confused

[asherah]

ok another one of my fish died. Big surprise it's NOT the clowns. I'm wondering about them.
My blue green chromis is now dead. He was swimming around fine yesterday. This is just like my angel..I don't get it.
I tested the water again. BTW I just did a like a 40% water change after I scooped the gravel out. I added a little bit of sand aswell. Not much.
Everyone else is happy. The corals, snails, and clownfish.
ammonia - 0
ph - 8.2
nitrate is less than 40ppm
nitrite is less than 0.5ppm
I need to get a test for alkilinity.
they are nicely coloured. They are growing, and aren't losing weight. They also don't have any spots or anything like that. So I don't know what's going on!. I'm to scared to add anything new now.
asherah

[scuglass]

nitrate and nitriet should both be 0 dont think alk has ne thing to do with fish living. how big is ur tank and how often are u changing water?

[asherah]

my tank is 44 gallons. It has a modified whisper filter turned into a refugium with cheato.
I usually change the water 1 every 2 weeks. More if I think it needs it. Usually about 8 gallons or so.
It's also kept at 78 degrees F.
They are fed : spirulina, nutrafin max marine complete food. When the angelfish was in there they were also fed nori once in awhile.

So what do I do to get the nitrates down ? More water changes?
Maybe actually having sand instead of the gravel will help ?

asherah

[seashells]

water changes and nitrate sponge. Reef carbon for other organics.

Doug

[Reefhawk1]

ok another one of my fish died. Big surprise it's NOT the clowns. I'm wondering about them.
My blue green chromis is now dead. He was swimming around fine yesterday. This is just like my angel..I don't get it.
I tested the water again. BTW I just did a like a 40% water change after I scooped the gravel out. I added a little bit of sand aswell. Not much.
Everyone else is happy. The corals, snails, and clownfish.
ammonia - 0
ph - 8.2
nitrate is less than 40ppm
nitrite is less than 0.5ppm
I need to get a test for alkilinity.
they are nicely coloured. They are growing, and aren't losing weight. They also don't have any spots or anything like that. So I don't know what's going on!. I'm to scared to add anything new now.
asherah

How long has this system been running ? green chromis will die if they are picked on by other tank inhabitants, they don't handle stress well. As for your water quality your phosphate and nitrite, nitrate levels should be close to 0. What is your salinity at? Also ditch the gravel and get some aragonite sand, it looks great if you like sandy bottoms, and it helps keep a stabalized ph level.

[IslandReefer]

I might be biased by the articles I was just reading, on night time oxygen concentration, but this sounds just like it (Reefkeeping...3 parts...by Eric Borneman). Clownfish and gobies etc can tolerate very anoxic conditions , but swimmers like Angels and chromis ( Tangs, firefish) etc need close to saturation. You didn't note any skimmer or other airation.....so it is possible that your night pO2 is getting low and stressing higher demand fish. This could be observed with an ORP probe or deduced by diural fluxuations in pH.
The test tank was a skimmerless 10gal (witrh clownfish)...pO2 dropped to 16% at night from 90+% day (lights on) concentration. Try an airstone (in the refuge on a timer??)) at night and see if your ph stablizes (or ORP).Ohhh ya splurge on the Salifet alk kit and maybe throw in a calcium one too. :)

My 2 cents....good luck

[mr_alberta]

What other fish are in your tank?

[asherah]

There are 2 clowns now. I don't have a skimmer yet but I do have a modded whisper filter I turned into a refugium going 24/7 and a maxi jet 1200 powerhead.
Poor little fish. Ok so I have to get them more oxygen.
I definetly need an alkilinity test but I hav a calcium test =)
Will the skimmer add more oxygen ?

Also I ditched the gravel a couple days ago in favor of sand. =) Looks alot better now to.But the dang cyano grew back overnight !!!! grrr
At least it looked better for a day.

asherah

[vertex]

Hey ashera,

yes, a skimmer will definitely add O2 to the water as they all use air bubbles to help pull out the proteins in a tall water column. Do a bit of searching or research before investing in a skimmer though as some are excellent, and others are next to useless. I recommend a aqua-c remora.

As for the nitrates, if you got cyano back so suddenly, I suspect that high nitrate levels is due to too much feeding (that is most common as well) so try cutting back the food. Clowns are pigs and eat too much anyway.

Good luck!

[asherah]

What do you all think of this one? It sounds pretty good =)
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=RSBHOK
asherah

[Bob I]

Hey ashera,

yes, a skimmer will definitely add O2 to the water as they all use air bubbles to help pull out the proteins in a tall water column.

Air bubbles travelling through a water column will NOT add oxygen to water. The simple priciple of surface tension keeps the bubble intact. If the the bubble gave off oxygen it would dissolve before reaching the surface. Only surface agitation adds oxygen to water. This is a scientific fact.

[Ken]

Hi asherah, the aqua c remora skimmer is still my better choice than the berlin skimmer. Regards Ken

[asherah]

I looked it up and the aqua remora sounds pretty kewl =)
Should I get the prefilter skimmer box for it ?
thanks alot
asherah

[Chaloupa]

Hey Asherah-I have 2 Aqua C Remora Pro Skimmers....one with prefilter box and one without....absolutely excellent skimmer and YES invest in the prefilter box...much less Microbubbles! Good luck....and it does take a bit of settle in/break in time for the skimmer but once it is going well it is great! I get the nastiest black soup out of there....!

[asherah]

I'm a little confsued as to where the collection cu p it on this thing =p
I cant tell by the pictures.
asherah

[Chaloupa]

On the top of the unit...it slides right in

[BCOrchidGuy]

If at all possible take a sample of your water to a LFS, often times, especially if you are purchasing non premium test kits, the reagent may be either stale or bad. I've seen this often enough to know I don't trust them, if something looks wrong and the tests are all fine I'll get a second opinion. Good luck.

Doug