My First Aquarium and DIY Skimmer

yep, there could also be a low oxygen concentration in the water, which would cause the rapid breathing and the hanging out near the top.
 
Ok, he is up and swimming. He went to the power head on the left side of the tank and grabbed some food floating in the water. Now he is back in the corner, but looking a lot better. I think he's gonna make it.
 
I think you hit the nail on the head about the oxygen. I realized that I had no surface breaks in the any of the system. Everything was submerged. I think my water and the fish are just fine, they just drowned, so to speak. As soon as started rippling the surface of the main tank, the fish started perking up and two hours later he's flying all over the tank, exploring. I think he's going make it.
To top the day off, my skimmer sprung a leak at one of the joints, soaking my carpet in a spot. No worries though, cause cause the clown fish is gonna make it.
 
Glad to hear it!

And I would think you lost the crab to the salinity change. When you change the salinity, you arent suppose to change it more than .001 ppm per DAY. And ive lost many crabs and snails to acclimation issues. We think they are suppose to be the hardy CUC, but they are really quite delicate.
 
The clown did well all night. He was swimming up and down the tank. This morning though, he is acting a little funny again. He's found a rock and seems to be trying to burrow under it. Also, I noticed he is curling one of his fins. He's made it this far! I added a simple airstone to the right side of the tank to try and add some air to the water, but I don't know. Is he sleeping?
Clown - 16 hours after adding to tank - YouTube
 
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The biggest thing that is telling me that he is not doing ok is that when I move my finger to the glass he does not responce any more. Last night, even when he was struggling, he would respond by darting out into the water and then coming back. Now he just sits there looking at my finger. He's gills are still moving but there is not alot of movement. He seems to drift with the current about 4 to 5 inches and then sluggishly pulls himself back to where he was. Here is another 1 minute clip of his behavior. notice how he floats sideways with his fin curled?
Clown fish no doing well - YouTube
 
I checked the water for pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate and all readings are 0 with a pH of 8.0.
I think I messed up. When I build the aqauirum sump, I added three plexiglass walls as a bubble trap. I used a silcon product from Home Depot that did not say aquarium safe. It said 100% Silicon like the aquarium safe stuff I had did, but my wife noticed it contained ONE MORE chemical that "can be harmful to living tissue" according to several websites. THat may explain why the crab acted like he was swimming in acid!
 
So the siilcon on the right, in the red tube is what I used for the SUMP. I got it at Home Depot. The one on the left, I got there too bust ti says Aquairum Safe. It doesn't seem to impact the algae growth though. It seems to be doing great.
For the PVC, I used regular PVC cement and primer. I let everything cure over night before adding adding water.
 

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The clown fish died. I removed him from the tank. Right now there is nothing but algae living in my tank. There is a chemical in the GE Silicone called hexamethyldisilazane which is the ONLY thing that is not in the "Aquarium Safe" silicon made by DAP. I don't know if it got in the water but it says that it is not good for living flesh. I wonder if trace ammounts got in the water? Would doing a complete water change set me back to before the nitrogen cycle? What is the recommended course of action?

I am out of ideas but I am not giving up.:dunno:
 
I just finished resealing my sump a couple days ago using the GE Silicone I stuff. Theres a lot of mixed opinions on it but after doin some research and talking to my LFS guy I decided to go ahead and try it since it was already on hand. I used the window/door stuff. The silicone packaging you used says for plastics and plastic sheets. Maybe that's something? I'm not sure

I'm glad you're not giving up and I wish you the best. I will say this thread has been a tremendous help to me while I'm trying to set up my system. I hope your problem is not a difficult fix.
 
I think the chemical in the stuff I used that makes it dry fast is the harmful stuff. I'm going to do a full water change after I redo the sump. I only used the stuff on the sump. Well see how it goes.
Also, I don't give easily. I'll see this as a learning experience. :)
 
How long did you let the silicon cure for before adding water? I did a little searching online and it seems like the GE stuff needs a much longer to time to fully cure and become aquarium safe.
 
No need to be sorry:)
I'm learning and this is a mistake that I will never make again. The biggest lost if the poor fish and inverts. I am going to make sure everything I buy in the futre is safe for the fish in all ways. Changing the water is no big deal. Just part of the hobby:)
I wonder if I need to do a full cycle again. don't the bateria that grow as a result of the cycle live in the rocks and in the sand? I haven't had any spikes in any of the ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates, so I assume the bacteria ia still living. I will mix up the new salt water tomorrow and change the water Monday after it's mixed well.

Thanks to every who has been helping me. I'm glad this is all on this website so maybe someone else can refer to it and not make the same mistake.
 

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