Clean Water, but nothing lives

T

Terran

New member
I'm new to this hobby so please forgive me if I sound so naive. We purchased a brand new 100g tank and wanted to build a mix reef.

To prep the tank, I'd added two inches of live sand and 25lbs of live rock. At the 3rd week, I added my cleanup crew, shrimp, snails and hermit crabs. All died within six hours. I tested the water, 79 degrees, PH 8.0, Nitrate 0, Phosphate 0, salinity is on the low side 1.019.

I'd asked a local coral shop why the invertebrates are dying and they said the water is "œtoo clean", so suggested to add two Cromies. I acclimated the two fishes for 90min and within six hours one started to look lethargic.

Could the copper level be too high? Or am I overlooking something else?
 
Chromises wouldn't be affected by copper, but the inverts would.

What are your ammonia and nitrite levels? Did you use tap water?

I'm guessing your water is all-around bad. High ammonia, high nitrite, AND some copper. Need to replace all of the water and get a lot more live rock.
 
PLEASE do ask ask for forgiveness because you have a question! I am not an expert by any means but I'll throw in my two cents:

You can tweek your Ph and salinity but I dont think they would cause everything to die off like that. Its a little redundant but I test at home and the LFS to make sure we get similiar readings (I recently found my Nitrate test was no longer working this way). Get a second opinion on your params would be my first recommendation.

Have you added copper to the tank (doesnt sound like you did)? If you suspect copper you should test for it. Different test kits do different types of copper so it helps if you know what kind of copper was dosed.

You didnt mention if your tank went through a full cycle. Did you get the amonia & nitrite spike? BTW 25 lbs doesnt seem like nearly enough live rock for a tank that size. I only mention that because three weeks is pretty quick for a brand new tank.

Im sure you will get much more usefull advice than I gave but it may help to include details about your cycle. Have someone else test your water:deadhorse: sometimes these tests can be misread.

Be patient most of all. :beer:

Good luck
 
I would raise the SG to about 1.0264. The current level is too low for healthy animals long-term, in my opinion. I'd probably raise it over a week or two, at this point. Topping off with saltwater should be fine. I agree that an ammonia test is in order, and I'd calibrate the SG device with a reasonable fluid:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.htm
 
bongarone said:
Chromises wouldn't be affected by copper, but the inverts would.

What are your ammonia and nitrite levels? Did you use tap water?

I'm guessing your water is all-around bad. High ammonia, high nitrite, AND some copper. Need to replace all of the water and get a lot more live rock.
Click to expand...

Ammonia = 0.25
Nitrite = 0
 
Did you "Condition the water" by using a product such as Prime? Are you on a well system? Some town ships are crazy on the chlorine.

Im not a pro but in my case, my 180 never cycled its been 2 years going strong. Phosphates rose very little but was put under control with Ferric oxide (i no longer run)never seen hair algae or cyno. So I wouldnt give a time table for the cycling period just test periodically.

I "cycled" by adding humic and fulvic acid along with Fancy Molasses. Started with a couple well seeded rocks. However i wouldnt recommend this as there is no literature on the subject and putting fertilizer in your tank is not for the light hearted. :) ha i still dose Fulvic.

Hope all you need to do is condition it since you never mentioned it. If you want to test your tank buy a couple of cheap snails i find that they are usually pretty sensitive to there surrounding if they live i think you should be safe with a damsel or chromis if your nutrients are in check.
Happy fishing
 
Last edited:
I would add some Prime or Amquel to the tank, to neutralize the ammonia. Any sign of ammonia is bad, although not necessarily immediately fatal. I'd probably return the fish and wait for the ammonia to hit zero before adding any more animals.

I agree that untreated tap water can be an issue.
 
Here are some more questions for you

1. Where is your water coming from? Do you have an RODI unit at home? If not invest
2. Where is the live Rock from?
3. Where is the live sand from?
4. What test kits do you have and what brand are you using?
5. How are you acclimating your new critters?


There are never ny bad questions in this hobbie only the ones the don't get asked. The people here are awesome. Please don't get discouraged by this. It has happened to us at some time. Even guys how have been in the hobbie for years and are considered experts ask question here.


WELCOME TO THE FORUM AND GOOD LUCK!
 
Borchers said:
Here are some more questions for you

1. Where is your water coming from? Do you have an RODI unit at home? If not invest
2. Where is the live Rock from?
3. Where is the live sand from?
4. What test kits do you have and what brand are you using?
5. How are you acclimating your new critters?


There are never ny bad questions in this hobbie only the ones the don't get asked. The people here are awesome. Please don't get discouraged by this. It has happened to us at some time. Even guys how have been in the hobbie for years and are considered experts ask question here.


WELCOME TO THE FORUM AND GOOD LUCK!
Click to expand...

1. Water is from our Irvine, CA tap running through a Whole House Filtered system and Water Softener.
2 &3. Live Rock and Sand is from a service company that setup our tank.
4. We're using API and also took a water sample to a local coral shop, they use Hanna (both have same results)
5. Acclimating with slow drip for 60 - 90min

I also have a protein skimmer and a bio-pellet reactor running in my sump.

So, here's my corrective action plan:

1. Add another 75lbs of live rocks and rubble to the refugium
2. Wait for Ammonia, Nitrate to reach 0
3. 20% water change to get SG to 1.025+
4. Test for any traces of copper

Am I missing anything else?

Really appreciate all the response from everyone on this forum.
 
The filtering system might not be removing any chlorine or similar water treatment. I'd get a RO/DI system but using Prime or some similar tap water conditioner might be okay.
 
when was the last time the water filter media replaced? if it's been a long time, the carbon is probably all used up and not removing the chlorine in the tap water. you should also check with your water company to see if they use chloramine in water treatment (I believe some parts of the LA do that). If there's chloramine, you need a special media in the RODI filter to remove it.

one way to find out if your "filtered" water has chlorine is to test the water with one of those test strips sold at petsmart. one of the tests shows the chlorine result.
 
What sort of salt is the water softener system using for recharge? Some have additives to prevent channeling and such, and some of those additives can be problems for fish keepers.
 
RO/DI stat.
Do not use tap water in a reef tank. The cost of a ro/di unit is nothing in this hobby.
 
sandwi54 said:
when was the last time the water filter media replaced? if it's been a long time, the carbon is probably all used up and not removing the chlorine in the tap water. you should also check with your water company to see if they use chloramine in water treatment (I believe some parts of the LA do that). If there's chloramine, you need a special media in the RODI filter to remove it.

one way to find out if your "filtered" water has chlorine is to test the water with one of those test strips sold at petsmart. one of the tests shows the chlorine result.
Click to expand...

I have this filter, no filter media to replace. The system will purge after two weeks.

I also have this water softener

Can I just get this stand alone DI unit, since I have the filter and water softener already in place?
 
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