lookin for opinions

[coralwolf]

Hi everyone Newbee here,
I've been reading these posts for a few weeks now and thought I might get a few opinions.
I have a 55g FOWLR, 25-lbs of LR, 40-lbs of coral sand, 2 damsels, and 1 clown. It’s been running for just over 8 weeks now and my reading have not changed since I started. AMM – 0.1, pH – 8.1, Nitrite – 0.0, Nitrate – 0.0, S.G. – 1.022, Temp - 79. I have been testing the water every 2 to 3 days since the beginning and have never had any spikes.
On the 7th week I assumed my cycle had completed so I added 1 Fire Angel, 1 Lemon peel Angel and 1 Potters Angel. The Fire Angel died the first few hours the Lemon peel the next day the Potter is still going strong about 1 ½ weeks.
For filtration I have an Emperor 400 dual bio wheel and that’s all.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tangman99]

Whether or not your tank cycled, it appears you added too many fish at once. When a cycle completes, your system is in equilibrium. In otherwords, only enough bacteria develops to maintian converting your present ammonia levels. If you added 3 fish at once, the current bacteria could not keep up with the new ammonia levels and enough new bacteria could not be created fast enough to keep the ammonia levels down. To make a long story short, your ammonia levels probably rose and your fragile new fish died.
You should make sure your ammonia levels are consistantly 0 before adding anything and only one fish at a time to a new tank. I would not add anymore than 1 fish ever two weeks. Angels are pretty fragile and probably should be added to a more mature tank also.
Good luck and sorry for your loss.

 

[jim672]

coralwolf,
Welcome to the Board!
To add to what TangMan already mentioned, putting 3 dwarf angels in a 55 gallon tank would be a mistake under the best of circumstances. All three of the centrophyge you selected are not very hardy and demand extremely good, and established, water conditions. Dwarf angels need lots of area to graze on algea. You could do with more live rock where this algea will grow. In any case, you don't want to put more than one dwarf angel in your tank.
If you can, you might want to try to return the Potter's angel to your LFS. You may loose it, too, if you keep it in your newly cycled tank.
When you do add fish to your system you should have a quarantene tank and put them for 2 to 4 weeks to isolate them from the rest of your fish, in case they do have an infection that they brought with them from the LFS. Proper acclimation of new fish is very important to their chances of survival.
Jim

 

[coralwolf]

Thanks for the responses,
Yes I now know I was being a bit impatient and trying to rush things, no more fish for awhile!
I will be adding more LR I’m thinking of finishing with about 50 to 55-lbs does that sound like enough?
What about my readings is this normal to have no spikes or changes for 8 weeks?

 

[lutz493]

I would add as much live rock as you can afford and look at buying yourself a Protein Skimmer.
I use a Prizim Pro - I am a n00b myself and wanted something easy to deal with. The skimmer just sits on the back of your tank like your Bio-Wheels do - You fill the center chamber up with a little bit of water, plug it in, wait a about 30 seconds for the chambers to fill, you make some adjustments to air flow and water flow and your done. Very simple. My skimmer has a place to hold carbon so I put carbon in there....
You may want to remove your 2 Damsels, When I cycled my tank I waited 2 weeks to make sure the levels were low, I pulled the 2 Damsels ( Some can be agressive and pick at fish ) and then replaced them with a 6-Line Wrasse. He is a very cool fish and is very sleak when he moves in and out of the rocks. Good fish.

 

[mightyoxjuice]

I would get rid of the damsels unless you want them in there as permanent residents. Once you add more live rock and get it set up as you like it will be difficult to get the damsels out without tearing apart your tank.
I also think that they pick at the other fish too much.