Semi new tank question

[Buskey]

I just recently moved my live rock and livestocl into my new 55. The tank had some old sand in it from the previous owner. I ran the system with a sump for 2-3 weeks. All was well until I did the big switch of everything else (livestock). Ammonia spiked to the point that it killed everything but the fish, shrooms, zo's, snails, crabs. Everything is better now but I am sceered to put anything else in the tank. Is there anything else I should add to the sand bed to get things moving? Has anyone tried GARF Grunge?
The really sad part was our huge frogspawn that we had. It had probably 25-30 heads on it, well something was so toxic that it killed all but about 12 heads.

 

[pcurry18]

best thing to do is test, test, test, and Water changes. It could be that 2-3 weeks was not enuff time for the cycle. Sounds to me like its just a normal cycle that was delayed for some reason. My MT actually took about a month for it to cycle. Do you still have Diatoms everywhere? Hope this helps.

Paul

 

[shiveley]

you didn't hear this from me....but please, please don't waste your money on that GARF Grunge garbage.

You'd get the same results, if not better, by adding some mature live sand from a fellow reefer's tank. the grunge stuff is, well, just a way to sell off scraps and scrapings...so why not just ask some one local for the same for free?

 

[Buskey]

The diatoms seem to be subsiding, which is a good sign. Thanks for the advice on the GARF, wasn't sure and wanted to what else I can do to Seed the tank. So if my live rock does not have any creatures in it for the sand, the only way to get sand animals is to beg for some? I guess I might have to buy Rafael some more acrylic for his masterpieces.
Thanks for your help guys,
Mucho Gracias

 

[fish guy 40]

I'm new to the hobby also. I bought live rock that was in another tank for over 3 years. also did a partial water change and used water from another guys tank that is already established to refill worked great so far 4 weeks 1 day now. nitrate0 amoninia0!!!

 

[dots]

It will be fine, you just added too much sand to fast and the system could not absorb it. Now you basicly have to start over because you crashed the system.

Critters in LR and LS are very resillient, so you won't have to worry too much there. Just pull out what is dead, do some large water changes and stabilize the system.

Baby what ever you have left still alive and wait for about two months before adding anything else.

Patience is a virtue in this hobby, and tanks take years to build up.

Heck, mine is two years old and it still looks like I just bought the frags yesterday. Even though its hard, don't get in a wild arse hurry or else it will bite you and set you back three steps.......

 

[Buskey]

Well yesterday I decided to add a frog spawn frag I had from the other tank. It closed up and turned brown. Something is just not right and I am not sure what to do next. Going to do a water change today. ammonia was 0 and Nitrates were around 20 ppm.

 

[Reefugee]

What's your alk and pH?

When you move something from one tank to another, it will sometimes close up for a few days while adjusting to its new environment. Also - I find it hard to believe something can turn brown in one day? Could it be because of the lights? What light do you have on your old system vs the new system. I know that some of my corals looks nice under 20K, but under 10K (and even 14K), the coral looks brown. So the "brown" could be due to light differences. Just a thought.

Minh

BTW - welcome.

 

[Buskey]

Just tested
Ph- 8.2
Nitrites-0
I am running aT5 lighting. I will take a picture if someone can show me how.

 

[Buskey]

Here is a link to how the frog spawn looks now.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13608717@N06/1793587227/
This is not the best picture but it is a good indication.
The portion that has brown in it had life before I put it in the tank yesterday! The rest of the heads were full two months ago. It did the same thing before. But I had chalked that up to new tank itis!
Rafael had suggested copper might be in the tank? Would copper destroy this frog spawn in less than 12 hours?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13608717@N06/1793587227/

 

[MrMikeB]

Oh wow, that thing does not look happy at all. Is this the same 20 head coral you had almost die off or is this another one you added into the system that was not affected by the initial wipe out? I typically do not see that extreme of a reaction unless there is a high amount of ammonia in the system, where the affects are noticed long after the parameters are corrected, where some never recover in the end. You definitely have/had something not within the norm and your tank seems to still be recovering from the changes.

My recommendation is that you not add anything more in your system for awhile (say 2 weeks) and allow your system to reach an equilibrium that it seems to be missing. As far as the copper goes, i have never used it, but my understanding is that this will primarily affect your invertebrates such as crustaceans, shrimp, etc. They will almost immediately die with the presence of copper. When did copper get introduced to your tank?

Do not get discouraged, time is what I find works best, you are looking for a balance that is in flux at the moment, but it will establish itself soon enough. Just be patient...

Looking forward to seeing how things progress!

 

[Buskey]

This is just a portion of what of the original colony! I put the remaining pieces of frogs spawn in my little nano. They took a while but some of the came back. Maybe 6 heads left.
All of the other crustaceans have died as well. I have two small hermits hanging on for dear life. They seem to get to the highest point and just camp.
Since the first incident of everything get slaughtered, I have not added anything else except for yesterday. I wanted to see how something other than fish would take to the tank. So as of right now the tank has had nothing but fish in it for about 2 months.

 

[Reefugee]

WOW! That is really bad. I had the same thing happen to my tank once. Turns out that one of the kids sprayed Fabreze on the couch next to the tank. I surmised some got into the sump and started killing the corals. The only solution is lots of water changes and carbon. Good luck.

Minh

 

[Buskey]

But if all of the parameters check good will carbon help out? I took a sample of water down to your Reef yesterday and checked the salt (1.025) and checked for copper. No copper present.
The "little woman" has had about enough of this tank! I appreciate all of the support you guys are giving.

 

[Reefugee]

Carbon is used to remove a lot of things from the water. It wouldn't hurt. I would also do a lot of water changes in the next couple of days.

 

[pv1191]

Anything else new in the house? I have heard of people painting, staining, new flooring, etc and not properly covering the tank and having a massive die off from some chemical contamination.

 

[Buskey]

Nope, nothing new. After we set the tank up in the "fish" room we have not done anything. Except clean the floors, but...
It could be that but who knows. One more thing. In the fuge that I am trying to run with this tank, the Chaeto is dying off as well. Plus I bought some garciapara (I think) it was red. Like I said it was red.

 

[Buskey]

Ok, I am trying something new today. First of all I started running an external (magnum 500) filter with carbon in it to see what kind of affect carbon does. Second, my sons nano had some black algae growing in his tank. So I took it out of his nano and put it in my 55. I know it is crazy to add some bad stuff like that, but I wanted to see if it would survive. I am still amazed my clown and niger trigger is still alive.

 

[Buskey]

Ok, One has to admit when he is wrong. So I am here to admit that I did something really stupid. I am a person that will admit to something when I am wrong.
So, when I was setting up the return pump I used brass fittings and brass hose barbs. I know that we couldn't use copper but I figured brass would be ok.
Well I was wrong. So the brass fittings have been leaching copper and other metals into the water, which is what killed my frogs spawn, zo's everything.
So here is my questions.
Has anyone else experience copper in there water and what do I have to do to clear the tank? will I have to replace the live rock, sand everything?
Thanks for dealing with stupidity!

 

[matttaylor]

Run a large amount of carbon for a couple of weeks. Replacing the rocks is probiably a good idea, but i'm not sure if they were exposed long enough to have absorbed anything. I would however replace the sand just to be safe.