Need help from more expirienced reefers

[dwinzent]

hey guys its been a while since ive been on here because i have taken down all my salt tanks but anyways i need help. I set up a biocube 29 for my mom somewhere around a year or two ago and shes been having problems with it. ever since the tank has been set up any fish she's added have died/disappeared after around a week or two and as a result she has kinda lost interest in it so the tank has been neglected over some time now. shes kept up feedings and scraping the glass and a water change every once in a while but thats about it. my parents are going to be out of town for two weeks starting saturday and im thinking i want to try to get her tank back in order while they are gone and maybe try out another fish to surprise her. so long story short im wondering if there is anything i can do to help this mess in such a short time period or at least get it on the right track? i figured i would try a large water change and i was thinking maybe blackout the tank for a few days but im not really an expert by any means. all the corals seem to be doing great but the coraline algae never seemed to pick up growth in the tank and i think it may be because of the other algae that has taken over. im not sure what it is so thats the biggest thing i need help with is how to get rid of the algae in the pictures. the tank has been converted to having a refugium in the back with so LR and chaeto with a protein skimmer as well, i tested the water yesterday and everything that she had left for the kit seemed to be in order still nitrates were 0 nitrites were 0 and phosphate was at .2 ppm. What possibilities would there be that all the fish she adds die and what can i do to make the tank beautiful again? also i was thinking about picking up a ph test kit to check that but money is kind of tight for me so i only want to buy things that will really help with the diagnosis. i posted a link at the bottom to all the pictures i have of the tank i can take more if they will help. so please any help would be appreciated. Thanks everybody


aquarium pictures by derek29 - Photobucket

 

[Bifferwine]

What kind of fish was she adding? And how many at a time? Was she buying them all from the same place? Did she acclimate them properly?

 

[dwinzent]

I only remember three types of fish she added but im pretty sure there were more than that, the first was a yellow watchman goby, the second was a six line wrasse, and the third was some green chromis and i think there were three cromis. the goby and the six line lasted around a week and the chromis disappeared the next day. all three were from different stores and one is a lfs i have trusted for years for freshwater but ive never really gotten any saltwater fish from them so i cant really comment on any of the livestock shes purchased but they looked healthy when i got around to actually seeing them in the tank. i know she wasnt just dumping them in the tank but i wasnt there when she added them so im not sure how she acclimated them. i taught her to leave the fish in the bags and add some tank water every five min for half an hour.

 

[chichimom79]

Depending on the parameters of the fish store water, acclimation can take several hours.

 

[fastrd400]

I'd start with a good sized water change, trying to get as much algae as possible with the syphon. But before that check the amonia level. If she was not doing water changes as often as she should have been you may very well see elevated amonia, thus killing fish. Also, hit it with a 2 day black out, then change the water again.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 everyone Has she changed her lights at all yet? If not, changes those as well while you're there. And what was she using for her water? Hopefully she used rodi or distilled.

 

[little_fish]

Did you ever find the fish's bodies? Could be some sort of predatory crab or shrimp in there.

 

[dwinzent]

Thanks for all the input guys. I changed her lights about a month or two ago because one of the bulbs went out so it's got pretty fresh bulbs in it. I will go try to pick up a test kit that tests for ammonia sometime this weekend and I'll let you guys know how that tests when I get it. For her water changes she uses rodi water from the grocery store so it should be ok there. And I'll probably try that as soon as they leave fastrd400 hopefully it will help. I'm not sure about the predatory crab thing though? The six line and the chromis just dissapeared when I happened we looked all over in the filter and even moved some rocks around trying to find them but never did so it might be possible? Should I be concerned about leaving the corals in the dark for a few days if I black out the tank? Will It have any other effects on them? And when I try that should I also turn off the light on the refugeum or just leave it on?

 

[fastrd400]

The black out wont hurt the coral. I also thought about the crab thing, but that is secondary to the tank husbandry at this time. You may also want to think abojt getting another power head in there to increase flow. In my opinion, one is not enough. Also, what ever filter materials you have in the rear Chambers needs to be pulled and cleaned with your water change.

 

[FishyReef]

As far as a predatory crab or mantis, you might try dangling a small piece of shrimp in the tank in the evenings and see if you hear any clacking or snapping sounds - those would be indications of some sort of predator

 

[dwinzent]

All She has in the rear chamber is some LR and some chaeto there is no kind of mechanical filtration in the tank. Could that be part of the problem and should I still wash out the chaeto and LR? What size powerheads would you reccomend for this tank? I think the one that's in it is a korlia 1 but I'm sure the flow rate is probably way down too since its got so much junk growing on it. I'll make sure to take it out and clean it off during the water change.