Hello

Jenna09

Jenna09

Reefing newb
Hello Everyone

I have been keeping salt water aquariums for 8 years. I started with a 55 gallon predator tank and have since switched to a 110 gallon reef aquarium.

I am here hoping to find out:
1. How to make a refugium.
2. What protein skimmer I should get (since the seal on mine broke yesterday). I had a Prizm that worked great for 5 years...I know probably worse little one to have but it really did work great for me.
3. How to get mushrooms and polyps (other than stars) to grow in my tank!

I currently have 5 clownfish (1 that is over 9 years old), a marine betta, blue tang, serpant star and some assorted hermit crabs/snails.

I have 2 brain corals, 2 leather umbrellas, millions of star polyps, a huge frogspawn, a huge donut and some other assorted leathers and polyps.

I had let my tank go for awhile and wasnt maintaining it as I should have been but I am back into it now with the passion I had before.

I look forward to reading threads on here and getting some of my questions answered.

Thanks
Jenna
 
Hi Jenna, how are you, Welcome to the site.
As far as making a refugium, it isnt difficult at all, there is alot of differant ways to make one and alot of differant opinions out there. What are the tank Dimensions?
 
Welcome to the site Jenna.Were happy to have you here.
Like Darren said,theres lots of ways to set up a refugium.You'll just have to decide which method is best for you.
 
So since I wrote my first post this morning something terrible has happened to my tank.

All of my fish but 1 clownfish are dead!

My salinity was high at 1.029 and I lowered it to 1.025 over the course of 5 hours yesterday.

My ammonia is reading inbetween 0 mg/l - 0.25mg/l and my nitrites were between 0.0 mg/l - 0.3mg/l. Everything else was normal.

My temp is 78.

I have no idea what has happened and either does my local supplier. I am devestated!

They suggested that it was possibly the drop in salinity and that there is "carnage" due to the elevation in nitrites and ammonia but they are barely even reading so that doesnt make sense to me.

I still look forward to belonging to this forum and hopefully my 1 and only clownfish survives!

Jenna
 
it very well could have been the rapid drop in salinity that should have been done over a few days instead of hours but that is how we all learn
 
Sorry to hear about your tank! That blows!

Even a very small reading of ammonia and nitrites (especially nitrites) can be fatal to fish. To me, it sounds like a chain reaction. The fast drop in salinity caused one fish to die, which spiked your ammonia and nitrites. That little bit of ammonia and nitrites then killed the rest of them.

How are you measuring your salinity? If you are using a hydrometer, you should get a refractometer. Hydrometers need to be replaced every 6 months or so, and they are VERY inaccurate!! A refractometer costs a bit more (around $40), but they are very accurate and don't need to be replaced. It will pay for itself after a year or two, as you'll have spent more replacing crappy hydrometers by that point.
 
Thanks Everyone.

Great way to start off on the forum lol.

My corals all seem to be hanging in there along with a serpant star, hermit crabs, feather duster and 1 clownfish who is sitting in a bag out of the tank lol.

Oh well this sort of thing happens.

I am running some tests at home (got myself a kit rather than going in for water tests) and when I am doing the testing everything is coming back as normal...really weird.

I will drip the clownfish back into the tank tonight. Poor guy is going to wonder where the rest of his school went (they have been together for 4 years).

I am still missing the bodies of 2 clownfish and I am hoping that they are possibly surviving in there and just hiding.

While I was out getting my water tested again I also picked up a new Fluval Heater and a Coralife Super Skimmer.

Jenna
 
Could my donut coral have produced enough toxins while I was cleaning yesterday to poison the tank? I ask this because while I was cleaning yesterday it was emitting alot of "goo" which I was unable to get out because it would dissolve and pass through the net. I am not sure if this is even possible but something I just thought of.

Pic of my donut.
IMG_0100.jpg
 
The goo was white.

Everything that is still in the tank seems to be doing fine. The clownfish is still in a bag and seems to have recovered and I am going to drip him for the next few hours and then put him back into the tank.

I tested the water a second time here just to double check everything and it all came back good again.

Jenna.
 

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