90 G Reef tank setup and my first issue

N

n091505

New member
Specs:
90 G tank
2 inch of live sand and 90 pounds of live rock ( bought 40 pound from local store and then ordered pre-cured indonesian live rock from vivid aquariums)
Have heater in the refugium at 77F
No powerheads
2 LED lights (Radion)
I let the tank cycle for 2 weeks, no sign of diatom/algae
Checked water parameters using API test kit for Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and High pH every two days; the values are as below and consistent
Amonia = 0; Nitrite = 0; Nirate < 5ppm and pH = 8.3

Took the water to the local store and asked them why I didnt not see an amonia spike/diatom bloom etc. They said sometimes it dosent happen and if my tank parameters are correct and consistent for 2 weeks then thats it we can add fish. I have to say I wasnt very convinced but at this point of time my heart was ruling the head and I ended up buying 2 clown fish ( about an inch long).

Came home all excited, aclimitise the fish by putting the bag on top of the aquarium for 30 minutes. and freed them into the aquarium ( my initial 90 gallon water was also bought from the same store and I havent changed it in the last 2 weeks)

In 2 hours, one of the clown fish died. I have to say its a very sad feeling to loose my first fish. I saw the other fish still swimming and tried to feed but it was not interested in food. ( all this happened yesterday evening)

Today, one of the fish is still alive and before leaving for work I tried feeding but saw that the fish is still not interested in food; this dosent give me a good feeling. I checked the water and the aprameters are still the same as mentioned above.

I have 2 questions:
1. Why did I not observe the cycling of my tank; will it start at all
2. What do you think led to one of the clown fish passing away ( despite all water parameters indicating healthy tank)

I am hoping experts ou there can shed some light.
 
I'm sorry for your loss. When you acclimate a fish you need to do a slow water exchange into their bag or bucket or whatever. Just floating a bag brings the temp in line, but there is no way to match the salinity and chemical make-up of the water the fish came from (especially a local fish store). The shock of suddenly being in a completely different chemical environment is death for most fish and most inverts. You will probably want to research allclimating corals and fish properly before you add anything else to the mix. It's a much more complex process than simply floating a bag. Ask us tons of questions and read a ton. It's overwhelming at first, but all of it eventually makes sense. We just have to do everything we can to not have the livestock suffer for our mistakes.
 
n091505 said:
yes
Click to expand...

So from what my understanding is, you already got cured live rock, so that's why there was no cycle. The bacteria populations were already there. You haven't mentioned what your salinity is, or at least I didn't notice. I was told you'd want to put in a few inverts before putting in fish, to make sure everything is okay. Acclimation could have been better, but what you did wasn't terrible. You're going to need more flow to get the CO2 out of the water. Don't go light on it either, you will see you have too little and will need to upgrade again, do it right the first time.
 
Have not checked the salinity but the SG is 1.025
I am assuming that you are recommending adding pumps inside the aquarium to get more flow and get CO2 out of the water and yes now I realize how important the acclimation steps are; will do it correctly next time.
 
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