Seeking Insight/Advice on New Tank Issues

[slootha]

Hello,

This is my first post on RC, but I have been using this as one of my many resources when i have questions or need to do more research into the hobby. I am a novice to the hobby, having only just started converting to a saltwater tank a couple of months ago. I know I have made some mistakes, and that I will most likely make more before i learn everything. I am having an issue that I'm not sure about, however, and was hoping to get some help from you fine gentlemen and ladies.

First off, my setup and parameters. I'm running a 75g drilled aquarium with an internal corner overflow, which is currently running to a 29g diy sump in the base. The sump currently has filter socks, purigen, chemipure elite, and activated carbon for filtration. I have a SRO 1000int skimmer en route and should be here first thing next week (it took so long because i had to buy used due to budget). My return pump is a Rio Plus 2100 Aqua Pump 692 GPH. I have two powerheads in the tank (a SunSun 800 gph and a custom made 1600 gph double powerhead). I currently have about 61 pounds of live rock in the tank, with roughly 80lbs of argonite live sand. I'm using a 300w heater set for roughly 79 degrees farenheit. I am using RO-DI water at TDS~4-10 mixed with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals salt.

I tested my parameters about 30 minutes ago. Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrites 0ppm, Nitrates 0-5ppm, Phosphates around 0.25 ppm, PH is 8.2. My temperature has been between 77 and 82 degrees Farenheit over the last couple weeks (currently 80.4). Specific Gravity is 1.025. Doing weekly water changes of roughly 10%.

The tank is about 1.5 months old, ammonia and nitrites have been consistently 0 for a little over 2 weeks now. I had a light algae bloom (a bit of hair algae) starting, so i started to get a bit of CuC. I also moved my clownfish pair from QT (they had been in there for about 3 weeks and looked good for that period, i had treated them prophylactically with non-copper medicines for parasites). All creatures described below have/had been in the tank for about a week

Here's where I am having some issues that I don't understand, and was hoping you could help me understand A) what may be happening and B) What I might be able to do to correct any of these issues.

The first thing i have noticed is that my Red Fromia sea star appears to be dying (curling into a ball, tips of legs starting to turn white). The two possible culprits (besides some disease) I can think of are that I only drip acclimated him for an hour (perhaps that was too short of a span), and that I have read that sea stars are extremely sensitive to water parameter changes and temperature changes. My room's temperature fluctuates wildly during the day/night, and despite my efforts of using an AC to keep the room's temperature steady, I have seen the tank's temperature vary between 77 degrees and 82 degrees in the last 2 weeks.

Secondly, I noticed I lost my mexican turbo snail overnight last night. He was upside down beneath an area of live rock that forms a cave/passthrough. Is it possible he just fell and died because he could not right himself? In addition to this, it seems that alot of my other CuC (some blue/red leg hermits, a couple magarita snails, bumblebee snails) barely seem to be moving, and it has me concerned.

Finally, when I got home last night, I noticed my larger clown was missing. I do not see a body anywhere in the tank (although I have yet to move all the liverock, so it's possible it is in there dead). I checked my sump and plumbing and filter socks and it is not in any of those. My top was off at the time (i know XD) as I was doing some maintenance on it for better hanging of the lights, so it's also possible that it jumped, but I can find no evidence of the body anywhere around the tank. I do have a cat in the house, but it was locked out of the room and no one was home in the period when i was gone (the clown was in there when i left) and when i got back, so I don't think anyone let her in to the room to take the body if there was one. Do clowns often go into liverock and get stuck? The clowns were hosting in an empty bottom corner of the tank, but now the remaining clown is just swimming right at the surface and facing upwards like it's looking for something? I tried to feed it a few flakes but it didn't touch them, so now I'm also concerned about it.

Any advice you guys have on any of these things would be greatly appreciated! I want to make sure I correct any and all issues before I do anything else

[Tspors58]

The tank is 1.5 MONTHS old? Correct?
1. Way to early for a star it starved.
2. Tank is still in cycle, or ammonia building from death of star.
3. See # 2
What process was used to cycle?
I think you rushed a bit.

[Kona26]

I am also learning so I am sure someone with more info will chime in ... but what is your cal mag and alk . If I am right mag can give issues with your clean up crew if it is not in check. I would get your self a salifert test kit for those. (the best imo) What kind of lighting..? also looks like you said your tds is 4-10 -- I have been told that you want 0 might want to look into your rodi set up.

As far as your clown I have had a clown that was gone for about 3 days then found it just fine when I woke up .... I have also had a fish jump and wasnt able to see it untill I moved the tank.

I would first start with your big 3 and see where those lvls are at. I am sure that would help other people give you and answer

[Kona26]

the tank is 1.5 months old? Correct?
1. Way to early for a star it starved.
2. Tank is still in cycle, or ammonia building from death of star.
3. See # 2
what process was used to cycle?
I think you rushed a bit.

+1

[slootha]

The tank is 1.5 MONTHS old? Correct?
1. Way to early for a star it starved.
2. Tank is still in cycle, or ammonia building from death of star.
3. See # 2
What process was used to cycle?
I think you rushed a bit.

Yes I probably did rush things. That being one of my afforementioned mistakes starting out. The entry on liveaquaria for the red sea stars made it sound like you could still feed them flake foods and didn't directly mention (as some other entries for livestock on the site) anything about keeping them in a more established system, so I didn't realize they needed that.

The star is not dead yet, so I don't know if ammonia would be building from that. How would i be able to tell if the tank is still in cycle? The levels of ammonia and nitrites are at 0ppm when tested with my test kit. I know this doesn't necessarily mean a tank is done cycling, I'm just trying to understand how i can otherwise detect that a cycle is still occurring if those levels read 0.

