Please help with tank crash

[Matthew Russell]

It’s really no wonder things are dying. Corals and fish can tolerate slight fluctuations in you water. Here are a couple of musts if you’re going to continue in the hobby.
1. Do regular water changes. Test the water you add to the tank to make sure it has the same salinity and KH of the water that’s in your tank. If your KH and salinity are still high mix the salt a point lower to slowly bring it down. You must use RODI water in your mix. Not doing water changes is really for advanced hobbyists. I’ve been in the hobby for more than 10 years and I’m still not confident enough not to do them.
2. You have to top of your tank on a daily basis. If you don’t have an ATO then do it manually. Check your salinity daily. You must use RODI for this as well. Tap water of any sort will kill your tank.
3. Get your temperature under control. A one degree fluctuation is about as much as your tank can endure if you want to be successful. Point a fan at the water if you don’t want to get a chiller. Just a regular house fan.

Once you master these basic skills master keeping your alkalinity stable. Test daily to learn your tanks needs. You’ll find out how your tank is doing by how much alkalinity it consumes on a daily basis. If it’s consumption slows it’s generally a heads up that somethings wrong. A Hanna alkalinity checker is really the only way to go.
Lastly this hobby requires a ton of work, there’s just no way around it. If you can’t dedicate time to it daily your tank inhabitants will suffer. The animals in your tank flourish in an environment that is incredibly stable, the ocean. Your job to recreate that stability. That is what makes the hobby so challenging. Trying to recreate that stability in your home! It is really tough. But it gets easier when you establish a routine.
Hope this helped. Best of luck

 

[rolyguy7]

Everything in my tank is dying. I can't figure out why. I've been running test and I can't find the problem. Ice had several corals die. A condy and a bta die. I have a lot dominant tank. I don't have a way to monitor temp other then a thermometer in the tank. I feel like maybe my tank is getting too hot. Tomorrow I am going to be checking the temp every hour since I don't work tomorrow. Here are my parameters.

Phos.-0ppm
Cal.-480ppm
Nitrates-40ppm
Ph-7.8
Ammonia-0.5
Temp-80°f when last checked.
Sal.-1.029 sg
Nitrite-api resukts-0.5 ppm/hannah checker results-0.05
Alk-13.1 dkh
I feel like my temp is swinging all the time. Can this cause everything to die? FYI I also run a higher nutrient tank with my nitrates and dkh around these levels. Please help me. Everything is dying an do don't know what to do. I'm still new to the hobby with only about 4 months in.

Your parameters are not within proper range. Here’s what you need to do in this order:

Lower salinity to 35pt or 1.026 - remove saltwater and replace with rodi water (0 TDS is best)
Lower nitrates to 10-20ppm - dose vodka or some other method
Test alk, cal, pH, nitrates - verify parameters are closer to proper ranges

You want to shoot for these numbers as target:
35pt (1.026) salinity
420-440ppm calcium
8-9dkh alk
1400ppm magnesium
10-20ppm nitrates
78-80F temp
8.0 - 8.4 pH

 

[lilfish717]

Your parameters are not within proper range. Here’s what you need to do in this order:

Lower salinity to 35pt or 1.026 - remove saltwater and replace with rodi water (0 TDS is best)
Lower nitrates to 10-20ppm - dose vodka or some other method
Test alk, cal, pH, nitrates - verify parameters are closer to proper ranges

You want to shoot for these numbers as target:
35pt (1.026) salinity
420-440ppm calcium
8-9dkh alk
1400ppm magnesium
10-20ppm nitrates
78-80F temp
8.0 - 8.4 pH

Rodi should be on the way and with that my nitrates will be lowered. Do will my alk I'm doing the water change tonight also which should helonsome and with that I'll lower the salt.

 

[sfin52]

Welcome

How old is the tank
Since you are using tap water are you using a conditioner for the water?
I used tap in my tank and ended with all kinds of algae. I than started using phosphate and nitrate reducer and made a new problems.

Start with water source. Distilled from or rodi water from a lfs till you get the rodi unit will greatly improve water issues.

Keep on top of the top offs stability stability stability.

Bye the way tap for just fish is fine.

 

[lilfish717]

Welcome

How old is the tank
Since you are using tap water are you using a conditioner for the water?
I used tap in my tank and ended with all kinds of algae. I than started using phosphate and nitrate reducer and made a new problems.

Start with water source. Distilled from or rodi water from a lfs till you get the rodi unit will greatly improve water issues.

Keep on top of the top offs stability stability stability.

Bye the way tap for just fish is fine.

Yes I use prime. I'm about to leave for lfs to get Rodi now. I had very bad algae for awhile.

 

[DHak]

Out of curiosity, are you using well water or high hardness tap water to top off your evaporation?
If so I wonder if that explains why your alk has increased, in addition to the salinity increase that is. You can only compare an alkalinity increase or decrease with an equivalent salinity measurement.

