getting frustrated

[ron72]

Getting frustrated. Just lost another green chromis today. Tank is about 3 months old, 90 gal, ~90 lb LR, 40 lb LS, 3 emerald crabs, 1 cleaner shrimp, 5 small snails, 4 large snails. I put in six green chromis when tank was about three weeks old. Two died within a week. The other 4 have been looking great. My tank has been very slow getting started on its algae cycle. I added 3 more green chromis last Thursday. One died Saturday and another one today. I now have 5. My water tests have been rock solid for over 6 weeks. Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates are all zero, alkalinity is 2.5 meq/L, pH is 8.0, calcium is 420,specific gravity is 1.022 and temperature is 78 degrees. I have been adding Kent Marine Tech CB (part B) in an attempt to get the Ph and alkalinity up a little. Is there something else I should be testing for? I use the Seatest kits. I had the LFS test my water and they got the same results. I think I have even lost a large snail. It found it on it's back. After a day I flipped it over. It now has not moved in 2 or 3 days. What should I do? I can't even keep damsels and snails alive.

 

[snailheave]

you went through what i did. i attribute it to new tank syndrome. i lost some chromis and lots of snails. at that point i felt the same way you do now - I CAN'T EVEN KEEP MY BELOVED SNAILS ALIVE! look at me! my name is snail heaven! anyway. good thing i didn't because around the 5th or 6th month things settled down. you'll be fine.

 

[ron72]

Each day now, I get a light coating of green algae on the front and sides of my tank. I clean it off daily. I let the back go. It is getting a pretty thick coat of green algae with some clear paths through it that the snails have cleaned off. The snails spend most of their time on the live rock. Do I have enough snails? Should I clean off the back of the tank? It looks pretty bad.

 

[badkharma]

With your size tank, you should have AT LEAST 30 snails, if not 50. Some even say one per gallon. Get some varied ones, like turbos, nassarius, and maybe some ceriths.

 

[cdn_beaver]

For the algae, you could try testing for phosphates and silicates. It is to my understanding that the algae may be feeding off the phosphates. Not a 100% sure of this tho. HTH

 

[rickster01]

My tank is 5 months old and snails will still not survive

 

[fulofcharm]

have you tested your nitrates,nitrites and ammona levels??? and also where do you get your inverts and fish??? :thinking: