New powerheads in my tank

[sugarfree]

So I have recently started a new saltwater tank, it has been up about a month now. I have seen the ammonia and nitrite spikes, currently they are at 0 and my nitrates are 20 water temp is about 76. I started the tank with 40 lbs of LS and added 25lbs of dead sand. I cycled the tank with 35 lbs of dry rock and have since they added another 10-15lbs of dry, live, and life rock from my LFS. I did cycle my tank with 3 green chromis (at the time this is what my LFS recommended, I will not do again). Last weekend end I added 2 picasso clowns and a few hermit crabs and 2 snails.
Up till thus point the only flow I had was from my 450gph from my canister filter, this week i added a hydor koralia 850 power head. All my fish now are not eating and i lost a chromis and the smaller clown. Could this be due to the power head pushing to much flow? How do you recommend checking for electrical shorts in the water?
I am new to salt water and i have never had issues with fresh water before.

 

[sugarfree]

The only way I know to check is with a multimeter, one probe in the ground of an outlet the other in the tank. Any recommendations?

 

[Lksheppa]

When we have stray voltage, we felt it in the water directly. Do you turn off your power heads for feeding? You could try adjusting the direction of the flow to low forthe fishto have slow flow areas. Have you also checked your water parameters?

 

[Lksheppa]

* adjust the direction of the flow so the fish have low flow areas to escape the PH

 

[sugarfree]

As of right now I checked all the parameters that I can check and they are 0 except nitrate it is between 10 and 20, what temp is 76. I also have the PH directed down the length of my 40 gal. Breeder and it is turned up to the surface to roll it.

 

[JustinM]

Did you QT your new fish? I recommend qt'ing everything in the saltwater trade. There are too many pests and parasites. The fish did not dies because of too much flow, more than likely a parasite if you didn't qt.

 

[Stolireef]

Not a chance that flow caused problems for any of those fish. I'm betting that you had an ammonia spike when you added the fish (too many too fast in a smaller tank). I'd be surprised if a parasite did that without you noticing anything on the fish. Something like marine velvet or ich would be pretty noticeable on at least a few of the fish before it killed them.

 

[sugarfree]

I did not QT the new fish do to lack of space and money I have been checking the tank water para.eters daily and have not seen any ammonia in the water in 2 weeks, had a slight bump of nitrite for a day bit it was less then .25 ppm. The place I bought the fish from is a clown breeder and have there breeding tank system isolated from there other tanks. I have not seen any signs of parasites or any noticeable symptoms. The clown was acting to my knowledge like a clown bouncing around, sleeping in every area of the tank however he had not eaten anything for a week and I ready on the forum that this is not uncommon for new fish.

 

[ZenGuitarGuy]

No matter what a LFS or supplier says, you don't know what is in their system. For what it's worth, my QT is a 10G tank with a heater and power filter, thermometer, and a couple pieces of PVC pipe for fish to hide in. All that >$80 brand new, and the footprint of the tank is small, like 20"x10" I think? I use QT to observe for parasites, treat if necessary, and "train" my new fish to eat, and get them comfortable with me being around the tank. It's brilliant.

 

[sugarfree]

I will look into setting one up.