novice setting up 150 gallon reef aquarium

The puzzling thing to me is that part of the live additions die and the rest are thriving.

(1) Addition of four green chromis...died after a week, one at a time. I think this was my handling or the tank, not the fish.

(2) Death of one of two clownfish after two days...other clownfish is fine to date, more than three weeks later. I suspect something was wrong with one of the fish.

(3) Death of sailfin tang within 4 hrs. This fish was never active, became more inactive and then died. I think the fish had a problem and the fish store did issue a credit. The other clownfish, firefish goby, and cleaner shrimp added at the same time were fine and continue to thrive.

(4) Red grape tree on rock not surviving. Red grape tree (same shipment, but stuck under a ledge) is OK.

(5) Red tree sponge seems fine after nearly a month.

(6) All snails and crabs are thriving (but I know they are hardy).

My nitrates haven't run zero yet. My salinity is stable and I change 15% water weekly and run the lights only two to four hours a day.

I've created a quarantine tank into which I would add any new fish. I've tried a new source of fish. I'm watching and waiting for the tank to show zero nitrates. Basically my budgetary constraints make it very easy for me to go slowly.

 

Welcome!

 

I agree it sounds like there may be a problem with your acclimation process. How exactly are you doing it? I like all the updates. Most tank threads jump around a bit and leave me wondering how they got to where they are. Keep at it and I'm sure things will start to go better.

 

I got a tutorial on drip acclimation and improved my technique. Tried it on a new-to-me goby today. Fingers crossed.

 

Welcome, they recommend chromis in odd numbers because they wont pair off and fight.
Usually if a group of chromis "go bad" they pick on the smallest one til it dies, then move on to the next smallest, and so on.. til their is usually one left. For some odd reason getting them in odd numbers seesm to break this up. I have 5 in my 125. I actually had 3, lost one due to moving rocks around and injured it. Then I added 3 more to total to 5 and have had no issues.

You also want to be careful about adding too many things too fast.. a sudden big change in the bioload may cause your biological filtration to have to try and catch up. Which will raise ammonia and nitrates which some fish can not tolerate.

On the bioballs thing, i will never use bioballs. Most don't clean them as they need to be. Not to mention cleaning them properly is very difficult and you may remove some of your biological filtration in the process. IMHO removing any points of possible failure will give you a better chance of success. Canister filters and bioballs are my two most hated points of failure. Massive amounts of cleaning are needed to keep them working BUT YES they will work if you do it. My questions is why do it if you dont need to? I will never own a reef tank that doesnt have a sump, fuge with chaeto, and a skimmer. Thats it.
I do very little to no maintenance to my tank because of this. I clean my skimmer cup and do top offs (i dont have room for an ATO :-( )

 

QUESTION: How often do I need to feed a pink spotted goby. My reading suggests 2X a day and that seems frequent. Doesn't it eat sometimes from detris in the sand?

Normally I feed the other fish (clownfish, firefish goby) every other day: pinches of frozen brine and marine flakes eaten within 2 minutes. I could use a dropper and put food in the pink spotted goby's vicinity more frequently.

About The Plan: I am saving and shopping for a protein skimmer and will then build a 40 long into refugium, skimmer, and return compartments. Right now I do a lot of water changes.

Newest Addition: Added a pink spotted goby last night. Used the improved drip acclimatization process. Everyone is alive and looking well this morning.

Plan a 15% water change Monday morning.

 

Update:

(1) I found a skimmer and reconfigured the wet/dry into a sump without bio-balls that will fit the skimmer and overflow drain into the previous wet part and the motor in the previous bio-ball/dry area.

(2) It took some major re-doing of the inputs and outputs but they had a lot of joints and connections that were not needed at all for my tank.

Bonus: the MAG-18 pump is putting out a strong water motion now as it was much less before the reconfiguraiton. I have learned that one joint can reduce flow about 100 gal per hour. The force is now strong enough that I have to be indirect on the sponge side or I push it over with water motion.

All tank inhabitants seem to be doing fine.

Nitrates still 2.5 ppm (but skimmer has just been on one day)
pH still 8.0 (ordered kaltwasser to add calcium and hydroxy ions to raise pH)

I'm feeling as if I have things settled down for a while.

Next step, better lights for low light corals. Now I have a flourescent 100 watts (for whole tank!) and clip on 100 watts to shine on my one 8 polyp zoa mounted high on aquascape.