starting a nano tank

[s9534891b]

salinity is 1.018.

[fishyfishyfishy]

Have you tested the other critical factors ?

Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate. ?

Ph ?

[law1210]

salinity is 1.018.

Maybe raise the salinity to 1.023. Change 20% water n raise it slowly. How about PH?

Do you have other fish/invertebrates in the tank now?

[s9534891b]

Maybe raise the salinity to 1.023. Change 20% water n raise it slowly. How about PH?

Do you have other fish/invertebrates in the tank now?

no fish /inverts inside.PH unknown, cause i do not have a ph tester.

[braincoral]

1.018 can't anything alive..

Suggest raise ur salinity level slOwly ..

[Zac]

I suggest heeding the advise of fellow reefers, I learn a painful lesson years ago when I first started. Spend lots of money and can't keep a happy lively tank.

Listen and enjoy the hobby if not my guess is that you will give up soon as the experience is not enjoyable.

Cheers

[slapper]

You may want to reset the whole tank. That includes washing your filter material.

Certain things you need to have in order to start an aquarium, be it FW or marine. Water conditioners and test kits are extremely important. Gone are the days where you can throw a fish into untreated water. Today, our tap water has too much stuffs in there.

For marine aq without corals, get these test kits - Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, kH. I do not even use pH tester, as I only test the kH. kH of 8.2 is recommended.

You will also need to get a bottle of beneficial bacteria. This will help break down ammonia. There are also solutions to help you achieve the desired kH level.

[slapper]

Seems that you are still young so finance wise may be straining. That is why i recommend the bare minimum. Some of the useful elements (e.g. magnesium) for marine fish is already present in sea salt if you get a good brand sea salt mix, such as Red Sea.

Have fun, which i do with my nano tank of 2ft. I'm able to keep fish and corals WITHOUT chiller. I use fan though. Therefore daily water top-up. Daytime temp may reach to 29C but always less than 30. Night time is 26-27.

[solasido]

after a while for not adding fish,yesterday just added a tomato clown inside. fish died today due to heavy breathing.what is the cause of it? the black color thing beside my rock is the filter.

Hi bro, heavy breathing can be a sign of ich parasite.

Do you spot any white spots in any of the fish? The spot can be very tiny like a fine grain sand.

Any fish that you add will be infected by the parasite and die few days later.

[law1210]

His recent cases are all died within a day of purchase. So chances are the water is really bad. Since there's no fish/invert in the tank now, it might be a good time to reset the tank like what bro slapper suggest. Change the whole tank water, wash the filter media and go through cycling all over again. This forum has good guide on cycling process. Bro yongjunzer, you can try reading the below link.

If you start correctly, it'll be easier to maintain the tank. Rather than trying to fix the current tank that apparently has gone wrong.

[s9534891b]

His recent cases are all died within a day of purchase. So chances are the water is really bad. Since there's no fish/invert in the tank now, it might be a good time to reset the tank like what bro slapper suggest. Change the whole tank water, wash the filter media and go through cycling all over again. This forum has good guide on cycling process. Bro yongjunzer, you can try reading the below link.

If you start correctly, it'll be easier to maintain the tank. Rather than trying to fix the current tank that apparently has gone wrong.

you mean the live-rock ,sand,everything much change?anyway, the rocks were given by my teacher who have given me only one yellowtail damsel together back in june last year, the damsel had since died.Before that, he had kept the live rock and damsel for 6 months.

[jxlex]

It seems like there is something clearly wrong with your water/water condition. Tank ain't big and if you really want to enjoy yourself in this hobby, you might want to consider changing out your old stuff and start from scratch...

Like what other bros here said, cycle it well, utilise the vast supply of information provided here and your future fishes might stand a chance...

[law1210]

you mean the live-rock ,sand,everything much change?anyway, the rocks were given by my teacher who have given me only one yellowtail damsel together back in june last year, the damsel had since died.Before that, he had kept the live rock and damsel for 6 months.

I think live rocks n sand after a good wash should be ok bah. Not sure what experienced bros here think. But no matter what, change all the water. Then go through the proper cycling process. After cycling, add lifestock slowly. Make sure the first batch can survive first.

[s9534891b]

I think live rocks n sand after a good wash should be ok bah. Not sure what experienced bros here think. But no matter what, change all the water. Then go through the proper cycling process. After cycling, add lifestock slowly. Make sure the first batch can survive first.

proper cycling is for how many weeks?

