Troubles After Re-Set Up

[Patti]

Last Saturday I had to completely tear down my 65g reef in order to move it further away from the wall to accomodate a new skimmer and to add 70 more lbs of sand, and 30 lbs of base rock.

I transfered all the LR to a rubbermaid box containing water from the original tank.

I put all corals in a quarantine tank containing water from the original tank.

I put all fish in my 80g FO tank that has been set up for 4 years.

I added the 70 lbs of new sand, and the base rock, to the original 2 inches of sand containing lots of critters that has been there for a year.

I added half water from the original tank, and the remainder with fresh mixed water.

I then added an outside filter with carbon, and my new skimmer to aid in clearing the water.

Overnight (Sunday) the water cleared enough to return the LR to the tank. But didn't clear enough for the fish and corals yet.

After 2 days (Monday)of running the filter and skimmer the water appeared clear enough to return the fish and corals.

I removed the carbon filter and all seemed well, the fish were finding new territory, and the corals were opening.

Since then I am now experiencing brown algea all over my once completely purple LR.

The fish and corals that are doing well are :

Dottyback
Percula
Scooter Blenny
Cleaner Wrasse
Chubby Finger
Brown Moon
Galaxea
Chili
Green Star Polyps
Bubble Tip Anemone
Various Mushrooms

Not Doing Well-

I lost my Yellow Tang and Regal Tang (I actually cried, and I'm not an emotional gal)

Turbo snails- unattached and upside down.

Common Toadstool- back in quarantine after almost withering to nothing.

Yellow Encrusting Leather- Bright yellow is fading to a pale yellow to whitish.

Devil's Hand- getting a brownish tinge almost algea covered looking.

Tree Corals- one is withering away and one is a little limp.

* Pagoda/Cup - Half is becoming loosely attached brown slime coated smothering the corallites preventing the tentacles from emerging. I removed what slime was covering part of it yesterday and this morning it has re covered it and has doubled it's area of coverage.What can I do to stop this ?

I thought I was lessening shock by leaving the original sand and by returning half of the original water.What have I done ? Is this as if I am 'completely' cycling from scratch ? Should I start testing for ammonia and nitrite again ? The only thing new added was the 70lbs of sand and base rock.

Thanks In Advance For Any Advice,
Patti

 

[esmithiii]

Anytime you mess with the sand bed you typically get blooms. Covering the existing sand may have caused a die off, as mentioned. FWIW- I put my fish in the cloudy water when I added a sand bed to my 55. They all made it. The cloudiness doesn't seem to hurt them. I mean, what do fish do in a big storm?

E

 

[tazdevil]

a few things:
[QUOTEI added the 70 lbs of new sand, and the base rock, to the original 2 inches of sand containing lots of critters that has been there for a year.

] [/QUOTE]
That may have started another cycle, check your water parameters, and a 50% water change is large.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

I transfered all the LR to a rubbermaid box containing water from the original tank

Did you heat/aerate or filter this water in any way, some die off may have hapened (esp. if some sponges survived from initial set up).
Tangs from what I've been seeing in this forum can be picky about water parameter changes.

How do you keep your cleaner wrasse alive? I understand that is very difficult as they don't take to the foods we provide very well.

If your tests show ammonia/nitrite, be ready to move things out of tank until it settles down (leaving LR/LS in to complete cycle) This cycle should be faster, as much of the initial denitrating/denitrifying bacteria should have survived.

 

[slojmn1]

I have to wonder if you are going through a new cycle. I see you did not test your water. Definately do some tests for nitrite, ammonia, and nitrate. If you covered the old sand more than an inch or so all those critters are smothered under there, at least from what I have read. I ususally add a half inch to an inch at a time and wait a week or two before building up more. This gives the critters in your live sand time to re-establish there digs as well as giving your sand and bacteria time to get balanced. The brown algae/diatomes? sounds like a cycle to me. The tangs would be affected by increases in nitrite/ammonia a lot if a cycle is happening, clearly the snails as well. The rest of your list of fish, barring the cleaner wrasse, are pretty hardy fish and may be able to make it through a mini cycle. I would definately stay on top of the slime stuff and remove immediately from your corals. I would also do some water changes to dilute the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate buildup. If it is a cycle you just have to ride it through. The 30lbs of rock is definately enough to start a cycle, especially if your sandbed was covered up to much to really help you out, kind of like starting over. I am really sorry to hear of your loss of your tangs. I recently cried over the loss of my female Percula clownfish. It was very traumatic for me for some reason, so I understand. Good Luck and I hope you can save everything else and get through this time. Just an FYI, two tangs in a 65g is not reef politically correct. Tangs need large tanks, I wonder if my one Atlantic Blue Tang will be outgrowing my 120g reef. Tangs graze and cruise the reefs all day long. In the wild their natural behavior is to cover large distances during each day. They are unlike other more stationary fish such as perculas who are not good swimmers and stay relatively close to their host anemones in the wild. Please think twice before getting another tang for your 65g, and definately do not put two in there unless they are very small and you plan on moving them to larger tanks when they mature. No flame inteneded, just info for you

.

[ November 03, 2001: Message edited by: slojmn1 ]</p>

 

[Patti]

Thanks for writing everybody,
If I could do it all over again,, The hardest part to accept is I thought I was taking precautions to avoid any stress, etc.
I did my first water test yesterday ( Saturday, 1 week after Re-Set up)
Temp-79
Sp. Gravity-1.022
PH-8.3
Ammonia-0.22
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 18mg/l

I am now doing a 10% water change. This spike sure happened fast, and my skimmer isn't even producing any foam yet, and it's been a week.

I think I will stay away from Tangs now that I know my tank isn't large enough. As for my wrasse, and how I keep it alive, I feed alternating days, of various algaes, and brine shrimp, blood worms, squid, plankton, also some live brine, and I am in the process of raising rotifers. A few days ago I was reading the articles on how you shouldn't purchase Cleaner Wrasses, but it was many months too late. I also have a Cleaner shrimp who survived the renovations. Sometimes it seems I have better luck with the harder to keep species than the "so called" easy ones.

For any Manitoban Reefers,, Don't take advice from Jeff at Aardvark Pets on Meadowood, In Winnipeg, Mb.
I listened to him about the amount of sand to add. He also told me I need 17 types of live food to raise baby damsels, I now know you need rotifers and later brine shrimp. I also bought 4 flourescent bulbs from him and he made me a canopy that held 2. He sold me a crappy skimmer that I have never yet to this day heard of.

Sorry, just needed to vent.
Thanks again everyone,
Have A Great Day,
Patti

 

[naesco]

I am very sorry to see this tragedy. It is very difficult to lose a fish.
I have to commend you for your acceptance of the excellent advice slowjmn1 gave you re tang tank size.
Many LFS give s+++++ advice so it is best to get learned advice from these boards.
Things will get back to normal soon but it will take time and work.
Good Luck

 

[Patti]

Thank you for you're support,
I guess in a way this is a second chance for me in reefkeeping. Now that I know reefs.org exists, which I didn't at the time of set up a year ago. I can now take this opportunity to completely think things through for the long term. I can now consider whether I want to keep a soft coral tank or hard coral tank, and to consider what fish I can keep more than just comfortably for the duration of their natural lifespan.

Thanks For Being There Everybody !
Patti