 

[sfin52]

Yes I use prime. I'm about to leave for lfs to get Rodi now. I had very bad algae for awhile.

What did you do combat the algae.

 

[lilfish717]

Do you guys think this is because of the men dying and it nuked my tank? Today I lost my star who was always super hardy, a conch, frogspawn is dying. My whole culture of amphipods and copepods are dead. Torch died. Another scoly died.

 

[Hemmdog]

Do you guys think this is because of the men dying and it nuked my tank? Today I lost my star who was always super hardy, a conch, frogspawn is dying. My whole culture of amphipods and copepods are dead. Torch died. Another scoly died.

No it’s your water and levels. Everything in your tank is living in a toxic environment, until things are in proper range with non tap water sw in your tank, things will continue to perish. I hope that RODI gets there soon!

 

[lilfish717]

No it’s your water and levels. Everything in your tank is living in a toxic environment, until things are in proper range with non tap water sw in your tank, things will continue to perish. I hope that RODI gets there soon!

Rodi not here. But I went to the fish store today just to buy some. Litterly in the middle of heater water up. Now how do you say I do this. Sumo freshwater into the tank until salinity is correct or what?

 

[lilfish717]

I just don't understand how these were just about my params the whole time and never had any big problems. Besides being able to keep chalices. Most corals were fine.

 

[Hemmdog]

Rodi not here. But I went to the fish store today just to buy some. Litterly in the middle of heater water up. Now how do you say I do this. Sumo freshwater into the tank until salinity is correct or what?

Go from 1.029 to 1.027. Then in 48 hours continue down to 1.025.

 

[Hemmdog]

I just don't understand how these were just about my params the whole time and never had any big problems. Besides being able to keep chalices. Most corals were fine.

Some things are more sensitive than others. Softies can take a beating.

 

[lilfish717]

Some things are more sensitive than others. Softies can take a beating.

My mushrooms are staying strong I hope they continue considering all of them ran me well over 100$. My Sunkist is deflated and bubble are small, but nothing telling me it is dying.

 

[Hemmdog]

My mushrooms are staying strong I hope they continue considering all of them ran me well over 100$. My Sunkist is deflated and bubble are small, but nothing telling me it is dying.

How big is this tank? I rarely suggest 100% water changes, but this might be an exception. If you can buy RODI then we can correct this quick. Losing a Sunkist would be a big hit financially I’m sure. They aren’t cheap :(

 

[lilfish717]

Some things are more sensitive than others. Softies can take a beating.

I'm in the process of buying a bunch if stuff for my tank. Im getting a skimmer. I need to set the sump up first and get an overflow. I am going to get an ato. I have the Rodi on the way supposedly although I didn't receive tracking info yet. I'm trying to think if what else I need. This was my fault. I was so into buying inhabitants for my tank but not the right equipment.

 

[Hemmdog]

I'm in the process of buying a bunch if stuff for my tank. Im getting a skimmer. I need to set the sump up first and get an overflow. I am going to get an ato. I have the Rodi on the way supposedly although I didn't receive tracking info yet. I'm trying to think if what else I need. This was my fault. I was so into buying inhabitants for my tank but not the right equipment.

It happens man, your taking the steps to correct your initial mistakes, I like that, which is why I’m down to help lol.

 

[lilfish717]

How big is this tank? I rarely suggest 100% water changes, but this might be an exception. If you can buy RODI then we can correct this quick. Losing a Sunkist would be a big hit financially I’m sure. They aren’t cheap :(

The tank is 55 gallons. I only bought about 8 gallons of water today because I only have 2, 5 gallon buckets with no lids and I didn't want them to be full and spill everywhere on the ride home.

 

[Hemmdog]

The tank is 55 gallons. I only bought about 8 gallons of water today because I only have 2, 5 gallon buckets with no kids and I didn't want them to be full and spill everywhere on the ride home.

Does your LFS sell the plastic jugs with lids? They are usually $15, that adds up. Good to have a few though, I own 6, lol. My LFS lets me borrow unused ones if it’s just RODI and I return them the same day, when I randomly do a big water change. Maybe yours might help you out too?

 

[lilfish717]

Does your LFS sell the plastic jugs with lids? They are usually $15, that adds up. Good to have a few though, I own 6, lol. My LFS lets me borrow unused ones if it’s just RODI and I return them the same day, when I randomly do a big water change. Maybe yours might help you out too?

I asked them and they said no. They are a big fish store. Not just a little business, so I doubt they would even do stuff like that. Your not allowed to have carts jn certain parts of the store and I had my 8 month old son in the cart and I asked if they'd make an exception and the guy said no. He said you have to leave the cart and carry "it" with you. Which sort of made me mad.