Every thing died

[Joeya491]

What could i get to fit the size tank thats in that type of style the clowns the crabs and snails about how many of each because i liked how it looked it actually looked like an ecosyst

Like I said, too many animals for a 5 gal.

I also wanted to get a clam or those pulsating coral the ones that look like fingers grabbing the water

 

[Isopod80]

What could i get to fit the size tank thats in that type of style the clowns the crabs and snails about how many of each because i liked how it looked it actually looked like an ecosystem

Truthfully, many experienced reefers will tell you that a 5 gal. really isn't suitable for any saltwater fish long term or even short term for most. The only real exception may be the very tiny nano goby species like Trimma sp. for example. And then maybe 2 at most. I would suggest you start with a larger tank. Even a 15-20 gal. So you can actually have a clown or two. The smaller the tank the harder it is to properly maintain. Especially with saltwater. A 5 gal. would be tricky even for experienced reefers. Parameters are just too difficult to maintain properly in that small volume of water if you're still learning the ropes.

 

[Joeya491]

probably more the fact you are dosing stuff to mess with pH and alk which ups and downs and swings. I doubt washing the filter matters if you have rock.

Like you dosed an acid buffer but then tried to dose your pH back up. Which you should not be doing. Dosing pH effects alk and the effect on pH is often temporary.

Ya i thought everyone was dieing bc of the ph so i quickly ran out and brought the ph learned that messing with the ph messes with the alky on here reading forms

 

[Joeya491]

there's a better way though, you wouldnt leave your current mix in place, its the bad mix of too much stuff.

do exactly what we did to these tanks here, using no form of additives, making the tank with all new water, rinsed sand, clean rocks, 100% fixed in two hours. then at that point cease adding things, responding to test params with kits that are merely approximates and not the actual number.

in a small pico, cease testing for anything beyond temp and salinity considering the animals you have. when you want to alter a parameter anyway, do it via 50% water change matching temp and salinity, don't actually alter the param with a dose of something. this will fix you up:

A week without power - Recoverable?

So, tank went without power for a week following hurricane Ida. There was no flow(obviously) and temps hit 85-86 during the day. I came back to the city to rescue my 2 clowns who are currently living in a 5 gallon bucket with a bubbler. Basically my question is: what are my options from here...

www.reef2reef.com

that set of total cleaning moves, on the whole tank at once, is what you need. all procedural details have been covered there/merely copy and your after pics will look the same. its called a rip clean, it undoes all the unneeded additives and stressors currently in place. for them, it was storm rebuild. same set of moves either way.

Alright ill give it a shot do you think thr bacteria will be good enough for the a storm rebuild

 

[mindme]

I did a water change vacuumed the sand and stupidly cleaned the filter in running water bc i had a stupid idea that one time would be ok the tank was running for a 3 months i went away for vacation had some one feed the fish and they didnt turn the light out so now i have green alge everywhere cleaned the tank up did a 25 % water change and since i was gone so long i changed the crabon and stupidly ran the spunge filter under sink water added the bacteria and chemicals to the water checked the parameters in the tank everything was fine but the kh was high so i have an acid buffer to lower the kh ammonia was fine cleaned the alge off the glass crabs layed eggs found that out the hard way ps no more eggs. Did the water change everything was at the top of the tank gasping for air.

Its a 5 gallon fluval spec 5 nothing special

But i had 2 clown fish die some snails 2 crabs and there eggs cromies and shrip die

Did another water change added a ph up to get the ph back to 8.3 kh is sadly at 12 drops until 3 days when im planning on doing another water change get the ph right this time leaving the filter and adding an alge fix to the tank i use the water from my local fish store plus bactiria additive purple up and a few other chemicals to keep water sufficient

What do i do to save the inverts

Sorry about your loss, here are my thoughts:

1. That tank is way too small for even 1 clownfish, much less 2. Maybe a shrimp/goby combo would be pushing it. If you want to keep a couple of clownfish, you should probably upgrade to 20g minimum. They'll likely kill most anything else, I have 2 clownfish in a 29g, and they bite me and attack anything that gets put in.

2. Next, get a timer for your lights. You can get one at walmart for a few dollars. Looks something like this:

Then your lights will go off and on the same time everyday, and it's cheap. I still use these on my 3g paludarium.

3. Throw that PH stuff in the trash. Increase surface agitation or find a way to increase gas/oxygen exchange to raise your PH. Even then, any number between 7.8 and 8.5 is acceptable, what's most important is it's stability. It'll change slowly over the day, and that is normal. There is no reason to take any action unless it is out of that range, which likely won't happen, and if it does - increase oxygen rate.

4. Throw away the purple up. It's just a calcium supplement and you aren't using any of it. Maybe one day in the future you'll start getting coraline and want to keep it. But on something that small, water changes are fine, and for any other purpose purple up is a terrible choice - it's mostly water. You are probably overdosing calcium, which isn't going to kill things, but it's not ideal either.