[starfish123]

proper cycling is for how many weeks?

most reefers would cycle for abt 3-4 weeks but if you want to be safe cycle for 6 weeks

[s9534891b]

So right now, for my tank, is it safe to put fish in?

[MarcoVan]

That will depend. Choose the cheapest fish and put it in. Monitor it for a month or two. If nothing goes wrong then put another.

If cannot, drain water and restart.

This hobby is like that. No shortcuts

[s9534891b]

The other thing that i realize is that when i add marine salt into my fish tank is that the salinity level at first, it was stable, the next day, the salinity dropped why is that so?

[MadScientist]

what are you using to measure salinity? if you are using hydrometer, it is rather normal. sg is sensitive to temperature changes, atmospheric pressure, etc

[s9534891b]

now everything has been okay, but i add a juv behn's damsel on 2 july ,the fish did well for nearly a month. then today , i bought a small ocellaris clown from am and i realized that inside my small tank, it was hanging on top of the water column and also being bullied by the behn's damsel,but now it is going to die soon.anyway, the water haven't been changed yet for one month also.

so what should i do now? any advice?

[s9534891b]

and even today, just now , when i was feeding the damsel and clown, the clown refused to eat., so is it water got problem or fish giot problem?

[fishyfishyfishy]

Damsels are aggressive fishes, the clown may be frightened or stressed by the aggression thus refusing to eat.

Just let them brawl it out and see how it goes, worked for me before though.

[s9534891b]

Anyway, for yesterday and today, all 3, 2 i bought on Saturday.and 1 on friday,all of my clowns refuse to eat.1 died and had a heavy breathing before it.so what is the best solution to save the other 2 clowns from dying?

[Polypterus]

Listen Listen Listen. You are in control of the lives of many fishes from the ocean that did not choose to be placed in your tank. It is only imperative that you provide them with the appropriate amount of care.

That tank is not even sufficient for one full grown clown! Let alone several clowns and damsels. What did you think they were doing in the ocean? Sitting around on a piece of rock?

Get a sense of what you are dealing with. When you start a marine tank, what do you try to achieve? You are replicating similar conditions that the fish are exposed to in the wild.

A quick lesson on chemistry. Your fish need the right levels of salt, the right pH level, and the right temperatures, and quality of the seawater. By putting so many fish in such a small tank, you're constraining them to live into something like their own toilet bowl.

Analogy. When you put a lot of sugar into the water, the water has a lot of sugar. When the water evaporates, you now have a the same amount of sugar in a smaller amount of water. Effectively, you now have a lot of sugar, and too little water.

Same goes for salt. When the water evaporates, and do know that the salt doesn't, there is now less water for the same amount of salt. So, top it off with water without salt! Distilled, RO DI, do your research on it!

Obviously, you have not done research. Your fish are dying from their own waste. Do you see the bubbles at the top of your tank, that's an overload of nitrogenous wastes my friend. And most of all...Check your pH.

I suggest. Get a bigger tank. Stop getting more fish.

[Marine_fanaticz]

His recent cases are all died within a day of purchase. So chances are the water is really bad. Since there's no fish/invert in the tank now, it might be a good time to reset the tank like what bro slapper suggest. Change the whole tank water, wash the filter media and go through cycling all over again. This forum has good guide on cycling process. Bro yongjunzer, you can try reading the below link.

If you start correctly, it'll be easier to maintain the tank. Rather than trying to fix the current tank that apparently has gone wrong.

I agree with the quote above..

Your fish keep dying cos the water quality is bad. Patience is the key. So the best you can do is follow these steps.

1) Stop adding fish!

2) make sure you cycle the tank properly, since you have bad water quality, do a 60% water change USING SALTWATER FROM THE LFS AND NOT YOUR OWN SALT MIX ( assuming that you have no fish in the tank) Then test the salt level after 10 hours.

3) add beneficial bacteria/ agents to help cycle your tank from LFS( usually comes in a bottle) and few drops of PH stabiliser 8.2 from the LFS

4)WAIT FOR 4-6 weeks. Do not add any livestock. Adding livestock will be adding more ammonia to your tank which I believe is killing your fIsh. However, you can add ONE(1) small damsel in your tank to help with the cycle

5) Use a marker to mark you water level. then at the end of the each day, top up the evaporated water loss( should be about 70-100l for you tank size

6) Every week, change 10% of your water, using saltwater from the LFS, keep monitoring your salt levels.

7) after 4-6 weeks, if your damsel is active and healthy. you can add ONE clown( tank raised) and that's all.