I have two situations that i'm at my whits end about:
1) i think my dragonet is killing everything....maybe it's the damsel but something is. I used to have a scarlet shrimp, a blood red shrimp, a turbo snail, a blue crab, a halloween crab and a large variety of smaller snails. Over time, i've been finding the shells of the snails but nothing else. The dragonet was given to me from someone who said they are easy to keep and very docile. However, i'm realizing that something is killing everything and i only have two culprits. I know the blue velvet is territorial (hence my two clown fish jumping out of the tanks to their death), but he's never really tried to attack....just defend. Am i off base with the dragonet?
2) My corals keep dying on me. This is now my third time with "easy" corals and the first two i was able to identify a problem, with a lot of help from this board. The first time i put them in too early because my tank was too new. It's now 7 months old and totally stable. The second time, my filtration SUCKED and i wasn't emptying the protein skimmer enough so my levels spiked. I have since gutted the filtration, replaced it and everything has been running smoothly for 2 months since my last try. This try, i put the below corals in the tank and after 48 hours the trumpet is hollow (was it eaten maybe?), the brain has lost almost all of it's color and the zoas aren't opening? WTF am i doing wrong?
I have a lot of money and time into this tank because i've always wanted a coral, salt water tank.....but i'm almost done. I can't keep dumping money into fish and coral to just lose them. More importantly, i feel like the 4 horsemen because i have a constant morgue over here.
PLEASE HELP!!!
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Tank
30G biocube
Filtration
2 giant foam pads washed and cleaned monthly(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BUFT3HU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00)
Polybio filters replaced pads every month (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X25R1I?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00)
Matrix Carbon replaced monthly (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255S00?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01)
Purigen Pad replaced monthly (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002A5VK2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00)
Lighting
Current 24" Marine LED Light (http://www.marinedepot.com/Current_...xtures-Current_USA-CU04100-FILTFILDTN-vi.html)
.....Actinic blue
........30 minute fade in at 3:30PM
........Stays on Full power through 11:00PM
........30 minute fade out through 11:30PM
.....8,000K/12,000K white
........15 minute fade in at 4:00PM
........stays on full power through 10:00PM
........15 minute fade out through 10:15
Protein Skimmer
BioCube Coralife skimmer cleaned out daily (http://www.marinedepot.com/Coralife...for_Aquariums-Coralife-OA82053-FIAQAA-vi.html)
It's alive!
40+ lbs of live rock
20+ lbs of live sand
Blue Velvet Damselfish (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+28+114&pcatid=114)
Spotted Mandarin Dragonet (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1635+554&pcatid=554)
Emerald Crab (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=420+1805+1342&pcatid=1342)
Red Crab - no idea where this came from but i was cleaning my filters and a mineature crab was there. it's now about 1" big and doing fine.
2 Bumblebee Snails (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+565&pcatid=565)
4 Nassarius Snails (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+1133&pcatid=1133)
2 Margarita Snails (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+569&pcatid=569)
Colony Polyp, Orange/Green (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+599+1861&pcatid=1861)
Brain Worm Coral - i'm not sure which breed/type this is, but it's pink/purple
Trumpet Coral (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+2856+2139&pcatid=2139)
Tank Levels
3 gallon water change every week
78 degrees at all times
replaced evaporated water, about 1L per day, daily
Salinity - 1.025
PH - 8.07
Magnesium - 1360
KH - 179
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
Calcium - 480
Phosphate - 0
1) i think my dragonet is killing everything....maybe it's the damsel but something is. I used to have a scarlet shrimp, a blood red shrimp, a turbo snail, a blue crab, a halloween crab and a large variety of smaller snails. Over time, i've been finding the shells of the snails but nothing else. The dragonet was given to me from someone who said they are easy to keep and very docile. However, i'm realizing that something is killing everything and i only have two culprits. I know the blue velvet is territorial (hence my two clown fish jumping out of the tanks to their death), but he's never really tried to attack....just defend. Am i off base with the dragonet?
2) My corals keep dying on me. This is now my third time with "easy" corals and the first two i was able to identify a problem, with a lot of help from this board. The first time i put them in too early because my tank was too new. It's now 7 months old and totally stable. The second time, my filtration SUCKED and i wasn't emptying the protein skimmer enough so my levels spiked. I have since gutted the filtration, replaced it and everything has been running smoothly for 2 months since my last try. This try, i put the below corals in the tank and after 48 hours the trumpet is hollow (was it eaten maybe?), the brain has lost almost all of it's color and the zoas aren't opening? WTF am i doing wrong?
I have a lot of money and time into this tank because i've always wanted a coral, salt water tank.....but i'm almost done. I can't keep dumping money into fish and coral to just lose them. More importantly, i feel like the 4 horsemen because i have a constant morgue over here.
PLEASE HELP!!!
==========================================================================================
Tank
30G biocube
Filtration
2 giant foam pads washed and cleaned monthly(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BUFT3HU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00)
Polybio filters replaced pads every month (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X25R1I?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00)
Matrix Carbon replaced monthly (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255S00?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01)
Purigen Pad replaced monthly (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002A5VK2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00)
Lighting
Current 24" Marine LED Light (http://www.marinedepot.com/Current_...xtures-Current_USA-CU04100-FILTFILDTN-vi.html)
.....Actinic blue
........30 minute fade in at 3:30PM
........Stays on Full power through 11:00PM
........30 minute fade out through 11:30PM
.....8,000K/12,000K white
........15 minute fade in at 4:00PM
........stays on full power through 10:00PM
........15 minute fade out through 10:15
Protein Skimmer
BioCube Coralife skimmer cleaned out daily (http://www.marinedepot.com/Coralife...for_Aquariums-Coralife-OA82053-FIAQAA-vi.html)
It's alive!
40+ lbs of live rock
20+ lbs of live sand
Blue Velvet Damselfish (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+28+114&pcatid=114)
Spotted Mandarin Dragonet (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1635+554&pcatid=554)
Emerald Crab (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=420+1805+1342&pcatid=1342)
Red Crab - no idea where this came from but i was cleaning my filters and a mineature crab was there. it's now about 1" big and doing fine.
2 Bumblebee Snails (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+565&pcatid=565)
4 Nassarius Snails (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+1133&pcatid=1133)
2 Margarita Snails (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+569&pcatid=569)
Colony Polyp, Orange/Green (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+599+1861&pcatid=1861)
Brain Worm Coral - i'm not sure which breed/type this is, but it's pink/purple
Trumpet Coral (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+2856+2139&pcatid=2139)
Tank Levels
3 gallon water change every week
78 degrees at all times
replaced evaporated water, about 1L per day, daily
Salinity - 1.025
PH - 8.07
Magnesium - 1360
KH - 179
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
Calcium - 480
Phosphate - 0
Last edited: