I woke up this morning and 75% of my fish were dead :(

[Stolireef]

OP. Just a word to the wise. I believe you when you say that you did a great deal of research but the source is often more important than the volume. It sounds like you are pretty new to the hobby and, as such, the stickies at the top of the New to the Hobby forum are pretty bullet proof advice.

I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that many of the most successful reef keepers here have made similar mistakes during their early times in the hobby. The trick is to learn from those errors and hopefully take advantage of the advice here to reduce future errors.

[ca1ore]

Patience really is a virtue with a reef tank - and it will save you money too!

[SpartaReef]

Originally Posted by Lemony Lemons

You almost thing what guy is joking?

I am not sure who you are replying to.. you said "do a water change like everyone else said", but if you read my post and everyone elses - no ones really mentioned a water change but me - lol?

I am sure that a water change was implied, since I stated that I did one in my initial post. So thank you to all those who responded with their opinions, every bit counts!

And if it was me you are referring to (still not sure) then as my posts said, I planned for a while before this, and did a ton of research, as anyone knows this is a vast hobby with a ton to learn, in 1 month I took in more information than I knew I could remember - and with that info and the lfs opinions and my own personal readings, it just swamped me when the lfs was telling me to buy, I listened thinking he knew what he was talking about instead of listening to my gut..

Stupid move on my part and now I feel like crap about it, but at least I can come on a forum like this one and get constrictive criticism from a positive community without being ridiculed *wink*

I went through the exact same thing...

How's it going now.... I didn't check date stamps on the posts first... Keep us posted

[Lemony Lemons]

Originally Posted by Stolireef

OP. Just a word to the wise. I believe you when you say that you did a great deal of research but the source is often more important than the volume. It sounds like you are pretty new to the hobby and, as such, the stickies at the top of the New to the Hobby forum are pretty bullet proof advice.

Yes, very new - as new as this tank.. and thx for the advice, I am keeping my tank the way it is for now, praying my blenny and last chromis make it thought the night tonight and continuing to read the threads - all of this is greatly appreciated!

[Lemony Lemons]

Originally Posted by SpartaReef

I went through the exact same thing...

How's it going now.... I didn't check date stamps on the posts first... Keep us posted

Its going ok, checked my lvls again about an hour ago - everything is the same as the initial post except my nitrates dropped from 5 to 3.

The blenny isnt breathing as fast - and he is moving around as usual, the chromis is swimming without problems as well.

Everyones advice on here really helped a lot, I was really 'bleh' this morning when I posted and flustered, mostly because I felt bad and there were 2 still alive and I didnt want them to suffer and die - so I am glad they are looking ok now. I just hope when I wake up in the morning they will be ok.

My skimmer is on now as well - it arrived today FedEx. And my circulation pump is a bit more toward the surface than it was before.. the heater is out of the tank, but temps have remained at 79.. I will be getting a new heater tomorrow just because I dont want glass in there anymore, I live in south florida so I dont think my temps are going to change anyway, but just because of a few people mentioning the heater shorting or spiking the temp I figured I would take it out.

I will post an update again tomorrow, on the survivors.. Good to have nice informative people on here though!

[MellowReefer]

Everyone had great advice for you, but I want to add two things:

How are you checking your salinity? If it was far higher than the LFS salinity that can kill fish very fast. A good thing to do is when you open the bag with new fish test that water's salinity. If it's much lower than yours, say 1.021 and yours is 1.025, you need to do a longer acclimation process. It's very common for LFS to lower salinity to save money on salt.

Is your tank completely covered? Looks like you have a glass top? For oxygen, it's not enough to have bubbles created by a pump, you need to have adequate open air exchange at the surface, if you are not using an open sump. You should have at least a third of the top of your tank open to fresh air (people use clear netting over that portion so the fish don't jump out).

[Lemony Lemons]

Originally Posted by MellowReefer

Everyone had great advice for you, but I want to add two things:

How are you checking your salinity? If it was far higher than the LFS salinity that can kill fish very fast. A good thing to do is when you open the bag with new fish test that water's salinity. If it's much lower than yours, say 1.021 and yours is 1.025, you need to do a longer acclimation process. It's very common for LFS to lower salinity to save money on salt.

Is your tank completely covered? Looks like you have a glass top? For oxygen, it's not enough to have bubbles created by a pump, you need to have adequate open air exchange at the surface, if you are not using an open sump. You should have at least a third of the top of your tank open to fresh air (people use clear netting over that portion so the fish don't jump out).

This was really helpful, I opened up the back part of the glass canopy and will grab some netting tomorrow - its 2 am right now that its not happening at the moment.

Also I was using a hydrometer - but it was wayyyy off, so I ordered a refractometer. It will be here on Saturday, so until then I have been taking my water to the lfs and the last time I took some to them, all I got was "Yeah, your salinity is fine" so I am not sure what the #s were. I dont plan on getting anything new for a long time, I am hoping my blenny and one chromis I have left live through the night - my refractometer will be here saturday. I appreciate the advice!

[cugly]

Are you also topping off your water with rodi water to maintain your salinity. .

[acabgd]

Originally Posted by Lemony Lemons

until then I have been taking my water to the lfs and the last time I took some to them, all I got was "Yeah, your salinity is fine"

Man, sorry to hear about all your troubles - but you should relly reconsider about your LFS and try to find another one.
To have a reply "Yeah.... ok" would already sound an alarm with me.

[Green Chromis]

I use to live up in the Ft. Lauderdale area but since moved to South Dade County and I use to go to all the fish stores in Ft. Lauderdale, what's the name of the store your using? Barrier Reef was one of the better stores I visited when I lived up their.

[Sacohen]

Barrier Reed is very good if you live in North Broward.
I like Marine Net Inc in Sunrise.

[Green Chromis]

Ok thanks for the reply.

[Salty Dog24]

In my experience, many of the LFS guys don't know what they are talking about. Some do and are very knowledgeable. They are paid to Sell Fish. It is our responsibility as fish keepers to research the fish we want First, before buying them, to ensure they will live a long happy life. I never buy anything that i have not researched thoroughly first. If i'm in a fish store and see something i am not familiar with, i whip out the smart phone and research it there.

[SpartaReef]

Reefs2go is based in Florida, they do free shipping for Florida addresses... Check them out, see if they are close enough for you to visit they are very helpful as well. But always remember an LFS is going to try to sell you something. Its their job to do so.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally Posted by Lemony Lemons

This was really helpful, I opened up the back part of the glass canopy and will grab some netting tomorrow - its 2 am right now that its not happening at the moment.

Everyone has given solid advice so far and it seems you are doing the right things. I'm wondering about this glass canopy. Is it covering the whole top of the tank? If so, that will limit gas exchange and can cause low oxygen levels in the tank.

[SpartaReef]

A cover will keep heat in too