Jeramy Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 So I have lost another pepermint shrimp and about a third of the clean up crew I bought two weeks ago hsa perished all the others seem to be doing fine but so did my shrimp when I saw hin this morning. Not sure why I have lost so many shrimp hermits and snails but it is starting to get to me =( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smann Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I wouldn't worry to much about it, I've never had much luck with peppermint shrimp except for one that lived along time in the sump. As far as "clean up Crew" IMO less is better then see what your tank will sustain, I have 5 Astrea snails in my 250 that are years old and have grown huge, hermits I have a collection of several, mostly larger ones, again I have collected them over the years and rarely add any Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Are you sure it didn't just molt? I've thought a few had died but they only molted. What exactly are you losing from your clean up crew? How long has your tank been running? Have you tested the water? nitrates/nitrites/ammonia/ph/alk/calcium these can all contribute to deaths of some sort if not in check. Give us some readings and a little more info and I bet we can help you figure this out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 K I will post new reading in the morning my ph is bout 8 and my kh is 9 my cal 450 my amo 0 nitrite 0 nitrate pretty close to 0 tank is about 3 months old 14 gallons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Salinity also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 1.024.5 ish its right between 1.025 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 So when I tested this morning ph 7.8 Sal 1.025 amo 0 trite 0 trate 0-5 the color is some where between these two KH 9 Cal 440 phos 0 I am using api tesrt kits and the reading of zero are just as close to zero as the kit can measure. I use ro water to do top offs and for making new water. I do weekly water changes of 2 gal at a time. I have filter floss in the back that I change out every couple of days. I dont have any fish in the system because the six line wrasse I had died in less then a week of ich. I have been putting in some chunks of sprungs green sea weed for the emerald crab to munch on sense there is not much in the way of green algea in the system. The live rock Iused was rock from an old tank that had been sitting in starage dry for about six years not sure if that could be part of the problem. May be the tank is to new to suport these creatures. I did notice the other night that ther is a serpent star in there that must have been a hitch hiker from some where cause I never put one in the system. I have no plans to add any thing in the near future because they all die. Also I have been mixing my salt water in advance ina sealed plastic tub witha power head in it to keep it circulating to make water changes easier so I always have water ready to go for the next change. I think that has covered every thing I can think of about the system. I also forgot to mention I am running a small fuge in the back chamber witha mixed ball of macro mostly cheato that I run the lights at night on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Hmm well it looks like your cycle is done. I'm surprised you didn't have a longer cycle using that old rock. So what are you losing snails? Hermits? (besides the shrimp) What types of snails and how long do they seem to last before kicking the bucket? Do you have any diatoms or algae growing in the display? The fuge might be using up all the nutrients so no algae can get a foothold in the display, thus depriving your cleanup crew of food. Do you feed anything other than the seaweed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 I have not put anything in there besides sea weed , the diatoms cleared up a few weeks ago and have not come back the snails are astreas I have lost 4 I have one astrea that has been in there for 2 months or so, the hermits are red tips and have lost bout 4-5 of them one blue legged dawrf and a scarlet hermit as well and of coarse 2 pepermint shrimp and my six line wrasse. Its turning into the biocube of doom all may enter none may survive muhahahahah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Ok i just wanted to be sure we weren't dealing with margarita snails or something similar. How about temperature, any large swings? How far does your pH swing from morning to evening? I'm running out of ideas here, the only thing i can think of so far is lack of food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 my ph will swing from 7.8 to 8.2 but spends most of the time at 8. my temps can get as high as 82 durring the day with the lights on which is part of the reason I was thinking about switching to ecoxotic for my lights but thats a whole nother story. What can I do as far as food is it safe to feed flakes and mysis shrimp to a tank withno fish I was afraid of a massive algea outbreak if I do somthing like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 and thank you very much for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 A tiny pinch of flake or some mysis won't hurt, your cleanup crew will eat it up. Pods, bristleworms, hermits, all sorts of stuff in there will eat the left over food. Normally they would feed on uneaten food and fish waste but that is not present in your tank yet. Go ahead and toss a little food in there every other day or so, but not a lot! The temp swing is concerning. 82 is about the highest i would allow the tank to get, if its swinging 3 or 4 degrees each day that is your problem right there IMO. A couple things you can do: have a fan blow across the surface of the water, or buy a temperature controller. Obviously the easier and cheaper of the 2 is the fan, but I highly recommend getting some sort of temp controller for your tank. It is one of the top 3 things I have ever bought for my tank. My tank is set at 79 degrees, and if it gets up to 79.5 a fan kicks on and blows across the water surface. If the temp drop to 78.5, my heater kicks on. So my temps never swing more than 1 degree. Some people keep a bunch of plastic bottles filled with water in the freezer, then just toss one in the sump when the tank gets hot. You are welcome and I hope one of these things fixes your troubles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted November 18, 2011 Author Share Posted November 18, 2011 So I will be feeding my tanks some small amounts of food and I will be addressing the heat issue. The tank has a closed lid with 2 pc lights and some poor vent fans. I will be getting new lights in the next week and taking the lid off and putting glass on top to keep the kid out and the fish in. For light I am getting a ecoxotic par38 led to hang from apendant over my tank. should eliminate the excess heat during the day and the heater will keep the temp up at night and hope that make my inmates happier. Had to many deaths in the yard lately time to crack down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smann Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 If you think you have heat issues wouldn't a screen lid be better than glass, maybe get some air movement across the tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted November 18, 2011 Author Share Posted November 18, 2011 Very true , the heat issues are from th pc lights traped inside the lid without propper ventilation But I will look into a diffrent cove other then glass =) Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 Or pickup some eggcrate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbird Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Just a thought, if you have a sump setup you might be able to put a fan on that to help lower the temp until you can come up with a more pernament solution. I'm new to this so a grain of salt is a good idea with my thoughts (laugh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted November 20, 2011 Author Share Posted November 20, 2011 I would love to do a sump but would need to build a new stand to make it work. My current stand I went a little ove kill and use 2x6 and half inch plywood with one tiny door ona small stand lol now much room to begin with but when you add in the fact that Iused 2x6 for framing I have almost no room to work with. However I could use it a s a jack stand for the back end of a full sized truck =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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