5. Keep your hands out of the tank. Meaning - stop doing so much. Kind of goes in hand with the above, but also all the other stuff you did.

Good luck. All you can do is learn from the mistakes.

 

[Joeya491]

I did a water change vacuumed the sand and stupidly cleaned the filter in running water bc i had a stupid idea that one time would be ok the tank was running for a 3 months i went away for vacation had some one feed the fish and they didnt turn the light out so now i have green alge everywhere cleaned the tank up did a 25 % water change and since i was gone so long i changed the crabon and stupidly ran the spunge filter under sink water added the bacteria and chemicals to the water checked the parameters in the tank everything was fine but the kh was high so i have an acid buffer to lower the kh ammonia was fine cleaned the alge off the glass crabs layed eggs found that out the hard way ps no more eggs. Did the water change everything was at the top of the tank gasping for air.

Its a 5 gallon fluval spec 5 nothing special

But i had 2 clown fish die some snails 2 crabs and there eggs cromies and shrip die

Did another water change added a ph up to get the ph back to 8.3 kh is sadly at 12 drops until 3 days when im planning on doing another water change get the ph right this time leaving the filter and adding an alge fix to the tank i use the water from my local fish store plus bactiria additive purple up and a few other chemicals to keep water sufficient

What do i do to save the inverts

Well did a 50 % water change cleaned the rock and filter everything died but the snails and hermit crabs did a thorough cleaning and directly after heres the results when the water settles ill take another pic and test the parameters see where im at next week a water change put the carbon in and hopefully with your guys help and a few prayer requests from our team here at reef 2 reef the storm cleaning will be a success so ill be reading up on the posts to get a better idea of how to properly maintain a saltwater tank
Thank you guys for all your help gn

 

[Joeya491]

probably more the fact you are dosing stuff to mess with pH and alk which ups and downs and swings. I doubt washing the filter matters if you have rock.

Like you dosed an acid buffer but then tried to dose your pH back up. Which you should not be doing. Dosing pH effects alk and the effect on pH is often temporary.

The buffer was told to me to use for the kh to bring the kh down i tested the kh it was close to 20 i got it down to 10 and am now waiting to find out what i could do next someone told me to rinse everything sand and all i did so in tank water even tho its bad and did a 50 % water change as instructed waiting to see what happens with the hermit crabs and snails hopefully i have enough bacteria and the water will be good enough for them til i add fish going to bring some water up to the petshop to get tested wait a week or 2 and test again to add fish

 

[Joeya491]

Sorry about your loss, here are my thoughts:

1. That tank is way too small for even 1 clownfish, much less 2. Maybe a shrimp/goby combo would be pushing it. If you want to keep a couple of clownfish, you should probably upgrade to 20g minimum. They'll likely kill most anything else, I have 2 clownfish in a 29g, and they bite me and attack anything that gets put in.

2. Next, get a timer for your lights. You can get one at walmart for a few dollars. Looks something like this:

Then your lights will go off and on the same time everyday, and it's cheap. I still use these on my 3g paludarium.

3. Throw that PH stuff in the trash. Increase surface agitation or find a way to increase gas/oxygen exchange to raise your PH. Even then, any number between 7.8 and 8.5 is acceptable, what's most important is it's stability. It'll change slowly over the day, and that is normal. There is no reason to take any action unless it is out of that range, which likely won't happen, and if it does - increase oxygen rate.

4. Throw away the purple up. It's just a calcium supplement and you aren't using any of it. Maybe one day in the future you'll start getting coraline and want to keep it. But on something that small, water changes are fine, and for any other purpose purple up is a terrible choice - it's mostly water. You are probably overdosing calcium, which isn't going to kill things, but it's not ideal either.

5. Keep your hands out of the tank. Meaning - stop doing so much. Kind of goes in hand with the above, but also all the other stuff you did.

Good luck. All you can do is learn from the mistakes.

Ill get the timer what are good times to set the light at

 

[elysics]

The buffer was told to me to use for the kh to bring the kh down i tested the kh it was close to 20 i got it down to 10 and am now waiting to find out what i could do next someone told me to rinse everything sand and all i did so in tank water even tho its bad and did a 50 % water change as instructed waiting to see what happens with the hermit crabs and snails hopefully i have enough bacteria and the water will be good enough for them til i add fish going to bring some water up to the petshop to get tested wait a week or 2 and test again to add fish

Rather than pouring stuff into a 5 gallon to bring down kh, you could have done 5-10 big waterchanges spread over a couple days. But it would be important to find out why it was 20. Probably some of the other stuff you poured in. Shouldn't really be pouring in anything into a tank that small, just do waterchanges, provided you have tested your waterchange water and it doesn't have the same high KH problem.

