I did the bad...

[Captain Quint]

Btw, ya did good handling your first crisis! There will be more...

+1 and when I started my first marine system in 1974 there was no help from anyone (only books) and I was messing up daily for a good 8 to 12 months.

Just hang in there @bbones this too shall pass. And again, do not beat yourself up.

 

[sfin52]

agree with @Captain Quint we all make mistakes no big deal.

@Katrina71 absolutely we need a FTS and build thread. You need a shiny new badge

 

[ConnieHamers]

A store sold you a tank and fish on the same day?

I had the same thought. Hopefully there is another LFS around. That one is not trustworthy.

 

[W1ngz]

I had the same thought. Hopefully there is another LFS around. That one is not trustworthy.

This has already been addressed twice along the way, tank and livestock came from different places.

 

[ConnieHamers]

This has already been addressed twice along the way, tank and livestock came from different places.

Ah. Okay, that makes a bit more sense.

 

[Engloid]

I have never cycled without fish. I dont like bottled bacteria. How can the bacteria live long in a bittle, without oxygen?

The fish will be fine as long as you monitor ammonia and do water changes accordingly.

If the lfs wont take back the anemone and you dont know anybody with a mature tank, and have to keep it..... make sure to watch nitrite and nitrate closely, as well as ammonia....and do the water changes more frequently, but lower amounts, so you dont make drastic changes.

 

[basement reefer]

From what I gather, they got the tank from his family's business and the clowns from Petco. Petco is safe this time lol though they should have asked.

I remember buying clowns for my 5 gallon when I started lol had to get my story straight before I went to big al's. (My local LFS advised me on how to pull the caper off.) Oh ya I said, they are going in a 20 (litre) Almost blew my cover when I asked for live rock rubble instead of live rock.
Times have changed, several fish have gone back do incompatibility with tank mates,(Clowns are not community fish) I have bigger single-species tanks now, just saying sometimes we are the villain. I still get a little nervous when I go in there in the older Asian fella peers over his glasses recalling the thousands of customers hes seen in the last few years. Once I get the subtle nod I know its OK to to proceed lolololol.
The older staff is really good for asking questions, though maybe some of the younger people don't, maybe they can kinda tell if you have a tank or not.

 

[Engloid]

I kinda doubt its copper left over in the tank that has killed it. I had a ro disaster recently and was topping off with 7.5dkh water and changes with salt were about 16dkh. My tds meters were bad. Im sure I loaded the tank with copper and I have copper house plumbing. A couple months later, I have a huge bta thats thriving.

 

[sfin52]

how's the clowns today

 

[bbones]

how's the clowns today

Clowns are doing well still! the test before bed last night was:
ammonia 0%
nitrite 0%
nitrate between 0-5% but closer to 0
ph seemed a little low but still close to 8%

 

[bbones]

you all have have been tremendously helpful. so glad I found such a wonderful community! thank you for all your input and advice while I’m figuring this out!

 

[Kingsley_Reef]

Glad to here the clowns are doing fine your live rock might be your saving grace I would still do plenty of small water changes to be in the safe side what eles are you running equipment wise in your tank you should start a build thread ;)

 

[Captain Quint]

you all have have been tremendously helpful. so glad I found such a wonderful community! thank you for all your input and advice while I’m figuring this out!

Thank you for hanging in there. We want to see you and your tank/critters thrive. It will simply take time and effort and you're doing as good as you can. :)

 

[SomethingfishyPKNY]

Thank you for hanging in there. We want to see you and your tank/critters thrive. It will simply take time and effort and you're doing as good as you can. :)

100% every reefer goes through stuff just glad to see your being responsible with these animals and asking for help! Keep up the good work

 

[sfin52]

yep live sand and lr is doing its job

 

[ScottR]

thank you everyone for the advice and wisdom! will definitely be more careful with this in the future. didn’t go in wanting to be harmful. I’ll be weeping and browsing these threads the next few weeks.

That rock doesn’t look live to me. LR should have purple, green, white, red... color basically. It should have hairs on it. Weird tubes (worms). It should be ALIVE!

 

[ScottR]

Now that I look at it. I see some purple (coralline). But seems sand is covering it. And that tank is too clean. While clean may sound and look nice, you could be in a world of trouble down the line. As odd as it sounds, I’d almost want to dirty the tank and put in snails to help clean it. But that is part of cycling. I think your fish will live but your anemone may have a hard time.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Now that I look at it. I see some purple (coralline). But seems sand is covering it. And that tank is too clean. While clean may sound and look nice, you could be in a world of trouble down the line. As odd as it sounds, I’d almost want to dirty the tank and put in snails to help clean it. But that is part of cycling. I think your fish will live but your anemone may have a hard time.

If you read through this thread you would have known the anemone died. And secondly live rock doesn't have to have coraline algae on it to be live. The bacteria on the rocks is what makes it beneficial.

 

[BestMomEver]

@bbones .... I have to say that you seem like a great new reef keeper! You are concerned about your critters and have asked for advice and followed it. I can’t tell you how many people come on here that have done things similar, asked for advice, gotten ticked off cause people told them what to do, got defensive, then left. It’s frustrating cause we all REALLY want to help.

Kudos for being open minded and being able to put your critters before your pride. Keep asking questions..... you’ll get there!

 

[bbones]

That rock doesn’t look live to me. LR should have purple, green, white, red... color basically. It should have hairs on it. Weird tubes (worms). It should be ALIVE!

the newer live rock had hard little white tubes all over it and was almost iffy about putting it in. the purple live rock was covered in junk too but yeah, the clowns covered it in sand