[miller6323]

Woke up this morning to my larger (3 1/2 in) dried out on the carpet. I've had this pair of clowns for about a month now and haven't really had any trouble with them thus far. Its a 10 gal w/ about 15 lbs of LR/2 CC Sea stars/now 1 clown and about 8 snails and 5 crabs. The tank has been running stabile for over a year. Nitrates @ 35-40 ppm/Nitrites @ 0/ Ammonia @ .25/pH @ 7.5. Recently my parameter spiked a little and I was in process of getting then back to normal. I'm looking at the glass half full in this situation because now it gives me a reason to change things up in the tank. I'm going to get rid of 1 seastar and possibly the other clown and go with a different variety of fish. Any recommendations?

 

[Dissy]

Your PH is pretty low, and your ammonia pretty high.. How often are you doing water changes, and how much?

 

[miller6323]

Every week I do a 15-20% change. I slacked off last weekend so it was about a week and a half. I did a 15% 2 days ago and doing another 25% today.

 

[Marine Monkey]

1 fish is probably the max in a 10 and thats a small fish... clowns are jumps but the ammonia could be the main reason I wouldnt add anything till the ammonia is 0 and your ph is up and consistemt

 

[miller6323]

Yeah I'm probably going bare bottom this weekend and doing a 25% change today and probably about 50% on Saturday with the change to bb.

 

[Loverotties]

Your Ph is low and Ammonia should be 0 so it's high and is your tank grounded?if not,maybe stray voltage could make them jump.

 

[miller6323]

Thanks guys. Not trying to be rude but repeating the same thing that was said before doesn't help me. When I get off work I'm going to do another water change. How do you ground glass?

 

[theguy67]

Not sure why there would be ammonia in a tank that age,..unless your feeding increased.

A grounding probe releases any stray voltage that builds up in the water from either static or leaks from your equipment. You can test the water's voltage with a multimeter ( I think that's what it's called?).

 

[miller6323]

Not sure why there would be ammonia in a tank that age,..unless your feeding increased.

A grounding probe releases any stray voltage that builds up in the water from either static or leaks from your equipment. You can test the water's voltage with a multimeter ( I think that's what it's called?).

I have an HOB filter that I don't usually run any filter media in but the last time I messed with the tank I added another 10 or so lbs of LR so I put the media in to catch any small debris floating around. I slacked a weekend ago and completely forgot about the media and it was packed with crud. Rotting detritus leads to an ammonia increase which in turn lowers pH and wa-la... my problem. The downside to having a nano. :hammerhead: Would any of you recommend using chaeto as the filter media? Like kind of a refugium?

 

[cutietwo]

sorry to hear for your loss

 

[miller6323]

sorry to hear for your loss

Thanks. First loss and the tank has been running for over a year now. Rookie mistake/learning experience. I was talking about how good things were going last week so I jinxed myself.

 

[theguy67]

The ammonia probably would be your cause, if nothing else is to suspect. I do not think algae would benefit you in this situation, especially a tank this small. Just remove the media (if you haven't already), and do a few water changes this week.