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pcircle85

pcircle85

Member
WTF am I doing wrong?
10 gallon hex, been running for over a month now.
~20 lbs of LR
10 lbs of LS
Powerhead, heater, HOB filter, etc...
~1.024SG (refractometer on it's way)
I've been "ghost" feeding for the past two weeks.
Ammonia stays at 0
Nitrites stay at 0
Nitrate stay at 0
.....WHY?!
 
flricordia

flricordia

Active Member
Maybe the LR was already cured and you missed the cycle or maybe the test kit you are using is not accurate. Buy a pulsing xenia frag if you can from the LRS or at least a mushroom and see how it does for a week or two.
 
pcircle85

pcircle85

Member
The LR was out of water for 2 days, surely there had to be some die off.
Shouldn't I at least have some nitrates though?
 
pcircle85

pcircle85

Member
And if I missed the cycle, and I'm seeing constant 0 ammonia, why do clown fish keep dying? My test kit is brand new. I also had the water tested at the LFS.
 
flricordia

flricordia

Active Member
Just depends. Could have been high quality rock with lots of places where bacteria could have survived out of water and/or your tank may have just gone through a soft cycle. If so then you will have to add livestock very, very slowely over time or the tank could crash. Best not to start with fish.
Did you ever get any algae appearing? Brown diatoms even?
 
S

swalchemist

Guest
Hmmmm it's possible it's cycled already either way if your Ammonia is zero and nitrites are zero as well it would have no bearing on the fish. I suspect the fish deaths were unrelated to any chemistry issues UNLESS there is a drastic change between the LFS waters pH & SG and your tanks pH and SG? This could be the case.
 
pcircle85

pcircle85

Member
The fish didn't die quickly. Acted fine for probably a week. Then I came home to a dead clown.
If the tank cycled, wouldn't I have nitrates?
There's no algae at all. What do brown diatoms look like?
 
rtspeed

rtspeed

Member
if the tanl has not cycled there are other bacteria that is missing in your tank besides, amm ,nitrite and nitrate. these other bacteria are one we do not test for but are needed to keep fish and corals alive.
I would recycle your tank if there aren't any fish in there, also check your temp and salnity when you temp, and also ph as said above.
Also how did you acclimate them?
 
scotts

scotts

Active Member
OK looking at your previous posts you say you have had this tank for 6 months and have had four clowns die it in. However that is kind of beside the point. In one of your posts you show a tank with round rocks in it. Is that your tank and are those the "live" rock you are talking about. Because if it is I then you need to sit down before you go on reading.
That is not live rock that is used in this hobby. That is river rock that came out of a river. So that would be a starting point, we need to work on that.
 
pcircle85

pcircle85

Member
I'm trying to re-cycle it. That's the problem.
PH is 8.2, temp is a steady 78, dkh 11, calcium ~390, phosphate 0
I'm using distilled water. That a problem?
 
pcircle85

pcircle85

Member
Originally Posted by Scotts
http:///forum/post/2481288
OK looking at your previous posts you say you have had this tank for 6 months and have had four clowns die it in. However that is kind of beside the point. In one of your posts you show a tank with round rocks in it. Is that your tank and are those the "live" rock you are talking about. Because if it is I then you need to sit down before you go on reading.
That is not live rock that is used in this hobby. That is river rock that came out of a river. So that would be a starting point, we need to work on that.
That's how the tank was 5 months ago. Sorry. It definitely has live rock in it now. I'm not completely stupie

Uno momento and I'll get a pic of it now.
 
granny

granny

Member
Just curious, Why did you have a tank with river rock in it 5 months ago?
Being new, you may not have realized the danger of river rock, or any rock just laying around being filled with metals.
 
pcircle85

pcircle85

Member
Originally Posted by Granny
http:///forum/post/2481308
Just curious, Why did you have a tank with river rock in it 5 months ago?
Being new, you may not have realized the danger of river rock, or any rock just laying around being filled with metals.
Hmm... You bring up a very good point. In a freshwater tank, river rock was perfectly fine.
But in saltwater... it has a stronger chance to leech...
 
granny

granny

Member
YOur tank looks really nice now. Two things stand out
-Are you using the same sand that was in there when you had the freshwater rock?
There is a possibility the sand was contaminated and may have leached lead or copper or who knows what all into the sand base. Will your LFS test for these for you?
-No Cycle. Truthfully, the tank is empty. I would just dump a handful of fish food in there
and see if you get any readings in two days. You should see something happening. You may have had sufficient bacteria in the sand or in your filter media to break down the small quantities you have been putting it. A dead fish should certianly have causeed soem results on those test kits.
 
pcircle85

pcircle85

Member
No, had crushed coral in it at first, til I read up on the disadvantages of it.
Put the LS in when I took the cobble out.
Are you saying dump ALOT of food in? I've just been sprinkling a normal amount daily.
 
chrgerondavins

chrgerondavins

Member
with "20lbs of live rock and 10lbs of live sand" you really have about a 3.5 gallon tank. Honestly that shouldn't even be enough room for even a single clown to live. I am sorry but those small aquariums are 30x harder to maintain. Plus, a HEX tank has no room for fish to swim back and forth, thus stressing most marine fish MORE. Honestly, I'd throw this tank out the window and use a rubbermaid tub.
 
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