new to the hobby, i need help

allyr · Jun 30, 2024

hello, i’m still very new to this hobby and i’m just curious, what can i do to make my tank better? i have a 3 gallon tank that holds some coral and a clownfish, but i’ve had 2 different corals die recently and a 3rd one isn’t looking great either. just wondering what i can do to fix this problem and have an overall better tank

SnazzyUrchin792 · Jun 30, 2024

How old is the tank? What filtration do you have? What lighting/PAR do you have? What are your water parameters (temperature, salinity, pH, alkalinity, nitrate, phosphate, calcium; tested with a kit other than API)?
How long are the lights on?

ISpeakForTheSeas · Jun 30, 2024

allyr said:
hello, i’m still very new to this hobby and i’m just curious, what can i do to make my tank better? i have a 3 gallon tank that holds some coral and a clownfish, but i’ve had 2 different corals die recently and a 3rd one isn’t looking great either. just wondering what i can do to fix this problem and have an overall better tank

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The above commenter beat me to it.

A few different questions to start the troubleshooting process here:

-What are your water parameters? (Salinity/Specific Gravity, Nitrate, Phosphate, Calcium, Alkalinity, pH, etc.)

-What equipment do you have for flow in the tank? (Pumps, air pump and stones, filters, powerheads, etc.)

-What light do you have and what are you running it at? (How long does the light run, what channels at what percentages [if applicable], how high above the water, etc.)

Edit: I forgot to add- what corals are you trying to keep and which have died for you?

Mr. Mojo Rising · Jun 30, 2024

The tank desperately needs flow and oxygen. The tank is really too small for any fish, look at it at the water surface, its gasping for air. You need a small powerhead in there pointed at the water surface to help oxygenate the water. But the tank is very small for any powerhead so I'm not sure how to fit it, again, the fish should not be in that small of a tank.

allyr · Jun 30, 2024

SnazzyUrchin792 said:
How old is the tank? What filtration do you have? What lighting/PAR do you have? What are your water parameters (temperature, salinity, pH, alkalinity, nitrate, phosphate, calcium; tested with a kit other than API)?
How long are the lights on?

also the filtration is built into the tank

Mr. Mojo Rising · Jun 30, 2024

Mr. Mojo Rising said:
The tank desperately needs flow and oxygen. The tank is really too small for any fish, look at it at the water surface, its gasping for air. You need a small powerhead in there pointed at the water surface to help oxygenate the water. But the tank is very small for any powerhead so I'm not sure how to fit it, again, the fish should not be in that small of a tank.

Also to give you a bit of additional information, a 3 gallon tank is almost an expert level tank. It is very difficult to maintain stable water parameters in a pico tank because its basically too small to fit any equipment. Also since its so little water, anything will make parameters shift very quickly, which corals don't like any changes in parameters.

The best way to start in this hobby is with a 15 or 20 gallon tank, which actually gives you a few options for fish and corals and equipment. Otherwise you have a real challenge on your hands with this tank, even an experienced hobbyist would be very challenged to keep corals in a 3 gallon tank, its almost like a sub-hobby within the hobby.

allyr · Jun 30, 2024

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Welcome to Reef2Reef!

The above commenter beat me to it.

A few different questions to start the troubleshooting process here:

-What are your water parameters? (Salinity/Specific Gravity, Nitrate, Phosphate, Calcium, Alkalinity, pH, etc.)

-What equipment do you have for flow in the tank? (Pumps, air pump and stones, filters, powerheads, etc.)

-What light do you have and what are you running it at? (How long does the light run, what channels at what percentages [if applicable], how high above the water, etc.)

