Big problem!! please help

[seadoggy]

My 55 ga tank has been up in running as a salt tank for almost 2 wks. Before it was a salt tank it was bracket tank. I have a marineland 280/330 and mag350 filter on it with 3 biowheels. That have been in their for almost 2years now. Also a protein skimmer and 1 powerhead. When I set up my tank I added 10lbs of live sand, with 40lbs of live rock. I saw my ammonia spike and drop in about a wk. 2 days ago I took a water sample up to the pet store and my PH was 8.2-8.4, Nitrates about 20 i believe, and nitrites were 2 with my ammonia @ zero. So I bought one fish a Percula clown small maybe 1 inch. Today I buy my own test kit from Pet supermarket it's a DRY-TAB Master kit by Aquarium pharm. I tested my ammonia it was 2.0ppm?!!(that was with the dry tabs) now I tested it with my liquid buy the same company and it was zero?!! Next was my nitrates 140!! they were 20-40 at the store?!! Now my nitrites are about .2 almost zero and were the same up at the store. I am so confused? on what to belive. Now my clown will not eat he looks good I bought reef flakes, and today frozen brine shrimp still will not eat so please just help.....

 

[seadoggy]

I add him slowly to my own water over about a 1hr, by adding some of my water and so on. so I should return the test kits? and he is swimming all over the place doesn't look stress just doesn't want to eat

 

[elan]

i agree with mnreefman... i have a few different kinds of test kits, and all read differently... best ones for the money are salifert, they sell them on this site and its a good deal as well..
for your immediate problems, i would suggest the following.
your tank is still cycling and it is causing stress on your clown.. hopefully he will live though the cycle, but i wouldnt bet money on that. If you can take him back, do so.. store credit or maybe take him in a month once your tank has cycled.
Try and feed him very small amounts. if he doesnt eat, so be it. try again in a day or two.. he will eventually eat (if he survives) but it may take a few days for him to acclimate to his new surroundings... just think of how scared nemo was when he was put into the fishtank, but in your case, nemo doesnt have any friends to calm him down... and in reality, any fish in the tank would probably just get nemo more stressed (those fish in the movie were unusually friendly)
I actually have a set of firefish (they never made the hollywood cut) which didnt come out to eat for two weeks... now, they are always around in the tank.
good luck with your tank and remember to take double the time everyone is suggesting... tripple the time your LFS is telling you..and you should not run into to many more problems of this sort.

 

[seadoggy]

Thanks