citymouse
Active Member
Hi,
I set up a new 215 g tank months ago, I used Reef Mature pro to cycle the tank, struggled a little with Nitrates, but nothing major.
In early December I moved my very small cleaning crew into the tank, followed by my 2 clowns that I've had for 7 years, a goby (1 year) and a Bangaii Cardinal (at least 2 years) about week or 2 later I added 11 young blue/green Chromis who have been in quarantine for about 4 months while I was setting up the new tank, they were in perfect health. When I added them, one of them separated from the group and hid at the bottom corner of the tank, around Christmas a 2nd one went off it's own but it was still occasionally joining the group and was eating fine. The Goby jumped ship and died in my filter recently
.
Since New Years the Chromis have been dying off, they looked healthy, they were schooling together, eating etc. Everything seemed fine, a day later I find 2 in the sump filter dead and another stuck in the Wav pump, not sure if it got sucked in before or after if died. The rest separated and were hanging around the bottom of the tank, one spent the whole day following around a large hermit crab... Each day I've found another dead Chromis, as of today I only see 2 in there, but they are excellent at hiding when they want to, so I'm not entirely sure if there are more. Only 2 have been eating from what I've seen.
Today, my Cardinal was swimming around the front of the tank, which I was happy about because since adding him, he has been staying in the back near the bottom, I don't think he likes the flow of the water. BUT today, his fins are a mess, the longer fins are now short, he looks awful! My male Clown was acting weird, skittish I guess? But since has been completely normal, swimming together with the female as they always do.
I struggled with some minor/low ammonia but for the past few days it's been fine.
As of today, Ammonia is 0.
Nitrates are 5 to less than 10 (2 different tests, 2 different results)
Salt according to the Apex probe is 32.7 but it was 28 yesterday, I have 2 hydrometer-one says 1.023 and the other 1.021 -which I think is fine, I don't have any corals.
PH - 7.9
KH -8 (according to the test)
ORP is foreign to me, my previous tank was a freshwater converted to salt, I used canister filters for the last 7 years (so much easier than now!). The Apex Fusion has an ORP probe, it's fluctuates constantly and drastically all the time, no idea if it's working properly or what it even means, never worried about it before now!
Current ORP reading is 258. I'll tell you the past weeks readings, maybe this will help, maybe it's just not working... on Jan. 3rd it was 449 at peak and fluctuated thru the day. On Jan 4th -319. Jan 5th -329. Jan 6th -268 and Jan 7th 336. I've seen these numbers do this every week since set up.
I may have given too much info here, but I figured if you had all of the facts, maybe someone could help me figure this out. I fear my Bangaii isn't going to make it the way he's looking today, other than the fin issue which is new, he seems fine, swimming normal...no idea when he eats, I have never seen him eat, but obviously he does, since he's alive.
I set up a new 215 g tank months ago, I used Reef Mature pro to cycle the tank, struggled a little with Nitrates, but nothing major.
In early December I moved my very small cleaning crew into the tank, followed by my 2 clowns that I've had for 7 years, a goby (1 year) and a Bangaii Cardinal (at least 2 years) about week or 2 later I added 11 young blue/green Chromis who have been in quarantine for about 4 months while I was setting up the new tank, they were in perfect health. When I added them, one of them separated from the group and hid at the bottom corner of the tank, around Christmas a 2nd one went off it's own but it was still occasionally joining the group and was eating fine. The Goby jumped ship and died in my filter recently
.Since New Years the Chromis have been dying off, they looked healthy, they were schooling together, eating etc. Everything seemed fine, a day later I find 2 in the sump filter dead and another stuck in the Wav pump, not sure if it got sucked in before or after if died. The rest separated and were hanging around the bottom of the tank, one spent the whole day following around a large hermit crab... Each day I've found another dead Chromis, as of today I only see 2 in there, but they are excellent at hiding when they want to, so I'm not entirely sure if there are more. Only 2 have been eating from what I've seen.
Today, my Cardinal was swimming around the front of the tank, which I was happy about because since adding him, he has been staying in the back near the bottom, I don't think he likes the flow of the water. BUT today, his fins are a mess, the longer fins are now short, he looks awful! My male Clown was acting weird, skittish I guess? But since has been completely normal, swimming together with the female as they always do.
I struggled with some minor/low ammonia but for the past few days it's been fine.
As of today, Ammonia is 0.
Nitrates are 5 to less than 10 (2 different tests, 2 different results)
Salt according to the Apex probe is 32.7 but it was 28 yesterday, I have 2 hydrometer-one says 1.023 and the other 1.021 -which I think is fine, I don't have any corals.
PH - 7.9
KH -8 (according to the test)
ORP is foreign to me, my previous tank was a freshwater converted to salt, I used canister filters for the last 7 years (so much easier than now!). The Apex Fusion has an ORP probe, it's fluctuates constantly and drastically all the time, no idea if it's working properly or what it even means, never worried about it before now!
Current ORP reading is 258. I'll tell you the past weeks readings, maybe this will help, maybe it's just not working... on Jan. 3rd it was 449 at peak and fluctuated thru the day. On Jan 4th -319. Jan 5th -329. Jan 6th -268 and Jan 7th 336. I've seen these numbers do this every week since set up.
I may have given too much info here, but I figured if you had all of the facts, maybe someone could help me figure this out. I fear my Bangaii isn't going to make it the way he's looking today, other than the fin issue which is new, he seems fine, swimming normal...no idea when he eats, I have never seen him eat, but obviously he does, since he's alive.
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, every one of them survived. I read that having more is better than less? They were babies and are still small. I can only find 2 swimming in the tank right now. The cardinal didn't like the move, he's been a little off since putting him in there, staying near the bottom when he used to be middle of the tank fish. I was thinking he didn't like the heavy flow in the tank coming from the Wav's, I have one on each side and only recently moved them up higher, they were centered for a while. He pretty much stayed in the back close to the bottom since the move. 
