Good water. Dead fish.

oh nooooo
Just when i thought my tank was running ok, A cardinal fish dies....
Im not sure what could be going wrong here...
Could he have died due to stress?

Temperature is at steady 78 now
Im running one powerhead.
There should be plenty of oxygen in tank now that I have penguin filter in addition to the protein skimmer.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHj7cF5ZO2M&feature=youtu.be

 

Uhhhhhhh why are you directly connecting to your faucet to fill your tank. . . That's a big no no. Make sure your using RO water or premixed Salt water from your local fish store.

This is going to sound crazy but what type of water do you use to top off? I know its a stretch but if your toppin of with salt water that's a no no! Salt doesn't evaporate like water does so when your water level drops your salinity water raises. This would be the reason why you should be using RO water. Let us know. This is a freak thing that people tend to overlook.

 

If you are still using tap water this is what i would do....invest in a RO/DI unit, they really arent that bad on price and well worth it. Until then i would just let the tank be.

Did the LFS tell you the levels of your parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrates?

 

Well the tank actually looks pretty neat. Couple things though

I see you use a swing arm hydrometer, many will say never use one but I do myself. Do you clean it with viniger on a regular basis? If not your salinity could be way off.

What test kits are you using and are they old?

Looks like you have plenty of liverock and a protein skimmer which many will say is all you need for filtration. A biowheel filter is something you prob want to get rid off since those wheel are known to eventually cause nitrate issues. Kind of like canister filters, most people do not use them in saltwater.

Do you run carbon or any other chemical media?

If that tank is a 55gallon tank then 1 powerhead is not even clsoe to being enough flow. How many gph is it? I would suggest putting on another 1 or 2, I have 3 in my 46gallon a 750gph and 2 425gph in addition to my filter that does 200+gph. I have the big one near the top of the tank in a corner poitned at the front wall and angled a little at the surface to create a lot of agitation, a 425 in the middle on the backwall pointed torwards the surface bouncing off rockwork to bring water up from the bottom of the tank to the surface, and the other 425 in the other corner at the top poitned down to blow surface water down to the bottom of the tank.

What are your parameters exactly?
SG, CA, Mag, Alk, pH, etc

 

hmmm i will look into it
yes, ammonia nitrate, nitrite are all good. basically zero. this is what my test kit gave me.

I may purchase Refractometer to replace my hydromete.

water is good according to my local fish store

ok, im going to return the penguin filter in that case. if anything get a better protein skimmer.

i run carbon in my magna canister filter.

i will get more flow going with another fan then.
i heard clownfish are not good swimmers so lower current is better.