I witnessed inverts thriving in the tank that the new rock came from. It has been 2 months since the new rock was added. Although I did notice some recycling I have never experienced this kind of issue and I've added rock to other tanks. Maybe it's the scale I nearly doubled my amount of rock. I will check Cu as soon as I get a test kit. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to detoxify heavy metals?
inverts don't survive.
- Thread starter pokoloco
- Start date
My nitrate is swinging because I'm currently trying to get off Bio-Balls and i'm removing a small amount per week so it's stirring up the remaining balls.
it's quite possible this is a combination of things. I have used local water in the past so when I was cycling the tank but I was also in a different city this town may have different water params. Thanks for all the ideas.
15ppm of Nitrates is not a problems. I have kept numerous inverts for long time with much higher nitrate than that.
If your friend had invert tank, Cu is not the reason, at least in your friend'd tank. It wont hurt to check both tank and tap when possible.
If specific gravity was swinging due to evaporation while away for long time, such can also cause this.
Strong currents in the tank? Another possibility.
Unfortunately, Once LR and Substrate are exposed to heavy metals, it is close to impossible to free them of heavy metal and cost ineffective to be used for inverts.
high temp due to defective heater??
Water alone can be filtered with high quality carbons and heavy metal removing resins to remove Cu.
Nitrifying bacteria are the one which would yield Nitrate and Denitrifying bacteria are the one which will reduce nitrate.
Depending on LR, they can perform both.
If your friend had invert tank, Cu is not the reason, at least in your friend'd tank. It wont hurt to check both tank and tap when possible.
If specific gravity was swinging due to evaporation while away for long time, such can also cause this.
Strong currents in the tank? Another possibility.
Unfortunately, Once LR and Substrate are exposed to heavy metals, it is close to impossible to free them of heavy metal and cost ineffective to be used for inverts.
high temp due to defective heater??
Water alone can be filtered with high quality carbons and heavy metal removing resins to remove Cu.
Nitrifying bacteria are the one which would yield Nitrate and Denitrifying bacteria are the one which will reduce nitrate.
Depending on LR, they can perform both.
I have been testing it with the occasional snail or hermit crab. nothing very sensitive. I tried some shrooms a while back but they never opened just stayed in purge mood and died. But I haven't tried anything in a few weeks.
Yes I picked them out myself. I tested for Cu today and got a 0 reading. So I've got a snail to try it out. I will watch for a few days and keep everyone posted.
Sorry it's been a while I tested copper , none. So that's good I nhave removed all bio balls and got 0 on the N's , but still getting cyno blooms I thought I had gotten rid of it before my last turbo snail sacrifice, (on a personal note I feel guilty for killing all these animals, it's like I'm a lab technician at a tobacco company, I know what,or at least I'm pretty sure what's gonna happen before I do it) but apparently the last removal of bio balls caused another outbreak. Sorry for the tangent just needed to say it. On a brighter note I think my Percs are spawning 
. Back to the cause I believe the combination of the mass extinction caused by the heater and the mid re-cycle addition of new rock did cause New Tank Syndrome and My tinkering with the bio balls and other manner of life in the system has prolonged it. So for now it's a waiting game I will stick with my percs and falco hawk until I have re-established my coralline algae, and rid the tank of all cyno. once that's done I will try it again and let you all know how it went. Thanks for all the help and ideas.
. Back to the cause I believe the combination of the mass extinction caused by the heater and the mid re-cycle addition of new rock did cause New Tank Syndrome and My tinkering with the bio balls and other manner of life in the system has prolonged it. So for now it's a waiting game I will stick with my percs and falco hawk until I have re-established my coralline algae, and rid the tank of all cyno. once that's done I will try it again and let you all know how it went. Thanks for all the help and ideas.
Nitrate, unfortunately, is not a limiting factor in cyanobacterial blooms--phosphate is. Cyanobacteria are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen in specialized cells called heterocysts and are able to bypass what normal algae cannot. If you want to reduce the cyanobacteria, you'll need to reduce both the substrate sources, if any (like detritus), and reduce sources of phosphate in the water column.
