All but one fish and a few corals dead

[Kal]

Hello,

I am hoping you guys can help. For the past few weeks I have been losing a fish or coral every few days, and I cannot find the culprit. Before we start, water parameters are below. I just ran these tests using Salifert and API both.

20 Gallon Long Aquarium, 2 months old. AQ30 filter running carbon, small refugium on the back with Culerpa and live rock rubble for copepods

PO4 - 0
KH/Alk - 12
pH - 8.15
Ca - 440
Mg - 1500 (Not sure, water never turned blue)
NO2 - 0.1
NO3 - 0
Salinity - 1.026
Temp - 78 degrees F

My water is cloudy despite the above parameters, and I have lost my percula clown, dotty back, red dragonet, torch coral, plate coral, and most of my snails (all the round pyramid looking ones (turbo?). I have thick brown algae on everything that I recognize from when the tank cycled but since my snails are dead no one is eating it. My GSP has been pulled in for 2 days, and my mushrooms are also shriveled. My zoa's seem ok. One other thing to note, my bubble tip anemone split into two, 2 days ago if that means anything.

Left in the tank are a striped cardinal, a fire shrimp, zoas, a staghorn coral, mushrooms, and a handful of hermit crabs & big snails. I have a good amount of little things living in the tank like adult and juvenile pods, and what look like baby fan worms on the glass and in the sand.

Everything in this tank was done at the suggestion of my local shop. As soon as everything started dying and my water got cloudy I had them test the water and they confirmed that everything is fine. They said my clownfish was killing everything but this morning he/she was dead leaving the cardinal and fire shrimp (who molted last night if that means anything). They don't know why my water is cloudy or why I have so much brown algae all of the sudden.

Is there anything you guys see/read that would give me hints as to where I failed so miserably? I was concerned about over crowding my tank so soon but the shop said everything was fine. I do water changes with store bought distilled water every 2 weeks. I feed LRS nano reef food and Cobalt Marine Omni flakes but never at the same time. I do dose phytoplankton twice a week in the recommended amounts. I have attached pictures of my setup, the water I use, the little worms on my glass, and a picture trying to capture the cloudiness.

 

[Sgolden]

Get a Rodi filter for your water. Not distilled. Take that problem out of the equation. How long has this system been up ? Looks like it's going through a cycle process still. That's what mine looked like after 3-4 monrhs.

 

[Mical]

Get a Rodi filter for your water. Not distilled. Take that problem out of the equation. How long has this system been up ? Looks like it's going through a cycle process still. That's what mine looked like after 3-4 monrhs.

That's alot of fish for a 20 gal tank only 2 months old. Rule of thumb I've used on my tanks is let tank cycle for at least 30 days then add clean up crew as soon as algae appears and params are close. Then a fish every other month. I know it's hard to resist but back to the old quote "nothing happens fast in a reef tank - if it does you're in trouble"

 

[Palyzoa]

Sounds like you might have overloaded the system and the bioload couldn't keep up with the ammonia. The cloudiness is a sign of bacteria bloom which could be a result of overloading the tank.

 

[Kal]

Get a Rodi filter for your water. Not distilled. Take that problem out of the equation. How long has this system been up ? Looks like it's going through a cycle process still. That's what mine looked like after 3-4 monrhs.

Thanks for the quick response. I am in an apartment, is this something I need to plug into the water line to hook up or can I just hook it up under a bathroom sink without turning off the water to the whole building? Would the water I have be the culprit? The tank was clear and doing well 2 weeks ago, is it possible to start a second cycle or was i just in the eye of the storm kind of thing? System has been up for 2 months.

 

[Kal]

That's alot of fish for a 20 gal tank only 2 months old. Rule of thumb I've used on my tanks is let tank cycle for at least 30 days then add clean up crew as soon as algae appears and params are close. Then a fish every other month. I know it's hard to resist but back to the old quote "nothing happens fast in a reef tank - if it does you're in trouble"

Appreciate the response. What happens now? Will I keep crashing or should I just let things play out and leave my two remaining fish alone for a few months?

 

[TheEngineer]

Like others have said, too much too fast. Unfortunately not all LFS are the same and sounds like you’ve got a lousy one. The presence of nitrite indicates your cycle is not complete/your biofilter isn’t strong enough.

Do lots of water changes to get the levels down. Run carbon. Stop dosing phyto it just add nutrients you don’t need.

 

[Mical]

Personally I would work on getting params right, get yourself an RODI set up (small set up) and do some more online research and not take your LFS as gospel. Your heart is in the right place & take this as a learning experience - compare LOTS of information then make an educated decision and don't be afraid to ask for help - especially here on R2R

 

[chowwil]

My 20gal looks just like that when I first started it. It took almost 5-6 month before it full cycle and algae is gone. Give it some time

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Thanks for the quick response. I am in an apartment, is this something I need to plug into the water line to hook up or can I just hook it up under a bathroom sink without turning off the water to the whole building? Would the water I have be the culprit? The tank was clear and doing well 2 weeks ago, is it possible to start a second cycle or was i just in the eye of the storm kind of thing? System has been up for 2 months.

