Newbie ? here...

[VitoM]

Hi all.. been reading posts but never posted my self until now... Any help would be appreciated.

Over a week ago I switched from Crushed Coral to a DSB and my tank is still a bit cloudy.. In fact, I just made it 10x worse by trying to clear off some silt residue on my live rock. Someone recommended using a turkey baster to blow off the silt.. Is there any other way? It makes the water even cloudier.. Can I take the live rock out and shake it off in a bucket of fresh made RO/DI saltwater? They are full of silt, and I am worried my bacteria may not be getting a sufficent amount of oxygen..

Also noticing my cualerpa in my ecosystem 40 is dying off (not multiplying like before) and my nitrates are still high at .45, they were up over .75 3 days ago..

I am not cycling the tank.. It was up and running fine with CC for about 4 months. I have one cown trigger and one tang.

Thanks in advance,
Vito

[Demogarr]

WELCOME to the reef tank!!!!!!!!!!
I would say that your tank will probably be hitting a mini-cycle or larger because of the sand change over, that is a lot of change! I changed my plenum, basically a crushed coral aragonite mix about 4 inches deep, to a deep sand bed about 5 months ago due to obsessiveness and a large 3 foot worm that had breached the plenum layer. HOWEVER, I let the sand , about 200 lbs, cure in three rubermaid containers with a powerhead, heater, and live rock mixed with some old sand from the other tank. I let it sit for around two months, and when I moved houses I bought a new 75 gallon tank(hehehe) and made a complete switch from the old 75 to the new. Don't ask me how I convinced my wife to go for that one, because I am still in shock!!! To the point, even then I experienced a small cycle. As far as cloudiness goes, do you have any type of mechanical filtration. When my rocks get debris on them I do a small water change and siphon the stuff off the rocks rather than blow it around. If you are going to blow it off you got to have something to take it out with. As far as the caulerpa, maybe it is too cloudy for it to get the amount of light it was used to before. What size tank you got? Lighting filtration etc etc... Just my opinion on it, someone else will chime in I am sure!!

[Demogarr]

I didn't read (realize) your caulerpa is in a different tank than where you did the sand change?
If you find out what is killing it let me know!! I got some I would love to get rid of.

[fishinchick]

Or at least let him know how youre killing it!!!

Just kidding.

[VitoM]

you want it gone.. i want/need it back.. wacky huh.. Easy way to kill it.. Do a swap to DSB...

My tank is 45Gal, Ecosystem40 filter, 12 lbs live rock, 12 lbs lace rock, 100 lbs southdown sand.

I did try siphoning off the rocks with my last water change, about 5 gal.. but the rocks are full of silt.. I cant possible get all the nooks and cranies by siphoning.. My main concern is lack of oxygen for my LR.. I dont want this tank to star the whole cycling process again.. I did hit a mini/maxi cycle.. ammonia is not a problem.. but nitrites are..

Not sure what to do...

[Demogarr]

Do you have a clown trigger and a naso in that 45. In my opinion those fish are going to get WAY too large to keep in a tank that size. Not to mention the agressive issues you will likely encounter between the two. Not trying to be a butthead or anything, just my opinion from experience and research. Look into it at least, you could save yourself more problems down the road. How big are they now, they are probably adding to the nitrate load quite a lot. That dsb will take awhile before it starts its "magic" As far as caulerpa goes, I am at a loss. How cloudy is it where you are growing it, did the dsb affect that any?

[FishDaddy]

Hi Vito,

Good to have you with us!

The cloudiness and silt will settle in time. When the water clears, try using the turkey baster to very gently blow the sand residu off the rocks. I wouldn't advise taking them out and rinsing them.

I would think that you really need another 20-40 lbs. of live rock. Until your sandbed and ecosystem matures some more, your LR is the primary biofilter for your tank. Do you have a protein skimmer? I would suspect that there isn't enough biofiltration at this point to process the detritus and fish waste. As has already been suggested, either of the two fish you have are going to be too much for that size tank as they grow. How large are they now?

Another key factor in controlling Nitrates is water quality. What are you using for your source water?

Again, welcome to The Reef Tank....please feel free to ask more questions.
Dick

[VitoM]

The tang is about 5 inches and the clown about 3 1/2.. I know they will grow too big for this size tank, but I do plan on upgrading very soon.. Promise..

I have no protein skimmer since the ecosystem is suppose to alleviate the need for one.. I was thinking about added some more LR at this time, but didnt want an ammonia spike on top of the nitrite spike..

I just added a HOB Aquaclear 300 filter with 2 sponges and no carbon pad to help the tank clear up a bit (thanks fishinchick!)

Regarding the cualerpa.. The same thing happened to me when I first started the tank with Crushed Coral.. It died down.. then came back in full force.. Hopefully the same will happen with my new DSB setup..

Regarding water quality.. I have the pinnacle RO from seachem and use instant ocean salt.

I am just concerned regarding my LR and my ecosystem that they are not able to play catch up with the loss of all the good stuff that went away with my crushed coral..

[VitoM]

WOW.. Adding that HOB Filter really helped.. My water went from a milkshake to crystal clear overnite! I did a 30% water change as well to try and get those nitrite numbers lower..

Now if I can only get my cualerpa to start growing back.. It pretty much all but died off during the migration from CC to DSB...