shawnhardy
Member
I have had a salt water for over 3 years. I recently moved and took the opportunity to change my 90 gallon FO tank to a FOWLR. I took all the bio balls out of my wet dry and now I have about 90 lbs of live rock and 40 lbs of live sand. My water parameters are as follows:
SG: 1.023
pH: 8.2
Temp: 80F
NH3: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 20
dKH: 10
Ca: 400ppm
The tank has been up for about 4 weeks. The rock was mostly cured so I saw no ammonia spike, a slight increase in nitrites and then it went back to 0.
I figured I was cycled so I added a cleaner shrimp and an orchid dotty back. About a week later, I added a copperband and 2 clowns. When the snails I bought all died, I decided to buy a refractometer and discovered my SG was about 1.019. I raised it to 1.023. I think I did this too quickly because I have experienced a series of deaths. First it was the shrimp, then the copperband, then a clown and then the other clown. These all happened about one a day. I attributed the deaths to the salinity change. So yesterday I added another clown that I found at the LFS for $10. He seemed fine yesterday and even ate. When I came home today from work, I found him swimming in the corner above one of the powerheads and he hasn't moved positions in the tank all night. He just keeps swimming in the same spot and did not eat like he did the night before.
So now I am thinking there must be something toxic in my water? But what is weird is that the orchid dottyback is still alive and he has been in the water the longest. He seems fine and ate tonight.
Anyone have any ideas? Should I do a water change or just drain the tank and start over? I am totally stumped...
I did think of two things while I was typing this...I installed a check valve on the return line when I set the system up this time. I couldn't find a plastic one so I used a metal one...brass probably. Could this be leaching something into the water that would normally be flushed out but since this is a closed system causing me problems?
Also I notice that in my sump (former wet dry) there is a little bit of a glossy film on top of the water...could that be something in the water that is killing everything in the tank?
Please help! :help: :help:
SG: 1.023
pH: 8.2
Temp: 80F
NH3: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 20
dKH: 10
Ca: 400ppm
The tank has been up for about 4 weeks. The rock was mostly cured so I saw no ammonia spike, a slight increase in nitrites and then it went back to 0.
I figured I was cycled so I added a cleaner shrimp and an orchid dotty back. About a week later, I added a copperband and 2 clowns. When the snails I bought all died, I decided to buy a refractometer and discovered my SG was about 1.019. I raised it to 1.023. I think I did this too quickly because I have experienced a series of deaths. First it was the shrimp, then the copperband, then a clown and then the other clown. These all happened about one a day. I attributed the deaths to the salinity change. So yesterday I added another clown that I found at the LFS for $10. He seemed fine yesterday and even ate. When I came home today from work, I found him swimming in the corner above one of the powerheads and he hasn't moved positions in the tank all night. He just keeps swimming in the same spot and did not eat like he did the night before.
So now I am thinking there must be something toxic in my water? But what is weird is that the orchid dottyback is still alive and he has been in the water the longest. He seems fine and ate tonight.
Anyone have any ideas? Should I do a water change or just drain the tank and start over? I am totally stumped...
I did think of two things while I was typing this...I installed a check valve on the return line when I set the system up this time. I couldn't find a plastic one so I used a metal one...brass probably. Could this be leaching something into the water that would normally be flushed out but since this is a closed system causing me problems?
Also I notice that in my sump (former wet dry) there is a little bit of a glossy film on top of the water...could that be something in the water that is killing everything in the tank?
Please help! :help: :help: