New Sand & Water Tests

[Nezington]

Hi All,

I am trying to take over the maintenance of my tank which I've had my LFS do every month. I bought the following from them about a year ago:

40 Gal Long - L 48.5" x W 13.5" x H 17.25"
2 Aqueon QuietFlow Power Filter 30s
2 Marineland lights - 1 24" 1 36" (I think)
1 LED Blue Light


I've started to ask advice and help elsewhere as I'm not getting much from my current LFS as to why I've been losing fish and why I can't seem to keep coral.

I will be changing out my lighting soon to a T5 unit with 4 bulbs as recommended by another LFS. He also recommended me putting more live sand in my tank. I probably had about 1". I am now at about 2.5-3" after adding 40 pounds on monday, and another 20 on tuesday. I ran a water test today and the results were as follows:

High PH: 8
Ammonia: 0PPM
Nitrite: 0PPM
Nitrate: 40PPM
Salinity:1.025
Temperature: 78.7

Please let me know if these numbers are good.

I currently have a clown and two anemones in the tank with some polyps, zenias, a frog spawn and Live Rock (not sure how much).

I wanted to get feedback on the water tests and any other opinions or suggestions as to what I'm missing before I start to add more Coral and fish into my system.

I have attached a picture of my current tank. I'm trying out some aquascaping for the first time, so please excuse my amateur setup.


Thank you

Nez

 

[thegrun]

Your nitrates are high, it's not too bad for a fish only tank but corals will want it much lower, close to zero if you plan on keeping sensitive corals like SPS, below 10ppm for most soft corals (and your anemone). I would make a series of 25% water changes to get them down below 10ppm. There is no obvious reason for the fish loss given your parameters, how are you quarantining and acclimating the new fish?

 

[Nezington]

Your nitrates are high, it's not too bad for a fish only tank but corals will want it much lower, close to zero if you plan on keeping sensitive corals like SPS, below 10ppm for most soft corals (and your anemone). I would make a series of 25% water changes to get them down below 10ppm. There is no obvious reason for the fish loss given your parameters, how are you quarantining and acclimating the new fish?

Hi TheGrun, sorry for the double message. I had those fish in my tank for at least 2 months before they started to die. I had a medium sized purple mandarin and another clown. I usually float for 15 mins, dump half the water from the bag and add mine in for another 15. (This is how I was told by my LFS).

I don't have a Quarantine tank.