Storytime!
So, a few years ago, we upgraded from my old 75g seaclear system to a 220g with 75g sump. We purchased the new set up from someone getting out of the hobby. It was built as a penuisula style set up which we love. Tank is 6' long, 2' wide, 3' deep. We had it moved to our house by a team of pros and had minimal die off. I was a nice mix of basic leather corals and reef safe livestock... and unbeknownst to us... palys.
One week into the new adventure, we made the almost fatal mistake of rearranging some rock work bare handed. A couple hours later, my partner and I both ended up in the ER with paly toxin poisoning. We both spiked 105+ fevers, and the ER thought we were junkies... i can kind of understand, I mean how often does a small town ER see a tropical toxin poisoning? Long story short - we ended up ok but were run down for a few months after. I've never recovered completely as I developed anemia from the way the toxin effected my marrow.
Needless to say, we started wearing heavy gloves to the shoulder while in the tank (its almost 3' deep) and we removed as many of the palys, rock they lived on and all, as we could find.
A this point, I suspect the tank cycled as we had a wave of die off and testing showed elevated everything. We worked through re balancing the water parameters and things were good for another 18 months.
Then, in the space of 3 days in October, everything in the tank died, fish and coral alike, except for one emerald crab. We frantically tried massive water changes, rock removal, sand cleaning, etc and in the end, it was clear something went horribly wrong real fast.
We decided to strip out all the rock but one for the crab that survived (we renamed him rob zombie). We changed out all the water over multiple water changes and cleaned the sand. The sump was cleaned as well and all filtration media was cleaned and/or replaced. Within 4 weeks, the water tested perfect and we dropped in a few chromis... dead in 12 hours.
more water changes... and we just let it run for a month with just the crab in it. Water continued to test great. Crab still alive - and quite the decorator. Come Feb and we had a power outage and we almost gave up completely. We ran it dark and low flow for the month of Feb in despair.
Amazingly, the crab is still alive.
Last week, we made the choice to get this puppy running again.
So, water is still stable. But before was go adding any live stock, I'm building a proper rockscape that isn't the giant pile we had before. That look led to areas we could not get to and when we broke down the rock, we found bodies, which I think we the cause of the crash. I want something where I can see and get to every spot in the tank so that doesn't happen again.
The old rock has been cleaned and recured. I took the nuclear option and did a bleach bath and rodi soak to kill it completely. I wasn't willing to carry some nasty into the new build. The rock has been curing all winter and based on what i've read, should be good to go. I'm planing on a bonsai inspired look with nothing touching the glass and plenty of hiding places for the eventual fishies. I think I've got a good idea on how to go about it from various threads and articles I've read through. We're going with rod drilled through the rock, reef putty, and hydraulic cement. Set on egg crate to distribute the weight better. We'll cure that once built and drop it in the tank with a 50% water change. It'll take some time, but sounds like the best bet for long term success.
We're debating on weather to replace the sand bed when we get to that point. I'm also assuming that the tank will cycle at this point, so we're working on a plan to manage that.
Our eventual goals are a mostly fish only system. I'm hoping to build around a Marine Betta and a Niger Trigger. I think with a 220 tank, we'll be ok on territory size and hiding spaces.
I'm planing to take pics and track my progress here.
So after all that babbling... wish me luck!
So, a few years ago, we upgraded from my old 75g seaclear system to a 220g with 75g sump. We purchased the new set up from someone getting out of the hobby. It was built as a penuisula style set up which we love. Tank is 6' long, 2' wide, 3' deep. We had it moved to our house by a team of pros and had minimal die off. I was a nice mix of basic leather corals and reef safe livestock... and unbeknownst to us... palys.
One week into the new adventure, we made the almost fatal mistake of rearranging some rock work bare handed. A couple hours later, my partner and I both ended up in the ER with paly toxin poisoning. We both spiked 105+ fevers, and the ER thought we were junkies... i can kind of understand, I mean how often does a small town ER see a tropical toxin poisoning? Long story short - we ended up ok but were run down for a few months after. I've never recovered completely as I developed anemia from the way the toxin effected my marrow.
Needless to say, we started wearing heavy gloves to the shoulder while in the tank (its almost 3' deep) and we removed as many of the palys, rock they lived on and all, as we could find.
A this point, I suspect the tank cycled as we had a wave of die off and testing showed elevated everything. We worked through re balancing the water parameters and things were good for another 18 months.
Then, in the space of 3 days in October, everything in the tank died, fish and coral alike, except for one emerald crab. We frantically tried massive water changes, rock removal, sand cleaning, etc and in the end, it was clear something went horribly wrong real fast.
We decided to strip out all the rock but one for the crab that survived (we renamed him rob zombie). We changed out all the water over multiple water changes and cleaned the sand. The sump was cleaned as well and all filtration media was cleaned and/or replaced. Within 4 weeks, the water tested perfect and we dropped in a few chromis... dead in 12 hours.
more water changes... and we just let it run for a month with just the crab in it. Water continued to test great. Crab still alive - and quite the decorator. Come Feb and we had a power outage and we almost gave up completely. We ran it dark and low flow for the month of Feb in despair.
Amazingly, the crab is still alive.
Last week, we made the choice to get this puppy running again.
So, water is still stable. But before was go adding any live stock, I'm building a proper rockscape that isn't the giant pile we had before. That look led to areas we could not get to and when we broke down the rock, we found bodies, which I think we the cause of the crash. I want something where I can see and get to every spot in the tank so that doesn't happen again.
The old rock has been cleaned and recured. I took the nuclear option and did a bleach bath and rodi soak to kill it completely. I wasn't willing to carry some nasty into the new build. The rock has been curing all winter and based on what i've read, should be good to go. I'm planing on a bonsai inspired look with nothing touching the glass and plenty of hiding places for the eventual fishies. I think I've got a good idea on how to go about it from various threads and articles I've read through. We're going with rod drilled through the rock, reef putty, and hydraulic cement. Set on egg crate to distribute the weight better. We'll cure that once built and drop it in the tank with a 50% water change. It'll take some time, but sounds like the best bet for long term success.
We're debating on weather to replace the sand bed when we get to that point. I'm also assuming that the tank will cycle at this point, so we're working on a plan to manage that.
Our eventual goals are a mostly fish only system. I'm hoping to build around a Marine Betta and a Niger Trigger. I think with a 220 tank, we'll be ok on territory size and hiding spaces.
I'm planing to take pics and track my progress here.
So after all that babbling... wish me luck!