Edit: I forgot to add- what corals are you trying to keep and which have died for you?

hi! these are the only water parameter results i have from my test about a week ago
high range ph: 8.2 - 8.4ish

ammonia: 0.25ppm

nitrite: 0ppm

nitrate: 10ppm

i know my tank has a filtration system built into it, and it has a little pump for water changes and the filter cartridges i use are “RF-S”. the light i have is from amazing it’s called “hygger 30 Watts Aquarium LED Reef Light, Dimmable Full Spectrum Marine LED Fish Tank Light Saltwater Nano Aquarium LPS SPS Lighting” and i’d say it’s on for roughly 12 hours and it’s about 6ish inches above the water. i’m not sure of all of their names, but i know i have a rock of green star polyps, a tree coral, acans, zoas and i think clove polyps. i have a few others but i forget their names. the most recent one that died was a fox coral and another one but i also can’t remember the name of that one

allyr · Jun 30, 2024

Mr. Mojo Rising said:
Also to give you a bit of additional information, a 3 gallon tank is almost an expert level tank. It is very difficult to maintain stable water parameters in a pico tank because its basically too small to fit any equipment. Also since its so little water, anything will make parameters shift very quickly, which corals don't like any changes in parameters.

The best way to start in this hobby is with a 15 or 20 gallon tank, which actually gives you a few options for fish and corals and equipment. Otherwise you have a real challenge on your hands with this tank, even an experienced hobbyist would be very challenged to keep corals in a 3 gallon tank, its almost like a sub-hobby within the hobby.

okay! thank you for the advice, i’ve been looking into getting a bigger tank so i’ll definitely do that sometime soon so i can add a power head for flow as well. thanks again!

Isaac :) · Jun 30, 2024

allyr said:
hi! these are the only water parameter results i have from my test about a week ago
high range ph: 8.2 - 8.4ish

ammonia: 0.25ppm

nitrite: 0ppm

nitrate: 10ppm

i know my tank has a filtration system built into it, and it has a little pump for water changes and the filter cartridges i use are “RF-S”. the light i have is from amazing it’s called “hygger 30 Watts Aquarium LED Reef Light, Dimmable Full Spectrum Marine LED Fish Tank Light Saltwater Nano Aquarium LPS SPS Lighting” and i’d say it’s on for roughly 12 hours and it’s about 6ish inches above the water. i’m not sure of all of their names, but i know i have a rock of green star polyps, a tree coral, acans, zoas and i think clove polyps. i have a few others but i forget their names. the most recent one that died was a fox coral and another one but i also can’t remember the name of that one

I wouldn't get too discouraged, I started my first reef tank 2 years ago and it's a 3 gal, because it's small you will have challenges keeping it stable. And coral when the tank is new it is inevitable that some might not make it.

Addressing the fish, I would highly recommend you remove it. I had a small dotty back in my 3 gal and I was constantly battling algae, if you want a clean beautiful Pico tank I really do recommend you remove your clown.

I recommend rehomeing the clown and doing weekly 50% water changes for a few months. Keep your prams stable as possible and wait to add more coral or more expensive coral until your sure your tank has aged (mine took a year) and more and is stable. This hobby takes so much patience but if you are patient you will have a better result and spend wayyy less money. Also make sure to feed coral. And make sure they don't starve since it's a newer tank. Good luck man!

SuperReefNoob · Jun 30, 2024

allyr said:
hi! these are the only water parameter results i have from my test about a week ago
high range ph: 8.2 - 8.4ish

ammonia: 0.25ppm

nitrite: 0ppm

nitrate: 10ppm

i know my tank has a filtration system built into it, and it has a little pump for water changes and the filter cartridges i use are “RF-S”. the light i have is from amazing it’s called “hygger 30 Watts Aquarium LED Reef Light, Dimmable Full Spectrum Marine LED Fish Tank Light Saltwater Nano Aquarium LPS SPS Lighting” and i’d say it’s on for roughly 12 hours and it’s about 6ish inches above the water. i’m not sure of all of their names, but i know i have a rock of green star polyps, a tree coral, acans, zoas and i think clove polyps. i have a few others but i forget their names. the most recent one that died was a fox coral and another one but i also can’t remember the name of that one

Parameters look good but it is also very important to know: Alkalinity, Phosphate, Calcium and Magnesium as those contribute alot to coral health as well.