Stblindtiger
Community Member
I started my 75 Gallon Saltwater tank back in January. I added a three chamber 15 gallon (20 gallon total) sump at the end of January. I added 2 clownfish on 2/16 from Dr Reef's Quarantined fish as well as a small clean up crew consisting of Cerith, Nassarius, Margarite, and Nerite snails. I also added Clean Chaeto from Algae barn on 2/15. Everything was acclimated according to the directions on Dr Reef's site/Algaebarn. I haven't seen any hitchhikers/other worms/pests. I have been testing my water parameters pretty regularly, and changing my water every 2 weeks or so. These are my current water parameters:
Ammonia.... Sal....Nitrite....Ph....Nitrate....PO4......Kh.....Ca....MG.... temp
.15...............1.024.....0........8.12.....15...........0.68....2.5...400...1320...80
I took a water sample in to my local fish store (Mini Reef outside Philadelphia) and they confirmed my water testing results.
The clownfish started acting funny around 2/23 when the smaller clownfish started swimming erratically (upside down/sideways/etc). I originally thought it was a swim bladder issue (may have been?), took video and pictures of the clownfish and contacted Dr Reef's Quarantined fish. They agreed it might have been a swim bladder issue/Ammonia poisoning from the shipping process. The first clownfish died on 3/4 and Dr Reef's agreed to refund/replace the fish for me. That night I noticed the other clownfish swimming odd, and going up to the top of the tank for air. The next day the second clownfish was dead, and I also noticed that all of the snails stopped moving as well!
While all this was going on, I noticed my phosphates were starting to go up and I was starting to get a Green Hair Algae outbreak starting around 2/24. On 2.23 I added 250 ml of Seachem Phosguard to try and bring my phosphates down since they were around .16. By Friday of last week (3/3) there was even more green hair algae (long strands all over my aquascape) and my phosphates were even higher than before I added the Phosguard. That is when the Clownfish and snails started dying.
The chaeto that I added has lost it's bright green color, and has been taking on more of a dark green color. It has a 75W Grow light on it in the sump, but I had it timed to be lit at the same time that the Display tank was lit up. On Friday, I decided to try and switch the light schedule in the sump to an opposite schedule as the display tank to try possibly minimize the growth of the green hair algae and I removed all the phosguard since it didn't seem to be helping anything anyway.
I took a sample of my tank's water to the local fish store to get it checked out yesterday, and everything seemed to line up with my numbers. He also gave me some Turbo snails to try and take care of the green hair algae. I acclimated and added the snails to the tank, they seemed to be fine for a couple of hours, and then they closed up and stopped moving. They haven't moved all last night and all day today, so I'm thinking they may be dead now too?
Could the phosguard have killed everything? Could the high PO4 be killing everything? What is causing my PO4 to climb so high and so fast without the Nitrates getting that high?
Before adding the fish, I also added some new lights. The mounting bracket for the lights didn't fit over the rim of my tank, so I had to cut back the rim a little bit to accommodate the gap on the mounting bracket. I tried to stop as much painted plastic as I could from falling in the tank, especially since I painted some of the rim with duraseal Black paint, but some stray paint chips may have fallen into the tank. Could the paint be leaching chemicals out into the water? It honestly wasn't much dust that fell in, but some did.
I also added some DIY wave maker guards to the wave makers and it cut back on flow they are putting out so it isn't disrupting the top of the water level as much as before I put guards on the wavemakers. The guards are made out of plastic mesh, and plastic zip ties, but could something be happening with the CO2 and O2 levels in the tank??? I do have a protein skimmer running in the sump though, and the water does drain down into the sump from the display tank, so it should be getting oxygenated. With all the Green hair algae in the tank I should be getting O2 from that as well?
I just don't know what the heck is going on, and why everything is dying??? I ordered a Mail in Water sample to get all my levels checked out, but I'm hoping someone on here can figure out what the heck is happening with my tank??? Thanks in advance for any help!
Ammonia.... Sal....Nitrite....Ph....Nitrate....PO4......Kh.....Ca....MG.... temp
.15...............1.024.....0........8.12.....15...........0.68....2.5...400...1320...80
I took a water sample in to my local fish store (Mini Reef outside Philadelphia) and they confirmed my water testing results.
The clownfish started acting funny around 2/23 when the smaller clownfish started swimming erratically (upside down/sideways/etc). I originally thought it was a swim bladder issue (may have been?), took video and pictures of the clownfish and contacted Dr Reef's Quarantined fish. They agreed it might have been a swim bladder issue/Ammonia poisoning from the shipping process. The first clownfish died on 3/4 and Dr Reef's agreed to refund/replace the fish for me. That night I noticed the other clownfish swimming odd, and going up to the top of the tank for air. The next day the second clownfish was dead, and I also noticed that all of the snails stopped moving as well!
While all this was going on, I noticed my phosphates were starting to go up and I was starting to get a Green Hair Algae outbreak starting around 2/24. On 2.23 I added 250 ml of Seachem Phosguard to try and bring my phosphates down since they were around .16. By Friday of last week (3/3) there was even more green hair algae (long strands all over my aquascape) and my phosphates were even higher than before I added the Phosguard. That is when the Clownfish and snails started dying.
The chaeto that I added has lost it's bright green color, and has been taking on more of a dark green color. It has a 75W Grow light on it in the sump, but I had it timed to be lit at the same time that the Display tank was lit up. On Friday, I decided to try and switch the light schedule in the sump to an opposite schedule as the display tank to try possibly minimize the growth of the green hair algae and I removed all the phosguard since it didn't seem to be helping anything anyway.
I took a sample of my tank's water to the local fish store to get it checked out yesterday, and everything seemed to line up with my numbers. He also gave me some Turbo snails to try and take care of the green hair algae. I acclimated and added the snails to the tank, they seemed to be fine for a couple of hours, and then they closed up and stopped moving. They haven't moved all last night and all day today, so I'm thinking they may be dead now too?
Could the phosguard have killed everything? Could the high PO4 be killing everything? What is causing my PO4 to climb so high and so fast without the Nitrates getting that high?
Before adding the fish, I also added some new lights. The mounting bracket for the lights didn't fit over the rim of my tank, so I had to cut back the rim a little bit to accommodate the gap on the mounting bracket. I tried to stop as much painted plastic as I could from falling in the tank, especially since I painted some of the rim with duraseal Black paint, but some stray paint chips may have fallen into the tank. Could the paint be leaching chemicals out into the water? It honestly wasn't much dust that fell in, but some did.
I also added some DIY wave maker guards to the wave makers and it cut back on flow they are putting out so it isn't disrupting the top of the water level as much as before I put guards on the wavemakers. The guards are made out of plastic mesh, and plastic zip ties, but could something be happening with the CO2 and O2 levels in the tank??? I do have a protein skimmer running in the sump though, and the water does drain down into the sump from the display tank, so it should be getting oxygenated. With all the Green hair algae in the tank I should be getting O2 from that as well?
I just don't know what the heck is going on, and why everything is dying??? I ordered a Mail in Water sample to get all my levels checked out, but I'm hoping someone on here can figure out what the heck is happening with my tank??? Thanks in advance for any help!
