new tank issues

T

trc1299

Reefing newb
ok, after reading a bit of this forum, i am in over my head, but here it goes...
I had a 35 gallon octagon tank with a cleaner shrimp, yellow tail damsel, and 2 fire fish, i did damn near nothing to the tank and it ran fine ( I thought). well I got a new 60 gallon cube, bought from a local fish store, got it set up, ran with only live rock and crushed coral in it for a month, thought all was well, put my existing fish in, and killed the shrimp within minutes (never felt so bad) fish are ok, but after running again for weeks tried another shrimp (lasted 5 minutes) and a sifter star fish ( they should have NEVER sold me) i bought my first test kit, my parameters are as follows:
Ph 7.8
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
GH 120+
KH 24
density 1.024

have been adding reef builder and reef builder to get Ph up, but never stays there, and my local fish guy is kind of sending me up a wall, any ideas?
 
Was it possibly a used tank? Reason I ask, from what you're describing the first thing that pops out to me is there is copper in the tank...But that wouldn't happen with a new tank.

What did you clean the tank with when you set it up?...have you put in any medications? or dosed anything? If so what?
 
To be fair, fish stores exist to make money. You should research anything you put in your tank.
I think your pH is a little low, but I don't really see the need to add anything to get it up.
One of two things happened. Either the 60 gallon was still cycling when you threw everything in there (which inverts are much more sensitive to parameter swings than fish are), or the salinity or pH or something was very different between the two tanks.
Did you acclimate them at all? Or just throw them in?
Is it a used tank?

Oh, and welcome to the site!
 
The entire tank, and assembly is/was new, from lights to base, kind of a package deal, i did clean out the tank with some tap water, but that was it, rinsed the crushed coral, (but not the live crushed coral) i have taken the water over to be tested, and i just keep getting "ideas" about the problem, not a real solution. the density was real high before I got my refractometer (1.032) but after water changes over a month I got that down, have been trying to get my ph up, so I can add another cleaner shrimp ( love watching them molt) but just leery of getting anything else until I get the water right. have been adding the reef builder and reef buffer, but nothing else.
i did acclimate the existing fish to the tank, and all was well until the shrimp went in head first, then down hill from there.
I have ordered a tester for Magnesium, but hadn't thought about copper, or even new about it.

Thank you
 
Welcome to the site...it doesn't sound like your paramaters are that off to the point that it killed your inverts. They are very sensitive to changes in water, and need to be acclimated very slowly over a period of 2-3hrs sometimes. Also, you didn't mention he temp, which is important, but you did mention that the salinity was a bit high and you're working on that, so maybe that was it. Hopefully it all works out for you, so keep us posted, and keep doing regular water changes with R/O water, not tap water, cause that could be the issue too. :)
 
+1 Smitty on the Temp, if there is a large temp diff and you did not acclimate them long that could have been the problem.

also,
have been adding the reef builder and reef buffer
Click to expand...
i don't know whats in your reef builder and reef buffer (can you check and see?) but you really don't need to be buffing anything since you have nothing using up the elements in your water... Just regular water changes should do just fine.

What ever is in that buffer could be the cause also if you added too much.
 
Reef builder from Seachem (carbonate, bicarbonate, chloride and sulfate salts of sodium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, and potassium)
Reef Buffer from Seachem (nothing listed)

I used about 2/3 of a 250g bottle and stopped adding when I didn't have the desired results. Buffer will bring the ph up, but only for a day, then it goes back to 7.8,
 
Yo definitely don't need to be adding the reef builder/buffer to keep inverts. Both my tanks have had a pH of 7.8 since they were first set up and I've never had issues keeping anything including my cleaner shrimp (which have been in the tank going on 8 months now).

What was your acclimation process when moving your first shrimp, and adding your second?
 
both the same, using the floating bag style, the second one lasted longer than the first but died in about 5 min... i bought a blue tang yesterday, my yellow tailed blue damsel is a pain in the butt
 
Have you checked for stray current. Shrimp cannot handle any stray electricity. I found that out the hard way1 When i first set back up.
 
trc1299 said:
both the same, using the floating bag style, the second one lasted longer than the first but died in about 5 min... i bought a blue tang yesterday, my yellow tailed blue damsel is a pain in the butt
Click to expand...

I hate to tell you this, but you need to return that tang. All tangs need at least 6 feet of swimming length and without that they are very prone to ich and dying because of the stress. And the damsel is going to be a pain to any new fish you have because they are super aggressive. I would remove him as well.
 
Little, you are right about that Damsel, it nips at just about everything I put in the tank, and won't stop, the tang is currently about 1" long, how long do I have until I need a larger tank? I have 2 fire fish, what else is easy ( or so) to keep that isn't a pain to other fish?
 
It sounds like there are 3 possiblities here:

1) copper
2) failure to slolwy acclimate for inverts
3) Stray voltage

Test for copper immediately. Learn about drip acclimation and test for stray voltage.
 
sen5241b, i checked for copper yesterday, twice, and had a zero reading both times, and I have checked for the stray voltage and have nothing to ground. i have looked at the Drip method, and i am probably going to try that for my next invert
 
The issue with them is that they really know that they are in a tank that is too small for them and they tent to stress even when pretty tiny. But i would suggest is that you look for a new home for him that is properly sized for him, that way you know he is going to a good place and you get to enjoy him for a little bit.

And i would look into the wrasses (such as the mystery or my fav, the carpenter wrasse) gobies (tons of really cool ones and they have great characters) blennies, cardinals, dwarf angels, hawkfish (not invert save . . ). A really good place to check out fish is this place: Saltwater Fish: Marine Aquarium Fish for Saltwater Aquariums Remember to check on the temperament and size requirements for your fish though. Also if you do decide you want an aggressive fish, add them last. That way they have to work around the established territories of the more docile fish and you wont be adding new comer for them to bother.
 
trc1299 said:
Little, you are right about that Damsel, it nips at just about everything I put in the tank, and won't stop, the tang is currently about 1" long, how long do I have until I need a larger tank? I have 2 fire fish, what else is easy ( or so) to keep that isn't a pain to other fish?
Click to expand...

If you have live rock you should look at a Blenny, or any type of gobies, I have one of each and I love them.
 
Amber, any rock you put in your tank is going to become live over time. Live just means that it has a bacteria population on it that can process waste.
 

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