newbie to this site....

[Tony D.]

greetings all I'll keep this short. new to this forum of course and hoping to come up with some answers. once I dig around a bit more I might even see something that fits into explaining my little problem. I've had 2 salt water aquariums so far (first was 18 gallons with a 3 gallon canister filter) and this time I've gone smaller with a 10 gallon self contained. my water quality looks good with ammonia, nitrates and nitrites all very close to zero. PH was off slightly and salinity was in the lower end of the acceptable range. last water change was about a month ago, 2 weeks ago one fish (6 line wrasse) and 3 days ago my cardinal died. No fish left. I'm just here for (hopefully) new avenues to figure it out. the woman at the local petco suggested excess food (in any quantity) plus the full spectrum lighting in my tank has caused an algae to bloom/die off rapidly causing fluctuations in tank quality....

 

[Oscaror]

Welcome to R2R! It looks to me like your tank isn't actually cycled properly. If you look, the ammonia test result is pretty green. It has yet to go through the stages.

 

[BoneXriffic]

First off...welcome to reef2reef...

Put on your pads....the petco train is coming lol

Take that store with a grain of salt.

The odd thing is tou have amonia and no nitrite or nitrate... could you still be cycling? Amonia appears .50 or so. Not sure how toxic this is but i suggest finding a good lfs to deal with in the future.... could have been petco sick fish also

 

[Oscaror]

First off...welcome to reef2reef...

Put on your pads....the petco train is coming lol

Take that store with a grain of salt.

The odd thing is tou have amonia and no nitrite or nitrate... could you still be cycling? Amonia appears .50 or so. Not sure how toxic this is but i suggest finding a good lfs to deal with in the future.... could have been petco sick fish also

+1 as I said before

 

[twilliard]

A big welcome to R2R and the fine community that has been established !

 

[kschweer]

Welcome! A little more about the tank may help get you some answers. How old is the tank, was it cycled (if so how) how long before you put your fish in?

 

[Tony D.]

not cycled. how long does it take? tank has been up for 6-8 months. I started with a clown and 6 line wrasse about 4 ½ months ago. clown died immediately (assumed it was a sick petco fish (had that problem before)) and added a small cardinal a week or so later. wrasse and cardinal have been fine since. last water change was about a month ago wrasse died then the cardinal after that. and yeah. I tend to take the store's staff with a touch of distrust and really why I'm here asking questions.

 

[BoneXriffic]

not cycled. how long does it take? tank has been up for 6-8 months. I started with a clown and 6 line wrasse about 4 ½ months ago. clown died immediately (assumed it was a sick petco fish (had that problem before)) and added a small cardinal a week or so later. wrasse and cardinal have been fine since. last water change was about a month ago wrasse died then the cardinal after that. and yeah. I tend to take the store's staff with a touch of distrust and really why I'm here asking questions.

That small of a tank with fish ....whats your filtration....water changes need to be more frequent imo and what amout of water do you change?

 

[Tony D.]

the filtration cavities are built into the rear of the tank. 4 compartments. one with a large debris sponge, #2 fine floss and ceramic substrate, #3 is 2 bags of carbon and more floss and the 4th is the pump and heater. there is very near the amount of material in the back of this tank that was in my 3 gallon sized canister filter on my previous 20 gallon tank.
I know its bordering too small for saltwater so how often should water changes occur? been doing them about 4-5 weeks apart and around 2 gallons.

 

[BoneXriffic]

Personally i would do a gallon a week or 2 bi weekly. Also re test. Some times they can mis read.

I would check phosphates....also

Remember when doing water changes to match salinity and temp....dramatic changes in either can do harm especually in such a small tank.

The amonia is a bad thing though. It should be processing to nitrite then nitrate

 

[FlyinBryan]

Welcome and best of luck!
6-8 months? And that much ammonia? I'd double check date on that test kit to confirm.
Also, how much live rock or rock do you have in your tank?
Can we see a shot of both DT and sump?
Thanks!

