corals dying, questions

[nivek]

Wow why do you have such a big cleanup crew? That's way too many for a 90g. Your hermit crabs is going to kill off all the snails to obtain their shells. On top of that your tank is too new to support that many sand shifters.

I think what you'll need to do is reset/restart the tank to get things back in order and go slow on adding of livestocks/corals

 

[kyle4201]

DAM!!!! I dont know what LFS means but it seems to refer to my tank guy. He suggested my crew, as did the 3 stores I went to. I cant get rid of everything, Im not into killing things on pourpouse. If I have to ill take longer to nurse everything, & I have no1 to give it to that will give it back. Is there anyway to restart without disposing of everything? I dont mind offing the blue leggs.

 

[DianaKay]

Kyle, it's OK to have made the decisions you made so far. Don't be thinking that you can't get this all figured out because YOU CAN! It's just going to take a little of a back-up & re-do to get you off to a better start.
Your ammonia & nitrites are probably your biggest issue. Your tank has not cycled properly YET....it going to be a waiting game. I've never needed to "dose" my tank and it's 6 months old. So until you test your calcium & see a need to start using adjustive additives, I'd suggest that you DON'T ADD them. If you are using a good quality salt mix (there are several good ones) and not over loaded with SPS corals then you are going to be good until your tank matures. I suggest getting a refractometer and a good seatbelt with built in patience. You're going to need those things. This is a roller coaster ride with long waits but it's worth every effort you put in to do it right!
No more fish or corals until you have ZERO ammonia & nitrites for at least a week.
----> Start a tank thread and let us help & support your journey <---- we're here for ya

 

[nivek]

Don't worry Kyle, we're here to help you through this. Here are a few things you'll need to do for us in the next couple of days.

1) Water parameters - Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Salinity, pH, calcium, kh, temperature
2) Some photos of the whole setup (you have enough post count to start posting pics )
3) List of whatever livestock you can think of that you have in your tank
4) Salt type used, RO/DI water? etc

After we have these, we'll be able to provide better advice

 

[kyle4201]

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I think I figured it out,, had to sign up 4 photo bucket,, thx 4 the help with the pix advice.. anyway, the top /left 3 corals r the ones dying

 

[kyle4201]

it sucks cuz the top left one had 2 new buds on it 4 days ago,, thought all was well!!!. 3 of my other corals r budding also.

 

[kyle4201]

Start a tank thread and let us help & support your journey <---- we're here for ya


will figure out how to do a tank thread,, unless thats the same thing as a Chronical? have to do 1 of those also.

I cant say enought thx for all the help you guys!!! I hope you all follow my journy when I get my tank thread/chronicle going.

I was almost going to give up!!!

 

[DianaKay]

All a tank thread is: A thread dedicated to just your tank. Set up one in "Reef Chronicles" forum.
You'll be able to link it to your name (see right under some members names, that have one). Having one sharing all the steps you are taking getting towards maturing your tank. It's easier to get better support if all of your issues & concerns are addressed in the same thread.

 

[DianaKay]

Pretty Acans ....they may be just sulking a little (mine do that sometimes & are fine) they are somewhat tough and with your WC's ....they might pull though. Just need to get the ammonia & nitrite down. If you didn't have fish & corals, it would actually be best to let it spike & drop naturally without WC. Not sure what all you have living in your tank now, livestock can't survive nitrites & ammonia for long lengths of time.

 

[Bearjohnson]

This can all be fixed and it will just take a little time. All great advise from above so let's try and simplify things and put your next task/s in order.

Local Fish Store (LFS)
Water Change (WC)
Display Tank (DT)
Live Rock (LR)
In My Opinion (IMO)


1. Take a deep breath and relax

2. if the aptasia is REALLY bugging you and you HAVE to attend to it be glad most of it is on the glass. Simple to remove without adding juice. Save that for later on the ones that develop at the base of your live rock (LR) that you just don't want to tear down. When you "F" with aptasia it releases spores into the tank that become more aptasia. SO for the glass pests....grab a bucket, start a siphon like you would for a water change (WC) and put it right over the aptasia and use the hose to scrap it off the tank. Any spores will go right into the waste bucket. So that takes care of the glass pests. If the hose won't work, razor blade with the hose right up to it so all gets sucked up.

3. Aside from all of the main cycling issues; ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are what is killing your corals currently. Stop adding anything to the tank except your fresh salt mix used for water changes (WC).
Your salt mix will have enough of all that's good to keep your corals happy because you will be doing them every other day until your levels stabilize. (sorry to be the bearer of the bad news)

4. Here is your schedule and just a guide but I'm sure you'll get the gist.

Day 1 test water parameters then - 50-60% WC This will give you a baseline of where you are currently. Write it down!
Day 2 Do nothing but relax
Day 3 Test then - Another 40-50% WC
Day 4 Relax
Day 5 - Test then - 30-40% WC

Get it? LOL

You can alter the % of WC after day 3 to suit the needs of the tank. If your water parameters are looking much better then the % of WC doesn't need to be as large but is still needed until your levels come way down to acceptable levels.

