Saltwater & Reef

oohnoe · 10-03-2022, 12:07 AM

Greetings, I just joined this site. I have a 135 gallon salt water aquarium. I tend to lose alot of fish even though i follow guidelines, changing water, testing through master test kit. However I dont know why when i test Nitrate NO2, the water in the tube is clear instead of light blue

Colin_T · 10-03-2022, 07:07 AM

Hi and welcome to the forum

Can we get a picture of the tank, filter and fish?
How long do the fish live for after you get them?

How long has the tank been set up for?
Is the filter cycled?

Do you use natural sea water or use artificial marine salt to make salt water?
If you make your own, do you use dechlorinated tap water?
How long do you aerate the made up sea water for before using it?

How often and how do you clean the filter?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and salinity (in numbers)?

What brand of test kit do you use?
Nitrite is NO2
Nitrate is NO3.
Make sure you use the correct bottles for the test

oohnoe · 10-03-2022, 10:44 AM

I have a built in installed by professional. 135 gallons. I had their guy change out water 25% every two weeks. I took over 4 months ago and do same Both of us made our own salt water. I use a salt meter same measurement 130 same as the fish store i make fish purchase I use apt master test kit high range ph about 8.2/8.4…..ammonia nh3 and Nitrate no2 comes out clear. Very strange. Nitrate no3 is 0 ppm… temp is 80 degrees
I had 12 fish. Seems i lose one every 2-3 months The longest ? I have 3…filter? Cant figure how to take photo and upload

**melosu58** · 10-03-2022, 02:35 PM

Welcome aboard. We are glad you found us here at AA.

oohnoe · 10-03-2022, 02:44 PM

Thank you

Colin_T · 10-03-2022, 08:36 PM

You want the salinity at 1.024 – 1.025 (32 – 33 ppt).

You need to aerate and mix the artificial marine salt and water for 24 hours before using it so all the mineral salts can dissolve completely.

Make sure you dechlorinate the new water before it is added to the tank.

Check the water company's website and see if there is anything bad in the water (heavy metals, etc), these can poison fish. If you have heavy metals or lots of unwanted chemicals in the tap water, maybe use a reverse osmosis unit to filter the tap water and remove the contaminants.

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Can you post some pictures of the fish and tank?

What fish have you lost?
What symptoms do the fish have when they are sick or die?

What are you feeding the fish?

Andy Sager · 10-14-2022, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oohnoe

I have a built in installed by professional. 135 gallons. I had their guy change out water 25% every two weeks. I took over 4 months ago and do same Both of us made our own salt water. I use a salt meter same measurement 130 same as the fish store i make fish purchase I use apt master test kit high range ph about 8.2/8.4…..ammonia nh3 and Nitrate no2 comes out clear. Very strange. Nitrate no3 is 0 ppm… temp is 80 degrees
I had 12 fish. Seems i lose one every 2-3 months The longest ? I have 3…filter? Cant figure how to take photo and upload

When you lose fish in that time frame, it sounds more like it's a nutritional thing than a disease or age thing. So let's see a list of the fish you've had and the foods you've been feeding. No sense adding more fish until we figure out why you keep losing them.

I will add that it's unusual that you would have a 0 nitrate when nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle. ( Was your tank cycled before you added the fish? ) Are you using any kind of nitrate removal items such as a refugium or filtering pad that removes nitrates? A 25% water change should not reduce the nitrate to 0 in that sized tank.

Also, what are the dimensions of the aquarium? Fish tend to swim horizontally so a tall short tank will effect fish differently than a long short tank. Gallonage doesn't really matter.

Let's start there.