Help! My tank is dieing...grrrr

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Guess I misunderstood. Sorry... different definitions of "...bring it up to XXX" I guess.
Hey Kurt, if you misunderstood it then I'm glad you brought it to my attention before Bonnie misunderstands it too.
 
I retested the tank 3 hours after the water change and nitrates are still at 80. Does it take a long time to go away?

How often should I do a water change?

Also, I have this Instand Ocean brand Natural Nitrate Reducer. Is it safe to use this now? It says to toss in 10ml for a 10g tank and to double it when nitrates are really bad. How often should I use it? The bottle doesnt say.
I am not famliar with that product so I can't say. If you were just cycling your tank and had no animals in there you could do a 50% water change, but since you have them in there I would not add anything to the tank and just do a 20% water change every other day and that should bring it back down.
If Kurt would chime in he knows how to do the Math... :)
 
I can't remember but are you using RO/DI water? If not then test your tap to see how much nitrates are coming right off the faucet....
 
Good point. You will all be happy to know I bought a refractometer! Woohoo. Salinity is still 1.021

I also met with the other private fish guy running a small store out of his house. He was an awesome help to me and he gives away Ro/Di water so I can get it there next time.

My snails are hiding again right now same as when this problem started. So even though the water is testing okay, something is definately going on. Wish I could figure it out. I have these wierd thingies in the tank. Posted them on the indentification thread but no one identified them yet. Wonder if whatever that is, is having any effect.

Oh....I gave that guy my damsel as well. ;)
 
Did you buy it from the new reefer guy. hahaha...good one...Reefer Guy!!! :)lol
 
Always test RODI water to make sure it's reading 0 tds. Get a tds meter to along wth that new refractometer.
A FOWLR tank is fine at 1.018 - 1.025 SG. Consistenancy is key. You don't want it jumping up and down too much.
If you start adding corals then you want to maintain SG at 1.024 -1.026.

Nitrates below 50 is ok for a FOWLR tank. The goal is 0 for a reef tank but under 20 should be your current goal. Do 20% pwc's every few days to get it there. Next you need to find the source(s) of your nitrates and eliminate that/those source(s).
 
Just a daily update on my situation...still have no idea what's killing things.

Yellow clown goby finally died, one of the hermit crabs ate him. Probably a good thing because I couldnt reach to get him out unless I moved everything. The yellow sea cucumber died as well and got him out.

Water tests are mostly the same. Nitrates still at 80, ammonia went up to .25

Also found one of those teeny little star things on the glass. And I think there are 2 Aptasias on the rocks. Should I do anything about those? It says hermit crabs are supposed to eat them and I have 2-3 crabs. I was surprised to find those there.
 
Hermits don't eat Aiptasia. I'd worry about later, after you fix everything else up, but if those rocks are small you could take them out.
 
Oh, I read they did. Stupid internet.

Im afraid if I move these rocks one more time I wont have anything left. Is there no other way?

If not, just take out the rocks and what do I take them off with? My hands? They are pretty tiny. Tweezers?
 
Mitch means that your aiptasia is the least of your problems right now. Just leave them alone and they'll be there later for you to remove. By no means try to scarpe them off as that will only make them multiply. How many fish do you have left? You have to bring those nitrates down. Get some new saltwater made up and let it run for a day then do another water change. 30% or so.
PS: we all wish that Hermit crabs would eat aiptasia anemones. ;)
Don't give up you still might be fighting the same problem, not a new one.
 
Get a tds meter to along wth that new refractometer.

Do you have any suggestion on what meter to get? For that matter, how about suggestions for an RO/DI? Might as well start getting some things ready. ;)
 
I bought a Typhoon III from airwaterice.com 5 years ago. There are other cheaper units on eBay all the time. I prefer the clear cannister so I can visually see the sediment filter. The typhoon also has a flush kit and psi guage built in. It comes with a tds meter. Many RODI units include a tds meter or have it as an option for about $25.
 
Thanks, Ill check that out. Id rather save up and get what I need rather than have to rebuy stuff later.

Todays report...
No deaths! (But my worm isnt happy so we'll see. And I got rid of the hermits that were getting pretty aggressive with him....maybe that's a sign he is gonna die since they usually leave him alone)
Ammonia is back down to 0 but the danged Nitrates are still at 80 even though I've done two water changes.
Salinity is up one point to 1.022


I am seeing a lot of those little spinoid worms growing all over my rocks though. And my firefish have both come out a LOT today. Usually the female hides for days. Maybe because they have room now.


With high nitrates, isn't algae supposed to grow? I never see anything growing on the walls at all....ever. Maybe that's why a lot of snails died off. The sand has had some brown stuff underneath that I see through the glass, been there since I got the tank, but it doesnt get any worse and the top of the sand is totally white. The walls are always perfectly clear. Never need to use the scraper.
 
That is a little odd? What type of lights did you say you had?
 
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