Why did my Nano tank crash?

[Smarshy26]

Hi all, I've had my fluval Evo 13.5 for several month. No issues. Once cycling was complete, added a CUC and 2 clowns. After a while added a few small corals and two bubble tip anemones. The clownfish loved them and spent all day in them.

Water change at least weekly, about 15-20%. Have intank caddies for chambers 1 and 2. Refugium in chamber 2. Also ran small skimmer off the side. Upgraded pump to Eheim Compacton 1000. Check water parameters every other day on average. No issues. Water temp between 78-80 degrees. Salinity stable at about 1.023-1.025

Haven't shown any ammonia or nitrites in weeks.

Over the course of 3 days everything crashed. No idea why. Everything died. BTAs, fish, snails, corals. Frantic water changes did nothing. It's a ghost town now. I'm gutted. The tank is now smelly and covered in algae. Like literally overnight.

What did I do wrong?

 

[twelvefive]

Were the BTAs the first thing to die?

Are you testing nitrates and phosphates?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Was the first death a bta?

 

[Not woodyarmadillo]

Hi all, I've had my fluval Evo 13.5 for several month. No issues. Once cycling was complete, added a CUC and 2 clowns. After a while added a few small corals and two bubble tip anemones. The clownfish loved them and spent all day in them.

Water change at least weekly, about 15-20%. Have intank caddies for chambers 1 and 2. Refugium in chamber 2. Also ran small skimmer off the side. Upgraded pump to Eheim Compacton 1000. Check water parameters every other day on average. No issues. Water temp between 78-80 degrees. Salinity stable at about 1.023-1.025

Haven't shown any ammonia or nitrites in weeks.

Over the course of 3 days everything crashed. No idea why. Everything died. BTAs, fish, snails, corals. Frantic water changes did nothing. It's a ghost town now. I'm gutted. The tank is now smelly and covered in algae. Like literally overnight.

What did I do wrong?

That’s terrible. I’m so sorry. Do you have other testing parameters? Things I keep track of temp, salinity, ph, DKh, mag, calcium, phosphates, nitrates, ammonia.

I have a 14 gallon and I recently had a little hiccup where I put some new snails in the tank, the blue leg hermits went to town on them even though they had plenty of food and extra shells. Killed a few snails, ammonia spiked because it is a small tank and clowns got ammonia poisoning. They didn’t eat for 2 weeks but did recover and everything is stable now. I now keep an ammonia badge in there at all times.

We’re there any signs of things going downhill or did it happen fast?

 

[j.falk]

If everything died, my guess would be that something got in your water or something was seriously off with your water.

Handsoaps, aerosol sprays, room deodorizers, cleaning sprays, plug ins can all have a detrimental effect on an aquarium if it the chemicals get into the water.

 

[bushdoc]

So sorry for your loss. My take is that some inhabitant, probably BTA died first and your Live Rock was unable to cope with ammonia spike. Other scenario could be that sudden increase in nutrients, like excessive feeding cause heterotrophic bacterial bloom depriving your tank of oxygen.
Unfortunately nano tanks are more difficult to maintain and I do not really know what advice to give you for the future to prevent similar events, other than be vigilant and practice good husbandry.

 

[Smarshy26]

Were the BTAs the first thing to die?

Are you testing nitrates and phosphates?

The first thing I noticed was that one of the BTAs moved to the other side of the tank, after being in a prime happy location for several weeks. The other BTA started looking a little deflated, but sometimes they do that. The first to die was one of the clowns, even though the other seemed happy and fine. The next morning both BTAs and the the other clown, as well as 2 snails were dead.

I do check phosphate (I have Phosguard in chamber 1) and ammonia / nitrites / trates. I never saw an ammonia spike this entire time.

 

[twelvefive]

Do you have phosphate problems?

 

[Stephen8169301]

How were you checking your water temp?

 

[Smarshy26]

If everything died, my guess would be that something got in your water or something was seriously off with your water.

Handsoaps, aerosol sprays, room deodorizers, cleaning sprays, plug ins can all have a detrimental effect on an aquarium if it the chemicals get into the water.

This is my guess too. I try really hard to not stick my hand in the tank and if I do I wash my hands and rinse them thoroughly prior. I don't use RO water, but I'm on a well and my water is treated, there is no chlorine.

It all happened so fast I have to assume something got in there didn't take prisoners.

 

[Smarshy26]

How were you checking your water temp?

I have the Inkbird monitor, and two heaters connected in case one fails. I monitor via wifi on my phone and gets alerts if the water drops below 77 or above 81.

 

[Stephen8169301]

I have the Inkbird monitor, and two heaters connected in case one fails. I monitor via wifi on my phone and gets alerts if the water drops below 77 or above 81.

This disproves that now how was oxygen in water? Power outage at night?

 

[Not woodyarmadillo]

This is my guess too. I try really hard to not stick my hand in the tank and if I do I wash my hands and rinse them thoroughly prior. I don't use RO water, but I'm on a well and my water is treated, there is no chlorine.

It all happened so fast I have to assume something got in there didn't take prisoners.

I know people are quick to judge when someone isn’t using RODI, but I would certainly start using it now. Do you have a TDS meter and have you checked your source water? I’m new and am by no means an expert but every person I come across on here is very adamant about only using RODI water so I follow their advice.

 

[Smarshy26]

This disproves that now how was oxygen in water? Power outage at night?

I have a house generator so even if I had a power outage it woudn't matter (and I didn't). I run a skimmer for 30 mins every 4 hours, and that usually oxygenates the water pretty well. I also have a powerhead that disrupts the surface so I don't think it was oxygen. Good question though.

 

[Smarshy26]

I know people are quick to judge when someone isn’t using RODI, but I would certainly start using it now. Do you have a TDS meter and have you checked your source water? I’m new and am by no means an expert but every person I come across on here is very adamant about only using RODI water so I follow their advice.

Good thought. I'll probably make the switch but its alot for just a nano.

 

[Stephen8169301]

I know people are quick to judge when someone isn’t using RODI, but I would certainly start using it now. Do you have a TDS meter and have you checked your source water? I’m new and am by no means an expert but every person I come across on here is very adamant about only using RODI water so I follow their advice.

Rodi water is great if you can do it idk if you checked rotms tank is his sps dominant tank he does not use rodi he uses filtered water it’s not necessary and with his tank really shows it can be done just trial on error and understanding your water is there a possible chance that copper leached into tank?

 

[Not woodyarmadillo]

Good thought. I'll probably make the switch but its alot for just a nano.

100% agree. I started off getting RODI water from LFS and then bought a used BRS 4 stage off of one of those online resale places. I think it was Mercari and I spent $125 for a used unit. Keep an eye on marketplace here, Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, Mercari, ebay etc and you will find something. I would recommend you replace all the filters immediately if you buy used though.

 

[Not woodyarmadillo]

Rodi water is great if you can do it idk if you checked rotms tank is his sps dominant tank he does not use rodi he uses filtered water it’s not necessary and with his tank really shows it can be done just trial on error and understanding your water is there a possible chance that copper leached into tank?

Yeah I just think if you’ve got hundreds to thousands of dollars in a tank it’s not worth taking that risk.

 

[Not woodyarmadillo]

OP this thread may get a little all over the place with theories. I would suggest taking a water sample up to a local fish store and see if they find anything as your first course of action.

 

[Stephen8169301]

OP this thread may get a little all over the place with theories. I would suggest taking a water sample up to a local fish store and see if they find anything as your first course of action.

I would agree and maybe even an icp test to possibly determine root cause