Stumped

[ScottB]

Hope this isn't too long winded, but I need some advice. Forgive me if some of those facts are unrelated, but a few anomalies are occurring and I can't correlate them. I have been away from the game too long.

I have a newly set up 60. When I first filled it up, it was just ~40# of cured/cycled live Pukani rock. At that time, pH was ~8.3 and dKh was ~8. I added about 20# each of Aragamax reef sand, and Aragamax live reef sand. pH dropped immediately to 7.9. Fair enough, I will work with that.

With ammonia at 0, nitrite at 0, and rising nitrate, I added thee blue/green chromis and a clean-up crew. The chromis were and are eating and look good, but are hiding more and more to the point of almost constantly. The CUC is behaving normally, it would appear.

I checked my params again and ammonia is still zero, but I have a small nitrite spike (1.0) that has been with me a couple of days. As nitrite in low concentrations in saltwater is not nearly as detrimental as ammonia (this is more a freshwater issue) I can't explain the behavior of the chromis'.

So to address the unseen stressor of the fish and try to address the pH buffering issue, my plan is to do a 50% water change ASAP.

By the way, I have been dosing Alk, but I just haven't been able to support the pH at an elevated level.

Thoughts?

 

[hollister]

You say its new , how new?
Do you have a lid on the tank?
Do you have any powerheads?

 

[Psirex]

Cut the lights, Do the water change. What filtration are you using outside of the LR?

 

[ScottB]

You say its new , how new?
Do you have a lid on the tank?
Do you have any powerheads?

I cycled the rock stand alone with Dr. Tim's over the course of 3+ weeks using ammonium chloride dosing. Went through the whole cycle; ammonia spike and decline, nitrite spike and decline, and nitrate accumulation.

10-ish days ago moved the rock to a new tank and dosed ammonium chloride for a couple of day to verify the tank was still able process the ammonia. All was well. Ammonia and Nitrite stayed solid at 0.

Added the sand after a couple of days, dosed with ammonium chloride, tested all good.

Added the animals and CUC, and a couple of days later saw the nitrite spike. No ammonia.

As for the lid, no. it is a rimless 60g cube 24x24x24. As for power heads, 2 x mp10w that move from lagoon, to reef crest, to tidal swell over the course of a day. the greatest current at midday and calmer at night.

I was afraid it might be too much current so backed the power down to 60% but no change.

 

[ScottB]

Cut the lights, Do the water change. What filtration are you using outside of the LR?

I just put GFO and carbon on it today. I was wanting to delay that for a while until I got a little time on the tank, but carbon has always been a friend so I wanted to get it started to hopefully trap any unidentified contaminates.

 

[ScottB]

Cut the lights, Do the water change. What filtration are you using outside of the LR?

Other than the carbon/gfo reactor, I am running a ASM G-1X skimmer and a filter sock. Nothing extravagant.

 

[hollister]

I would say stop dosing anything and no more then a 20 % water change. You need to let the water balance out. I think fish will be fine but chromis should be added toward the end as these little guys can be very aggressive to new fish.

Its best to add all LR and substrate upfront and then let cycle naturally. You mave have caused mini cycles they way you did it.

Reduce the lights and the fish should be fine.

 

[ScottB]

Well, I chose the Chromis due to their lesser aggression, particularly as damsels go. And they are there, so they are going to stay. The lights will be out for a while. I will execute a water change (volume to be determined by tomorrow's readings). Stop the dosing, and limit the feeding.

I agree that the fish will likely be fine, but I just can't put my finger on the issue. I have done this several times, and have a pretty good feel for it, but this one is a little odd for me.

Thanks all for your input.