Having a hard time to keep basic inverts

[Quentin05]

Hello,

I have a 45 AIO tank. It is 3 months old. I have 2 clowns, 1 royal gramma, 50lbs of initially dead rock, pink fiji sand.

0 ammonia
0 nitrites
0 phosphates
78°F
34.5 salinity
8.2 pH
8 dKh

For nitrates, API was showing 5ppm and Salifert 80 so I just got a Hanna checker and it gave me 18ppm.

My problem is I can't keep any invert alive for a long period of time. I forst started with 6 hermits from my LFS that all died. Some of them survived 2 weeks some up to a month. They all showed good activity and feeding in the first week.
I thought it was because they starved as my tank was fairly new, so I waited and when I saw diatoms and some algea and bought a pack on reef cleaners. They all showed activity for a week to then started dying. First some hermits then Nassarius snails following the small emerald crab then the bigger one.

I'd say that 75% of the pack is dead now with a couple nassarius 5 or 6 hermits and some cerith snails still alive.

The attached video is the emerald crab 1 week after introduction.

I tested for copper and it showed 0. I installed a grounding plug. I still have diatoms and algea so I don't think fold is an issue, I also drop some pellets.

Any suggestion on what I should do next ?

 

[Pistondog]

Are you mixing saltwater with rodi?
Send in some tank water for an icp test.
Do you have an ato?

 

[Quentin05]

I mix fritz blue with rodi.

An ICP test is a test you mail out?

 

[Pistondog]

I mix fritz blue with rodi.

An ICP test is a test you mail out?

Yes, it would rule out some contaminants.
Inverts are sensitive to rapid salinity changes. How do you measure salinity and add top off water for evaporation?

 

[Quentin05]

Yes, it would rule out some contaminants.
Inverts are sensitive to rapid salinity changes. How do you measure salinity and top off evaporation?

I have the Hanna white and blue salinoty checker. I made sure to calibrate it recently.

My ATO is a DIY floating cell and a pump in a Home Depot bucket.

My salinity has been stable. I am losing maybe 0.1ppt every 2 weeks which I think is due to salt creep but I try to readjust it close to 35 when I do a water change.

 

[Tamberav]

Seems pretty normal...

hermits always seem to kill each other till last one standing..

I always lose some snails after shipping... sometimes most of them once the algae gets under control.

with the amount of algae in there you probably only need a few snails and done.

 

[Pistondog]

I have the Hanna white and blue salinoty checker. I made sure to calibrate it recently.

My ATO is a DIY floating cell and a pump in a Home Depot bucket.

My salinity has been stable. I am losing maybe 0.1ppt every 2 weeks which I think is due to salt creep but I try to readjust it close to 35 when I do a water change.

Salinity likely not the cause then.

 

[Quentin05]

Seems pretty normal...

hermits always seem to kill each other till last one standing..

I always lose some snails after shipping... sometimes most of them once the algae gets under control.

with the amount of algae in there you probably only need a few snails and done.

I can post a new video when I get back from work tonight.

I agree with you but my observation has been that my algea and diatoms are getting more and more present and my inverts are going down. If it was the opposite I'd understand but it does not look like they're even eating the algea.

 

[Quentin05]

Salinity likely not the cause then.

My guess is my tank is still young and this would be due to new tank syndrom. If I see new more loss Iight send an ICP test like you suggested