now how did THIS happen???

[squishles]

I've been having weird stuff happen- snails dying fast mostly but they really try and crawl out of the tank recently, so I went and got a GOOD water test and they told me my tank isn't cycled. :-/ My tank has been going since February. My phosphates are high, my pH is off (can't remember which way but I got a buffer for it), my bacteria is low, and my nitrates are high. I also got a bottle of bacteria to dump in to help everything along so not everything in there dies.

Any ideas how this happened? Can a low bio load cause this? Its a 15g tank with one fish and one shrimp. I don't add anything weird to the tank so I doubt that would be a cause.

 

[bimmerzs]

@squishles wrote:

Can you provide additional info please. Did you use cured or uncured liverock and how much. How did you start off your cycle. The parameters you listed really have nothing to do directly with a cycle. To verify if your tank is cycled you need to check Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, if Am and nitrite reads zero then your cycle is completed. If your nitrates are high then you are most likely overfeeding. I would really check your salinity, a hydrometer can give very inaccurate results, PH test kits are also somewhat inaccurate so it would be a good idea to get your numbers verified prior to making adjustments, you could make things worse. How are you topping off, are you using freshwater or saltwater?If you Ca/Alk/Mg values are within NSW levels then your PH should be ok but these need to be ok before you go further imo.

Cheers,

 

[squishles]

Cured rock- ~20 lbs. 15lbs went in right away in Feb, the rest went in as I found pieces over the next 3 months or so- nothing new recently I ran out of room.

All of those levels were zero in April when I added the fish. Also had a crab, he died recently along with a ton of snails. No major changes when this occurred. Happened over ~2 weeks and had the water tested during that period and all levels were zero. This was ~6 weeks ago.

Now nitrite is high (sorry I said nitrate before). Also phosphates are high- what might be causing that?

I have been feeding one shrimp cube every three days but was told today to break it in half and feed half every day (dont go so long between feedings). I haven't fed them in two days. Is that still too much food? They eat it all- I watch to make sure. Should I be feeding something else?

Salinity was 1.025. All tests done today were at the fish store. Topoff is freshwater. I don't have the Ca/Mg/Alk values- they didn't do those tests. What is NSW? I think I need a better testkit it sounds like? Mine only tests basic stuff- can you point me to one that will also test for the above items that I'm missing?

I'm letting it run after adding the buffer and bacteria and retesting next weekend- how much of a change can I expect? Also, what should I have in my filter and what should I remove? Was told to remove charcoal- also have filter floss in there, is it okay to leave that? Why remove the charcoal? Or should I add a new charcoal?

 

[Misty]

The death of the crab and a "ton of snails" could have resulted in a mini-cycle with a build-up of ammonia, which would lead to your current nitrite level.

Have you done any water changes lately? If not, I'd recommend a water change to cut the nitrite level. In fact, I have to do one tomorrow (just a scheduled one, all of my levels are good) - might benefit you to take a couple of gallons of mine and then add in 5 gallons of "new" saltwater. Just make sure the "new" has a high enough salinity level - some LFS's mix their water at 1.020-ish. Odyssey Pets mixes theirs to 1.024-1.025.

Is there ANY chance that some of the rock you added had once been exposed to copper?

 

[squishles]

I did a change yesterday and one last weekend. I mix my own salt water- I use fresh from the LFS and add Instant Ocean to 1.025 and then recheck a sample from the tank to verify thats the overall level.

I guess there could be but ALL my rock came from LFS, none came from someone else's tank. I never added anything but a pH buffer so most definitely no copper. I have had snails last a while- I currently have one that has been in there through all this (~3 months) although I doubt he makes it through tomorrow. He's at the top of the tank and it looks like he's shedding. Weird- layers of slime are coming off. I keep poking him and he wiggles so he' still around- poor guy.

I'm out of town til Thursday so I appreciate your offer but can't this time. In other news, the damsel is fine. Also, the cleaner shrimp is good. I just saw him.

 

[Jeff]

The activated carbon (charcoal) is good for about two weeks - that's how often I change mine. I would not use floss but if you do, I'd rinse it daily in used tank water- that's where your nitrate buildup is most likely coming from. I don't remember seeing anything about your flow or sandbed - can you describe those? Do you see a lot of copepods on the glass?

 

[squishles]

Flow is pretty high- I have two pumps plus the filter going. At ~25x. I have a deep sand bed- average of 8" goes down to 6 in some areas.

The carbon should be fine then- he was worried it would be taking out the bacteria I need to get the cycle redone.

I haven't a clue what a copepod on glass looks like.

Things are better than yesterday- the snail I thought for sure was gone crawled away today just fine this morning. Another came back to life last night. One more sick one in a corner- hopefully he starts to wiggle today. Fish and shrimp are both still fine.

Major change from yesterday was the pH buffer was added. I doubt anything else would have changed too quickly.

 

[DennisF]

Just because a snail is not moving does not mean it is dead! They will set sedentary for days at a time.

 

[bimmerzs]

@squishles wrote:

Stop listening to this person. :lol:

@squishles next wrote:

Check here for description, you may also want to look around on this site. http://www.melevsreef.com/id/pods.html


@squishles continued and then wrote:

You don't want anything changing quickly in a reef tank especially parameters. I really want to stress the importance of getting your core paramameters in line before trying to manipulate PH. Calcium, alkalinity and magnesium all interact with each other and must be balanced in your system, if these are balanced then PH will not be a problem. Bouncing PH around is bad especially in a 15G tank thats already not the most stable platform to start out with. I would suggest performing several larger percentage(25%) waterchanges over the next few days in order to bring your tank back to a baseline and get rid pf the nitrite issue you currently have. DO not dose anything during this . Once it's back to NSW (normal seawater) levels then monitor you tank values closely. You should not be having a PH problem in your tank. This is just my advive, other may have additional points for you as well. Here are NSW values in case you need them. http://www.melevsreef.com/parms.html

Cheers,

 

[squishles]

Okay I put the charcoal in. The pH is 8.3 and has been for 3 days straight now. Still don't have a test kit for the rest- anywhere to get one? Local or online I don't care. Snails are alive and thriving- there's a baby that wasn't there before and the black one started moving so no more losses there. Stuff is growing on the rock again also.

 

[Renmar]

You should be able to find a test kit just about anywhere. DNA, Neptunes, and etc. http://www.marinedepot.com will have them and a few other stores online should have some test kits as well. Franks Tanks have them too, dont know where you're located .. but ... there ya go

 

[derek4real]

ron is right.

take you water to a LFS and have them test your water. This will help you find the main cause of your problem.

Adding carbon might have helped but think that money should have gone else where (like test kits).

Once the problem is found, you can then make the correct measure to getting things back to normal. Also since you have a 15 gallon, you my have larger parameter flucuations since you have a smaller tank. Stay on top of your water changes will help alot.