Salt Water Emergency

[pankajsantwani]

Hi Guys,

Please help. Here's my case history. AN advice on the same is requested. Thanks in advance:

• Tank Size : 56x48x24 inch
• Water in Tank : 56x36x24 inch ( 792 Ltrs. )
• Power Head: 1 Pc 1200 L/Hr & 1 Pc. 600 L/Hr. Earlier , i.e. before last 8 months, there were total 3 Pcs of 600 L/Hr each.
• Canester Filter 1600 L/Hr status is ON.
• Trickle Filter: 1x4 Chambers with carbon, ceramic balls & pads. Current Status is OFF.
• Argonite: 3 inches Bed
• Live Rocks : 100Kg
• Dead Corals : 50 Kg
• Chiller: 300 to 500 L/Hr. Current status is ON but the temp remained around 30-31 degrees during peak summer of 3 months.
• Metal Halide Lamps: 2 pcs of 150 Watt each turned on each day from 12 to 7 pm. One of them has fused just 2 days back & would be replaced by tommorow.
• Nitrate as on date is less than 0.3
• pH is 8.0
• First Lot of Fishes was introduced in AUG 2007. The detail of fishes is : wimple, powder blue tang, diamond butterfly, domino damsel, electric blue damsel, yellow tail blue damsel, Dr. Wrass, moon wrass, sebia clown, puffer, sea horse, 2 lobster ( male & female ), brown tang, carpet anemone, tenticle aemone, brain coral & cup coral. But 15 days later, probably, the puffer got suck in the filter piipe and blocked it and matter of chance that my office was closed for 2 days for holiday, and the day it opened by then 70% of the fishes had died and later slowly slowly in the next fortnight, I feel that the lobster used to attatck the fishes but not sure, rest of the fishes also died.
• Then after all this happened, we tried to regulate the water condition & then in OCT 2007 second lot of fishes was ordered which had: blue ring angl, powder blue tang, angel, queen trigger( adult ), ordinary trigger ( medium ) & thread fin butterfly. But this time too the fishes died but one at a time. So I had my doubt oon the lobster, which could never be verified as the fish was eaten by them before we could check for any marks. And the fishes used die mostly in night when th eOffice was closed.
• So we finally removed the lobster & in JAN-FEB '08 we bought the fishes from you, which had: Perculla clown, sebia clown, blue damsel, three spot damsel, yellow tail damsel, lion fish, sweet lip, squirrel fish, angel, tenticle anemone & mushrooms. Fishes died in a few days.
• Then I was very upset with all this and I asked the care taker, Mr. Wahid, to not introduce any fishes till he is confident of what is the problem with the Aquariium. All these days there was this one angel & one clown that survived.
• When it was peak summers, I noticed that the chiller was not able to maintain the temp of 24-26 degrees, instead it kept around 30-32 all the time and the rrom in which the aquarium is kept used to be always boiling, though we tried to maintain the ventelation at all times. Due to this slowly all the corals started dying, the brown mushroom that we bought from you is still there, but is very small and has lost its colour.
• I have just two days back introduced a cow fish, 2 clown & a damsel but I am very scared about the same.
• 3 months back we had put some beneficiary bacteria into the water, but even after that the Live rocks never developed freen algae on the. They got more and more white since summers and now 60-70 % is white and the rest are Brown and have a look as if they are burnt.

I can even send more photo's of my tank if it can be helpful. Just let me know your email & i'l send it accross. Thanks.

regards,

Pankaj.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

I have the same problem with the no algea situation on my live rock... i think my issue has to do with a lawnmower blenny though lol

 

[austinsdad]

Frankly, I think at each junction you added too many fish at one time. That's a lot on the bio-load at once IMO. And hopefully you don't this wrong, but your choice of fishes in the same tank make me wonder. For instance, back in 2007 you had a seahorse in the same tank with puffers, wrasses, lobstaer,and lot of other fast moving fish that would have made the seahorse starve not being able to swim fast enuf to eat.

