24 gallon setup problems`

mrairportjunke · #1 12/05/2007, 02:28 PM

Hey gang. Im a reader usually not a poster. but just wanted to say hi, thanks, and yall are great.

Ok well I have a24 gallon tank all in one. pump sucks water to spray bar in box on top and through a filter pad and runs out the other side. I use a little carbon just in case to keep little extra clean, heard carbon helps incase of foreign chemical or somehting. anyway i keep tank about 79 degrees, have had it setup for 3 months. 1 month no live rock, 1 month live rocks, and about 3 weeks ago added a 2 firefish goby, 2 hawaiin feather dusters, 2 emerald crabs. yesterday i added a pair of sebae clowns and there haitian reef anemone they were molesting, lol, and 2 true percula clowns. within 8 hours the anemone went from beautiful to drawnup and horrible looking. whats wrong, what i do wrong. i had the water tested yesterday before i bought fish by the store and they said it was perfect. nitrate was like 10, nitrite 0, ammonia very very low. almost 0, and salinity is 1.024, temp 79. i dont have a skimmer but i was told on a fish tank with no corals i didnt need one. what do yall think and please help.

meco65 · #2 12/05/2007, 02:55 PM

Corals do not do well at all with ammonia or nitrate. They do tolerate nitrate better but it is not good for them in the long run, the ammonia will burn the skin of the anemone and cause it to close up. You may want to take it back to the LFS and see if they can hold it till your tank is more stable. IMO.
And BTW [welcome]

mrairportjunke · #3 12/05/2007, 03:07 PM

well they told me that the touch of ammonia was pretty normal. they told me my water is perfect

jar05g · #4 12/05/2007, 03:10 PM

Ammonia is horrible for corals and fish. You want Ammonia and Nitrite to be at 0...ideally you want your Nitrates to be 0 as well...but anything less than 10 is acceptable. Your best bet would be to take your anemone back and tell them to hold it...along with telling them that they're silly for saying ammonia is normal.

meco65 · #5 12/05/2007, 03:18 PM

Not to say anything bad about your LFS but most are in it for the money and if they think your purchase will last the 72 hour warranty they will sell you anything. And some are good but not well informed.

MalHavoc · #6 12/05/2007, 03:23 PM

I am curious. How did you acclimatize your new additions? All good posts so far, and people have mentioned that anemones are quite sensitive to ammonia and nitrates. All inverts, and fish too, need to be carefully added to a new tank. Anemones are particularly sensitive. Did you drip acclimatize them over a period of a few hours?

How long has your tank been set up? That's a lot of fish for a 24 gallon tank. Anemones need stable tanks that have been running for *at least* 6 months (I usually say a year, but in this case I'll be lenient) before they'll do well. Water parameter measurements don't always tell the whole story.

mrairportjunke · #7 12/05/2007, 03:31 PM

tanks been up for like 3 months. he told me to float the bag for 20 minutes then let some wateer in, sit for about 10 mins, and then release.

mrairportjunke · #8 12/05/2007, 03:32 PM

as far as fish count. i think i forgot to say that 1 goby died the first night i had him. so i have 5 fish total.

MalHavoc · #9 12/05/2007, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mrairportjunke
tanks been up for like 3 months. he told me to float the bag for 20 minutes then let some wateer in, sit for about 10 mins, and then release.

That's totally not how to acclimatize invertebrates. Put the invert in an ice cream bucket with the water it came in, and use a piece of airline tubing with a knot in it to let your tank water drip into it slowly, over a period of a few hours, occasionally pouring out the water in the bucket. Once you have the salinity matched, float the bucket in the tank to match the temperature. Then add the invert to the tank.

richofoz · #10 12/05/2007, 03:44 PM

I'm not sure if it's the case for all anemones but most people suggest waiting at least six months for the tank to become stable before adding a nem. (sorry I know that's not much help now!)

Also I believe most anemones require pretty strong lighting.
What type of lights are on your tank?

If you have some water prepared i'd do a small water change to reduce any ammonia in the tank that may be stressing things out.

