[tronyony]

Hello everybody, this is my first post. I have used this forum numerous times to find answers to my many noob questions but I am stumped now and looking for advice/suggestions.

I had a 55 gal setup for about a month and a half and everything was good to go. Like most people I wanted a bigger tank and stumbled onto a 100 gal with what I believe is a 10 gal sump. My buddy and I cleaned the new tank and got it ready for the transfer. We drained the 55 into different containers and separated fish, coral and LR. I bought new sand and used about 1/4 of my old sand. Set up the new tank and got everything up and running. Checked water params and everything was the same as the old tank

Ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 0
ph 8
sg 1.025

I added the fish Friday evening (We did the tank last Friday afternoon/added fish that night)

The problem started Wed night (5 days later). I noticed the Flame Angel had what appeared to be ich and was acting weird. but everybody else was fine.

Thursday morning the Flame was dead and the FoxFace was breathing heavy. FoxFace was was dead by lunch. Everybody else is breathing heavy. Checked the water everything was as before. Got home from work and the hawkfish was dead. Did a 20% water change. Checked water at night and all perams where as before. Fish still breathing heavy

Friday morning the chromis is dead. The Humu and moroon clown are in hiding. The only fish that dont seem to be affected are the Kauderns and spotted cardinals. Checked water at lunch

Ammonia .25
nitrites 0
nitrates 20
ph 8
sg 1.025

Did a 20 % water change when I got home from work and added Smart Start to help with ammonia and nitrates. Checked water last night

Ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 10 or 20 (hard to tell)
ph 8
sg 1.025

Humu looking pretty bad. Bagged him and had my buddy put him in his 75 gal. Maroon looking better and Cardinals still ok. Lawnmower Blenny still breathing hard. Some corals look ok and some dont.

This morning Cardinals still good, Maroon Clown looks to be back to normal and cant see the LM blenny to see how he is. Checked water

Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate between 0 and 5 (hard to tell)
ph 8
sg 1.025/26

Temp of tank has been between 79 and 80 the whole time. The water hasnt been cloudy other than particles in the water but not cloudy.

Did my tank have a mini cycle?

If you have any questions/suggestions/advice I would love to hear it.


Thank you in advance,
Tony

 

[Treasures of the Sea]

Welcome to TRT!!!

Imo to much change and not enough time to stabilize. What water did you use to fill the other 50%? Whenever doing drastic changes you will go through mini cycles, I would wait several weeks before adding any new livestock.

 

[tronyony]

Welcome to TRT!!!

Imo to much change and not enough time to stabilize. What water did you use to fill the other 50%? Whenever doing drastic changes you will go through mini cycles, I would wait several weeks before adding any new livestock.

Hi,

Thank you for replying. We used what we could from the 55 gal and made the rest with dechlorinated tap and Salinity salt. I will definitely wait to add anything else and cross my fingers that nothing else perishes.

thank you again,
Tony

 

[Treasures of the Sea]

Do you test the Tap? Even when dechlorinated it does not remove Nitrate, and Phosphate.

 

[brock_adams2002]

What did you clean the tank with?? Try to buy a RO/DI unit. Tap water is horrible!

 

[tronyony]

Do you test the Tap? Even when dechlorinated it does not remove Nitrate, and Phosphate.

I didnt check the tap water, but it's what Ive been using since I set up the 55 so I assumed it was ok. I'll check to see where I stand.

Thank you,
Tony

 

[tronyony]

What did you clean the tank with?? Try to buy a RO/DI unit. Tap water is horrible!

We cleaned the tank with just water and a scraper. No chemicals. I will look into a RO/DI unit. I know the tap water isn't the best so I will try to get away from using it. Thank you for replying.

Tony

 

[BUBBA87]

If the ro/di unit is to expensive you cna use bottle culigan water thats what i do for my 40gal and i havent had any problems yet.

Rob

 

[Katink]

What test kit are you using? I would avoid WC for a bit as your tanks parims are leveljng out. It had to have gone through a cycle considering the 55 was only let up for a month and a half and you added so much new sand. Do you have live rock? Do you have a slimmer? Why kind?

 

[Loverotties]

Did you check for copper?

 

[Katink]

If the ro/di unit is to expensive you cna use bottle culigan water thats what i do for my 40gal and i havent had any problems yet.

Rob

That is with a 40g. Huge difference. I have a 125g and evaporate about 2g a day. @ $.39 a gallon thats almost $300/yr not even including the gas and hassle of going to get the water. I'd recommend investing in a ro/di.

 

[tronyony]

Hi all, I didn't test for copper but I thought copper won't kill fish. The test kit I use is the API master saltwater kit.

Thanks,
Tony

 

[tlynn18]

That is a lot of fish for a tank that was only 1.5 months old. I think too much too fast. It is early for me, so forgive me if I am off a little bit I counted 9 in there so far.

 

[sachpal]

heavy breathing.. O2 depleted? dechlorinated tap water shouldn't be a problem ( since u have been using it anyway and i have been using it for sometimes too without any problems, though tap water quality does vary from place to place) and seriously Phosphates and nitrates, even if it is present in the tap water should not be the cause of death..and copper would be more of a problem with corals than fish... Either some parasite outbreak or oxygen is depleted in the water.. ( i was vodka dosing and the bacteria population got quite large, i woke up one morning and all my fish were lying on their side, 2 looking very dead, the rest breathing heavily, added an air bubble and they were up and swimming in no time)

 

[Katink]

Did you buy the tank used? Maybe something toxic to clean the tank was used? Are you running carbon?

 

[Treasures of the Sea]

I think your origin problem was to much to fast. You could have had acclimation issues, an ammonia spike, and so on.

I would stop using the tap, and look at getting a Ro/Di unit. Let things settle and keep a check on those params.

And small doses of copper are different from a prolonged copper content.

 

[tronyony]

That is a lot of fish for a tank that was only 1.5 months old. I think too much too fast. It is early for me, so forgive me if I am off a little bit I counted 9 in there so far.

I would agree to much to fast. Everything was in harmony in the 55 though. The 55 was set up with live rock and 30 gal of water from an established tank and media from a fluval 405. Only thing new was the sand and rest of the water.

I also thought O2 deprivation as well. My drain goes through a filter sock with a piece of PVC so it doesn't splash and my ASM skimmer did the same thing. I removed the PVC from the gate valve on the skimmer so it now splashes in the sump. I have the return so it agitates the surface and a aqueon 500 to do the same. I have 2 koralia 750's for circulation.

Thank you all for the replies and if you can think of anything I can do now please let me know

Tony

 

[gbmortie]

Wait....a 10 gallon sump?

 

[tronyony]

My mistake, I believe it's 20 or 30 gal. I didn't think to ask what size it was when I bought the setup. I know it's bigger than my buddy's 10 gal feeder tank.

 

[tronyony]

I think your origin problem was to much to fast. You could have had acclimation issues, an ammonia spike, and so on.

I would stop using the tap, and look at getting a Ro/Di unit. Let things settle and keep a check on those params.

And small doses of copper are different from a prolonged copper content.

I agree 100%. Now that I think about it, we didn't re acclimate anything. Once we new the water was what we thought was good, everybody went back into the pool. Snails, crabs and starfish still seem ok