40 Gallon Breeder Tank - Saltwater

I hadn't heard of a sunrise basslet, only a sunrise dottyback. Just looked them up, and that is one pretty fish! Unfortunately, I don't know who would have one in stock. I'd call around to see if anyone has one in stock, and then, if they don't, see if they can order one for you.

Liopropoma aurora?

How bad do you want it? I know a few fish store owners that might be able to get them special order for you..

Oops, Sunrise Dottyback is a more accurate description. I always thought dottybacks were a type of basslet...

pseudochromis flavivertex to be specific. It matches my Azure damsel with the blue/yellow.

and I want it, but I dont want it $50 worth until I know my tank has stopped killing things. I see strawberry and neon basslets in MW all the time for I think $20-30. Or I could get 2 clowns...

Oh, okay. I've seen the Sunrise Dottybacks in stores before. I think I might have seen some at FAOIS...can't remember

Ohhhh, ok. Yeah lee should be able to get that for you

Yeah I would check to make sure your tank won't kill anything more with a less expensive fish..

I did a water change about 2 hours ago, and now Scott is acting just like Zazu was right before he died. He wont swim, he just sinks to the bottom, and he doesnt use his fins, he just plops on his side and breathes. Im worried he wont make it through the night

I dont understand. Is it something with the water I just put in? Is it something I stirred up while cleaning the tank? The new water is just tap water with Instant Ocean Reef Salt and Prime water dechlorinater/detoxifier. It's what I've done for the past year and it's never affected my fish before. Scott was even fine last time I changed the water. I dont understand, but the poor little guy looks miserable

Oh no!

Did you stir up the sand?

That's terrible! Hopefully he pulls through! Maybe something changed in the city water recently?

He seems to be swimming along just fine today

So I was thinking last night (obviously) and it's got to be something Im stirring up. I havent looked specifically for it, but I dont recall him acting weird after I do top off to replace evaporated water. I replace it with tap water and prime. So either it's the salt mix Im using (which I dont know why that would affect them) or it's something that happens during my cleaning.

My rocks have a high amount of debris on them, always. I have no idea why, I guess it just settles there. So I knock that off the rocks with a toothbrush and then I use the little Vac thing to suck up all the stuff from the substrate. It's a 50-50 mixture of sand and gravel (though the sand just ends up getting sucked into the Vac, so now it's probably more 30-70).

Glad to hear it!

Well if you don't stir up the sand every few days it will start to build up ammonia and nitrates in it. Then when you stir it, all of it gets released. Its generally better to either a) stir your sand every few days without fail or b) don't stir your sand bed ever.

That's why I target it. I try to get as much junk out of it and into the vac as I can (both to get it out of the tank and to not make my tank cloudy). I usually do it once a week during my water changes. I thought that would be often enough. Im worried if I dont do it at all, the weight of the water would compress the sand/gravel and make it more like a rock substrate and I heard aerated substrate is better anyway.

I went and got a Poly-Filter which is supposed to change colors to indicate if there's specific pollutants. It changes colors if there's copper, iron, aluminum, ammonia/amines, or organic wastes. Whatever the case, it absorbs ammonia, phosphates, medications, heavy metals and "harmful organics"... We'll see what happens. Even if it doesnt find anything, maybe it'll absorb some phosphates and knock that hair algea and cyano out for good. Im hopeful

The polyfilter is a good idea. Hopefully that can tell you what's wrong. Also, maybe be careful with how much you stir the sand. Once I stirred my sandbed in an area that hadn't been stirred in awhile, and it released hydrogen sulfide killing off some of my corals and bleaching the others...

Sorry I seemed to have fallen off the face of the forum. Work has decided they like me, and want to keep me there as many hours as humanly possible I havent gotten to do much tank-wise since the end of the semester. I even got a protein skimmer recently (thanks Nick!) but havent gotten the opportunity to actually put it on. I want to be there the whole day I install it in case something goes wrong but even my "days off of work" have been spent running around trying to get things ready for the apartment move, a new school, getting my car fixed, etc...