Rich

mrairportjunke · #11 12/05/2007, 04:08 PM

ok. i just ran a parameter check of my own. i just bought a brand new API master saltwater kit.
Nitrate 0
nitrite 0
ph 8.0
ammonia 0 and just to make double sure, i tested ammonia 5 times. its 0. no doubt 0. i dont know what he tested. lol. i did give him water but i dont konw. anyways its 0 for sure.
lights are from the tank when i bought.
its an Odyssea lights are blue 65W, white light is 65W Daylight 12000K
the guy i bought it from is bein a D _ _ K (not duck). he siad that its something in my tank doing it, that hes had it for over a week. hes really not much help at all. kinda like hes ****ed at me. but told him everything 100% before i bought

mrairportjunke · #12 12/05/2007, 04:17 PM

id post a pic if i could figure out how
i did however move him. i had him in a crater like area. he hasnt attached to anything but i moved him to see if maybe the hole didnt have enough water flow through its area. by the way i have a 9 time hour turn over rate. i put him on the flattest part of the rocks and turned off my pump but he keeps fallin to the bottom on the sand. i read for a haitian that sometimes they like to be placed in the sand so i left him next to a rock in the sand. his tenticles are lookin a touch better than earlier today but he still doesnt move them at all. on his side he has some like pinkish yellowish nastyness. is that just him or what. its lke a mucus with snot mix. lol.
and could the lights have affected him that quick if they are a problem. i bought the tank and it was sold as a marine tank.

mrairportjunke · #13 12/05/2007, 04:41 PM

http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/i...rairportjunke/

samb · #14 12/05/2007, 07:51 PM

Looking at the pics, the anemone could be worse. With 4 clowns in the tank, it will have difficulty acclimating and finding a suitable place that it likes, as the clowns may be a bit rough on it as they try to host. You may want to cover it with a large strawberry basket for a few days.

IMHO I don't think you have enough lighting to satisfy the anemone long term. If you're only going with FOWLR, probably an additional 130w of PCs should do it. If you plan on keeping corals, you may want to look into upgrading to T5s.

mrairportjunke · #15 12/05/2007, 08:12 PM

na. i dont want any corals. i wasnt sure about the anemone either but those 2 sebae clowns were already hosting him. so i figured it be nice for them. maybe i was wrong

mrairportjunke · #16 12/05/2007, 08:14 PM

should i leave him in the sand or what? i can isolate him in the sand way easier than on the rocks. is the sand ok or not??

samb · #17 12/05/2007, 08:18 PM

I don't know much about Haitian's, I know that most LTAs prefer sand over rock. If that's the case with the Haitian, I'd place it in the sand and away from any powerheads.

Good luck !

zotzer · #18 12/05/2007, 08:49 PM

Two pairs of clowns in a 24g is going to result in some fish murders. I'd take the sebaes and their anemone back, and stick with just the other pair of clowns.

Good luck, and keep us posted!
Tracy

mrairportjunke · #19 12/05/2007, 10:06 PM

well ill keep this post up to date as i can how it goes. the lfs will take the anemone and sebae back but no money back or credit for me. so im gonna tuff it out. if they make it the make it. i asked several different lfs about the quanitity in my tank and they all think its fine. A friend of mine who has been in marine tanks for ever and has owned a fish store before told me that the quantity was fine too, so im gonna try it. cnat get no money or credit back for them so might as well keep em. im not gonna buy from this guy again cause he was not very helpful at all about the anemone problem and kinda rude so hes off my list. but i apprieciate the opions and help. thanks.

phunkie99 · #20 12/05/2007, 10:13 PM

don't want to kick you while your down but I highly recomend not adding any more livestock for a while, and I wouldn't buy anything from that LFS. just my $.02

P.s. patience is a virtue

mrairportjunke · #21 12/05/2007, 10:22 PM

im not buyin NOTHING FROM THEM EVER AGAIN AND WILL TELL PEOPLE TO GO THE OTHER WAY. and evan if all was well im not adding anything else to the tank. only plan i had was another anemone for the percula but thats on hold till i figure out whats wrong with this one. thanks though.

dsn112 · #22 12/05/2007, 11:36 PM

Not all Lfs's are bad, only 90% of them are. They are in business to make money, always keep that in mind. Someone not trying to make a sale would never sell you two species of clowns a nem and gobys for the equipment you are running.

Also, advice I got long time ago, be patient! Too many people get livestock happy, way too fast. This isnt like freshwater in that respect.

Take it slow and ask us first, we make no money here!

mrairportjunke · #23 12/06/2007, 12:29 AM

thanks guys

stevelkaneval · #24 12/06/2007, 02:05 AM

watch the nem very close i had a metalic green bubble nem that my lfs promised me would be fine. and i know the guy who owns it personaly. so why not beleive him right? wrong it didnt last a week, then when it died i saw it and left it for another 3 hrs till i was done with work, took it out and 4 days later all my fish were dead. someone told me the nem poisened the water.

mrairportjunke · #25 12/06/2007, 02:34 PM

yeah. i called a guy i konw that owns a fish store, asked him and i showed him a curretn pic. he told me to take him out or he will poison the tank. so i did. end of the anemone crisis. thanks too all for the help