Tank destroyed in 1 week

[paintballer1]

I have a 10g nano FOWLR fish were fine for a month but in the last week I have lost 4 damsels and an emerald crab (lost 3 damsels today) after testing every day for the past week everything has come back fine including nitrates 0,nitrites 0, ammonia 0, ph 7.8, temp. 76, and salinity 1.024. When the salinity rise due to evaporation I take some tap water use water conditioner in and put the water in. Not sure what happened thinking of turning the tank into an invert only tank but I would like to fix what happened. All fish came out with there fins messed up but have never seen any aggression for the past month. Any help would be great.

 

[paintballer1]

Update apparently the ammonia is at .50 ppm

 

[john2152]

What test kit were you using at first that gave you a false reading that far off?

 

[jmerideth1]

Inverts at least some shrimp can be more sensitive too water quality issues. I'm sorry for your fish!

 

[buckroe07]

If your using tap water there could be traces of contaminants affecting the fish. The conditioner usually only neutralizes chlorine and chloromine. I would suggest switching to reverse osmosis and deionized water especially if you're thinking of switching to inverts only.

 

[paintballer1]

Nothing gave me false readings I was using API but I never waited the 5 minutes to let it set I just always thought it was a correct reading instantly

 

[paintballer1]

Really don't have the money for an RODI unit I'm a college student but I could buy freshwater at a LFS so looks like I'll be taking a trip

 

[buckroe07]

That's exactly what I used to do. Then I started buying from an actual water store that made just pure drinking water. Then I finally bought my own unit last week....after 15 years of carrying multiple 5 gallon jugs. Yours is only 10 gallons so two 5 gallon jugs should last at least 2-3 weeks.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

RODI water would help out a lot :)

 

[paintballer1]

Yah I'm going to buy 5 gallons of freshwater(for replacing evaporation and 5 gallons of saltwater (for water changes)

 

[Luis Figueroa]

You can get an ro buddie from aquaticlife for 70 bucks. Small change for peace of mind with your expensive hobby. I have it, used it for my 90 and now for my 30 cube. I added an additional carbon filter plus di resin so it's a 5 stage now. 0 all the time on the tds meter.

 

[Jofiel]

How long was the tank running before you added fish? 4 Damsels is a lot of bioload for 10 gallons. Also damsels tend to kill each other even in bigger tanks.

 

[paintballer1]

1 month before I added

 

[Jofiel]

Yeah, too many fish for the tank added too quickly, and also most damsels will just kill each other.

Parameters in small tanks can swing really quickly.

 

[paintballer1]

Is there anyway to avoid swings like that or just water changes?

 

[buckroe07]

You would need an automatic top off unit that will fill it as the water level drops.

 

[Jofiel]

Is there anyway to avoid swings like that or just water changes?

Give the tank enough time to build up a good bacteria load, add livestock really slowly, add livestock that is appropriately sized for your tank, and balance what you add with appropriate clean up crew for what you are adding.

Here's some good nano fish. Take a look at the tank size guidelines.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+2124

What kind of filter are you using? What kind of media do you have in the filter?

Read threads people posted about their experiences with similar sized tanks and see how they maintained them.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/nano-reefs.89/

 

[buckroe07]

But at at 10 gallons it needs to be a really sensitive one.

 

[Jofiel]

You would need an automatic top off unit that will fill it as the water level drops.

Also this. And you can diy a gravity one on the cheap.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cool-non-electric-diy-auto-top-off-i-found.91904/

 

[ironman20725]

You can get an ro buddie from aquaticlife for 70 bucks. Small change for peace of mind with your expensive hobby. I have it, used it for my 90 and now for my 30 cube. I added an additional carbon filter plus di resin so it's a 5 stage now. 0 all the time on the tds meter.

I have the same unit. I was thinking today. How often did you change the the filters out?