I upgraded to a 180 gallon tank from a 125 gallon did everything like I have done in the past when I upgraded to a bigger tank I bought new sand and used as much of the from the 125 as possible the rest was new saltwater all sps corals died within a week so I waited a week and added a few more frags all have died as well all test are good any ideas?
Help lost all sps!
- Thread starter Jaacree88
- Start date
curthendrix
New member
My first guess would be a cycle from the new sand. However, if all tests are good then I'm at a lost. Assume you've tested Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Alk?
tdb320reef
Active member
When transitioning to a new system, which is not often, I run them parallel and continue to test the new system with sacrificial frags. having "perfect" parameters is not enough. When you make the move you need to then tune in the dosing regimen for the new load.
Unfortunately in what we do it is not linear and there remains to be many unknowns.
Unfortunately in what we do it is not linear and there remains to be many unknowns.
It is a upgrade not a new tank I have not caught it cycleing I used all my live rock and water out of my 125 to help not cycle so bad but I have not seen it cycle I adjusted my doser to the volume of water ph swings from 8.2 to 8.15 give or take a few Alk is at 11 ammonia is testing 0 nitrates 0 nitrites 0 phosphates 0 calcium 480 haven't tested mag"ran out" coralline is growing on glass tank is now 5 weeks up and running only sps that is not dieing at the moment is a new frag of strawberry shortcake return pumps two mag9.5 power heads are wp40s with dual controller temp goes from 79 to 82
Crush Coral
New member
Did u get a new sanity tester? i just helped a fellow refer who bought an instant ocean swing arm tester and it was testing at 025 when the tank was really 029. that plus alkaline at over 12 made him loose his spy and the rest look bad.
Usernam Invalid
New member
What did your friend have in the tank? Was tank cleaned with any chemicals prior to you filling it? Test for copper n chlorine
Dummyforclownfi
New member
This seems to be a trend with people who upgrade to bigger tanks. I have had 4 friends upgrade systems this year and all of them have lost all of their sps. We went over all possibilities and the only logical outcome we could get was that they were suffering from new tank syndrome. These aren't new reefers and knew well what they were doing. It their sps all just got random STN and RTN. They waited several months to start adding sps again and it is worming for them now.
I would guess some contaminant in the new tank. I changed tanks, 180 to 100g, and used all new dead rock and sand, 100% new water and only a foam filter for filtration. Moved all my SPS frags over in a single shot (and fish) and everything was stable. Had to do a few 50% water changes, but no losses at all.
If you lost everything in a week, I'm thinking copper, or maybe soap used to clean the new tank?
If you lost everything in a week, I'm thinking copper, or maybe soap used to clean the new tank?
jared355
New member
That's weird.... I just upgraded to a 300dd from a DSA 105 and I used all the old water and rock and all that Jazz and mine did fine in the transition. I have a bare bottom and I hear if you re use sand it can cause major problems but like others have said it has to be somthing contaminating the tank. Or if you had a major alk swing in your transition. There is about 4 million possibilities
Ps I have all sps
Ps I have all sps
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I am wondering the same thing? What's the back story on the tank?
jonnyu
New member
I did 125 to 180 and no losses. I made 100 gallons of water and put in new live sand then a passed all my old rocks over then topped of the 180 with the 125 water. Then I moved everything over. Didn't have any problems. Only one thing to watch for is your doser. As my dosing was less then the 125 for a few weeks.
