as soon as possible.

Canister filters... some people use them but i dont as they are in direct competition with the liverock for nutrients. You usually find the filtration kicks out far more nitrates than simply by running liverock alone.

 

[pleder]

IF you completely empty your tank of fish, in a short time your ammonia will read 0. Then you will assume your tank is cycled. This is not true. Just because the ammonia read 0 initially, does not mean there is enough bacteria to sustain a bioload, just that the bacteria present has used the available ammonia.

To test and see if the tank is really cycled add a source of ammonia wait an hour and then test. If the test reads zero then your tank is cycled.

During this interm time where you have no fish I would continue to feed your tank like there was fish in it. Let the bacteria build up in the rocks and sand. Then add fish.

Large scale facilities use pure unscented ammonia. The kind where the only added ingrediant is water. If this is not availbale fish food will work fine. If you use the pure unscented ammonia you will have to do a WC of around 90% before adding fish as the pure unscented ammonia reaks havoc on the PH.

IME cannister filters are good. They will build up concentration of bacteria as well so in this time when you are short on the liverock, the cannister is supplementing additional biological filtration.

Also IME it is very possible to run tanks with a 3x-5x turnover rate per hour. It is actually recommended with keeping some species. More is better yes, depending on what you are going to keep.

If I were you I'd invest my money in some base rock (dried liverock) since it is cheaper and will become live shortly, and then in a couple of nice powerheads. I like the maxijets personally, I also love the hydor attachments.

Do you have a sump?

I'm also guessing that since you went cheap on everything else that you did the same for your cleanup crew, if so I'd get those before the powerheads. Just some snails (turbos, astrea, naussarius vibex,IMO Margarites are temperate and don't last long) maybe a few shrimp (cleaner, peppermint, blood), and some hermit crabs ( scarlet reefs IMO because they won't become aggressive and kill each other or your snails).

I agree that it wasn't your nitrates. I have had tanks sit at 20, I have friends who have tanks consistently in the 80's, they are not as big of a deal as they're made out to be. Ammonia is more lethal in small amounts.

Good Luck with your tank.

 

[grover19]

IF you completely empty your tank of fish, in a short time your ammonia will read 0. Then you will assume your tank is cycled. This is not true. Just because the ammonia read 0 initially, does not mean there is enough bacteria to sustain a bioload, just that the bacteria present has used the available ammonia.

To test and see if the tank is really cycled add a source of ammonia wait an hour and then test. If the test reads zero then your tank is cycled.

During this interm time where you have no fish I would continue to feed your tank like there was fish in it. Let the bacteria build up in the rocks and sand. Then add fish.

Large scale facilities use pure unscented ammonia. The kind where the only added ingrediant is water. If this is not availbale fish food will work fine. If you use the pure unscented ammonia you will have to do a WC of around 90% before adding fish as the pure unscented ammonia reaks havoc on the PH.

IME cannister filters are good. They will build up concentration of bacteria as well so in this time when you are short on the liverock, the cannister is supplementing additional biological filtration.

Also IME it is very possible to run tanks with a 3x-5x turnover rate per hour. It is actually recommended with keeping some species. More is better yes, depending on what you are going to keep.

If I were you I'd invest my money in some base rock (dried liverock) since it is cheaper and will become live shortly, and then in a couple of nice powerheads. I like the maxijets personally, I also love the hydor attachments.

Do you have a sump?

I'm also guessing that since you went cheap on everything else that you did the same for your cleanup crew, if so I'd get those before the powerheads. Just some snails (turbos, astrea, naussarius vibex,IMO Margarites are temperate and don't last long) maybe a few shrimp (cleaner, peppermint, blood), and some hermit crabs ( scarlet reefs IMO because they won't become aggressive and kill each other or your snails).

I agree that it wasn't your nitrates. I have had tanks sit at 20, I have friends who have tanks consistently in the 80's, they are not as big of a deal as they're made out to be. Ammonia is more lethal in small amounts.

Good Luck with your tank.

I have 8 snails, and 2 cleaner shrimps, no hermit crabs. I use 2 maxijet powerheads
I'm going out ASAP to get more liverock
Ive dont 3 water changes since my ammonia reading was high and its starting to go down.

 

[SkiFletch]

Dont bother with water changes, let the bacteria eat the ammonia naturally. Now that there is no more livestock in the tank, you can just let it coast and allow the bacteria to grow and do their thing. Add some more LR, some hermits, and if you do not have any yet, get Cerith snails (great hair algae and cyano eaters).

 

[grover19]

Dont bother with water changes, let the bacteria eat the ammonia naturally. Now that there is no more livestock in the tank, you can just let it coast and allow the bacteria to grow and do their thing. Add some more LR, some hermits, and if you do not have any yet, get Cerith snails (great hair algae and cyano eaters).

Appreciate your help as well as everyone elses.

I will let you know how the tank is in a couple of days, thanks!

 

[pleder]

I would go as far as to add ammonia if there is no livestock. Really get that bacteria moving. Feed that tank. I'd just use some fish food, but high ammonia levels is how I cycle tanks.

 

[Chac]

Any update

 

[grover19]

Any update

Still have not got any liverock, hoping to go next week.

Ammonia is starting to go down.

My fish I had quarantined all died, i lost 13 in total

I have 1 alive, and hes starting to eat again and look lifeful, my yellow tang, so hes my miracle fish haha.

This was a painful & expensive mistake on my behalf, as I am a inexperianced aquariumist.

But, with all the help I am receiving on this board I'm sure i can avoid this mess again.

Thanks again guys for all your help & advice!

 

[SkiFletch]

Glad we could help, my only regret is that we couldnt do so sooner. Such mistakes are all too common in the marine world especially. Remember these rules when going forward:

Always move slowly. Success takes time, disaster happens quickly.
Research and ask questions first.
Dont take the advice of the LFS that sold you those fish, clearly not looking out for your best interests.

 

[grover19]

Glad we could help, my only regret is that we couldnt do so sooner. Such mistakes are all too common in the marine world especially. Remember these rules when going forward:

Always move slowly. Success takes time, disaster happens quickly.
Research and ask questions first.
Dont take the advice of the LFS that sold you those fish, clearly not looking out for your best interests.

My water is safe again! Just got it all checked out, everythings back to normal, glad to see bottom feeders survived the whole ordeal as did my yellow tang.

Will be putting more liverock in soon, as well as a couple of fish.

what a difference a protein skimmer can make!

 

[SkiFletch]

Hah, yeah a skimmer is a great investment in a tank that size

Remember when adding live rock to do so slowly. No more than 5-10lbs at a time, especially for your first couple new additions. Each addition of LR into the tank will add more decomposing matter that will need to go through the nitrogen cycle. Therefore, especially with your first couple LR additions you may see a mini ammonia or nitrite spike in your tank as the bacteria are still growing to process the volume of waste created. Whatever you do, dont add more LR until you test 0 for ammonia and nitrite

 

[Chac]

I would say to add all your LR at once, let it go throught its mini cycle & then after all your readings settle, then & only then begin reintroducing your Livestock SLOWLY

 

[SkiFletch]

I would say to add all your LR at once, let it go throught its mini cycle & then after all your readings settle, then & only then begin reintroducing your Livestock SLOWLY

But what about the Tang?