New to Marine and needing help

[jonesb]

Hi All:
Visited the Ucluelet Aquarium recently and they recommended you!
I started this hobby enthusiastically, about January this year. Living on Bowen Island and I'm a chemist, it seemed appropriate! Got the whole kit, plus 1 clown fish, 1 gobi, a banded shrimp, and an anemone. OK, wonderful for about 4 months. Then algae was building up and I was advised to darken the room and scrape the algae. I have lots of live rock, and there was alqae, both green and red, everywhere.
I think I was just too aggressive? Scraped it all off in about 2 days and a few days later everyone died. Chemical tests on water were fine. Aquariums West in Vancouver recommended waiting but not to throw out the water.
I later bought 2 more of same fish and they died in 3 days. Oh dear. I think my problem is biological not chemical?
I dried out the aquarium and scrubbed the top of the sand.
WHAT DO I DO NOW before I introduce more fish?
I haven;t read all the posts yet but will try to get more informed.

Thanks
Brenda

 

[Auquanut]

Welcome to R2R Brenda. There are lots of questions to answer before adding anything new. Have you recycled the tank since you took it down? Don't worry. There's nothing going on that can't be addressed. Just go slow. We are absolutely here to help.

 

[jonesb]

Welcome to R2R Brenda. There are lots of questions to answer before adding anything new. Have you recycled the tank since you took it down? Don't worry. There's nothing going on that can't be addressed. Just go slow. We are absolutely here to help.

 

[jonesb]

Heh thanks. This pic is my dog; Trax Savvy Avatar!
OK so I will add water salt etc. to recycle the tank for about a week? And then do the standard chemical tests and get back to you.

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

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[BeejReef]

Hard to say what may have killed your fish Brenda.
Sorry for your losses You were trying to do the right thing.

You can drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what the precise chemical or biological process did this or that.
What sticks out to me is how sudden the change was.

Could be the same problem that killed your second batch of fish, or a new problem that arose from the tear down.

Since you have no fish or corals, you might consider simply starting fresh. Waste some water and lose some time on your rock's maturation, but you can eliminate disease, cycle, sandbed... a whole host of concerns.

Were you testing for ammonia?