Consider this a cry for help! I'm an experienced reefer and I just set up a new 90 gallon tank with dry rock and sand. I always use RO and brought it to proper specific gravity using reef crystals. I have a 30 gallon custom sump with a mag 9 dialed down with a ball valve to match the overflow capacity. A super reef octopus 2000 takes care of the skimmer duties. GFO and Carbon are in twin NextReef MR1 reactors plumbed together and run with a maxijet 12. A 200 micron filter sock provides mechanical filtration. The tank settle well and was started using biospira. All tests came back perfect. The problem lies in that all my starter fish perished within 2-3 days. I thought I got unhealthy fish from the LFS, but a second set died despite independent testing to confirm all water parameters were ideal and congruent with life. I noticed that the water became cloudy intermittently despite carbon and Chemi pure even after I removed the deceased fish and performed a 20% water change. Again tests come back absolutely ideal and there are several different types of creatures living on some small pieces of live rock I added to help seed the existing rock further. WHAT THE HELL??????:debi:
I'm at a loss!!!
- Thread starter RumbonMAX
- Start date
First, Sorry to hear this...it's always tough to loose fish. In order to help we may need more info...
Have you ever used Biospira before? I have been suspicious of instant cycle in a bottle products since they've made it to popular media (thanks Tanked!)
I would be concerned about the amount of live rock you added to the tank. Was the sand live or like playground sand ? If it wasn't live, did you rinse it well before you added it? (I hope it wasn't playground sand)
What type of starter fish did you add? (Damsels?)
I would be concerned about toxins from the dead rock or sand...or any product used to clean the tank and equipment. ( I personally use vinegar for cleaning)
Have you ever used Biospira before? I have been suspicious of instant cycle in a bottle products since they've made it to popular media (thanks Tanked!)
I would be concerned about the amount of live rock you added to the tank. Was the sand live or like playground sand ? If it wasn't live, did you rinse it well before you added it? (I hope it wasn't playground sand)
What type of starter fish did you add? (Damsels?)
I would be concerned about toxins from the dead rock or sand...or any product used to clean the tank and equipment. ( I personally use vinegar for cleaning)
NeilFox
New member
Sounds like you could have a bacteria bloom. If the ammonia is gone the fish should be ok. Marine fish pretty tolerant of Nitrite and Nitrate. You say the tank is new. How long has it cycled? Have you checked the dissolved O2. This kind of thing usually gets lumped under new tank syndrome. I know that doesn;t really help but it may be bacteria consuming the oxygen. Your ph normally drops when this happens...
jamesbaur13
Apsiring Alhcohlolic
Cloudy water is a good sign of an imbalance somewhere.
I'm with the rest of the crowd... it sounds like the tank wasn't fully cycled and that ammonia/low ph may be the culprit for your fish losses.
It could also be contamination from on of the new items if they were not rinsed out/leaching chemicals.
I'm with the rest of the crowd... it sounds like the tank wasn't fully cycled and that ammonia/low ph may be the culprit for your fish losses.
It could also be contamination from on of the new items if they were not rinsed out/leaching chemicals.
I added about 80 pounds of BRS fiji and pukani rock as well as a few interesting pieces of shelf rock to create a nice aquascape. The sand was fiji pink aragonite reef sand to the tune of about 3 inches of depth. I should clarify that this will be my 5th reef tank over the years and I would never use playground sand! good thinking though! I honestly am suspecting a bacteria bloom. Initially I suspected contamination but I very thoroughly rinsed everything with purified water and no chemicals. As Rain999 stated, vinegar is about as harsh as I go. all test kits used were within their useful spans of life and I had water tested independently at the LFS, and ran a control set of tests to be sure the reagents were actually working with the ammonia and nitrite tests. I will look into the dissolved O2 as I did notice that the fish that were lost were hanging near the surface in the time surrounding their demise. there was a bit of a thin slimy coating on some of my in sump hoses and such that gave the impression of biofilm, hence my agreement with the assessments about possible bacterial blooms. If the latter is the case and there is a serious bacterial bloom, what are appropriate remedies? To answer previous questions, the tank rested unpopulated for approximately two weeks after the addition of BioSpira and as stated I tested and received excellent results prior to adding fish. I have only used an "instant start" product once in the past as I prefer to start with cured live rock but that was back in the day and I used Nitrex with great success at the time. Thank you all for our valuable input!
