Need help ASAP! Leaking tank!!!

L

LuciDog

New member
Came home from work to a slow leak in my small reef tank. I need some help ASAP. My guys need out of this tank!

Here's the scoop. Please offer any advice on any of this, where you can.

1- My 120 I've been slowly plucking at, but I don't obsess over it. I test param's maybe once every 7-10 days. I just tested and it APPEARS to be finally cycled. What's the quickest way to test this? There are some diatoms forming

2- lighting is crap on the 120. I was planning to upgrade in a month. (Don't need lights on an empty tank...)
There are 2 10,000k t-8's that I can toss on it, and I have one LED module that feeds my now leaking tank. It covers about 24". Is there a way to make this work and keep my coral alive? I also have the old 24" 10,000k and actinic from leaky.

3- 120 is plumbed up to sump. Return pump died last week. I cut the access to the sump. Can I get away with this until the weekend? I have available 2x hydor 850, 1x hydor 420(I think) and 1x no name 550 circ pumps.

4- safest way to move everyone over, including my LR. There are corals and a couple fish

Any help would be appreciated.
 
why not go buy a rubbermaid container and transfer everything from your 30 over to there for the time being. That way you can take your time and get the 120 setup the way you need it to be without cutting corners.
 
I can't leave them in a Rubbermaid with a cat and small kids on the loose. I'm going to get a pump now so at least I have my sump running. All my coral will go under my LED. I just need to know how to move them now.
 
many corals and inverts are tough enough to survive a full-blown cycle: ammonia is less lethal to them: they just expel water and wait. Fish are more delicate, but you can stand by with an ammonia badge and a bottle of Prime.

The crisis is likely to be when you hammer this newly cycled tank with a full fish load. If you have a functioning sump fuge you can pipe onto this, it would be far safer. Is there a chance that the leaking tank can still function as the 'fuge' with its sandbed, ie, is the leak high up enough that the leaking tank could still hold and process a little water? Its sandbed is going to be a lot stronger than the resistance of the new tank.
 
Couldnt he take the current sand bed and mix it in with the new sandbed in the 120 to help "seed" that sand bed with more bacteria that are able to carry his fish load?
 
My 2 cents worth, Is the 120 parameters ok now. If so move your rock from the 30 over to 120. Once you get it arranged put your couple fish and whatever CUC you got in the 120. Do not add anything for awhile. The rock from the 30 will support what you have now. As long as you got some powerheads in the 120 for some flow and movement you should be fine for a bit until you can get your return pump sorted out. Rig up what lights you got, unless you got some demanding coral you should be ok for a bit until you get the lights sorted out.

Not a bad idea to keep some prime on hand. Good luck
 
Ok. I got the pump running and the sump working. I'm doing mega water change right now... (Not really. Just feels like it...). Plan to drain 30%, add fresh plus the water from old tank.

Once I get the water change done but before I add old tank water, I'm going to bucket my fish and put them on a drip for 30 min while I move the LR and coral.

Then I'm going to add the fish and tank water and hope for the best. Will run for an hour then test.

Yes I have prime. 1/2 bottle I believe.
 
So last night I did a big water change, got sump going, let it run an hour and then tested. It looked like I had a small ammonia reading (not even 0.25) so I let it go for the night and just topped up the 30 and towelled the entire floor.

Tested this morning. Looks good now. Back to work...
 
Done and done.

I called in sick to get this dealt with ;)

Dripped the fish for about 40 min while I pulled the coral and LR out. The coral that I could get off rock was dripped 30 min as well. Any that I couldn't, went straight in.

I think it's worked out ok. I will be watching my param's closely.

2 questions though.

1- I have a condy anemone who didn't want to come off a huge rock. I didn't want to disturb the Aqua scape in the large tank too much, so the rock got placed where it would fit. The condy is now in mediocre lighting. Will he detach and find himself a new spot?

2- the substrate in the 30 is obviously loaded with all sorts of stuff from good to bad. Should I just rodi wash and bucket it, saving for when the 30 is back up, or should I dump in the sump of the 120? My understanding is this will almost certainly cause a cycle once it's stirred up.
 
1---he'll go where he wants.
2. wash in tapwater, Prime it to remove chlorine, and dry it out. Don't use a stirred up sandbed. Save dry.

Re drip acclimation: best not to---rather to match salinity within .002 and put it on in. Under the circumstances, it wouldn't hurt, but never ever ever drip acclimate a shipped fish more than 30 min, and it's far better just to pre-set the qt to the incoming salinity and adjust it slowly to match the dt during the weeks of qt. Reason: ammonium in bag converts to lethal ammonia as co2 in opened bag leaves, changing the ph, causing the conversion.
 
I had planned 30 min but it took me longer to move what I needed to move. Salinity was less then 0.0005.

Zoas and shrooms are still unhappy. Frogspawn very very unhappy. Everything else seems to be doing well. Going to pick up kids from sitter then will test the param's again.
 
The coral may be in a snit for a couple days but should settle back down.

I agree with Sk8r clean the sand up and save it, no use causing yourself more headaches trying to add some sand.
 
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