Hippo tang

[Brew12]

Yes about 10 Am. No I net them from AC s water. I know they run copper on them. However I did let the water from the LPS in the tank.

I'm guessing it was one of two issues. Either ammonia damage to the gills from too many fish in a new tank or low oxygen levels because of how sealed your system is. Probably a combination of the two.

I'm glad you avoided getting the copper in your system. Any ammonia reducer will make copper significantly more toxic and is normally a fatal combination for fish.

 

[GWHouston]

I'm guessing it was one of two issues. Either ammonia damage to the gills from too many fish in a new tank or low oxygen levels because of how sealed your system is. Probably a combination of the two.

Not sure of either. I leave the top access open during the day but the glass top is closed too. I think my best avenue is to run an air stone to elevate the O2. Certainly can’t hurt.

Edit. Wish there was a simple way to measure O2 saturation

 

[OriginalUserName]

Not sure of either. I leave the top access open during the day but the glass top is closed too. I think my best avenue is to run an air stone to elevate the O2. Certainly can’t hurt.

Edit. Wish there was a simple way to measure O2 saturation

You can get a reasonable idea of how stale the area feels/smells by just breathing it. Just think about breathing on a hot muggy day vs a crisp 60 degrees. Can you add a small computer fan somewhere above your DT to provide some fresh air? I'm still processing the details myself but if your PH is relatively low despite a reasonable level of alkalinity that equates to high levels of CO2 which should be a proxy for low O2.

 

[GWHouston]

I have a circ fan that pulls air from the canopy but the glass top is also in place. Plus I leave the canopy open during the day for air exchanges. I hardly ever get a bad smell from my tank. This week I did have a dottyback die on me. Wouldn’t that cause an Am spike?

 

[Brew12]

I have a circ fan that pulls air from the canopy but the glass top is also in place. Plus I leave the canopy open during the day for air exchanges. I hardly ever get a bad smell from my tank. This week I did have a dottyback die on me. Wouldn’t that cause an Am spike?

With a good biofilter a small fish dying would barely be noticeable. You would only notice a nitrate spike.

 

[Bill_Moorman]

Thanks for responding.
The tank has been stocked for close to a month now. Chems as of Tuesday were ph at 8.2, Am at .25, Ni at .5, Na at 10 ppm, and Kh at 7.8. We started adding LPS last night. All the other fish have had no issues. I’m perplexed at what happened. This started as I left home for work so I will do new chems tonight.

You shouldn’t be adding anything to a tank with any detectable amounts of ammonia and nitrite. Ammonia can burn their gills which is likely what’s happening here.

I would do some large WCs over the next few days to bring it down. Your corals likely won’t be too happy with ammonia and nitrite either.

You could add some Prime to the tank to detoxify the ammonia, but it will cause your skimmer to go nuts for a day or so.

 

[GWHouston]

Ammonia was zero until this week.

 

[Big G]

A powerhead, aimed at the surface, where it is actively rippling the surface is an excellent O2 exchange method. Strangely it is more efficient at O2 exchange than an airstone.

 

[OriginalUserName]

A powerhead, aimed at the surface, where it is actively rippling the surface is an excellent O2 exchange method. Strangely it is more efficient at O2 exchange than an airstone.

Rippled water greatly increases surface area and small bubbles have only a tiny amount of gas available for exchange.

 

[Brew12]

A powerhead, aimed at the surface, where it is actively rippling the surface is an excellent O2 exchange method. Strangely it is more efficient at O2 exchange than an airstone.

It is in most cases. I haven't seen his setup in person, but my recollection is that the top is very enclosed without good air flow except for when he leaves the access panels open.

 

[GWHouston]

It’s a full enclosed top with glass above the water. I do have two gyres on intermittent flow for surface action and to stir the bottom. I can’t say for sure the top is the problem. Brew12 May be right and I need to abandon this idea... at least remove the plastic from the hinged glass cover. I leave the top closed only during lights out, approx 8 hours. During this period I’ve not been using the skimmer but have started now. I didn’t believe the bio load would be that high yet.