I'm just starting my first tank so newbie as well but to answer your rodi question there are many options for attaching it. If you are limited to space you can just use a faucet adaptor and connect it whenever you need then store it away. I mounted mine in my laundry room in a corner and just connect to the valve for the washing machine.

There are adaptors for faucet connections, angle stop connections and even self piecing sand clamp to an exposed pipe

Like I said I am new as well but that seems like lots of fish and tons of coral so soon but hey what do I know

Best of luck

 

[Mical]

Thanks for the quick response. I am in an apartment, is this something I need to plug into the water line to hook up or can I just hook it up under a bathroom sink without turning off the water to the whole building? Would the water I have be the culprit? The tank was clear and doing well 2 weeks ago, is it possible to start a second cycle or was i just in the eye of the storm kind of thing? System has been up for 2 months.

I live in a condo rental and space is a commodity - I bought a 4 stage RODI unit from BRS mounted it on a board and hang it on laundry room sink. Plug hose adapter into faucet, make what I need, then disconnect - no permanent fixtures and no running to LFS for water. I've saved $100s doing it this way.

 

[laverda]

Like others have said, too much too fast. Unfortunately not all LFS are the same and sounds like you’ve got a lousy one. The presence of nitrite indicates your cycle is not complete/your biofilter isn’t strong enough.

Do lots of water changes to get the levels down. Run carbon. Stop dosing phyto it just add nutrients you don’t need.

I have to agree your nitrites are a big issue. Also your alk is to high and contributing to your problems. It is probably why your anemone split. Anemone's split when stressed.

 

[Triggreef]

way too much too fast. ammonia kills quickly. You have to fix that first. Biggest water change you can do less than 75%. If you have friends in the hobby with a long established tank, you can ask to borrow a media reactor (do not clean, and move to your tank fast as possible) from their tank and that would help immensely to combat the ammonia/nitrite issues fast. That might save what you have going on for the time being.

Your alk is high but stability is more important. Don't go trying to drop it on your own. Let it drop naturally over time. It will take a long time for a tank that small. Especially while nothing is growing and using up alk.

After you get settled keeping alk set within a half dkh always (meaning your alk is always between 8 and 8.5 for example) will alleviate most issues, thats the biggest concern with reefing.

 

[mike werner]

I agree with the above responces.one thing no one mentioned is binding all those harmfull nitrites,nitrates and ammonia with something.go to the lfs and get a bottle of prime.it will bind those killers and render them harmless for now.your tests will still show them but they will be nontoxic.you will still need to do water changes to remove them but it will help to keep the livestock you still have alive.

 

[Shua71]

As others have said you overloaded your system. Do you have any other flow besides the Hob filter?

I would do a water change and pick up some sort of starter bacteria such as seachem safe to salvage what you currently have in the tank

 

[Bayareareefer18]

I agree with the above responces.one thing no one mentioned is binding all those harmfull nitrites,nitrates and ammonia with something.go to the lfs and get a bottle of prime.it will bind those killers and render them harmless for now.your tests will still show them but they will be nontoxic.you will still need to do water changes to remove them but it will help to keep the livestock you still have alive.

+1

But keep in mind prime is only a temp solution. It will only render the ammonia and nitrite non toxic for 24 hours

 

[ZaneTer]

Get a Rodi filter for your water. Not distilled. Take that problem out of the equation. How long has this system been up ? Looks like it's going through a cycle process still. That's what mine looked like after 3-4 monrhs.

Sorry but I disagree with this response. Distilled water contains fewer impurities than water that has been filtered via RODI. Some consider it too clean.

 

[TheEngineer]

Sorry but I disagree with this response. Distilled water contains fewer impurities than water that has been filtered via RODI. Some consider it too clean.

Yes and no. If this is truly laboratory quality distilled water, ok. If it is from a bottle, no. Straight RO water still contains some ions. We know this because we can measure the outbound TDS. That water once passed through DI theoretically has absolutely no impurities left. Distillation has similar benefits but depending on the boiling points of the impurities present during distillation you could still have impurities.

Also, store bottled distilled water often has “minerals” added for flavor.

 

[ZaneTer]

Very true but if you were to subject RODI to the same conditions (stored in the same type of container for the same length) I would still put my money on distilled water every time.

 

[EmptyWallet]

Definitely stop dosing phytoplankton, your pods will be fine without it (esp. with that much algae to chomp). Dosing phytoplankton makes my water go very cloudy so I stopped. Pod numbers are still growing exponentially