I went to Marine Warehouse just after the semester ended and tried to buy some zoas and a goby but I had mentioned my water has been looking cloudy and he wouldnt let me buy them until I brought in a sample of my water. I was a bit disgruntled because I test my water, it's testing fine and I know they are going to find the same thing, but I respected his decision because not many stores refuse business for the fish's safety.

So on that note, my water looks cloudy for a few days, overnight becomes crystal clear and about 2 weeks later looks cloudy again. Im not mixing the sand, cleaning out the filters has no effect, and the cloudyness doesnt seem to bother my damsel or my Tree Coral. I dont know what's causing it, but do you think it's safe to go buy a goby? Im looking for something that can keep the top layer of gravel looking clean. I may buy some zoas too, if they have them for a good price...

sand sifting star does it for me. That and nassarius snails. What coral is in the tank?

Only the little tree coral. I've got 2 "turbo" snails (the little asteria ones) that do excellent work on the rocks but just glide over the sediment, not disturbing a speck. And one blue legged hermit crab that eats up excess fish food but has no taste for algae :/

Im really looking for a fish because my damsel has been lonely in his 40g with no one to swim with since the mass die off MONTHS ago. I want to get him a friend. I know a goby wont swim around with him like another damsel would, but I really need something to clean the sand. And with the goby dwelling in a hole he digs, there shouldnt be territory issues.

occasional cloudy could be mass spawning of some kind? but sounds like you don't have anything that would potentially do that.. idk man

A goby will be fine with the damsel for sure. I thought about spawning that's why I asked what coral but apparently it isn't that. You said all the parameters check out?

Interesting that MW wouldn't let you buy the fish. Annoying, but kind of nice the way they cared about the fish's safety like you said.

I don't know what the cloudiness would be. If your water is testing fine, bring a sample to MW and see what they say. If it's good, buy the goby. That's my advice.

Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrites are all 0. KH is in the 232 area (a tad high but nothing shocking) and Calcium is 540 (also high, but that matches my KH).

My pH is chronically 7.9. I've given up on changing that. I can get it up to 8.2 by opening my window and turning on the bubbler, but the fish store guy said to choose stability over getting it 8.2 for a few hours. Another fish store guy said that was no good and I needed to be dosing A and B to get the pH right. All I've found that to do is raise my KH, which certainly doesnt need it.

Parameters seem fine. Does running the bubbler 24/7 without opening the window help the pH?

No. And leaving the window open without the bubbler on has no effect either. I believe the CO2 level in my room is a bit higher than normal because I have my air vent mostly closed. With the window open it allows air exchange but the lights/glass shield on my tank prevent decent air exchange with the water. Hence the bubbler. Quick exchange with a fresh air source.

Yeah, you're probably right...

New additions!

I visited a couple stores about a week ago and picked up a dragon goby and a juvenile bluefin damsel (neoglyphidon melas). I got the goby for my sand and boy did he do a great job! Until he died 3 days later My water is still testing fine so Im thinking 1) he ran into H2S while digging his hole or 2) because crushed coral is so much coarser than the sand they have at the store, he had trouble sifting it through his gills and it caused complications.

However, my little damsel (which I only picked up because he was $6) is doing great!!


He is a juvenille right now and as he gets older he will either turn a solid navy or a solid black. He gets along with Scott and eats well. The only negative thing is that, while Scottt and "Baby Blue" (for now) dont attack each other, Scott seems a bit territorial. Natural, sure. But he's territorial over ALL THE ROCKS! Guess all that time alone in the tank did that, haha


I'll rearrange them soon and then no one will have a say.

Sorry about the goby, the new fish is really pretty though! I think it's a good idea to move the rocks to switch things up and hopefully break Scott's territorial attitude.

That has to be the cutest looking damsel ever! Approx. how big it it??? Nice coraline on the rock as well!