SDBDRZ

Seeking some advice to see if I am missing something. For some unknown reason fish added to my reef tank are dying after a few weeks in the tank. They appear otherwise healthy and then will just suddenly die. When I find the fish in the tank there are no signs of damage to the fish from a predator. Some background. The current tank has been up for about 2.5 years. for about 1.5 years of that 2 years the tank sat idle while I had two back surgeries. No water changes, etc. Everything was removed from the tank other than a 6 line wrasse I couldnt catch, a Rose bubblem one LPS coral and a small leather coral. The listed inhabitants survived fine as the auto top off was functioning and very basic maintenance was performed. The rose bubble split a few times but otherwise all was fine. About 6 months ago I did a few large water changes and did a thorough maintenance of everything, brought all parameters in line, etc. After about 2 months of stability I started adding SPS frags and fish. The SPS frags are all doing great, anenomes are doing great, other inverts are doing fine but for some reason I cant seem to keep fish alive more than a few weeks. All fish are acclimated thoroughly, all eating well and otherwise look healthy. The strange thing is the 6 line that has been in the tank for years is fine. I have one clownfish, royal grammas and a tailspot blenny that have been in the tank about 2 months. Other fish I have added over the past 4 months have lasted about a couple weeks to a month and then out of the blue die. The fish I have added aren't difficult fish, royal grammas, sailfin tang, firefish, matta tang, copperband (eating mysis like a pig when he died), flame angel, and maybe one or two others im not remembering. The fish were added 1-2 at a time over the last 4 months. I inspected the few remaining fish tonight since I lost a matta tang and firefish today. The only thing odd I noted is the royal grammas was swimming erratically. Not jerky just darting around in about 2 inch quick bursts. Parameters: temp 78-79 controlled with aquacontroller PH 8.15 day, 7.9 night Alk 7.6 Calcium 380 ORP 250 range salinity 34.5 (1.026) Nitrate and Phosphate not measurable. I keep a very simple system. Tank, sump, lights, skimmer. The only things dosed to the tank are Alk/Cal currently using C balance and I do dose prodibio bioclean ever 15 days. The only thing I can think of I changed is instead of using filter socks I replaced the socks with cups and use filter floss. Cleaning the filter socks on the Reefer 525 sump was a pain so I use Acurel filter fiber which is replaced twice per week. I use the Genesis reef system for auto top off and I do a 1 gallon per day water change using Instant Ocean salt. Water is well water. We have a house water softener and I use RO/DI for top off and water change water. the other specs: Red sea reefer 525xl Giessemann Aurora LED T5 hybrid Nyos Quantum skimmer Vectra M1 return pump 2x MP40's Gyre 230 heater Aquacontroller with the basic probes and controlling MP40's etc. any dosing is done manually and I test Alk a couple times a week. The inverts in the tank - about a dozen peppermint shrimp, 2x small reef safe serpent stars, handful of hermit crabs and a few small emerald crabs. No inverts large enough to threaten a fish. Like the corals all inverts seem just fine. There are various snails that have been in the tank for years and grown fairly large. I have some bubble algae but otherwise nothing invasive in the tank. All live rock was real reef rock, no wild collected rock. I have been keeping reef tanks for well over 30 years and have had fish in previous tanks that were 15+ years in tank. I am totally baffled by what is occurring. All SPS look great, encrusting, good color, polyp extension, etc. anemones have good color and look healthy. the few other corals in the tank all look fine. parameters look fine and stable. There have been no sudden changes, no temp spikes, parameter swings etc. I am dosing to bring the Alk up but as with all things in my reef, nothing fast, I like to make changes slowly over weeks. The things I have thought of: Source of fish (they have all come from one store but I wont name it) stray electric? How would I know. possible bacteria or parasite in the tank. Again how would I know. I have tried to research but have come up empty. Anything I am missing, any questions I haven't asked myself? I am open to suggestions because this is baffling me. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to provide as much info as possible. In the 30+ years I have been keeping reef tanks the fish have always been the easy part so I would really like to get to the bottom of this.

