New Tank ; Major problems!

[sponger0]

Originally Posted by m0nkie

I think you guys scared him off too..

OP. I spent about a month or two on the forums to learn to build the "perfect" setup for me. Probably will take the next few months of cycle time to build my fish list and learn their behaviors.

Same as you, I went to a local fish store and got all pumped after seeing the fish. Came home with $1000 worth of stuff (mostly junk that I had to sell or return) and expected to have fish in a week or two. Signed up on the forum, got REALLY disappointed.. I literally STOPPED everything and started reading every single thread :P

$3000 later I'm ready to add water my friends now call me the fishless tank guy..

$3000 later? Nice lol. Ive spend only $900 and Im filling up Friday.

[m0nkie]

Originally Posted by sponger0

$3000 later? Nice lol. Ive spend only $900 and Im filling up Friday.

It got really expensive when I decided to add quality parts. Kessils, Reef Octopus and Nextreef killed the budget

also, I didn't want Brute trash cans in my bed room, so I custom made acrylic water reservoirs and sumps

eyeballing the 2 part doser and APEX system now.. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[sponger0]

Originally Posted by m0nkie

It got really expensive when I decided to add quality parts. Kessils, Reef Octopus and Nextreef killed the budget

also, I didn't want Brute trash cans in my bed room, so I custom made acrylic water reservoirs and sumps

Yea you got me beat lol. I stuck with T5s anyway, plus it was a free fixture, Reef Octopus skimmer. I by no means used cheap parts, I just know how to find some deals

[Dangleflow9]

How did you acclimate the tang?

[iceet]

Originally Posted by m0nkie

It got really expensive when I decided to add quality parts. Kessils, Reef Octopus and Nextreef killed the budget

also, I didn't want Brute trash cans in my bed room, so I custom made acrylic water reservoirs and sumps

eyeballing the 2 part doser and APEX system now.. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

You did everything right don't worry. All those quality parts will pay off for years to come.

[R6REEFER]

I hope this is a troll...

[Pigpen17]

Originally Posted by m0nkie

$3000 later I'm ready to add water my friends now call me the fishless tank guy..

Haha! That's what all my friends said too. "You ever gonna get some fish for that thing!"

Funny though. In my everlasting fishless period, I took all that excitement that I normally would have put into stocking my tank, and put it into reading about everything.

[cwindham]

Originally Posted by m0nkie

I think you guys scared him off too..

OP. I spent about a month or two on the forums to learn to build the "perfect" setup for me. Probably will take the next few months of cycle time to build my fish list and learn their behaviors.

Same as you, I went to a local fish store and got all pumped after seeing the fish. Came home with $1000 worth of stuff (mostly junk that I had to sell or return) and expected to have fish in a week or two. Signed up on the forum, got REALLY disappointed.. I literally STOPPED everything and started reading every single thread :P

$3000 later I'm ready to add water my friends now call me the fishless tank guy..

Sorry, Nobody scared me off. I listened to everyone and I have taken a step back from my tank. I have added 15lbs more of rock (still not enough) i bought a reef octopus BH-1000 skimmer and bought my own test kits to test my own water. I plan on leaving my tank fallow for 2 weeks to make sure that any parasites are gone if any were there and to let the RODI water that i have cycled through my tank with the water changes I am doing. I still have not bought any power heads or an RODI unit. I plan on keeping the Emperor 400 so it will work side by side with the skimmer...is this a good idea?

[cwindham]

Originally Posted by Dangleflow9

How did you acclimate the tang?

I acclimated the tang by letting the bag lay in the water to match tank temp, then slowly filled the bag with my tank water so that the PH and salinity levels would match.

[R6REEFER]

Sounds like your heading down damn near the same path I am, equipment and all, cept I'm going a bit bigger with the skimmer

[cwindham]

Originally Posted by R6REEFER

Sounds like your heading down damn near the same path I am, equipment and all, cept I'm going a bit bigger with the skimmer

What kind of power heads are you using or plan on buying? Any other equipment you recommend if we have such an alike setup?

[R6REEFER]

I'm gathering all my equipment slowly as well, I decided to go with a reef tank to save time and hassle in the long run (was gonna do a predator tank but id get bored fast) currently I have the emperor 400 and I have to do hang ons beings as I dont have sufficient room for a sump yet. All initial equipment and tests, next purchases will be hydor smartwave system (1150 kit with controller), 2 current USA orbit marine led's (36"-48") phosban 150, reef octo bh2000, auto aquasmart ato

[Pigpen17]

Originally Posted by cwindham

I plan on leaving my tank fallow for 2 weeks to make sure that any parasites are gone if any were there

Just make sure that's enough time. I may have missed something, but I don't think you ever figured out what killed your fish. Some parasites can live without fish for 72 days. Hit up the guys in the disease forum.

