Problems With New Live Rock

[siestakiel]

I picked up around 25 lbs. of rock from TBS 5 days ago and flew back with it to St. Louis. I had a new 55 gallon tank ready for the live rock with some live sand in it. I have been performing water changes non stop for the past 5 days, spending around $75 in salt, but the ammonia levels will not go down.

The first day the ammonia was around 1 ppm and some of the cool stuff on the rock was starting to die off and turn grey. The last 4 days have been hell with me doing water changes every couple of hours. I have not seen the ammonia level below 4 ppm for the past couple of days and really feel like giving up because of all the money invested in just 25 lbs. of freaking rock. Over the past 24 hours I noticed that most of the guys inside the barnacles (the ones who seem to wave at you) are dead and floating were floating around.

I am really frustrated because it seems like the corals and everything colorful on the rock is dying and I will be stuck with nothing but base rock. Does anyone have any suggestions or does it sound like I just maybe received a bad batch. I really don't have the kind of money available to go on with the hourly water changes.

Sorry for such a lengthy post and I don't mean to rip on TBS because I have seen a lot of beautiful rock come from them.

Thanks

 

[carcynogen]

one thing you might want to try is to take out all of our rock and do a close inspection of each piece.

if there's a dead sponge, scrub it off. if there's a dead clam or barnacle..crack it off with a screwdriver or any other method you deem workable..

try to find what's dead, target that, and it should help with your ammonia levels...if you don't find the source, it may take a while for the levels to go down

after cleaning the rock rinse it with saltwater that matches your current parameters. there are alot of people that have shared their dead bivalve horror stories..so if you know it's dead get rid of it quick!

the stuff going gray might be the sponges..sponges often don't do well after exposed to air.

hth

 

[hdtran]

4ppm ammonia is high. Hang in there w/ the water changes, though your amount of die-off seems unusual. I'd check for other factors too (e.g. air freshener in the room, etc.).

You have a lightly loaded tank (25 lbs in 55g), so should not be experiencing this much crud. Did you also get any LS substrate, or just rock only? IMO, the LS really helps with the bacterial population.

 

[siestakiel]

I have been scraping off all of the dead stuff each morning I wake up and there is almost nothing left but a few crabs and barnacles. I'll check the ammonia again and leave a post.

 

[willray]

had the same problem with the package. went through 200 gal mix in 5 days.it was a lot of work and money. did i mention money did not have any left. spent it on rock that was dieing.like you i was very discouarged don't hesitate to call tbs. they (richard)was very helpful.left it alone and at 2ppm changed 10 gal only,next morning down to 1.5 come home today well under one.
guess my point.don,t change so much water. have also delt w/ mark ,mary. all good.

 

[banditfl]

I purchased the 10 gal for my nano (picked-up locally). I was having trouble keeping the ammonia down. I had a dead sponge on one rock. (found day on 2). Scraped a scrubed the area. and rechecked the area and scrubed over the following three days. Used my nose that is how I found it. I went through about 25 gal water keeping it below or at 1ppm. Had to resist changing water when sitting right at 1ppm. When I did it turned the corner and in 2 days 0ppm ammonia. Did not loose hardly anything. Picking up second half saturday.

Hang in there and keep a good eye on it. It will turn the corner.

 

[frankiej]

Let It Go

Let It Go

Hi, just my 2 cents but if you just sit back and give it a chance to cycle it will/should recover nicely, I know losing stuff sucks but that is the chance you take when transporting it....If you can try to find a few nice smaller pieces local which are encrusted with corralline already and yours should pick right up where it left off almost, lacking what has died already of course.

Good luck with yours, and keep us posted.

 

[ghostbear29]

i agree with frank. tbs does have nice stuff but transporting sucks. your ammonia will get ungodly high but thats cool. bacteria will start to flourish and the will consume all of it. they make nitrite and then you'll see that spike as well. at the end you should see green or brown algae and nitrate in the h2o tests. that means your almost done cycling. this guy on the site told me the same thing. i calmed down, h20 change a week and h2o test every 2 to3 days. then im in zen. real cool clear fully cycled tank. good luck

 

[Lane Myers]

I have no idea why anyone would tell you that it is a smart idea to do hourly water changes if all you are trying to do is cycles soem rock. Regardless, you will lose some of the life due to transport. With my rock, all I have ever done is put the actinics on it and leave it alone. After a few days of being in there I will do a 10 percent water change and then add a bit of cured rock, in a few more days at the latest you will be finished cycling the rock.

 

[bhujang]

Sounds like real bad luck, I shipped TBS LR to the UK all of it survived, amy ammonium levels didnt spike at all... Still have the clams on it much of the sponges survived as well... Sorry to hear you are having a bum time with it...