And yeah, no fish. Maybe one Trimma or Eviota, maaaybe Stonogobiops. Definitely no clowns. Better yet, no fish at all, you could get a pom pom crab or a couple sexy shrimp after your tank is stable again for a month

 

[Joeya491]

Rather than pouring stuff into a 5 gallon to bring down kh, you could have done 5-10 big waterchanges spread over a couple days. But it would be important to find out why it was 20. Probably some of the other stuff you poured in. Shouldn't really be pouring in anything into a tank that small, just do waterchanges, provided you have tested your waterchange water and it doesn't have the same high KH problem.

And yeah, no fish. Maybe one Trimma or Eviota, maaaybe Stonogobiops. Definitely no clowns. Better yet, no fish at all, you could get a pom pom crab or a couple sexy shrimp after your tank is stable again for a month

Ya learned no chemicals just salt and temperature was going to get a decorator crab found a small one pom for the crab idk

 

[Tamberav]

The buffer was told to me to use for the kh to bring the kh down i tested the kh it was close to 20 i got it down to 10 and am now waiting to find out what i could do next someone told me to rinse everything sand and all i did so in tank water even tho its bad and did a 50 % water change as instructed waiting to see what happens with the hermit crabs and snails hopefully i have enough bacteria and the water will be good enough for them til i add fish going to bring some water up to the petshop to get tested wait a week or 2 and test again to add fish

You just do a water change to fix the kh. Not use stuff. Also it should never be 20 unless your salinity is actually much higher than you think OR if you are using pH buffer. Ph buffer will raise your kh. This is why you should not chase pH with additives. You are basically dosing alkalinity to try and temporarily being up pH. That’s right. It’s not even a permanent change. 7.8 or higher is fine. When cycling, it may even be lower, don’t worry about it.

 

[FishRN]

Sorry for your losses man. I had a couple pico tanks starting off 1-5 gallon and they were the biggest pain in the butt. If I were in your shoes I would go to Petco and pick up a 20 gallon tank and scrap the 5gal. That small amount of water volume is just to hard to keep stable under normal circumstances. You could honestly set up a decent 20 gallon tank filter and heater for like 60-80 bucks. You would be able to have your pair of clowns and maybe even a goby plus some inverts. The only bigger expense would be a light upgrade but even then you could find a cheap T5 light that would do soft and LPS. Best of luck.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What could i get to fit the size tank thats in that type of style the clowns the crabs and snails about how many of each because i liked how it looked it actually looked like an ecosystem

There are really no fish that belong in a 5 gallon. If you google the tank size recommendation for clownfish, it should be in a 20 gallon tank, putting 2 in a 5 gallon equals unhappy fish.

 

[brandon429]

Well did a 50 % water change cleaned the rock and filter everything died



that was opposite of what we did in the thread though, did you see how clean Loftreef’s final pic was, and Laura‘s after the 100% water change and sand rinse

Their tank was so clear/fish happy/ the water was so clear the tank looked empty.


If you did these exact steps in a larger reef, it’d still be dead. That’s a very important planning step on rounds two and three coming

 

[brandon429]

Hey do you have a pic of the tank before the crash, with all that life stated packed into it? Wanted to see if the original description was accurate

 

[Joeya491]

There are really no fish that belong in a 5 gallon. If you google the tank size recommendation for clownfish, it should be in a 20 gallon tank, putting 2 in a 5 gallon equals unhappy fish.

Idk everyone seemd happy

 

[Isopod80]

Idk everyone seemd happy

Experienced reefers are telling you facts. Take them as you will. Happy today certainly doesn't mean happy tomorrow and definitely not long term.

 

[Joeya491]

Experienced reefers are telling you facts. Take them as you will. Happy today certainly doesn't mean happy tomorrow and definitely not long term.

I see but when you see the same tank in your usual 3 aquarium stores and people giving advice with pictures sent to me withnthe same tank and same fish why is mine different

 

[Joeya491]

Hey do you have a pic of the tank before the crash, with all that life stated packed into it? Wanted to see if the original description was accurate

No i dont but it was nice

 

[Joeya491]

Sorry for your losses man. I had a couple pico tanks starting off 1-5 gallon and they were the biggest pain in the butt. If I were in your shoes I would go to Petco and pick up a 20 gallon tank and scrap the 5gal. That small amount of water volume is just to hard to keep stable under normal circumstances. You could honestly set up a decent 20 gallon tank filter and heater for like 60-80 bucks. You would be able to have your pair of clowns and maybe even a goby plus some inverts. The only bigger expense would be a light upgrade but even then you could find a cheap T5 light that would do soft and LPS. Best of luck.

Ya thats probably what im going to do i just got a bearded dragon dropped on me so getting the 20 gallon might be hard i could wait a month until the water in the 5 gallon is good and use the water and rock for the 20 which is what im about to do