Please help... tank on the verge of a crash

When you were gathering stuff to seed your friends tank, did you disturb your sandbed? I've heard substrate can trap a lot of nastiness over a few years, that when disturbed can crash a tank.

Tank looks awesome by the way.

HD

 

I have a 29 bio cube. I thought it was a good idea to clean out the back chambers. Never did it before, when I did this I had a spike in amonia an nitrates. I increased water change to 5 gallons every 3 to 4 days, increased the size of my carbon bag of course with fresh carbon, and really focused on my alkaline balance. Tank recovered in a couple of weeks. I still have a high nitrate level, but tank seems ok. So, I believe the increased water changes and the carbon was the key. FYI. My bio cube is 3 or 4 years old as well.

 

Keep us updated! Hopefully things settle down and your friend makes it ok. Just keep detox that NH4

 

The NH4 is the killer, so good thing it's low. I wouldn't worry too much about nitrates right now, they are not toxic short term (and even some debate about long term). IMO just keep changing water and some carbon everyday, if it was me I wouldn't put the $$ into a reactor. I think corals are still in a reaction mode too.

That rockwork is pretty dense, the powerhead could have stirred up some trapped organic matter starting a mini cycle. Not sure but it's possible.

 

The ammonia would had definitely been my greatest concern, it looks like you have that under control. What temp is your tank at the reason I ask is, over the summer my tank ran close to 90 degrees during the day for about a week and my cap started looking very similar. Once I installed a fan in my canopy and temps normalized the cap and acans recovered.

 

I may be out of line here but if it were me I would probably take a chance and change half the water. Your ammonia is gone, nitrates are still an issue. Might as well export them completely and if it your tank doesn't recover well.....you gave it your best shot. I'm sorry to be so frank but that is what I would do.

That being said someone that knows more than me feel free to chime in if this is a bad idea.

 

I think changing the water is good, I would do even more than 50% if possible but do it over a couple days and keep the carbon going. Once you get this controlled I think you should do a good syphoning out of the back chambers since it sounds like there is "gunk" back there and taking it right out into a bucket and out of the the system is going help prevent this going forward. Future water changes I would keep cleaning the back area and take that powerhead and blow off the rock/between the rock before changing the water. That is once this situation calms down. I know it's scary to stir things up again for a water change, but hopefullly then you wont have this happen again.

 

I would do all 10 unless someone else has other advise.

 

If you haven't been blowing out your rocks or sifting your substrate and your water is still cloudy, you're more than likely experiencing a bacterial bloom. Especially if your skimmer is working overtime.


When you disturbed your stuff in the back, I'd say you stirred up some nasty. The bacteria population is exploding to deal with it. I agree with hart, nitrates aren't really an issue themselves. They're easier to test for than PO4, which is the real problem causer so they get a bad rep. They tend to go hand in hand though.


In terms of changing water, you can do 100% if you wanted to. As long as the temp and salinity match your tank's conditions you'll be fine. New saltwater won't cause a cycle by itself. Cycles are caused by an increase in nutrients and not having a bacterial population able to process it quickly enough. They have to compensate, which is what I think is happening in yours, especially since you went from an ammonia reading as high as what you had to only nitrates so quickly. They're doing their job well.


About getting your water at Sea of Marvels. I have bought water from him for over 10 years, but I check the salinity when I get it home and add more to compensate pretty frequently. He mixes his lower than I like my tank to sit at so I add more. My tank is at 1.026, his water is usually 1.020-1.023. A 10g change in a 55g tank with a difference that far wouldn't be healthy so I match it up before using. Just be sure to check it. /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif


Anyway, I just probably wrote more than needed. I agree with these other guys that the disturbance probably caused it and that the ammonia was the real issue. My advice is to continue with the water changes and carbon.

 

So how is the system doing?

 

Hey Shayna I think you have too much rock. I was having the exact issues you were. I had prob 200 plus pounds in my 90. The local LFS told me to remove some to open it up and in about a month my corals have popped back. You might think your getting enough flow but with all that rock there has to be dead spots. Also do you ever use a turkey baster to blow out the rock? That seemed to help for me. I really think it's way too dense of rock.

 

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