I don't know what to do!! Help!

[Sarsalicious]

Alright so I started a salt water tank awhile back and have had a lot of ups and downs with it. Things are going great for a while and then we have an upset when one of our main things in our tank dies. I'm starting to realize part of the reason is that the only salt water aquarium stores we have isn't the best option. The sales people are too eager to make a sale to stop and help. So here's what I have right now...

10 gallon tank
A large chunk of live rock in the center
seaweed flourishing on and around the live rock
1 small clown fish
1 domino damsel
~12 hermit crabs
~10 snails

pH between 7.8-8.0
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 0ppm

Please give me any feed back you have on the tank. At this point I just want to be able to achieve something stable. I just don't know how to do that, especially since the people working out our local store encourage me to buy anything I look at. Thanks everyone!

 

[DaveK]

To really help, please tell us a bit more about your tan, especially the lighting, filtration, and skimming, if any. A picture of the system may help.

When you say "seaweed", what kind of plant are we talking about? You can post a picture, if your not sure.

One large chunk of liverock is likely to be far too little, but it's hard to tell. Typically you want about 1 pound of rock to 1 gal of water, but this can vary.

A 10 gal tank is on the small size. Not that you can't use it. Many people do, but you have to keep everything just right, since a mistake in that small a volume of water instantly causes a problem.

I hope we can give you something more specific once we know a bit more.

 

[catran]

How old is your tank? Do you have anything else going on, like hair algae? Is that possibly the seaweed you're talking about? One thing you can always do right away is water changes. If you have hair algae, your phosphate level can be very high, or even low, but affecting your livestock and the hair alge can absorb some of it.
Check this site and let us know if you see what's in your tank:
Xtalreef

 

[superfrog]

To really help, please tell us a bit more about your tan, especially the lighting, filtration, and skimming, if any. A picture of the system may help.

When you say "seaweed", what kind of plant are we talking about? You can post a picture, if your not sure.

One large chunk of liverock is likely to be far too little, but it's hard to tell. Typically you want about 1 pound of rock to 1 gal of water, but this can vary.

A 10 gal tank is on the small size. Not that you can't use it. Many people do, but you have to keep everything just right, since a mistake in that small a volume of water instantly causes a problem.

I hope we can give you something more specific once we know a bit more.

nice response. I second it.

It sounds like you're on the right track but I might have to agree with DaveK about the Live Rock. Will only be able to say for sure with a bit more info though...

 

[BigAl07]

More information would be great! I'd also like to know how often and how much you do on water changes.

I've ran smaller tanks since day one (6g, 10g, 12g) in fact I've got a 12g here on my desk right now that's 4 years old so I can tell you first hand that a smaller tank is possible. The catch is that a smaller tank requires you to be On Your Game because of the small water volume. Larger tanks can tolerate mistakes and fluctuations much better. In a small tank small mistakes have BIG results which is why you have to be extra diligent in your husbandry tasks.

What is your Specific Gravity (some use Salinity) of the tank?
What temp do you keep it at?

FWIW don't add any more fish or anything to that tank. Let's get things settled and stable before making any more additions.

 

[Sarsalicious]

Here's a little more information and I'll post the rest with a picture of the tank later.

I'm pretty sure the seaweed is Caulerpa taxifolia - the feather like seaweed and no hair algea in the tank!
Salinity in the tank is ~1.029
The temp is 73 F

I did a water change about a week ago, about 20%

 

[Val]

Is your seaweed rigid or soft. Caulerpa is very rigid almost reminds your of those fake plastic plants. Bryopsis is also featherlike but is softer and sways with the flow.

 

[astiesi]

Your salinity is a bit high and your temperature is a bit low. Most aim at a salinity of 1.024 - 1.026 and a temperature in the range of 77 - 80 degrees. You will want to be careful when trying to adjust these, go slowly. Raise the temperature a degree every few hours and lower the salinity over the course of a few days.

 

[superfrog]

Your salinity is a bit high and your temperature is a bit low. Most aim at a salinity of 1.024 - 1.026 and a temperature in the range of 77 - 80 degrees. You will want to be careful when trying to adjust these, go slowly. Raise the temperature a degree every few hours and lower the salinity over the course of a few days.

spot on. to lower the salinity, just replace a cup or two of tank water with RO/DI until it's in the right range (1.024 to 1.026). And yes, do this slowly over a few days.
Once it's at the right range, try to keep it stable there. Stability is key...

Don't forget to add some more tank/hardware info and maybe a pic...

 

[Sarsalicious]

Alright I'm starting to lower the salinity and get the temperature up a bit. Hopefully that will help out - thanks!

I forgot to say this before, but we're using a Eheim 2215 filter for the tank (we got it used at our LFS)

 

[KARussell88]

Also you have two fish that really shouldn't like each other in such a small tank.
I would rid myself of the damsel because they get a decent size and can be very very aggressive the bigger they get!
What were the specific problems you were having? You said you need help but with what?

 

[Sarsalicious]

My tank has a lot of ups and downs - and I'm having a hard time figuring out why. It'll do great for a month and then something dies. The last casualty was a purple sea urchin. Basically I'm trying to stabilize my tank, I just don't really know how to make that happen.