Moved a Stable Aq now not so stable

[unboundmind]

hi all, i could use some help from the collective mind. the aq was stable meaning water was ok, creatures were happy, corals were happy, aptasia was happy and more contained. no major or minor changes for quite some time.

we moved the aq set up the day b4 our actual move. used as much of the water as we could which was all but approx 10 gallons. aside from a new stand everything was the same meaning: 85 gallon aq tank with 40 gallon sump and external pump; 125 gallon protein skimmer; prefilter in overflow and for the move i included an amonia filter; creatures: star fish, tomatoe clown, yellow tang, huge engineer gobe, maroon and gold clown, 2 mandarins and a red hawkfish, several crabs, pj cardinal, and a clam, corals variety, leathers, nothing exotic.

so what happened is i could not get the water to clear so i water changed, the ps was pulling out good gunk; and i tested everything was within reasonably ok except amonia which was very high details below, so i hunted for death and found one crab body which was removed, everyone else accounted for. i changed 10-15 gallons of water a day. the amonia level would improve for most of the day then go back up; aside from being a little lethargic no one was showing alot of stress. i also dosed the tank with amonia lock. i do not believe i am overfeeding and if you listen to the tang and maroon clown in particular i am underfeeding ;o).

so i talked with hector and he recommended to double the water change efforts and figure out if any corals were dead as opposed to retreating so being less than an expert i decided to remove all of the corals to another 'tank' and see what that did. he also offered to have anyone i needed to move to move to his shop or to determine status of corals. so 2 water changes later levels have improved but amonia is still too high.

parameters from last night (i'm getting ready to retest):
salinity 125; temp 79; ph 8.2, alk 2;ca 450; nitrate 10; phos 5; amonia 2ppm

so i'm wondering whether the ammonia lock worked and levels are showing hi when in reality the amonia was converted into harmless then eventually nitrate which is why that is a little hi?

how do you tell if a coral is retreating temporarily vs dead? :sad1::sad1: these are all leathers and soft corals, names escape me at the moment but they are not opening as they would when white halogen comes on except the candy cane which seems to be fine. the mushroom that is green and clowns like it for a mate is not doing well at all in fact from a colony of 6 different thriving pieces maybe 2 are hanging in the rest just sort of fell apart, wally the maroon is very unhappy about their removal of course

this is being a big challenge for me and scary as we are attached to the little sea world and do not want to lose anyone or do the 'wrong' thing. :sad2:

i have one group of corals on a big rock that i'm pretty sure they have died and how do you get them off then? :worried2:

appreciate any help you can give thanks in advance

 

[richpoolboy]

alk=2??

 

[ynnhoj86]

Did you used the old sand from the set up? I think when you were setting it back up after the move, the nitrogen in the sand caused you to have ammonia spike because it probably got mixed up after you moved and put the water back in it. I would keep up with water changes as well and add some hang on back filters to clear up your tank if it isn't still cleared.

 

[unboundmind]

akl q

akl q

alk=2??

the test i use has a reading range of normal between 1.7-2.8 milli eq/liter; my reading was probably closer to 2.5ish i'd say

 

[unboundmind]

Did you used the old sand from the set up? I think when you were setting it back up after the move, the nitrogen in the sand caused you to have ammonia spike because it probably got mixed up after you moved and put the water back in it. I would keep up with water changes as well and add some hang on back filters to clear up your tank if it isn't still cleared.

yes i used my old sand and while we tried to be careful yes it got stirred up. i don't use much sand, maybe avg 1/2" around the tank, some less some a bit more. the water has cleared, that problem disappeared after a couple of changes and time. the other challenges remain.

i'm enjoying watching hawk the red hawkfish and angel the tang swimming around the tank a bit more, more normal behavior occuring since this am's water change

 

[Tucson Reef]

To late for you, but if you move a tank, unless you can do it super fast and have plenty of live rock, dump the sand! Same goes for the water, its loaded with bacteria and dies fast. Just try to keep the parameters close, but thats not as important as avoiding the dead cycle. The sand dies super fast, its like throwing a bunch of dead animals in there. Use fresh, rinsed sand, the rock is your instant cycle.

Even if you move the sand super fast, just disturbing it will start a nasty cycle going, not as bad as dead sand, but still not a good thing. Also would have been chaeper and easier using new then all moving and salt changes.

I still cringe seeing hectors name, lol.

 

[Bifferwine]

I agree with what others have said, many situations like this are caused by the crap in the sand getting stirred up. You should either rinse your sand thoroughly, or use new sand altogether. All that detritus that was trapped in the sand was released into your tank, and caused your parameters to spike.

Keep up with water changes. When I had my kalk overdose, I had to do 50% water changes daily for about 2 weeks just to get my parameters back in line again.

 

[fishaholic911]

To late for you, but if you move a tank, unless you can do it super fast and have plenty of live rock, dump the sand! Same goes for the water, its loaded with bacteria and dies fast. Just try to keep the parameters close, but thats not as important as avoiding the dead cycle. The sand dies super fast, its like throwing a bunch of dead animals in there. Use fresh, rinsed sand, the rock is your instant cycle.

Even if you move the sand super fast, just disturbing it will start a nasty cycle going, not as bad as dead sand, but still not a good thing. Also would have been chaeper and easier using new then all moving and salt changes.

I still cringe seeing hectors name, lol.

I agree 100% , if you need help please let me know. I would remove all fish, coral and rock to a good temp home and than replace or clean the sand and replace the water. You will get a short cycle but everything will be all right. I have a ton of frags, if you need help getting started over.

 

[sillygoose]

Good wishes for a speedy recovery...

You've piqued my curiosity when you said you have two mandarins. I've been told that they would fight to the death??

 

[unboundmind]

yes, have 2 mandararin and they get along fine. they were introduced probably within a couple of months of one another, one a female and one a male. happy and sassy.

 

[Bifferwine]

Good wishes for a speedy recovery...

You've piqued my curiosity when you said you have two mandarins. I've been told that they would fight to the death??

Same gender probably will fight, especially males. Sometimes you can get lucky and keep a male-female pair together, but even they may fight. I tried adding a male to my long established female in my old 240 gallon tank, and she killed him within a day. But then again, I have a friend that has four mandarins in a 29 -- a pair of green and a pair of spotted. He's VERY lucky.

 

[TucsonWhoDat]

90% of the tank move crashes I have seen were sand related, if you reuse the old sand gotta wash it well to get all the gunk out of it. At this point if you have an ammonia spike best course is to remove livestock from the tank and let it cycle. You can change water twice a day and still loose stuff, volatile system with all the water quality shifts is just as bad as a poor water quality tank. PH shifts with every large water change and that alone will kill stuff. You can use 5 gallon buckets with tons of air stones to keep fish alive for weeks. 10 or 20 gallon tanks work well also but provide hiding areas.

Find a better LFS as a source for information BTW. As John mentioned I also cringe at some of the outrageous advice from that person you mentioned.....