New to salt water fish tanks and this forum.

[Macgammon]

I've been running my tank for 3 months now and everything's gone great other than a few fish that have died. Now I have to coral that look like their not going to make it. Can any one help me? I really don't want to loose any corals.

P.s. ill post pictures of the corals in a second

[Macgammon]

Here's the pictures of the coralhttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/a8era4es.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/qesejane.jpg

[fda483]

Take it slow my friend 3 months is real early in the life of a reef tank. Give us some more details on your set up, test results and what fish and coral you have added. Go slow.......

[Macgammon]

Ok so my tank is a 56 gallon with a closed basement sump. I only know the some names of my corals names (ill post pics). Hammer, a few different mushroom, bubble coral, brain coral, flowerpot. Fish I have 2 ocellaris clown fish, 1 yellow tang, 3 green damsels, 3 kaudern cardinals, 1 flasher, 1 matted filefish, 2 emerald crabs, 2 scarlet shrimp, 1 electric blue hermit crab, 2 turbo snails, 3 bubble tip anemones. As for test 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite.

[Macgammon]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/3e4ejada.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/aqe4edyb.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/u6umares.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/y8y4eve3.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/4e6ugu4a.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/yqahajan.jpg

[Macgammon]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/9urymehe.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/11/7e3ajata.jpg

[Macgammon]

I just retest my nitrite and it came back as about .25

[fda483]

Thats a lot of fish for a tank of that size and age. Your tank is still cycling. How many of the fish still alive? Get ready for some serious water changes.

Joe

[fda483]

Also did you get the dead fish out? Do you have live rock in the system?

[EllieSuz]

That's at least twice as many fish as I keep in a 60 gallon tank. I don't think your tank can sustain that large a bio-load.

[fda483]

That's at least twice as many fish as I keep in a 60 gallon tank. I don't think your tank can sustain that large a bio-load.

Yeah I have 12 fish in a 200gal display with a 175 gal sump, and the tank is 3 years old. Go slow.......

[Macgammon]

I have a little over 60 pounds of live rock. As for the fish that died it was a diamond goby. It jumped out of the tank one night. I bought a second a week later and it did the same thing. They both live in the tank for about a month. And I didn't put him back in the tank since it was dried up on the floor.

[Macgammon]

Also all my fish are still alive I got them as small as I could, And I change the water twice a week

[fda483]

Good sounds a little better. How did you cycle the tank and how many gals do you do on the water changes.

[Sydoriakp]

wow you have more fish than my 125 n 40 sump your gunna need to vigoursly maintain water quality religious weekly cleaning that's a lot u running a sump?? it can be done just with test kits and tight cleaning wc regime

[Macgammon]

When I change the water I take 5 gallons out then I add 5 gallons of new saltwater. Then ill balance out the specific gravity out with fresh water that ranges form 1 to 2 gallons. When I cycled my tank I add the live sand, water, and salt it took me a few days to get the right amount of salt then it sat for about a week. Then I add the live rook, it only took 2 weeks to get nitrites in the water. Then I bought 2 scarlet shrimp to live in the tank. Everything went fine after a week of have the shrimp so I bought my emerald crabs, clown fish, and goby. Since then I've added a few fish every other week.

[fda483]

Don't add anything else, let the system start to mature. This is a bio system that takes time to develop and balance. Keep testing the water and doing weekly water changes. You will likely lose some fish and coral along the way. You will get algae blooms and the tank will look ugly for a while. Its all par of the development of a mature biosystem. The tank will reach a point when it has no ammonia and nitrites but it will take some time with this bio load.

We have all been there you want to add more stuff and replace what dies but it is just a waist at this point. Let it mature.

Do you have a skimmer in the sump? Have you checked pH or Alk?

Joe

[Macgammon]

I have a protein skimmer but it hangs on the tank

[FTDelta]

Did you let your tank cycle? If so, how long? The first 2 pics of your corals looks like they're bleached. Not too sure of the polyps - they look like the beginning of bleaching. The yellow tang needs to be in tanks of at least 125 gallons or larger.

[mluntz]

You have way too many fish in that tank. Keep an eye on them because if some of them die, you need to get them out of there ASAP or you will have an ammonia spike. Keep an eye out for the tang police. That tank is way too small for him.

[alf1096]

Need water params and that is a lot of stuff for a 3 month old tank

[EllieSuz]

The time to match salinity during a water change is before you add it to the tank. You really want to have the new water as close in salinity and temperature as possible. Many of us mix new saltwater in advance and keep a small powerhead and a heater in the container until it's water change time.

[Macgammon]

Elle I buy already mixed salt water what I meant is I add more fresh water after to replace the water that evaporated over the week

[EllieSuz]

Oh, that's more like it. I would suggest that you "top off" more often than weekly, however. Do you have a sump? If so, make a mark where you want the water level to stay and add fresh RO/DI water daily to that mark. If you're running without a sump, mark a line on your tank in an inconspicuous place and add water daily to keep it at that level.

[acabgd]

Anyway, what's the air bubbler doing in a reef tank?

[M.phenax]

When I change the water I take 5 gallons out then I add 5 gallons of new saltwater. Then ill balance out the specific gravity out with fresh water that ranges form 1 to 2 gallons. .

If you only add fresh water after a water change, your tank is going to experience huge fluctuations in salinity etc. I'm pretty sure your corals are dying as a result.
You should really do fresh water top offs daily to compensate for the evaporation and prevent fluctuations. Your fish and corals would thank you.

[Macgammon]

If you read all my post you would see I add salt water first then add the fresh water to top off

[EllieSuz]

I understand that, but the point we are trying to make is, topping off weekly is not frequently enough. It causes too large a swing in salinity. Please get in the habit of topping off daily.

[Macgammon]

Ok well I check it daily and keep it at 1.022

[Macgammon]

The Petco I get my water at is at 1.0225 so I have to add fresh water to balance it out

[stk731]

Best advice is to take it slow will make it more enjoyable in the long run

[EllieSuz]

The ocean is a tad over 1.026, so keeping your specific gravity at 1.022 can be difficult on fish, but especially corals. I would consider making my own saltwater, if I were you.

[Macgammon]

I've been told by all the fish shops to keep it at 1.022 and to never let it get above 1.026

[H.reidi.MN]

I keep 1.025

[EllieSuz]

You can certainly choose to ignore advice you get on this forum. A lot of us have been in this hobby a long time and know what we're talking about. I can't figure out why a LFS would give you such advice, but if you employ common sense, you'll see that keeping your salinity close to the ocean is obvious.

[Macgammon]

I'm defiantly not ignoring anything I hear on this forum but I'd like to see what more people have to say. I also will look up things that are brought to my attention like the salinity. I found you were right for a coral tank 1.025 is better for corals. So I will make a change to that slowly.

[fda483]

I'm defiantly not ignoring anything I hear on this forum but I'd like to see what more people have to say. I also will look up things that are brought to my attention like the salinity. I found you were right for a coral tank 1.025 is better for corals. So I will make a change to that slowly.

Lots of stores keep there fish only systems with a lower salinity. Some think it may help with controlling parasites. But once the fish is home during your acclimation you slowly bring it back up closer to 1.025.

The numbers are important but don't kill yourself at this point to be 100% right on with them. Everything in life has a range. Whats more important is how the tank seems to be performing and use the parameters to help make it better. Also stability is important. Sometimes I would rather have a parameter a little high or low rather than fluctuating all over the place trying to get it perfect.

Joe