I don't know about yours, but my Petco has Ich, velvet, all sorts of nasties.

[Joe0813]

geez... you really need to slow down before anymore fish die... do some reading on this site, read the stickies..

as others said your tank has basically no rock in it, probably wasn't even cycled, and you put a aggressive yellow tang in a tiny tank

two weeks is not nearly long enough time to kill off any parasites. Ich can last 12 weeks in a tank with no fish

[rale2001]

I personally think it was that Petco aka Pet(NO) tang I refuse to pick up any fish from there maybe coral and thats a major maybe but never any fish. I purchased a coral beauty a few years ago from there and big beautiful one but it wasnt until i brought the fish home and see it under my t5s and noticed all the white spots all over the darn thing in the QT. All of the LFSs was closed before i could pick up any treatments and the fish was dead in the morning. I'll never buy fish from petco but petco.com I would give a chance

[Pigpen17]

Originally Posted by rale2001

I personally think it was that Petco aka Pet(NO) tang I refuse to pick up any fish from there maybe coral and thats a major maybe but never any fish. I purchased a coral beauty a few years ago from there and big beautiful one but it wasnt until i brought the fish home and see it under my t5s and noticed all the white spots all over the darn thing in the QT. All of the LFSs was closed before i could pick up any treatments and the fish was dead in the morning. I'll never buy fish from petco but petco.com I would give a chance

Yeah, I really don't understand why they don't split their system up into fish only on one side and then separate inverts and corals on the other. Their tanks are just SO bad and they do nothing. It's just a shame.

[Stolireef]

OP, I'm going to take a bit of a flier here. I don't think you don't have a parasite problem. Rather, you have a new tank that's no where near ready for livestock. By way of example, I cycled my current tank for five weeks before adding the first fish. I tested the entire cycle and after the cycle was done, I waited one more week. There are many experienced reef keepers that will tell you (very reasonably, I might add) that a tank should cycle at least 8 weeks before livestock.

Start reading the stickies at the top of the New to the Hobby Forum. Read them a few times and ask lots of questions about them. That should take you at least three of four weeks. The first thing you should read is the how to on cycling. By the time you have carefully read everything in the stickies, I bet (a) your set up changes dramatically and (b) your cycle is well under way.

[cwindham]

Originally Posted by Stolireef

OP, I'm going to take a bit of a flier here. I don't think you don't have a parasite problem. Rather, you have a new tank that's no where near ready for livestock. By way of example, I cycled my current tank for five weeks before adding the first fish. I tested the entire cycle and after the cycle was done, I waited one more week. There are many experienced reef keepers that will tell you (very reasonably, I might add) that a tank should cycle at least 8 weeks before livestock.

Start reading the stickies at the top of the New to the Hobby Forum. Read them a few times and ask lots of questions about them. That should take you at least three of four weeks. The first thing you should read is the how to on cycling. By the time you have carefully read everything in the stickies, I bet (a) your set up changes dramatically and (b) your cycle is well under way.

The guys at my LFS told me there's no way it was a parasite. When my tang died, I took it to them to see if they could tell me anything about it and unfortunately the tang had what looked like ammonia burns on its gills. They said (like everyone else here) that my tank most likely didn't even start its cycle until after my put my fish in it and the fish were in the tank while the tank cycled. I bought all the testing kits that i will need and I have tested my tank twice since the original post. There are no signs of ammonia or nitrates but my phosphates level is a little high. I have started to notice more brown algae though growing on the sand.

[Pigpen17]

No expert here, but you might be seeing no ammonia because there is nothing in your tank to produce it.

[cwindham]

Originally Posted by Pigpen17

No expert here, but you might be seeing no ammonia because there is nothing in your tank to produce it.

Well i figured if it had cycled already then i wouldn't see any ammonia. Now i was told this then went ahead and threw livestock in my tank and lost all of them due to what my LFS said looked like ammonia burn. Im assuming my tank has cycled now that it is 6 almost 7 weeks old. It has been fallow for almost a week with only the live rock and crabs that i have in it. i was thinking about upping my cleaning crew until i can get a skimmer.

[Joe0813]

and when you start adding fish.... i would suggest not adding tangs to your size tank

[cwindham]

Originally Posted by Joe0813

and when you start adding fish.... i would suggest not adding tangs to your size tank

I didn't plan to do so. With doing the research, i have realized that i can not put any tangs in my tank due to the minimum tank size is much higher than my own. I really want a flame angel though.