HELP Almost everything dies

C

covixxy1968

New member
Hi, Two months ago I broke down my 80 gallon reef and moved everything to a 125 gal. I moved every oz of water. I thought I had moved quickly we had it broken down and the new tank up in less than a hour. Within days I lost EVERY piece of coral. Okay sad as it is I took it as a complete crash due to the move. After a moment of tears decided to move on and just give it a little bit of time. I've waited two months the rocks are starting to look nasty so I decided to put some snails in. Not wanting to go all crazy I just bought 30. Within a hour they were dead. The fish seem to be having no problems whatseover - I have two clowns and a couple tangs. I have done all the basic test and everything checks out wonderfully - heck my 80gl never read so perfect. There appears to be no reason for everything to die. Any ideas whatsoever. And until I can get some life in there other than the fish, how am I going to keep the rocks and sand half way clean?
THank you
Debbie
 
[welcome]

Sounds painful. We'd need to know your water parameters and how you're measuring them to help much. That could be an issue with the SG, for example. Have you done any water changes?
 
Just in case, you might want to get a new test kit. Or maybe take it to your LFS and have it checked.

Sometimes they can get out of whack with something.

Sorry to hear that you are having problems....hope things level out for you soon!
 
I did two 25% water changes within the first month. My readings never went too far out of wack. Like I said we used all of my orinigal water. Moved the rocks and so forth quickly into a bucket then into the tank. I did get a small out break of red cyano that I treated with chemi-clean folowed by a water change. I hated adding it, but I can't keep anything alive in there to help out right now.
PH is 8.4
Gravity is 1.025-1.027 (I top off yesterday when it reached 1.027)
Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all 0
I forgot to mention along with the fish a few of the crabs have survived all of this. But nothing else.
I have about a 2 maybe 3 inch sand bed from the original tank. About 80-100 pounds live rock. Or at least I think it's still alive everything seems to be dieing.
 
Whenever you move a reef it will need to re-establish itself.
Your new tank has a different flow pattern than the original and therefore creates a "new" biological environment.
I had to move a 70 a couple of years ago. I transferred all the rock and livestock into a huge Ice chest in which I pumped most of the water. I let the carpet installers lay some new carpet and within 3 hours had the tank re-set. It was a nightmare,
Everything was stressed, I lost a couple of fish and corals.
After about 2 weeks it was as if nothing happened.
Just my opinion.
 
As stated above SG is 1.025-1.027. Yesterday it was 1.027 before I topped off. Other Parameters are above.
Here's stupid question, my friend just told me he replaced my T going from the pump to the tank with brass T would that cause problems?
 
I wish everything went back to normal in two weeks. It's been two months now. Today was the first time I attempted to ad anything and within a short time every last snail was dead. Everything is testing good. Oh and yes I took the water in and had it tested as well. They don't see anything wrong with it and cannot seem to find the answers. I'm completely lost.
THanks
deb
 
Umm, brass should never be anywhere near a reef tank, particularly touching the water.

Calcium and alkalinity levels might be interesting at some point.
 
Brass is an alloy containing copper. Copper can be lethal in and of itself. The only place brass is safe in marine aquarium use is on the upstream side of a ro/di filter, which removes copper on its way through the filter. That is why people who throw pennies in public fishponds are not doing the fish a favor at all.
 
I'll get into the tank tomorrow and see where and why he used a t then go to the hardware store and find something else. There is no Elect currents. Good thought. It sure seems like it should be something so simple to find.
 
Even after removing the brass joint, you might have troubles. Copper can be deposited onto the surfaces in the tank, and then be released later.
 
Well, you can run a fish-only tank. The only guaranteed way to remove the copper from the tank is to toss the live rock and sand, and then treat the tank with an acid.

You could try stocking invertebrates in a bit and hope for the best. The tank might be prone to sudden invertebrate death, though, on low pH events.
 
There's a product called Cuprasorb, made by SeaChem. It's a resin that absorbs copper and changes colour to show when it's 'full'. I believe you can reuse it over and over; it might be worth getting something like this and running it constantly to remove any copper that's released from the rocks/sand. Definitely get rid of that brass fitting ASAP, I'd bet my paycheque it's the source of the problem. Kick your friend while you're at it.
 
Okay just a up date.... I've accepted that copper had gotten into the tank. I'm treating. I'm attepting to accept that I'm not going to be able to rebuild my reef tank at least not in my new 125 gl. (all that money wasted). I'm working very hard to get myself excited about a fish only tank - maybe down the road when I'm feeling good about everything again starting over with another tank. Fish only was never an option for me. Sooo help me out? What type of fish do you suggest? I realize I have a lot more options without the coral. How am I going to keep the sand stirred? Rocks cleanned? Inverts seem so necessary! My brain just cannot accept life is possible without them. 150 pounds of live sand, about 150 pounds or so of live rock and no coral to enjoy it. :( :( I'll run the Cuprasob and the poly fliters, I just don't want to risk any more inverts and everyone is saying they'll never live here again :(. Thanks for you help in advance
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
Help with new tank cycling
Replies
12
Views
1K
wvned
wvned
S
HELP! What are these?
Replies
10
Views
521
Sermanley
S
E
What's Old is New Again
Replies
2
Views
452
Uncle99
Uncle99
B
Left Tank for a long time, now want to reboot
Replies
8
Views
304
SantaMonica
S
Niven
I'm back....and ready to jump back in, feet first in the deep end, speedo, everything!
2
Replies
20
Views
511
vlangel
vlangel
Back
Top