Help with my Tank Please!

S

Schooltank

Reefing newb
Hello everyone, I have run into a bit of a problem. I have tried to stock my tank with snails and Hermit crabs for the second time and it does not look good. I started this school tank over a year ago and it has run the cycle. I currently have had the tank overrun with Green Hair Algae and my three fish are doing okay for now. I have a Percula Clown, Maroon Clown, and a Huma Huma. They seem to be fine, but any time I add hermit crabs or snails they just seem to turn upside down and die or disappear. I know some may be burying themselves but I remember my home tank had the Hermit crabs forever and grew to enormous sizes. My question is why are my inverts not making it? and What other fish might be hardy enough to add to the tank? It is a school tank and I have dumped enough of my own money that I need some fish that will stick around for a while. All my parameters are solid. 8.3 Ph, 0 Nitrite, 0 Ammonia, 0-5 on Nitrate.

Thanks,
 
Hello and welcome! Some answers to these questions will help.

Do you use tap water?
Have you ever used any type of medication in your tank?
Where did you get your rock and sand from?
How do you acclimate the snails and crabs when you first add them to your tank?
 
Welcome to the site!

I'd guess more than likely that you'll find the trigger fish is the culprit of your missing snails and hermits. Snails and hermits are a part of their diet but, a good one since their hard shells help to wear down the triggers growing teeth.
 
^^ Oh yes, well there's that too. :lol: Triggers will make a snack out of those guys. That's why they aren't considered reef safe fish.
 
+1 Biff and Brian.....even small traces of copper can kill your inverts. If the rocks or sand have ever been in a copper-treated tank, you can't have inverts in there anymore. Plus yes -- triggers eat inverts :shock:

If it's NOT the trigger, are you acclimating your cuc? If not, they could be dying from shock, too.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I personally have not treated the tank at all. However, I did buy the tank very cheap and did a good cleaning with scrubbing only and water. The rock were sent with it and I cleaned them as well. New Substrate and decor with new plumbing. I used RO water since day one. I learned my lesson with my tank in my own home. For the Acclimation process I used the bag float in the sump then slowly added water ever 15 minutes for about 2 hours. Some of the larger snails seem to be okay for now, but the smaller ones are not. My Trigger is very small, and the snails that are on the bottom are just overturned and definately not moving.
 
What kinds of snails do you have, and what kinds are the ones that are getting overturned? Some snails like nerites and trochus snails can not right themselves if they fall of the glass or rocks.
 
Do you dose your tank with any additives?

How long of a time frame are these inverts dieing in? within a week? or longer?
 
Just today I remembered that I used Iodine to help. So I just started Iodine today. The First batch died within about 3-4 days and then the Algae just took off. So I was under the assumption that the their death caused a spike and that helped the green hair algae. Then I cleaned the tank completely, again with scrubbing and taking everything out and a good water change and then added more. About 200 Snails and Hermits. It is now the second day of them in the tank and a few are on the glass, but the rest are just still in a pile The Hermits are no where to be seen. I am sure some may be in the rock work but really can not find many.
 
woa, that's a lot of snails and hermits :shock:
You shouldn't need that many to keep your tank clean...

First off, a massive die off to that scale will definitely cause an ammonia spike... but you said you tested 0 ammonia/nitrite? If so take the dead bodies out before they do start to decay.

Where did you buy them from? I have heard of people getting snails & such and majority of them just don't make it from certain places. (I can see this happening if they were took straight out of the ocean and shipped)

And in regards to the iodine, we have a saying around here "don't dose anything your not testing for". Although inverts do use iodine to molt and grow their shells, most salt mixes have sufficient amounts of trace elements in it (including iodine) that you shouldn't have to add any if you are doing water changes regularly.
 
Thanks for all the information. It just has been a while since I started my Home tank that I forgot about all the little tricks. In my tank at home I used Iodine for a bit, but now only add Calcium and Kalwasser (sp) for my corals. My other question is what other fish would go well in this tank that would be hardy and easy to maintain. When I am not at school I do not want to leave it up to the Janitors to feed the fish anything special. I Try to stick to pellet food and the occasional Mysis or Brine Frozen cubes. I have not had any luck in this tank or mine at home with Tangs, Butterflys, Angels (Flame, Coral Beauty). I just do not want to keep buying fish after fish and then my Principal thinks I am just killing these fish off and wasting money. With budgets already tight, I am lucky I have a Principal that is letting me buy anything. So any thoughts.
 
