The tank was cycled with 11lbs of live rock from the lfs's established tank...we added another 4lbs a couple weaks ago(again from his established tank)...
Does anyone know what these are?
- Thread starter kandibrandy
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did you actualy watch it go through a cycle is what i'm wondering. adding live rock, even if it is established, will not completly bypass the cycle.
Hi fishieness,
To answer your question yes the tank cycled. Ammonia slightly spiked and then we did a 25% water change(lfs recommended). Watched the params for about 5 days and all was well, then added our livestock. I think the problem was overload. We introduced the 3 corals first with the star fish and one cleaner shrimp and the LTA. @ days later we added 2 clowns a lawnmower blenny another cleaner shrimp and 5 snails and a white soft branching coral(not sure the name). After we had posted last the anemone snuck into the back of the tank under and between rocks, it looked good for a couple days. It seemed to be adjusting itself to protrude form that area. Then came home from work Monday and it was all scrunched up mouth protruding a bit and not moving whatsoever. I moved the rock and got it into the front part of the tank. It was dead. Removed it right away, did another 25% h2o change. Tested the water yesterday and our params have never been better. Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, Nitrate less than 10. We are still trying to raise the ph it's sitting at 8.2. Our lfs has apologized and is giving us a credit. Was it the overload or maybe was the anemone already dying and poisoning the water? A hard lesson learned and another mark docked to the lfs... All out to make money! I would have taken the lta back but Freeman (lfs guy) said he would be fine etc... We appreciate your advice and concerns and won't be getting another anemone or at least till we've been in the SW industry for some time...
On another note I believe we have crushed coral for substrate. How do you suggest we replace it and with what type of sand?
Thanks
Kandibrandy and Hubby
To answer your question yes the tank cycled. Ammonia slightly spiked and then we did a 25% water change(lfs recommended). Watched the params for about 5 days and all was well, then added our livestock. I think the problem was overload. We introduced the 3 corals first with the star fish and one cleaner shrimp and the LTA. @ days later we added 2 clowns a lawnmower blenny another cleaner shrimp and 5 snails and a white soft branching coral(not sure the name). After we had posted last the anemone snuck into the back of the tank under and between rocks, it looked good for a couple days. It seemed to be adjusting itself to protrude form that area. Then came home from work Monday and it was all scrunched up mouth protruding a bit and not moving whatsoever. I moved the rock and got it into the front part of the tank. It was dead. Removed it right away, did another 25% h2o change. Tested the water yesterday and our params have never been better. Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, Nitrate less than 10. We are still trying to raise the ph it's sitting at 8.2. Our lfs has apologized and is giving us a credit. Was it the overload or maybe was the anemone already dying and poisoning the water? A hard lesson learned and another mark docked to the lfs... All out to make money! I would have taken the lta back but Freeman (lfs guy) said he would be fine etc... We appreciate your advice and concerns and won't be getting another anemone or at least till we've been in the SW industry for some time...
On another note I believe we have crushed coral for substrate. How do you suggest we replace it and with what type of sand?
Thanks
Kandibrandy and Hubby
that's goo to hear that the lfs at least gave you credit. it probably died from being in such a new tank. putting in fish into such a new tank can cause problems, and the parameters are not stable enough for anems. it is usualy recomended to have the tank running for at LEAST 6 months before you add an anem. I think that is a good idea. just wondering, what lightaing did you have him under? did we already establish this? lol. with the proper lighting and matinence schedual, you may be ready to try another anem in a few months.
as far as the sand, it is easiest to replace it slowly, but it does take a really long time. a lot of people i have talked to who did this jsut did it all in one scoop. that may be a good idea since your tank is so new, so you dont ahve to redo it once it finaly gets established. you can put all your live rock and fish and such in an unused garbage can or rubbermaid container and filter as much of the water in as you can. Make sure to keep yoru powerheads and heaters and such in there also for everything to survive. then you can remove all the crushed coral and add sand, you will have really cloudy water for a while until the bacteria builds up on the surface of the sandbed and everything settles, but you can keep your fish in the tub with yoru corals and monitor the water levels in case it starts to cycle again. you can add some/most of your live rock in there to help with the cycle and then later try adding in the rest of the water and fish and corals and rock if everything checks out. it is a huge pain....
and i would use argonite sand.
as far as the sand, it is easiest to replace it slowly, but it does take a really long time. a lot of people i have talked to who did this jsut did it all in one scoop. that may be a good idea since your tank is so new, so you dont ahve to redo it once it finaly gets established. you can put all your live rock and fish and such in an unused garbage can or rubbermaid container and filter as much of the water in as you can. Make sure to keep yoru powerheads and heaters and such in there also for everything to survive. then you can remove all the crushed coral and add sand, you will have really cloudy water for a while until the bacteria builds up on the surface of the sandbed and everything settles, but you can keep your fish in the tub with yoru corals and monitor the water levels in case it starts to cycle again. you can add some/most of your live rock in there to help with the cycle and then later try adding in the rest of the water and fish and corals and rock if everything checks out. it is a huge pain....
and i would use argonite sand.
I would almost have to say the lighting isn't sufficient(after all the reading I've done on AC)it is the bulb that came with the tank kit(flourescent?). My corals are all placed close to the top so they get enough, and we have 2 3/4 watt LED blue lights on all the time for the moon light look. I know these are not good lighting but Freeman has reassured us that it is untill we get a bigger set up.
Thanks again...
Thanks again...
you will definatly need to upgrade. if it is the bulb that came with the fixture i can say that 99.9% of the time (unless you bought some special setup) that it is NO (normal output) florecent which is far from sufficient. I would recomend MH, though t5 or a lot of VHO can be sufficient for some anems. longterm though, you are really goign to want MH.
Yuppers we have all that in mind for the future 120 gallon set up we plan on slowly purchasing for...This is probably dumb but what are VHO lights I'm trying to research on AC about lighting and stuff...
VHO are another type of florecent lights. they stand for Very High Output. usualy, they are used for MH supplimation, but many tanks aldo use them as the main source of light. I would personaly vote for t5 over them because they are much less watts than VHO (a 36" fixture has 39 watt t5s or 95 watt VHOs) and VHOs are so fat, you cant fit as many over the tank as you can with t5s. IMO, t5s are also a better light.
Right on, we'll probably go with the t5 or mh, still researching. It'll be a while before we upgrade to the larger tank...but I do have to say having the 10 gallon tank is frustrating cause it is so much maintenance due to it being such a small ocean per say. But it's my little piece of heaven, I'll take some pics and post them tonight when I get home from work...
Thanks
Thanks