 

[Tony D.]

I really appreciate the seriously quick answers from all. doing a gallon a week... I hadn't even considered that I'd need to go there. I do see the ammonia level is showing some. if its not processing properly what would stall (halt) it. also, the tank has had several different colors of algae bloom & die. is that of any concern? I've got no live rock at all. I had some really crazy parasites in my previous tank because of live rock and haven't gone there this time. I'm not sure what DT is but 2 more photos of the tank and sump. oh, and after I tested the water I started questioning my results. the local Petco got the same results using their strip tests. I really wish there were other sources for marine aquariums in my area.

 

[MonsterReef]

greetings all I'll keep this short. new to this forum of course and hoping to come up with some answers. once I dig around a bit more I might even see something that fits into explaining my little problem. I've had 2 salt water aquariums so far (first was 18 gallons with a 3 gallon canister filter) and this time I've gone smaller with a 10 gallon self contained. my water quality looks good with ammonia, nitrates and nitrites all very close to zero. PH was off slightly and salinity was in the lower end of the acceptable range. last water change was about a month ago, 2 weeks ago one fish (6 line wrasse) and 3 days ago my cardinal died. No fish left. I'm just here for (hopefully) new avenues to figure it out. the woman at the local petco suggested excess food (in any quantity) plus the full spectrum lighting in my tank has caused an algae to bloom/die off rapidly causing fluctuations in tank quality....

Don't look like your tank has cycled all the way yet your ammonia is high and and nitrates nothing

 

[Tony D.]

Personally i would do a gallon a week or 2 bi weekly. Also re test. Some times they can mis read.

I would check phosphates....also

Remember when doing water changes to match salinity and temp....dramatic changes in either can do harm especually in such a small tank.

The amonia is a bad thing though. It should be processing to nitrite then nitrate

phosphates were checked (petco) and in good order.

 

[BoneXriffic]

Dont trust test strips. And your little rock wall is consider live rock once its built bacteria... if the tank has no more inhabitants i would let it run for a few days and test those 3 again....should see amonia drop, then nitrite rise then drop then notrates rise then drop. Maybe if empty not a bad idea to break down and scrub it all good. Reasemble and use the dead shimp trick to recycle and get it all right so you dont waste you money.

 

[Tony D.]

Dont trust test strips. And your little rock wall is consider live rock once its built bacteria... if the tank has no more inhabitants i would let it run for a few days and test those 3 again....should see amonia drop, then nitrite rise then drop then notrates rise then drop. Maybe if empty not a bad idea to break down and scrub it all good. Reasemble and use the dead shimp trick to recycle and get it all right so you dont waste you money.

I had intended to leave it empty for a while and almost broke it down today. even though that wall is plastic it will still cultivate bacteria like live rock? can you fill in the blank on the shrimp trick? suddenly really glad I signed up here.

 

[ndz98]

Welcome to r2r!

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R

 

[BoneXriffic]

I had intended to leave it empty for a while and almost broke it down today. even though that wall is plastic it will still cultivate bacteria like live rock? can you fill in the blank on the shrimp trick? suddenly really glad I signed up here.

Somewhere on here....look around forum. Theres a helpful guide to cycling a tank. Basically tho throw a dead shrimp in there for three days to rot and create amonia....the rest os history. Takes several weeks to fully cycle however.

 

[sheepdog76]

I love petco for many things but info is not one! Do some good reading there are many smart aquaticlife peeps on pages like this.
As said your tank is going through a cycle it seems with out live rock it could take awhile for things(good bacteria) to build you can help it by adding a bacteria additive like Stability,biospira ,ect. Water changes will do wonders. Try something like chemipur in place of one of the carbon bags or both of them. I have a 5.5 gal pico reef that stays crystal clear so small tanks are possible just have to know if your husbandry is lazy a small tank will go down fast.