upgraded tank and everything is dying?

[undercvr_skank]

i upgraded from a 37 gallon to a 46 gallon bow front w/ a 20gallon sump. moved all my live sand and rocks over. then put the fish in and they died this evening. they looked fine when i put them in. the lfs said that since all the stuff is live aready i dont have to establish the tank. what did i do wrong? what happened? i have like 10 zoe frags and they havent opened up yet. water is still muggy a little. can someone help me!?

 

[sasharotty]

How deep was your sandbed?? Nice s/n op.LOL

 

[rogerwilco357]

stirred the sand when you moved it may have released nitrates how old was the sand ? and was there a spike in ammo?

 

[undercvr_skank]

thanks sas lol.

sand is about 4 inches. tested the perimeters this morning and they were on point. 0 amonia. 0 nitrite. 0 nitrate. oh 7.8

 

[sasharotty]

Zeros across the board? How old was the sandbed? How old and what kind of test kits are you using? I would def say you had a spike of trites or trates.I stirred up a 5" sandbed in a 90 a few years back and had serious issues.:uzi:

 

[undercvr_skank]

im using the api test. my take before was about ~7 months old. man this sucks! i have to start all over?

 

[zma21]

Even though you're reading zero's, I'd still attribute this to the sand. There's a bunch of nasty stuff that can accumulate in 7 months.

 

[joemelo]

how long has it been since you switched the tank over?

 

[langtudatinh01]

yup, dead old sandbed is the cause. sorry for your lost.

 

[undercvr_skank]

its been about 2 days since i switched. is there anything that is still good in the tank? live rocks? how would i go about rebuilding from here?

 

[dodge em]

prob gonna start a cycle over and have to wait it out, water change to get the bad out. you may not loose all but they will stay closed for a while and open later.

 

[albano]

Even though you're reading zero's, I'd still attribute this to the sand. There's a bunch of nasty stuff that can accumulate in 7 months.

+1 did you just move the sand, or rinse it first before putting it in new tank. Had to be very cloudy if you didn't rinse it first! IMO, That should be the problem.

 

[undercvr_skank]

no i didnt rinse the sand. it wasnt too cloudy. i stacked the rocks and poured the water onto the rocks so it wouldnt stir the sand up.


how do i go about rebuilding? anything salvageable?

 

[undercvr_skank]

i just realized that i used ge silicone 2 on the sump instead of 1. SMH. i guess thats why everything died off. what am i supposed to do? how do i rebuild? how would i be able to use my rocks again? i need help! this is a bad day

 

[thatguy559]

when you moved the sand you stirred it up. the tank is salvageable what ever didnt die you can use i would wait to add anything for about 4 weeks. testing the water every other day to make sure you track the new cycle process.

when i moved tank i just scooped out about a 16oz cup size and rinsed the other sand then after everything settled i just added that cup of sand back to the tank to reactivate the sand bed.

 

[undercvr_skank]

well i just found out i used the wrong silicone. so that means all the harmful additives leaked into the rocks and sandbed? how do i get rid of all this. do i just dry everything out and start over?

 

[Create]

I'd shut off your sump, fix the silicone, and start doing daily water changes. I am not sure if you need to start all over or not.

 

[undercvr_skank]

well i emptied out the tank last night. moved all the live rocks into a tub. filled it up with water and put a powerhead in it.


anyone else can chime in?

 

[undercvr_skank]

help!

 

[Reverend Reefer]

i don't think you used the wrong silicone. i get them mixed up but the one you DON'T want to use is the one that says mildew resistant, or ANTI-MOLD. i think if its 100% silicone you should be fine. more than likely you released all the crap that was in your sand. rinse the sand and it should be good to go.