I did a fishless cycle for the first month, with a combination of live rock, live sand, and some base rock. Around the second week the nitrites were pretty high, by 4 weeks ammonia and nitrites were both zero and i did a water change.

[slootha]

I am also learning so I am sure someone with more info will chime in ... but what is your cal mag and alk . If I am right mag can give issues with your clean up crew if it is not in check. I would get your self a salifert test kit for those. (the best imo) What kind of lighting..? also looks like you said your tds is 4-10 -- I have been told that you want 0 might want to look into your rodi set up.

As far as your clown I have had a clown that was gone for about 3 days then found it just fine when I woke up .... I have also had a fish jump and wasnt able to see it untill I moved the tank.

I would first start with your big 3 and see where those lvls are at. I am sure that would help other people give you and answer


Sorry, it wasn't clear from this post, what do you mean by big 3? In my post i have the levels for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, not sure if that is what you are referring to? I understand that 0 is the most ideal, but my well water comes out at like 300 which is pretty high to begin with. Should i run the water through the rodi a second time? My Calcium level is at roughly 440ppm. Alkalinity is 179ppm. For lighting I have an EVO Quad led system, it has 8640 Lumen
3 watt LEDs 48x 10000K 16x Actinic 460nm. I will definetly look into the salifert test kits, thanks!

[Kona26]

big 3 cal mag and alk

as for running through a second time..im not sure about that.

[heathlindner25]

Fromia's never left unless you are very experienced reefer, And turbo snails do you die from time to time.

[vokrey09]

Snails fall off the glass/rocks all the time and are unable to right themselves a lot. I quickly look for this daily and flip any over before the die.

Also, it seems that your problems may be coming from such a large temperature swing. Anything more than +/- 2 degrees is not good imo. I try to keep mine with 1 degree.

Or you, slowly raise your tank heaters temp to 79/80 so that the swing isn't so large.

Also I really recommend running 2 heaters in case the primary fails. Run the second one a degree below the primary so it will only turn on if the primary isn't keeping up.

Lastly, I would worry about "the big 3" either of you don't have corals.

[slootha]

big 3 cal mag and alk

as for running through a second time..im not sure about that.

ok, good to know. I don't currently have a mag tester, but the other two values seem to be in a good spot based on the test results i got from the tank. I will order a mag test kit this weekend. Thanks for the info

[slootha]

Fromia's never left unless you are very experienced reefer, And turbo snails do you die from time to time.

Thanks, that's good to know. I will not be getting one again, at least not any time remotely soon. the live aquaria entry for them said care level was moderate, so i guess i should have heeded that more. thanks!

[slootha]

Snails fall off the glass/rocks all the time and are unable to right themselves a lot. I quickly look for this daily and flip any over before the die.

Also, it seems that your problems may be coming from such a large temperature swing. Anything more than +/- 2 degrees is not good imo. I try to keep mine with 1 degree.

Or you, slowly raise your tank heaters temp to 79/80 so that the swing isn't so large.

Also I really recommend running 2 heaters in case the primary fails. Run the second one a degree below the primary so it will only turn on if the primary isn't keeping up.

Lastly, I would worry about "the big 3" either of you don't have corals.

I was worried about the temperature swinging. I do have a second 300w heater but i was afraid it was malfunctioning because it seemed to always be on and the water was at 82 (the max ive seen) and it went down after i removed it to the 79-80 range with the one heater. I will have to pick up another second one so that i don't have the low temp swings, then maybe add a small fan for surface cooling (since i cant afford a chiller at the moment) to help prevent the high swings in conjunction with the room AC

[vokrey09]

Definitely pick up a 2nd one. If your going to use a fan, it will make your water evaporate quicker, so if you don't have an ato you will need to add top off water more frequently. Consistency is key in temp and salinity

[gone fishin]

Your still in the very early stages and right now it does not take much for your chemistry to spiral.

The clown may be just hiding out and may show back up. Out of curiosity what non copper medications did you use, there are a lot of snake oils on the store shelves. Also, just to let you know 3 weeks QT is not long enough.

In all honesty I do not give much hope of the star surviving. IN a new tank there is not much in there for the star or CUC to eat at the moment.

I don't know if you have seen this link but it should be of some use to you.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074


I wish you good luck.

[coolxborg]

Deleted reply - meant for another post

[CStrickland]

@slootha - I think you did a great job setting up. Your timelines are within reason and you clearly thought through a lot of this before you got started. Nice work!
I'd keep an eye on the star, I agree he doesn't have much of a chance. Maybe you could give him to another reefer, or a nearby store?
I do a daily head count for my snails too. Turbos clean the rocks really well but some kinds are from places where it's all rock, and are pretty helpless on their backs in the sand.
I think if the clown does die in the rocks your cuc will be able to get to him, but if he stays missing is keep an eye on the ammonia and maybe have some Prime on hand just in case.
I wouldn't worry about ca alk and mg at all. Any decent salt mix is going to keep them in line with your change schedule and no coral.
If there isn't any algae for your snails you can put in nori sheets, but only if really necessary because it has a lot of phosphates, don't leave the leftovers in the tank.
My temp swings that much easy. It's not gonna kill any of your stuff, but a good heater is good to have because of how they can do a lot of damage if they fail.

I wouldn't really worry about anything but the star yet. Just keep testing and reading. You're off to a good start, welcome!

[Sk8r]

Test alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, temperature, salinity. Track these things above all. If these are off, other things will be off.