29 gallon Biocube!

[Reefie]

A Coral Beauty will be fine provided that it'll be the very last fish you'll be adding.

I've got the Fish-Saver from inTank, it works like a charm! I had a Midas Blenny that liked to hop in to the overflow, and it's a PITA to get it out with the media basket, skimmer, pumps, heater, etc.

I'd also suggest a good skimmer, this is the one thing that you should not cheap out on. I've gone through 3 skimmers because I didn't want to bite the bullet on the Tunze 9002 Nano DOC Skimmer. Now, I see it as one of my better investments.

Cutting out the section between Chambers 1 and 2 is a really easy way to increase flow into the overflow also.

The BioCube is a great first tank, expecially if you like to tinker and mod.

[Aysha]

the firefish bit the dust. he got his head stuck in a rock.
I've been looking into a protein skimmer, I figure with the amount I've already spent on this tank there is no real reason to cheap out on one.
I built a quarantine tank out of a 6 gallon edge I found on kijiji that was already running salt. the polyps and the test fish seem to be doing well.

[Aysha]

My Ph keeps crashing does anyone have any ideas
its done it 3 times since yesterday.
I had to treat the tank with ich attack for the last 2 weeks JOY!
and thats the main thing that's changed.

I've done 3 15 percent waterchanges in a week and a half .
yesterday after I finished one I noticed my chromis acting wierd.
Ph 7.2
added marine buffer and marine builder
ph 8.4
checked again today
ph.7.8

ammonia zero
nitrates zero
nirates zero

I feel like im a really really bad fish keeper
ANY ideas whats causing this

29 gallons
temp 27
35 lbs live rock
15 lbs live sand
various inverts
2 fish
salinity 35

[lpsreefer]

Your salinity is at 1.35?

[Aysha]

That's what I was told to keep it at to keep my polyps alive, and thats what I got adding half cup of coralife per gallon of water should I lower it?

[lpsreefer]

Yeah a lot lower.
1.24-1.26 is the range you want.

[Aysha]

okay I'll start there, will this help with the ph issue?

[fishytime]

hold on before you go lowering the salinity.....two different ways to measure salinity......forget now exactly what they are called, but one measures out to 1.025ish and the other measures out to 35......

as for the ph.....dont worry about it too much.....a lot of time messing with it creates more issues (because of the swing) than if it is a little low or a little high but stable......

[Aysha]

.35 and 1.35 are the same according to my refractometer
I changed it out a bit to 1.25
I won't mess with them anymore Ive done what I can and this hobby is starting to worry me

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Aysha

My Ph keeps crashing does anyone have any ideas
its done it 3 times since yesterday.
I had to treat the tank with ich attack for the last 2 weeks JOY!
and thats the main thing that's changed.

I've done 3 15 percent waterchanges in a week and a half .
yesterday after I finished one I noticed my chromis acting wierd.
Ph 7.2
added marine buffer and marine builder
ph 8.4
checked again today
ph.7.8

ammonia zero
nitrates zero
nirates zero

I feel like im a really really bad fish keeper
ANY ideas whats causing this

29 gallons
temp 27
35 lbs live rock
15 lbs live sand
various inverts
2 fish
salinity 35

if i were to take a guess your having troubles because the tank needs time to stabilize its not the same as cycling even a tank thats fully cycled will go through swings of different things from algae to parameter swings in its first year. even when using already cured rock the tank needs time to stabilize, then you can add livestock.when adding the first livestock its important to do it very slowly , add one small fish or invert and let the tank catch up with the newly aquired "bio load" after some more maturing time goes by and the tank is still doing well( which it will ) you can consider adding more fish( but slowly) the longer your tank matures without over working the bacteria the healthier it will be and alot less frustrations you will have.

what are you using in the bc for water flow???

if your tank is testing for 0 amonia i would think your fish died for other reasons, how did you go about adding them to your tank??? did you acclimate them to your tanks temp??

the less you do with your tank right now the better, its a hard tip to follow but just do your water changes, 10% average weekly, get testing for alkalinity,calcium and magnesium, nitrate and phosphate. keep the tank clean and give it time to age as it ages it becomes stronger and can handle alot of pollution:P

make sure your tank has ample flow, the temp stays consistent,salinity is consistent,water changes are regular and with some patience you will have a stable tank in a couple weeks and within a year you will have an established system capable of growing what you like and keeping what you can