I’m about to give up!

[dlh]

10 months ago I set up an Innovative Marine Fusion Pro AI1 with live sand and live rock. The tank cycled and I added 2 Clownfish. Went thru the uglies, GHA, Cyano, and a lot of other Algae. At 6 months I started dosing All for Reef Daily. All algae and Cyano was gone. Water parameters we in line, but 0 nitrates, phosphates and nitrites. I started adding Neonitro and got my numbers in the normal range. I do a 3 gallon water change every 2 weeks. I added 2 more clownfish, 1 BTA, snails and crabs. These we added individually over 2 months. A few weeks later I put in pulsating xenia, frogspawn and 2 ZOAS Over the past 2 months everything except one clownfish has died!
I run a skimmer for 12 hours a day, for other mechanical filtration i use floss and Chemipure I also have had Ceramic bio balls from day 1. My Wife is constantly on me because of the amount of money I have invested in this tank and the failed attempt at success!

 

[bushdoc]

Cannot figure out what is the volume of your tank?
Few things to ponder- You said that Nitrates and phosphates are 0, but you are doing conflicting things, dosing nitrates and skimming and using chemipure to remove dissolved organics from the water. Ceramic bio balls also contribute to decrease of your Nitrates. Water changes are also removing nutrients, so I am not sure what you want to achieve.
I wish I could help, perhaps slowing down with introducing new inhabitants would be of some help. Also what are other water parameters?
Something tells me that your fish were not quarantined, so they might have demised from disease, not water quality ( or both).

 

[dlh]

8 GALLONS OF WATER.

 

[workhz]

That's a lot of work for 8G. How do you even have a skimmer in there? With that size of water change I'm surprised you actually have to do anything in terms of dosing and nutrient export but it is a tiny tank and in a few ways they're even harder to dial in. Are you topping off to make sure you don't have large salinity swings?

 

[bushdoc]

I think I have an answer to your problems, 2 clowns, BTA and other creatures cannot fit in 8 gallons of water.
I would suggest to concentrate on zoos, maybe mushroom corals and one or two tiny fish.
Nano tanks are really not for beginners, due to difficulties in maintaining parameters and homeostasis to the system.
Running larger tank ( am not talking about 100 gal, but 20-40) is easier.

 

[dlh]

That's a lot of work for 8G. How do you even have a skimmer in there? With that size of water change I'm surprised you actually have to do anything in terms of dosing and nutrient export but it is a tiny tank and in a few ways they're even harder to dial in. Are you topping off to make sure you don't have large salinity swings?

THE SKIMMER IS IN ONE OF THE AI1 BACK CHAMBERS YES I AM USIBG AN ATO. YOUR PROBABLY RIGHT ABOUT SMALL TANKS.

 

[JTP424]

As mentioned, skimmer may have been removing all the good stuff.
Keep your head up! You can figure it ou!