A Stink Question

crvz · 12-19-2006, 07:09 PM

Blech... I've got some trouble brewing, and it's nothing to do with the Thai food i had for lunch. My tank is completely without sand (sump/refugium included), and I was performing a water change. I normally have really low flow in the refugium, and i suspect it had some dead spots. Well I knocked the valve open all the way, mixing the water around a little (thinking it would clear some stuff on the bottom), and low and behold I find myself staggering backwards, a litltle woozy. I think of 2 options;

1 - I just put a 10-15 lb of baserock in the refugium. Maybe something was on it, but it had been in water for at last 4 weeks (in a separate system), and i was having a hard time buying that.

2 - dead serpant star. I had a one in the display, but he lost a couple legs so i threw him in the sump (gently, of course). He seemed to be recovering, but today i found him rotting under a rock. I assume this is the stink. I was surprised that none of the crabs munched him up, but alas, i suspect this is the real story.

The question, however. Can i expect any trouble with the system? The stink was quite potent, but nothing seems to be giving me any trouble right now. Before i did the water change, i tested everything, and both nitrates and phosphates were at 0 ppm. I have 20 or so frag/colonies of stony corals, and they arent showing signs. I did a 20 gallon water change (which was the plan) on an 80 gallon system (performed weekly), and i changed out the carbon. Any other recommendations?

Fly Guy · 12-19-2006, 08:02 PM

If everything looks ok I would just suggest running a bunch of carbon(which you are already doing) to be sure and skim REALLY wet for a while. Maybe throw an extra waterchange in this week.

Sounds like you will be fine. good luck

crvz · 12-19-2006, 08:39 PM

I had to burn a bunch of candles so the wife doesnt come home and get wise on me (to brag on her, she's working nights in Mission Control because she wrote all the procedures for the Shuttle robotic arm on this flight). The sad thing is, i think i've gotten used to it. Yikes!

crvz · 12-19-2006, 09:30 PM

Thanks, FlyGuy. Everything seems in shape for now, but i'm still open to ideas!

I do have another question regarding the base rock. I bought 50lbs of it with 50lbs of uncured live rock. It's been in a separate tank with a skimmer curing for the last 4 weeks or so, and I probably wont start using it for another 4 weeks at least (probably 8 weeks). I have not been testing nitrite or ammonia, but i've been watching nitrate. It was at 50ppm on 11/18, then around 20ppm on 12/5, then around 10ppm on 12/19, so i think that's in good shape. But i tested po4 for the first time today (12/19), and it was a little over 1 ppm.

Where does phosphate come from in this situation? Is there any benefit of running some sort of phosphate media, or should i just wait it out and keep doing water changes? The tank with this rock is unlit, ~30 gallons, and i've put my new skimmer on it (which will go on the upgraded tank, a EuroReef CS250, which does look silly on the 30 gallon tank).

gman0526 · 12-20-2006, 02:21 PM

Base rock is notorious for being loaded with PO4 especially if it's quarried rock.

crvz · 12-20-2006, 05:58 PM

Can you explain what exactly quarried means? I bought stuff from a sponsor of our local club labeled "fiji live rock - fully cured base rock." Does quarried mean from dry land, or just under the substrate in the ocean?

gwaco · 12-20-2006, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crvz

Can you explain what exactly quarried means? I bought stuff from a sponsor of our local club labeled "fiji live rock - fully cured base rock." Does quarried mean from dry land, or just under the substrate in the ocean?

from dry land or near shore .

crvz · 12-20-2006, 09:50 PM

superb. I'll keep my eyes on this system with the rock. Hopefully it will work it's way lower over the next 2 months. I had a terrible time with po4 in the past, and i dont care to repeat such struggles on my next setup.

gman0526 · 12-21-2006, 06:06 AM

That's what "cooking" the rock is for

Good luck, keep us posted.

crvz · 12-21-2006, 07:16 AM

I'll update this thread as i do water changes/tests on that set up. We'll see how things go. This tank is not really set up to "cook", in that i'm not eliminating residual light from the system, but it's definitely isolated and intent on curing the rock. It's in the garage (i live in houston, and the water temp is still in the 80's), and the lights are off most of the time. Here is a photo.

this picture is just an hour or so after getting the rock. I've changed a few things since then, but i dont have an updated picture.

SPC · 12-29-2006, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crvz

Blech... The question, however. Can i expect any trouble with the system?

If you don't keep it clean of detritus you will IMO. I had the same basic set up when I started my tank. For a year and a half everything was doing great, in fact, some people who looked at my system said they wished their main tank looked as good as my refugium/sump.

I never cleaned it, didn't need to according to a couple of "experts" on RC. All of the detritus will just magicaly go away if you have enough bugs to eat it (hmmm, where does the bug poop go???) and have macro algae (I through out handfulls every week).

Anyway, when I began to see the signs of excess PO4 in my systemI decided to have a closer look at this refugium/sump. What I discovered was a big stinking mess that was acting just like a septic tank with the drain field being my main tank.

Steve

crvz · 12-30-2006, 06:54 PM

Thanks for the words there, Steve. The tank pulled through fine, and i've since increased the flow in the tank. Matter of fact, I actually pull the sump out every 6 months or so (just did it 2 days ago) and drain it, rinse it out, clean all the equipment, then put it back together. I'm pretty sure the inspiration of this thread was nothing more than a rotting sea star. Indeed, I've grown more hair algae than i care to admit, so i watch my PO4 quite regularly (and don't have a sand bed).

Anyways, i said i would report my measurements with the rock curing tank. Here are the findings;

On 12/19 : Nitrate ~10ppm Phosphate ~1ppm
On 12/28 : Nitrate ~25ppm Phosphate ~1ppm <-- after test, performed 50% water change with display tank water (which tested at 2ppm and 0.1ppm, respectively)

Weatherman · 12-30-2006, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPC

I never cleaned it, didn't need to according to a couple of "experts" on RC. All of the detritus will just magicaly go away if you have enough bugs to eat it (hmmm, where does the bug poop go???)...

It's those nuclear-powered copepods. Didn't you know that?

The question is.... vvvvvvv

SPC · 12-31-2006, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weatherman

It's those nuclear-powered copepods. Didn't you know that?

The question is.... vvvvvvv

So that's it!

Steve

crvz · 01-06-2007, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crvz

12/19 : Nitrate ~10ppm Phosphate ~1ppm
12/28 : Nitrate ~25ppm Phosphate ~1ppm <-- after test, performed 50% water change

Couple more tests:

01/02 : Nitrate ~7.5ppm Phosphate ~ 0.8ppm <-- after test, performed 80% water change, so 24 hours later
01/03 : Nitrate ~2ppm Phosphate ~0.4ppm

I am using the salifert test kits, and my wife reads them very specifically

. Clearly the readings are approximate, but they give an idea for comparison.