May decide to try adding fish one more - Did and Bad news.

[bleedingthought]

I would give mail order a try if your LFS is such a PITA. Plus you'll have a much bigger selection, anyways. And while you're at it, you could pick up some more corals for your tank!

http://marinedepotlive.stores.yahoo.net ... msels.html

http://marinedepotlive.stores.yahoo.net ... yback.html

http://marinedepotlive.stores.yahoo.net ... stony.html

http://marinedepotlive.stores.yahoo.net ... stony.html

http://marinedepotlive.stores.yahoo.net ... stony.html

8)






BTW, everyone is rooting for your tank to stay up!

 

[Anonymous]

I dont have much luck with mail order. The first time I ordered corals they all died over 3 months. I ordered 4 more SPS frags, small colonies 3 weeks ago and lost one small colony and the other frags are not looking too good.

The tank parameters are all inline and I did acclimate the corals.

SO IME, I will not mail order.

 

[bleedingthought]

Just go with fish for the mail order, then. With good parameters and good acclimation practice (I'd drip...), which you seem to have both covered, should get you healthy fish in your tank. (Obviously, the fish have to start out healthy, also!)

Either that, or insist with the LFS. They don't necessarily have to special order, just make sure they ask for some chromis viridis. They aren't hard to get by any means! If you were closer, I'd send you some from my LFS!

 

[Anonymous]

Well I bought 3 green chromis last Tuesday. Guess what 7 days later 2 are dead.

Waste of money. Went to a differenlt LFS as well.

Tank can not support fish so its coming down when the last chromis dies. This probably will be any day now.

 

[bleedingthought]

"Tank cannot support fish" - that doesn't make sense.

Do you really want to take your tank down that badly? It doesn't look bad at all and everyone including you knows that there must be a reason why the fish died. This time, it might have been the chromis killing each other, anyways. Might! There are numerous other things that could have caused it. But no reason to take down a tank like yours!!!

Besides, the chromis couldn't have been that expensive. :?

Hold tight, bro. Keep us update on the last fish and don't take the tank down. You'll figure what's going wrong.

 

[dnorton1978]

Yeah, dont take the tank down. Try again, for RDO.

 

[Anonymous]

I have no idea what killed them. I cant see how they killed each other.

Am I missing something here that there are special fish I need?

The chromis were $15 each. Thats $45 this time and the 2 clowns were $25 each and that was $50.

The tank looks boring and the corals do not grow and are lacking color.

 

[Anonymous]

This is really annoying the heck out of me. I dont know what to do. Tank looks like junk. Fish cant live in it. I have no idea on how to fix it.

I see lots of pictures of tanks that are thriving and mine just cant.

I guess you just need luck. I have all the equipment and I thought I had good husbandry with this tank and yet its failing. I really dont want to get rid of it but I cant see spending another $2000 on rock and corals.

 

[Anonymous]

I have no idea what killed them. I cant see how they killed each other.

Am I missing something here that there are special fish I need?

The chromis were $15 each.

Chromis have a pecking hierarchy, and unfortunately the weakest are often harassed to death or starve. It's unusual for it to happen so quickly, but it's possible.

$15 for a chromis is highway robbery, by the way.

 

[Anonymous]

Thats the cost of a LFS. No choice.

Online they are $5-$10 plus $40 for shipping. Thats $23 dollars each online.

I asked for lots of recommendations for fish and that was what everyone said to try. Now they are delicate fish all of a sudden.

 

[trido]

Rob,
Sorry to here about your misfortune with the fish. I, as most reefers have lost a few fish too. I am not going to try to talk you into keeping your tank up and running out of my love for the hobby. I can see you have been fighting with problems (Algea) for quite a long time now. You seem to be past that and are now fighting new issues. The only advice I have for you is to do what you think is best for your situation. It must truely be tough to have so much time, energy and money into something that doesnt quite satisfy you. Sometimes we all have to take a look at our investments, take a loss and walk away. Maybe you need to break the tank down and take a break for a couple of years. If you truely love the hobby it will only be a matter of time before you get the itch and start setting up your next tank. Maybe now just isnt the time for you to have a thriving reef tank. Good luck with your next decision.

 

[bleedingthought]

The chromis were a little expensive, but not robbery. They are tough, though. They can kill each other (mine haven't) but are overall tough. That's why I said there has to be an explanation.

One thing, though, Rob - My tank isn't nearly as "nice" and "thriving" as most of the ones I see on here. People on here seem to have more money, more experience, more time for their reef, and more "luck" than me sometimes, but I'm fine where I'm at.

I just think that your tank looks good. The look of it shouldn't be the reason for you to take it down. Again, there's gotta be a reason for your fish death. So that shouldn't be a reason either.

All this is my opinion, though.

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

I am not happy with the way it looks. If the corals grew a little they would start filling int and it wouldn't look like a pile of rocks. But they dont grow.

My other problem is my 20 month old daughter looks at the tank and goes feesh and shrugs her shoulders

 

[Anonymous]

Went and bought a ammonia test kit. The reading is .20. This is probably from the dead fish. How can a 9 month old tank have an ammonia spike? IMO there is no beneficial bacteria in the tank. AKA rock cooking is a waste of time and now I am really screwed and the the corals are doomed.

 

[bleedingthought]

You might want to consider a small refugium where you can put more rock in there and all. Introducing new rock, fully cured, that is booming with life might seed your rock again. I've read that rock can go a little "dead" after a while.

Test your ammonia tomorrow and see where it's at. Hopefully your corals will be fine. How are you acclimating your fish? Did you test your water before you put them in? Have you had any luck with shrimp? (Your daughter might like those a lot!)



And the thing about your daughter is somehow cute to me.

 

[Anonymous]

NO room for a refugium. Tank needs to come down and I need to decide weather or not its worth another $2000 between new LR and all new corals.

 

[bleedingthought]

Uh, why new LR and all new corals?

Could you fit small LR pieces in your sump?

 

[Anonymous]

no - sump is too tight. This LR is shot IMO.

 

[bleedingthought]

Then, if you think so, switch it out slowly. Remove a piece, and put a fully cured piece in. Do that with 1/3 of the rock over the course of a couple of weeks and you should be fine. Bring the shot rock into a LFS that will take it for some store credit.

 

[Anonymous]

I will throw this rock through their window. I need to find a good source of LR if I do this. And it will eb al lat once. I dont want whats contaminating the tank to leach into the new wrock. This means a total rebuild again and I need to find a home for the corals.

I got to think about this. Its allot of money