very urgent

[arpanlib]

hi,

i am new to reef tanks, and i have just got a tomato clown recently.

for the past two days it has been fine, but today it is just moving up 1 inch and then coming down one inch. very wierd. never seen him do this in the last two days.

he is also yourning like we do.

 

is there a problem with him, or is it the way they are??

 

thanx for the help.

 

arpanlib

[SLOreefer]

have you tested your water? the yawning thing kind of bothers me. other than that clowns swim in funny patterns and do funny things. they will swim in awquard ways and do things you would never think a fish would do. so just test your water but other than that i think it is fine.

[arpanlib]

hi,

thanx for the quick help.

 

my water para s are:

salinity 1.023

nitrate 10 mg/l

nitrite less than .3 mg/l

 

water changes 15% every week.

 

the clown is eating fine, and is not behaving in any other wierd manner.

 

anyways, do let me know what u think.

 

arpanlib

[SLOreefer]

how old is the tank? you still have nitrites? so im assuming the tank is fairly new. well the yawning could be from the trites but that low i doubt it. i think you should just continue on and i think everything should be fine...nay other opinions would help but i think everythihng will be ok as your tank stablizes. i keep my salinity around 1.025 and others will recomend that too but 1.023 is ok. what are your tanks specs?

[arpanlib]

hi,

thanx for the reply.

 

ya, the tank is new.

its just 8 days old.

 

the tank is 16 gallons

6 kg live rock

1 tantacle anemone

1 tomato clown

1 orange damsel.

eheim 2231 ecco for biologocal filteration

fluval 104 for mechanical filteration

1  150w 10k metalhalide.

1 air pump.

 

i follow water changes 15% a week.

is this enough?? or do i need to do more water changes????

 

also do tell me if i need to add suppliments like, calcium, strontium, trace elements, iodine etc.

 

thanx for the constant help.

 

arpanlib

[NanoReefer53]

whoa ! only 8 days old and little or no time to cycle! How's the water quality like ? How's the damsel treating to clown ? Usually damsels are very tempermental but there are some that arn't.

[SLOreefer]

well for starters i would have recomended taking it a bit slower. you have stocked rather quickly which may work out since you have some hardy fish but it may not. the cycle has not had a chance to happen and the bacteria has not had enough time to culture in the tank. your rock is going to have die off and cause ammonia nitrtes and nitrates. these are all harmful to your fish and inverts. if you could i would recommend getting rid of the fish and ivert if possible. i wouldnt even recomend doing any water changes for at least 3 weeks but since your tank is already stalked i would consider doing 5-7% water changes bi-weekly for about 3 weeks. also i recommend checking for ammonia. this will cause your fish to gasp for breath because the ammonia is toxic to the fish. well good luck, read a couple books and dont add anything to your tank for at least 2-3 more weeks. wait until nitrite and ammonia are 0, and then give it another week.

[arpanlib]

hi,

thanx for the reply and a beautiful piece of advise.

surely, i will not put any more livestock in my tank.

 

as for the suddem stocking of the tank, i have to call all my stuff from singapore. if i called only the live rocks and the salt, it would have costed me another fortune to get the fish and the invertebrates.

so thats the reason i got the tank stocked at once. but someone told me that i can do well with weekly water changes, thats why i took this step and the risk.

 

rest alls well till noe. the fish and the anemone are eating fine till now and lets see whats there in store for me and the livestock.

 

hey, my ph is 7.7 ....  but at the time of water change, it was 8.3

i think that it has gone down.

please tell me how to get it up.

 

my KH is 150 mg/l

 

please advise.

 

thanx for the constant help.

 

arpanlib

[SLOreefer]

do you have a ph buffer? that is your best bet. i use kent pro buffer dkh and it works well. this will raise your ph and alkalinity so your ph will be stable. this will alos help buffer your calcium levels to stay stable. other than the ph being low there isnt much else i have to add. just keep up with those water changes and you and the fish should be fine(hopefully).