Just want to be clear...You have approx. 200 snails in a 75g tank? In regard to the algae, where is the tank (assuming it's in the school) is it near a window? If it is, the natural sunlight could be causing the algae outbreak easily. Also, the janitors could be spraying cleaning chemicals in the room that could be getting into the tank and causing issues.

Give us a rundown of your equipment.
 
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Okay,

The tank is in the Library outside of my room. It is the 125 gallon. My 75 is at home. I just purchased 100 snails and 100 hermits of all different varieties. I was told that I need at least 2 per gallon. Maybe I was told wrong. I am pretty OCD on the tank as well as my Baseball fields, but that is another story. Anyway the Janitors know that they are never to spray any chemicals around my tank. There is a sky light in the middle of the Library that does allow in light, but I cut back my lighting to allow for that so I did not think that would be the issue but maybe it is. The lights come on with some white LEDs around 9am then the main light comes on around 10:30am, which are Flourescent t5, or t8's not exactly sure. The two tubes are just standard lighting for the school because it was cheaper. I have been looking to change that out for a while to different bulbs, but no money at the time. Anyway the light turn off at 3:30pm.


I have a Sump system with overflow box that I think I have bought too big of a pump because it sucks that thing dry, so I have to constrict the flow back to the tank to keep it balanced out. In the sump I just have the standard Bio balls, and I put some Carbon in bags to flow through. Trying to keep it simple for a while.

I appreciate any help. The tank itself is good but taking a lot of time right now because of the algae issue. I wish I did these message boards my first time through all of this.
 
I don't think it's the cause, but I'd ditch the bio balls. Those can be nitrate traps -- unless you've been doing regular maintenance for them. If you choose to take them out, do it gradually so you don't shock your system. But otherwise, I hope you've been doing partial rinses for them regularly.

Have your lfs test your water...maybe you have a bad test kit and your levels may be just really out of whack. I bought a test kit that turned out bad within a month (did a comparison test between my test kit and the lfs', and mine was WAY Off, and it was brand new!).

What is your salinity? I hope you're using a refractometer to test it.

Cut back on the snails. I was also told 1-2 snails per gallon, but it just seemed like a lot so I only got a few. One or two snails dying won't cause an ammonia spike in a 125g, but 100 would. Plus where r u getting the snails?

Try the drip acclimation method instead. It's a 1-2 hour process. You take an airline, tie a knot (or get a small valve and connect 2 airline tubing pieces). Start a drip of I think 1-2 drips/second...when the volume of the water in the snail's container has maybe doubled, scoop some of it out, and keep the drip going. I usually do this for 1-2 hours. I've never lost livestock to this method.

EDIT: COnsider adding a ball of Chaeto ( https://www.livingreefs.com/chaeto-you-want-t24752.html ) in your sump (don't forget lights). It's good at keeping nitrates and phosphates down. I have little problems w/ algae in my display tank because all the algae grows in my fuge. Or you can try the nitrate scrubber ( https://www.livingreefs.com/mega-powerful-nitrate-and-phosphate-remover-diy-t16734-new-post.html )
 
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Right, inverts are usually pretty sensitive to temp swings and water quality (They will usually die before your fish do)

And I would think your bulbs are the issue for your algae problems. If light is not in the right spectrum then algae can thrive sometimes, usually due to old or inadequate bulbs.
Unless you do have high nitrates or phosphates, then that could be the cause of your algae.
one last possible cause for the algae is maybe a certain type of rock in your aquarium could be leaching nutrients into your water. So if you have any abnormal rocks in the tank you might want to check and make sure they are ok first.
 
Welcome aboard.
I too am thinking that most of your algae is being fueled by the lights.Normal everyday bulbs like you would use in a classroom will cause you a lot of algae headaches.
 

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