Blugobi
New member
Well I have to tell a little tale here, but before I do please understand that I'm not looking for sympathy or anything, but I have to get this off my chest. About a week ago I purchased 100 lbs of live rock to add to my system, all of which was going and is in my new 125 sump/fuge. Ok so I was under the impression that this rock was pre-cured or least mostly cured....so upon arrival, I washed off with tank water that I had just siphoned off from a water change, the rock appeared clean, with nice coraline color and did not smell at all....in fact it had very little smell.....(1st red flag I missed)...so I added this live rock to my system and all seemed well for about 24 hours....I then noticed my Xenia was looking a bit closed up(2nd red flag).....everything else looked fine.
Next day....tank was cloudy, corals looked a bit "flat" and xenia was closed tight.....this is where all H E double hockey sticks broke loose....since last Friday I have lost over half of my sps collection, my clam and as of this post about 30 min ago, my prized mystery wrasse.
What happened?....my tank crashed from the addition of the live rock, basically an Ammonia spike like just like a new tank start up.
I know some of you are thinking ..what was I thinking by adding so much rock at once...well I'm already kicking myself in arse for that and even so called "seasoned" reefers screw up.
I would post some pictures, but I don't have the heart to do it....however on a good note, the Ammonia spike has subsided as of today and things are slowly getting back to normal....I have done 40gal water change almost every 12 hours, as fast as my R/O system can make the water...1 1/2 buckets of salt later, all the activated carbon my fluval 203 can hold and thank goodness for Bio-marine poly filters.
The survivors are..Kole tang, Foxface, copperband butterfly, algae blenny, exquisit wrasse, cardinal, orange spot goby, several sps, some lps, and some zoo's
The victims....Mystery Wrasse, Banded pipe, about (9) colonies of sps....Green millie, Bytor blue milli, Gary M's grape scrolling monti, Killer tort, and a few that I just can't think of the names...........
Ok to wrap up...I did isolate my sump from my tank as soon as i realized what was happening, so my sump with the 100lbs of new rock is cycling, while my tank is running on the closed loop and a few powerheads and my fluval with daily water changes.
Long story short....Think...think...think!
In a few weeks or so whn things are back to normal I do plan to add some new corals....so Nate, Jerry an anyone else that has some "Schwarzenegger" sized frags!....(skip the man sized!!!!) let me know I will be very interested..........Thanks
Geo
Next day....tank was cloudy, corals looked a bit "flat" and xenia was closed tight.....this is where all H E double hockey sticks broke loose....since last Friday I have lost over half of my sps collection, my clam and as of this post about 30 min ago, my prized mystery wrasse.
What happened?....my tank crashed from the addition of the live rock, basically an Ammonia spike like just like a new tank start up.
I know some of you are thinking ..what was I thinking by adding so much rock at once...well I'm already kicking myself in arse for that and even so called "seasoned" reefers screw up.
I would post some pictures, but I don't have the heart to do it....however on a good note, the Ammonia spike has subsided as of today and things are slowly getting back to normal....I have done 40gal water change almost every 12 hours, as fast as my R/O system can make the water...1 1/2 buckets of salt later, all the activated carbon my fluval 203 can hold and thank goodness for Bio-marine poly filters.
The survivors are..Kole tang, Foxface, copperband butterfly, algae blenny, exquisit wrasse, cardinal, orange spot goby, several sps, some lps, and some zoo's
The victims....Mystery Wrasse, Banded pipe, about (9) colonies of sps....Green millie, Bytor blue milli, Gary M's grape scrolling monti, Killer tort, and a few that I just can't think of the names...........
Ok to wrap up...I did isolate my sump from my tank as soon as i realized what was happening, so my sump with the 100lbs of new rock is cycling, while my tank is running on the closed loop and a few powerheads and my fluval with daily water changes.
Long story short....Think...think...think!
In a few weeks or so whn things are back to normal I do plan to add some new corals....so Nate, Jerry an anyone else that has some "Schwarzenegger" sized frags!....(skip the man sized!!!!) let me know I will be very interested..........Thanks
Geo