Genesis Reef Systems Renew. As simple as it gets. It seems expensive yes but for me it was well worth it. No worries about calibrating dosing pumps, etc. I use the Renew and perform 1g a day water changes and I use the Storm for auto top off.

Its a hobby, hobbies are relaxing things that people enjoy, if it becomes an addiction then that is another matter The forums do create a sense of community and it is good to see people interacting, with more people you get more personalities, some you like, some you don't the forums need to be taken with a grain of salt. The only thing that I see that is annoying is opinions being given as gospel. It can be incredibly confusing and frustrating for someone new to the hobby. As with most things there are some basic fundamental concepts and a lot of gadgets, gizmos, tonics and solutions, some effective, some not so much. After over 20 years in the hobby (with a few breaks here and there) the only absolute I have ever seen in this hobby is that, in general, nothing good happens fast in a reef tank

I hope that you stay in the hobby. Reefkeeping can be frustrating but is also incredibly satisfying. There are a lot of members here on the forums like myself who do not post often but have been in the hobby for a long time (decades in some cases) I know most of those long time members are more than willing to help out a fellow hobbyist with sound advice. The forums are what they are, you can take it all to heart or take it with a grain of salt. If you really want sound advice find someone near you who has been in the hobby for a while and have them mentor you. Looking to the forums is a great way to find a huge amount of information and ask questions for that I think WAMAS is an awesome resource. This is a great hobby and sometimes there is no replacement for picking the brain of someone who has already made the mistakes and had the successes. Unfortunately internet anonymity sometimes brings out behavior that is less than desirable. Forums such as this are generally not a good place to pour out your heart and get into personal matters. Good luck with your tank.

Was at QR for the first time last night. I have been in the hobby since the mid 80's and have been to a lot of shops. These guys are top notch, super nice to chat with and have some really nice stock to boot.

I have already sold everything but my library I will discount if someone wants multiple books, if someone wants everything I will sell them all for $350. I don't check pm's so if interested email me at scottdblackburn@gmail.com Corals of the World 3 volume set - Vernon $100 Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific - Vernon $35 Ultimate Marine Aquariums - Paletta $10 Book of Coral Propagation Volume 1 - Calfo $40 Reef Building Stoney Corals - Tyree $20 The Porifera (living sponges) - Tyree $20 Advanced Reef Keeping - Thiel $15 Aquatic Systems Engineering - Escobal $50 Encyclopedia of Marine Invertebrates $10 Marine Plants of the Caribbean $25 Giant Clams - Knop $20 Fishes for the Invertebrate Aquarium - Debelius $10 Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide Allen - $30 The Successful Reef Aquarium Knop - $10 Clownfishes Wilkerson - $15 Book of Coral Propagation Calfo - $25 Plankton Culture Manual - $25 Dynamic Aquarium Loveland - $20 Reef Invertabrates Calfo - $20 Aquarium Corals Borneman - $30 The Reef Aquarium Volume 1 Sprung - $20 Reef Fishes Volume 1 Michael - $25 Natural Reef Aquarium Tullock - $25 Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific -$20 Corals Sprung - $10 The Modern Reef Aquarium Volumes 1-4 Nilsen - $75 Marine Fishes Pocket Guide Michael - $10

Sorry I missed this post. I will try to get some closeups this weekend, been super busy. Fish not a lot Kole tang Purple tang Marine Betta Blue Accessor Royal Grammas PNG/SI true percula pair unknown goby I got with some LR a few years ago. I frag it occassionally when people stop by and want a piece but I usually dont frag much of anything unless someone is at the house and wants something.

I will try to takes some updates this weekend, been super busy. No real changes other than moving some stuff around between the acan tank and the main display.

