46 Gallon (4 Months) - Constructive Critisism taken well - PLEASE HELP!

[homer1475]

Salifert or Red Sea are both very decent test kits.

Aquamaxx HOB-1 is a very nice HOB skimmer, although a bit pricey.

 

[A.Astore]

I like the Salifert tests. I won't lie though, I do use API for some of the tests I don't have to use as often.

As far as your nitrates, they might take just a bit to get back down considering you heavily increased fish load recently, would have increased feeding probably to get the angels to eat, pulled the media out spreading all the junk that was trapped, and then had a few casualties. I went on vacation right after having a fish go south. We were leaving and couldn't get the thing out because it got pulled down under a rock. Hindsight we should have left late but we were just ready to head out and decided to leave it. Got home to some ammonia and decently high nitrates. It took a couple major water changes to get the nitrates back down, the ammonia was fixed after the first decent water change and sand vacuum though. While my hammers were in absolute water heaven, the vast majority of other stuff was not as pleased. I would think once you get another water change in there and get some movement in the water you will see a big improvement in the nitrates. Right now there is probably a lot just sitting, rotting in places that don't have a lot of movement.

 

[rfurst]

The theme you are hearing is a pretty consistent refrain amongst hobbiest and the genral concensus seems to be (which I agree with)... You need a skimmer, do routine water changes, get rid of the canister filter and HOB Whisper filter (with the one exception that some use them to run Carbon, but don't use as your primary mechanical filter), you are probbably going too fast... adding livestock faster than you should (seems most of us do when we start) LFS often give really bad advice and sell you inappropriate livestock, a lot of us have reliability issues with test kits or like myself, have enough color blindness that it makes reading them very difficult, use RO/DI water with very little to no TDS, for fish-only lights don't matter much at all but matter ALOT for coral, livestock as gifts are routinely poor choices, got to have good water movement/flow in the tank although this is far more important with coral than just fish, , and the sticky's at the top of this forum will answer pretty much everything you need to know to get started. Your KH and nitrate are a bit high but not enough to be a significant problem IMO, especially for fish, and that alone would not explain death of fish.

Yes, for every point where there is reasonable concensus, there is an exception, someone who has done it differently with success. I think you either read a lot and follow the concensus, or just find someone you really trust and don't listen to everyone else who you have no idea if they know what they are doing or not.

Like others have said, we all seem to have experienced unexplained sudden death syndrome

Sure, you can use a HOB skimmer in a sump so it's not like you are wasting money using one now and moving it. I have used the AquaC Remora product on several tanks and had a good experience with them. They used to be wildy popular but not so much anymore. you will hear a lot of support for the Reef Octopus skimmers here on RC. I have not heard of there being an issue with overskimming or using a skimmer too large but as a practical matter, I am not sure there is a lot of value in oversizing too much though.

Anyway, those are a few of my thoughts

 

[triplefishryan]

Thanks again guys..! All very sound advice, all pointing in the same direction. This weekend I ordered the reef octopus and a couple of powerheads totaling 12-1300gph. I've done a ton more research and boy, when you think you have a good handle on how things work you quickly realize there is MUCH more to know..! That being said I got rid of the whisper filter and emptied the canister filter apart from the sponges for now, just to trap the big stuff, in anticipation for the Reef Octopus to come in..! Should be here tomorrow. Wow...I don't think it's been more than two weeks since I cleaned that filter and now I know why they say it's a nitrate factory. Maybe because of the added live rock recently or something, or stirring things up with the net, on every level of the canister there was a TON of detritus just waiting to decay.


Starting to get the bigger picture here. Sure, maybe if I just had the clowns in there, it's possible that they would be fine for a while; but with the huge bio-load changes in the last month, I'm beginning to think that's why they died, and less because of parasites or diseases...(although I guess still possible). Either way I am excited to see how the tank reacts to this and I'll keep you posted..!

 

[Pilotman520]

I know there are a million horror stories about the hob overflows but I've been using mine for over a year with no problems. I have a dual overflow but I only use one u-tube and have a little stockman pipe one one of the drains. That side goes into a filter sock. On the other drain I have an open pipe set about 1 inch above the water level of the stockman. This way if I get a clog and water starts flowing through the open pipe it makes a ton of noise.

With a sump you could put a couple reactors for carbon or gfo, your skimmer, heaters etc out of sight.

 

[Pilotman520]

Another thing with the sump the water flowing over the baffles gets another chance for gas exchange. Though I do think the power heads you purchased will probably fix most of your troubles. Make sure you point one up at the surface to promote gas exchange.

 

[ca1ore]

one thing I've found is that everyone has a different opinion on just about everything.

Part of the reason for this is that it's difficult to pinpoint the reasons tanks fail or fish die, so folks tend to default to their favored 'universal' explanation (stray voltage being my personal favorite). One thing that I always advise folks new to the hobby is to establish early on with well meaning family members to NEVER BUY ME A FISH (or invert). It just never ends well.

While I think a skimmer is an important piece of equipment, it's not a necessity - so your LFS is correct in that regard. It's certainly possible that you had an oxygen problem, though I'd tend to doubt it with such a low fish load. That your clowns did fine for a while and then died after introducing an un-quarantined fish suggests some kind of disease. Not ich, but something like velvet that will kill fish very quickly.

Oh, and before you follow somebody's advice, ask them to show you their tank.

Any mechanical filter can become a 'nitrate factory' if the detritus is left to dissolve; it's not unique to the canister filter (which as somebody noted is essential just a reactor).

 

[ca1ore]

I am in connecticut.

Where in CT? I'm in Stamford. There are some really good stores here and an active reef club.