New to hobby - Searching for Advice - Deceased Clown

I am new to the hobby and relatively clueless and searching for answer or advice... or even general feedback. I am disapointed in the results I am seeing with my aquarium and believe it may be related to the advice I received from my local store. (place of purchase)

My original goal was to create a small reef tank with a focus on colorization... focusing on lots of colors and only a small # of fish.

After reading two "how to" books, I jumped in and and purchased the following:
New Nano Waterfall tank w/ waterfall - 36 gallons
30 pounds of liverock
live sand
Mag Drive 500GPH series 5 pump
36" Nove extreme light
Small fan device that hooks on the side of the tank. (I don't know the formal name)

I had the tank put together by the store. (they have an hourly maint fee option) I was told based upon my goals, a protein skimmer was not needed) This seemed odd to me but I went with what they said.

They installed the tank in a area of the house that received about 3-4 of good sunlight a day through a window. The only thing out of the norm during the installation was they did not install the filter on the pump. They left this off and said it was not needed. (little foam looking thing) The light had not arrived through shipping and thus was not installed. The fan also had not arrived.

The water sat for 6 days before I was called to tell me that the light was not in yet, but I should bring a water sample in and they would test this to see if I could starting putting a fish or two in tank.

Approx 8 days after the tank was set up, I brought a sample into the store and was told the water tested fine. (I was not given results) I purchased two percula clowns. (One large, one small) I acclimated the fish properly I believe. I put the bag in the water for 15 minutes, then mixed a small portion of the tank water in the bag, let sit for 30 minutes, added more water, etc.. I did this for about 2 hrs. I then released the fish in the tank through the use of a net.

I fed the fish 1/2 a cube of food as directed by the store.

Here is where the problems started:
24 hours after the fish were placed in the tank, I came home from work and noticed the water was greenish. The waterfall was no longer working at the previous rate. Basically, the water from the waterfall was barely trickling out. I was told by the store if the waterfall isn't working, tha means your pump isn't working. At that time, I unplugged the pump and plugged it back in... nothing happened. I then pulled the pump out of water (pump is underneath tank in a sep tank). When I did this, the pump released a large amount of water. When I set the pump back in the water, everything started to work again. A few hours later, the water was clear again. I woke up the next day (today) and the exact same thing happened. I went through the same process and the waterfall began working again. The fish at this time seemed just fine. It almost seems like the pump line is clogged and when I pull the pump out of the water, it unclogs for the time being. (I could be completely wrong)

By lunchtime today, the small clown was found dead. Oddly, he was face down in a liverock hole, basically stuck to the live rock. The larger clown seems fine. At this time, I pulled the pump out of the water and placed the filter on the end. (thinking maybe not having the filter is clogging the line to the waterfall)

I understand the dead clown may not be related to the pump issue, however, I want to ask the boards advice on what could have gone wrong. I don't want to put anything else in the tank until I have this figured out.

Lastly, the light will be installed on Friday. Thus, no corrals are in the tank.

Also, can anyone comment on if I need a skimmer?

Lastly, the only other changes I made to thank is I topped off the tank with purified water. (a lot of evaporates due to the no top and sun)(which is fine, I don't mind that)

Your feedback is appreciated. Sorry for the long first note.

 

Welcome to 3reef.

Hope this helps..

 

2 things:

1) exactly what he said
2) photos please. We at 3reef love photos.

 

Yes, pictures please. You will find that these help a lot.

 

Seano hit it on the head pretty much. It's sad to see people get taken advantage of by the LFS that just have $ on their mind. Sorry to hear about the loss of the clown.

Your tank def sounded like it wasn't cycled correctly before the fish were added.

The best thing to do going forward is to not let the LFS dictate your knowledge of the hobby, but rather do it yourself. I know you mentioned researching. 3reef is a great place to learn lots and lots.

I would buy a SW test kit with basic params: PH, AM, NI, NA. Your live rock will cycle the tank. Test your water. When your Ammonia & Nitrite both test 0 and you have a reading of Nitrate, you'll know your tank is fully cycled.

+1 on getting a skimmer, I feel it's a must for a SW tank. You sound like you have everything else covered for now. You also should look into getting an RO/DI unit for making water. Water is the primary foundation of your tank so the better quality your water is, the less problems you will experience down the line.

Last but not least, I'm not sure about having your tank in an area that gets direct sunlight for 3-4hrs, this could cause algae problems, ambient light is ok but direct sunlight I think is a bad thing.

Although it's extremely hard to do things slowly, make sure that everything is stable before doing any corals. As you get farther into the hobby you will find it becomes a bit more complicated so like they all say "go slow, let it grow" and don't listen to the LFS, best of luck!

 

+1 on the sunlight. I am not so sure on location.

Also, to keep down on the algae bloom, while your tank is cycling, you can have your light fixture off. Then slowly over about a week or two, get it up to the recommended 10-14hrs of lighting. Do this by adding about 1hr/day to your lighting schedule.

 

Thank you for all of the advice. It is very much appreciated.

A few things I am taking from this:
1) Purchase a skimmer
2) Let the tank cycle for 6-7 more weeks before adding anything else to the tank, including coral.
3) Test the water every week with test kits
4) upload photos with future posts that involve problems.


1 more quick question. Can anyone comment on the problem I am having with the pump? Is it at all possible this led to the death of the clown? I read elsewhere online with this type of set up, it may not be the pump, instead, the sponges may be clogged and cleaning these may fix the problem. I will add photos to this post late tonight or tomorrow am for advice.

 

This is indeed a common misconception. Not trying to be rude at all, but direct sunlight does not cause algae problems. If it were the case than the oceans reefs would be full of hair/turf/slime algae amongst other things. Algae although photosynthetic, relies partly on access nutrients and DOC's in the water column. Keep your params up to par, and you should see no ill affects.

 

It sounds like your filter's are clogged. Try cleaning them & see how that helps.
Edit: there may also be an obstruction in your line between the pump & the DT. Maybe a member of your CUC(clean up crew)?

 

Got ya, it may be more linked to FW keeping where direct sunlight promotes algae growth. If anything 3-4hrs of direct sunlight may also be bad during the summer months depending on how the room is cooled, just looking out.