Tom Byrnes is involved with Coral Palace to the extent that the grow out tanks are located in his basement and he handles the day to day order processing, shipping etc. Coral Palace is actually owned by a friend of mine named Chris who was a WAMAS member a couple years ago. Chris is a good guy and is passionate about the hobby however he is probably the busiest guy I know, he has a couple successful businesses aside from Coral Palace as well as 3 kids all under 5 years old. Chris is funding Coral Palace, developing the relationships with vendors, etc - Tom is a friend of Chris's and is handling the day to day processing, housing corals, etc. They have only been in business for about a month and they have gotten in some decent livestock but its pretty small scale at this point.

agreed

In the correct bulb combination, yes

I was not impressed with the Geisemann bulbs. I am currently running a combination of ATI Aquablue Special, Aquablue Plus and Procolor bulbs, and its probably the best combination I have had.

You could always catch the RO waste and use it to wash clothes, water the flowers, etc. Depends completely on what you plan to QT. Larger fish will require a large QT tank. I don't filter my QT tank when I use it, I put a small pump in for water circulation and just do a lot of frequent water changes. I take a couple gallons out of my main system and use it to change a couple gallons in the QT and I add a couple gallons of freshly made water to the main tank to replace what I tok out for the QT water change. I also have a few pieces of PVC in my QT tank for the fish to hide in.

Sam, My advice, the most stable environment is the simplist environment, multiple pump scenarios are a recipe for disaster. You are getting a lot of sound advice in the thread from people with years of experience, reread Dbartco's advice and heed his warning

It is a Canon XTi and I used a Sigma 105mm macro lense. I was using various settings when I was taking the photos but I believe these are all taken in aperature priority mode at around f9 ISO 200 I will double check when I get home. Edit: I have also been experimenting with shooting in raw mode and then adjusting the white balance in lightroom. White balance under reef tank lighting is one of the toughest problems I have been having. All 3 were shot at f/8.0 ISO 200

Yep, took those using the photo box I was working on the day you were up.

I still feel like the white balance is slightly off but I am making progress at getting half decent pictures

www.usplastic.com 24"x48"x1/4" Acrylite sheets are $35.98 + shipping Ground shipping for one sheet calculates out at about $6 on their website http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/variant.a...iant%5Fid=44363

I guess I am just a little more conservative, for a couple hundred bucks why risk it. At any rate it is a nice looking tank and I look forward to seeing it full.

I wouldn't be worried about covering it up as much as I would be worried about a potential tank failure.

Atlantis http://www.atlantisva.com/ Was just there on Wednesday, Marvin is a great guy with a really nice store. Its worth the visit just to see the Deltec display tank.

I don't plan to add anymore live rock. I am just going to let the acans grow out on the sand bed.

I had this tank built by NAGA, it is 48"x24"x16" made with 1/2" acrylic. The tank is plumbed in with my 180g. Lighting is an Aquactinics fixture with 5 54w T-5 bulbs. It is predominately designed to display my ever growing Aussie Acan collection but there are a few other corals as well. Here is the tank pre-water: All the frags and small colonies sitting in my 150g sump waiting for their new home: Finished tank:

Thank you guys for the compliments standard 180g RR tank I also have a custom made 80ish gallon NAGA tank plumbed in that I am going to put in another thread. Sump is a 150g stock tank ASM G-5 skimmer Schuran calcium reactor Phosban reactor 57w UV 2x Tunze 6100 on controller Blueline 1100 return pump running through 1" seaswirl small refugium (not sure how many gallons, probably about 15) Lighting is an Aquactinics T-5 fixture with 14 39w bulbs Aquacontroller 3 controlling most everything Heres a picture of the sump area in the fish room: I have had it for about a year and a half, maybe 2. I got it from someone near Annapolis and it was probably a quarter of the size it is now. It is a green mili with yellow tips originally from Exotic Aquatics and yes it was grown from a frag. I have never fragged it, i just let it grow. Pretty much all the SPS were grown from small frags. most everything is from frags with the exception of a few LPS. The Elegence was wild collected but has at least doubled in size, I have had it for a year or 2. Aquactinics T-5 fixture with 14 39w bulbs.

Here's my 180. There have been a few changes made over the years but the tank has been up and running for about 6 years.