 

[MarineFlake]

Advice:
1. Read.
2. 30 deg celsius ~ 86 degrees farenheit and that is a certificate of death for just about anything you put in the tank. Temps for most Ocean going animals is about 78 - 82 degrees, tops.
3. Turn off your halides until you get your temp under control. Period.
4. Sounds like your chiller is not performing or you live in the open African desert. Assuming you do not live in the open African desert and have indoor heating and cooling, please either get rid of the chiller or have a professional evaluate it. It may be broken or simply too small for the job. Either way, its only going to add to the problem since it is most likely running all the time and venting even more hot air into the room. (Please don't tell us it is in the stand under the tank with dirt all over it...No need to comment, just relocate it, clean it, and post back that its working or has been sent to the bone yard)
5. Please do not put anything else in your tank until you have addressed stable temp and a SG of ~ 1.025 give or take. Hint: You wont achieve the proper SG with your temp at 30 - 32 degrees.
6. Dont put stock in your tank and leave for 2 days, a holiday, a weekend at the park, etc. New stock (living animals) need attention when first starting a tank. If you dont have the time to observe, monitor and correct, this may be the wrong hobby for you.
7. Im not sure what the deal is with starting with so much, what I would consider, exotic stock. Cow fish, anemone, etc??? Refer to advice numbered 1.
8. Yes, your LR is turning white. It is what happens to beneficial bacteria and algea when it is boiled. The proper term for it is bleaching and it is a further sign that you need get your temp and SG under control.
You should work on the temperature issue first and foremost and by all means stop stocking the tank until its corrected. I would encourage you to post back once that has been addressed and by all means, do some research please.

 

[CaptainAhab]

'30 deg celsius ~ 86 degrees farenheit and that is a certificate of death for just about anything you put in the tank.'

100% untrue but you do need to address the situation long term. Not knowing where you live or the cooling capacity of your home it's hard to comment on the 3 month temperature rise other than to point out the higher water temperatures contain less dissolved oxygen which can cause a real problem for live stock, especially if over stocked. Ripple the surface more w/ powerheads, remove any covers, blow a fan across the water surface, etc.

I would also have someone size your chiller based on your climate and cooling needs. I suspect that your issue is not the chiller (or it's size) but your climate and ability to cool the room. A fan blowing across the top of tank water (or sump or both) can help tremendously.

I didn't see you post your SG but you CAN achieve the a proper SG at any reasonable temperature. SG is simply the ratio of the density of that water at a specific temperature to the density of pure water at a specific temperature.

The typical reason LR will bleach is a sudden increase in lighting. Algae and coralline is not going to 'boil' at 86F. Turning off your lights will not help you coralline algae issue only increase them.

If you have any photosynthetic species in the tank, do not turn off the lighting.

Do you know what your calcium, alk and SG readings are?
Where does the water temperature moderate outside of the 3 month hot season?

In the future you many want to stock more slowly.

In the end it's your tank, your life. Our role is to offer suggestions based on your questions. I would venture a guess that anyone looking at how I run my tanks would have suggestions based on their preferences and experience. I always welcome suggestions however unless your paying the freight that's all they are.

As always, IMO

 

[pankajsantwani]

Thanks "Marine" & "Captain" for your valuable inputs. Well, you guys must be surely wondering and as mentioned in your posts as to why did I stock up so much. To be Honest, I have been relying on a professional, who does these aquarium works, totally. But after all this started happening and things never getting under his control, I thought of taking things under my control, let him do what he suggest but at the same time ensure that what he will do helps and not creates further problems.

I am myself a pet lover and every time a fish used to die I used to feel really bad. This is the reason why I removed the lobsters as the sight of they eating the dead fishes was extremely disturbing.

Well, I myself had doubts on the chiller not being able to sustain the load. I live in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The temp in winters vary here from 3 deg Celsius to 14-15 deg celsius and in summers it is from 25 deg celsius to 45 deg celsius. Last summers I got the chiller checked up & cleaned thoroughly but there were no problems detected. I ordered that guy to get a bigger chiller say about for atleast 800-1000 L/Hr. In the meanwhile probably he has also discssed it with his colleagues and he has been suggested to make an additional 3 stage filter & Calcium Booster along with three small CPU fans & one Medium Size wall fan to blow air on to he surface of the water. As per him, this would support the chiller as the season of peak summers is just round the corner. May-July is the peak season for summers here.

Apart from this, I have myself instructed him not to put any live stock till the condition of the aquarium is visibly stable also & not just on values.

Well, I would definetely look into the expert tips provided by you guys & keep you posted. In the meanwhile if you have any tips for me, I would be really glad if you can post them ASAP as tom the fans & Filters would be fitted.

Again, Thanks a ton guys.

regards,

Pankaj.

 

[thincat]

Hi, you don't say how old your tank is. Did you cycle it. looks like you need more LR in there. What is your nitrite reading. As stated above, don't add so many fish at once. The rest is pretty much covered.