why do my fish die?

oh yea i saw that but it said it was base rock... so i would add stuff like that and then get a pice of live rock from somewhere else?

 

I think it really depends on the city you live in. Some city's tap water is supposedly very clean. I only have well water where I am from so I definitely use a RO/DI unit.

I think that Corailline is correct, you probably added too much for the system to handle at once without LR.

The rock that ReefCleaners sell is base rock. You will still need some LR to seed the base rock to become live though. Your LFS should have some LR. If you order the base rock from ReefCleaners (I really like that store), add some LR, you wil be good to go. It takes some time for the base rock to become live. I do not know how long, I have never used base rock seeded with live rock.

 

It sounds to me like you have a tank with just fish and plastic decorations.
Do you have sand on the bottom?
Do you have any kind of filter or a protein skimmer?
Test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are a must.
Tap water in most locations will cause major algae problems.

If you want just a saltwater fish tank, that's entirely different thing than a "fish only with live rock (FOWLR)" or a reef tank. What kind of tank are you going for?

 

all i rly want is a some colorful fish and some live rock and maybe eventually an anemone or some sort of sea urchin. i got a test kit and my levels are... amonia .25 nitrate 0 nitrite .5 alkalinity 240 ph 7.8 if this helps.

 

so i guess what i want is fish with live rock.

 

Do you have any kind of filter or protein skimmer? Sand?
There needs to be something in the tank for the bacteria to live on to be able to break down that ammonia. The ammonia is most likely what is killing your fish.
For now, get some Amquel to help bind the ammonia up and help protect your livestock from it.

 

Well judging from the values that tank is not cycled, even with a water change you still show ammonia and nitrites.

I would start by getting the rocks weather it be dry or cured. You will have to wait longer for the system to cycle completely with all dry rock so I would get a mixture.

Figure out what fish you want, you will most likely have to take back that Damsel, because of aggression, before you introduce any other fish to the tank in a couple weeks.

What type of lighting do you have?

What type of tank, is it a model like a Biocube or another all in one system?

Then work on getting a skimmer.

Seems like enough for starters but research everything you can while the tank completes it cycle.

 

i do have a filtration system and a protein skimmer... i don't have sand i have crushed coral and i also have some other little rock formations that i use as decoration. im not sure what they are but on of them is very porous and crumbly.

 

I use to use the conditioner on tap water as well until I found out that it didn't remover all of the harmful elements in the tap water. Tap water varies from location to location. The conditioner can only chemically neutralize certain elements, but heavy metals and other trace harmful elements have to be mechanically/physically removed. Thats why a lot of aquarists suggest RO/DI water. Plus it's not very ex*****ive 25-50 cents a gallon.

Also read the saltwater aquarium for dummies book through and through, that's exactly the book I used to get me started. Good luck dude

 

ok thanks everyone you gave me a lot of stuff to work on and im gonna get on it right away