My tank is failing and im giving up. Help

[Toddrtrex]

Originally Posted by Tony78

I'd also stop adding any chemicals and doing water changes until the cycle completes naturally.

Lombard? I was just there a few minutes ago. Hello from Bolingbrook.

Hello "boring"brook. I grew up in Naper"thrill".

[Tony78]

Originally Posted by Toddrtrex

Hello "boring"brook. I grew up in Naper"thrill".

Lol. I grew up In downers grove. I used to live near downtown naperthrill. Boringbrook is pretty awful...no argument from me. Nice to meet you.

[L8ndeb]

Originally Posted by maivortex

one dead feather duster would not cause ammonia to go thru the roof. Sounds like the tank was not cycled yet.

+1

[streak]

I read in another post you can by doing radical water changes actually lowering the PH may make the amonia more toxic i forgot the post but it was a guy breeding some clowns.. Im just throwing that out there he was also doing the chemical dosing.

[ROB2005]

Whenever adding livestock my friend do it in intervals to give the biological bacteria a chance to catch up . Glad you found RC for your rescue needs.

[milhous3er]

milhous3er, drop it.

[milhous3er]

Removed.

[Fin Mike]

wakrein, you are getting a lot of advice here, and it is good advice. Your problem is very simple and is very common among the "Noobs" out there. Please keep in mind that you are stumbling over the same pit falls that others have when they walked this path. Giving up when you are about to turn the corner is not the right thing to do. Just calm down and take it easy. Even if everything dies, and I doubt it will, take heart in knowing that it will continue to feed the N2 cycle and lead to the stabilization of your system. Here are a few things you can do if you want to be successful.
1. Read and research as much as you possibly can. Others have made these mistakes before, so you don't have to.
2. Decrease your bio load. I do believe those anemones will die, especially with your lighting.
3. Buy a good skimmer. I can't stress this enough.
4. YOU MUST BE PATIENT
A successful tank will have three (at least) characteristics: a good skimmer, Good lighting, and a hobbyist/ aquarist with lots of knowledge concerning the husbandry of these pets (this beats them all). This is the reason RC is here. Use it to your advantage.

[cdeboard]

Yeah... stop using different chemicals immediately. Chemicals are a massive waste of money in the saltwater hobby. I would give us more info. How much rock, etc. Live sand may cause enough of a cycle but probably not to complete in 4 weeks. Also, I would see if your LFS can take back all your livestock until your cycle completes.

[Michael]

i see these type of threads 50 times every couple of months, unfortunately a lot of new hobbyists go and buy nems and put them in a new tank, i wouldnt consider adding a nem to a tank under a year or more unless your an experienced aquarist, we all make mistakes, however i suggest you try to return the nems as soon as posible before they perish, also dont add anything to the tank until you have proven ammonia is 0 and has been for several days, also start with a couple of soft corals and a small fish or 2, dont add any chemicals, no need with a new tank if its cycled properly and lightly stocked, and lastly read the stickies at the top of the forum.

regards

mike

[stingythingy45]

PATIENCE is the key to this hobby.
It will reward you greatly.

[Sugar Magnolia]

With only 5 pounds of LR and the bioload that you have in the tank there's no wondering what the problem is. You don't have nearly enough LR to support the bioload. How quickly did you stock it? It takes a couple of weeks for the biological bacteria to catch up to an increased bioload (adding a fish). With that much in your tank and so little LR you will have an extremely difficult time trying to handle the elevated levels.

IMHO, here's what needs to be done:

As mentioned, remove the anemones ASAP. It's not a matter of if they are going to die, but WHEN. They will die and your tank will become fouled by the dying anemones.

Remove at least three of the fish. I'd suggest the damsels and the scooter blenny. The scooter blenny probably wouldn't have survived long term in that tank anyway as they are constantly foraging for pods and microfauna, which, since you have so little LR, you probably have very little microfauna and pods.

Find about 15 more pounds of fully cured LR. It must be fully cured or you will end up going through an even longer cycle than you are currently experiencing.

Pitch all those bottled "magic potions". There is no need for them at all. The tank will cycle on it's own, in it's own time. Rushing it has led you to this point. Slow down!

Lastly, at the top of this forum there are stickies filled with excellent articles for new tank owners. Take the time to read through them while your tank settles down.

[L8ndeb]

I see a couple of pitfalls here, First, as stated above, 5lbs of live rock will accomplish nothing. GENERAL rule of thumb, 1lb for each gal in the water column. Also, 65W of 50/50 lighting sounds like a FO setup. You're gonna need more lighting.
As everybody has said, patience is the key. Everybody when they first start want it all now. In this hobby, nothing good happens quickly, but most things bad will.
Return the anemones and fish. Add at least 40 lbs of live rock (probably more). If you don't have a skimmer, get one. Ditch the bio-filter. Get higher intensity lighting. Get an RO/DI unit if you don't have one. Stop the chemical additives. And these things are just to start.
This will sound cold, but if your not willing to do the basics, your tank WILL fail, and you will be another statistic in people who have tried reef keeping and failed due to poor research and planning. Good Luck.

[PerezAF01]

Even if you did cycle your tank, it seems like you added a huge bio load way too fast throwing you tank into another cycle. Let someone take care of your livestock and cycle your tank again. Then introduce livestock slowly at a rate of about 1 fish per month.

[somethingphishy]

might of missed it but are you using r/o water?

[Dave71]

IMHO - Trying to save your livestock in your current tank is not the correct approach.

You have spent a lot of money to get into a wonderful hobby, and you are already stressed to the point of giving up.

My best advice would be to get yourself back to a point were you are not frantically trying to fix a "problem" which is probably not a problem at all (except for your livestock).

I would try to give the livestock back to the LFS for a credit, or sell it.

Then I would make a choice, either temporarily shut down the tank, or do the minimum essential to keep the live rock live.

Lastly, I would spend some time reading, before starting up again.

It would also be good to join a local reef club, where you will hopefully have fellow reefers that can give you some more hands on help.