A few things to remember going forward:

1st. and formost....your LFS is on business to make money. Also some....not all LFS owners would much rather sell you snake oil because they don't know any better. Nothing against LFS owners but some can give out less than perfect advice.
2. If you are unsure of what to buy....check here first. You'll save a TON of dough by doing so.
3. ANother BIGGIE - corals in general do NOT like drastic swings in water conditions. Too much of what may be needed is better dosed over time than all at once, despite what the manufacturer recommends on the bottle. Those recommendations are a guide as to how much solution will raise the parameter of what your dosing in "X" amount of gallons. It doesn't mean you should dump it all in at once.
4. Test kits that are easy to read are the Hanna Checkers period the end. They cost a little more up front but IMO well worth the digital read out. The only other test kit that Hanna doesn't make that you will need is for magnesium and for the most part they are all a titration test and I'd recommend Red Sea. But, any other brand name will do just fine.
5. When in doubt - Ask questions on the forum

I hope this helps...
Keep us posted!

 

[Mike Johnson]

I hate to be a bearer of bad news. I would return all of your sandsifter starfish to the LFS. There is no doubt in my mind that they will all die very soon. A sandsifter starfish, just one, will, in a few days, decimate your sandbed of all the beneficial organism that you want to be growing in a new tank and then it will die of starvation.

IMO a sandsifter starfish should be left in the ocean. Even if I had a mature aquarium (at least 2 years old) with a deep sandbed, (I have a few of them), I would not want a sandsifter starfish in there destroying everything.

 

[Mike Johnson]

The last tank I cycled was 6 months old before it got it's first fish and that was one that doesn't eat pods. There are some that believe a tank should be a year old because you want to get a healthy, self-sustaining pod population. There are many ways to cycle a tank, but I am not aware of any method that can be done successfully in less than two months before adding fish.

I'm sorry for your losses. Mark it down as required learning. Slow down. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites is top priority.

 

[kyle4201]

WOW Bear, great advice,, and thats alot of water changes. I have no problem doing them, its kind of something I enjoy. btw,, I get my salt water at my LFS (not so local, just on the way home from work) also, my thank guy I talked about is not a LFS, hes a friend who owns a tank maintenance/moving/installing company. Hes a good guy, makes no money off me. I see now he might not know as much as I thought he did, but his tanks are amazing & hes doing what im doing, same size tank. His is established for a few years though, maybe thats the difference.

 

[kyle4201]

Thanks Mike,, Im sure I took it way to fast. I was so excited!!! Ugh!! cant thank you enough!!

 

[theplantman]

You are getting a lot of great advice up above. Take your time and get into a routine that is comfortable and stock very slowly. I love hermit crabs, but as earlier stated 100 in your tank is way too many. One thing to remember. If you have to feed your tank to keep the cleanup crew alive, then you have too many or the wrong crew.

In my 34 gallon I have 4 hermits and about 20 snails of mixed species and a cleaner shrimp. I also agree with what is stated above regarding the sand sifter, they need an established system to survive and I have not seen mention of the horseshoe crabs, but from what I have read, they do not do well in home aquariums at all. They will need a very deep sand bed and a lot of detritus to keep from starving which means a dirty tank, we don't tend to keep those because our corals like it clean. And if those die in the tank you could be looking at a serious ammonia spike if you don't notice it soon enough.

As stated above, slow down, focus on getting your water parameters in check and definitely stop dosing. If you are doing an LPS/Soft coral tank with fish, invest in a very good salt, do 10%-15% water changes each week and you should never have to dose unless you start getting very heavy into sps corals or a lot of clams. I currently use tropic marin pro reef, but before spending the money on this salt I loved H2Ocean Pro Mag. Its not used by many in this forum that I know of, but I used it for close to two years and will be going back to it. (My local lfs do not carry it so will be shipping it in) My tank was stocked to the hilt with coral and clams and I never had to dose. A lot of members hear use instant ocean, reef crystals and red sea. All good mixes as well.

Good Luck!

 

[Mike Johnson]

Yup, I agree, horseshoe crabs are on my list of "CREATURES THAT NEED TO STAY IN THE OCEAN".

 

[kyle4201]

I get my salt water from the aquarium store by my work. every1 around here dose this. How bad is that? Im hoping its good. I invested in 20 5gal water jugs for transport and custom built shelves and transport racks.

 

[theplantman]

I don't trust water made by anyone other than me.

Not sure what you pay per gallon but let me give you an easy cost break out that will maybe help you out.

RO/DI Filter for home use - lets say $200.00
Good Salt Mix for 200 gallons - $90.00
Mixing Pump - $35.00

So over the course of the year if you do 10% water changes in your system each week you need to make 572 gallons of water. Your costs if you make it yourself are a total of $492.40 per year. that is less than a buck a gallon. This also does not include top off water which is probably another 500-600 gallons at least. (no additional cost)

So the big question, what do you pay for salt water from your LFS per gallon? Top off Water?

Plus you have the peace of mind in knowing that your water is pure and pristine each time you use it in the tank.

 

[kyle4201]

I get salt/ro water for $.50 a gal. the cost is something I can def live with. the gf is already *****ing about cost/time/and focusing all my attn on this thing, no way she is letting me get that stuff and making messes and ect,, lol. I go through 5 gal of top off about every week and 1/2. as for water changes,, I was planning on doing every 2 weeks = $20 a month, I can live with that. we r renting right now but be sure, when I buy,, I will have a whole room to myself with equipment, qt's, frag tanks, water ro water systems, through wall plumbing to my DT, ect. (if she lets me, lollol)

 

[kyle4201]

also every1,, I started my chronicle,, if you have any tips to make it better let me know.