Corals struggling after tank move

devin.reed2000

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Hi all, I recently moved and had to transport my tank. Before the move, my tank was happy and stable for nearly 4 months. It’s been set up for nearly 2 weeks at the new place and the corals still seem to be struggling. Maybe they were stressed in the move? Idk. My hammer and GSP seem to be happy….but my zoas and xenia are not. Any idea what this could be? My parameters are within a normal range for a mixed reef/soft coral reef and I’ll post specifics tomorrow when I test.

PS, my sand bed is nearly 2”. So maybe I released a lot of built up gas since I kept the sand in the tank when I moved it.
 

Garf

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Hi all, I recently moved and had to transport my tank. Before the move, my tank was happy and stable for nearly 4 months. It’s been set up for nearly 2 weeks at the new place and the corals still seem to be struggling. Maybe they were stressed in the move? Idk. My hammer and GSP seem to be happy….but my zoas and xenia are not. Any idea what this could be? My parameters are within a normal range for a mixed reef/soft coral reef and I’ll post specifics tomorrow when I test.

PS, my sand bed is nearly 2”. So maybe I released a lot of built up gas since I kept the sand in the tank when I moved it.
Well that’s a new tank, given a heck of a shake up. I’d stick with whatever water maintenance you decided on. Some stuff will thrive, others won’t.
 

bensoo00

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Hi all, I recently moved and had to transport my tank. Before the move, my tank was happy and stable for nearly 4 months. It’s been set up for nearly 2 weeks at the new place and the corals still seem to be struggling. Maybe they were stressed in the move? Idk. My hammer and GSP seem to be happy….but my zoas and xenia are not. Any idea what this could be? My parameters are within a normal range for a mixed reef/soft coral reef and I’ll post specifics tomorrow when I test.

PS, my sand bed is nearly 2”. So maybe I released a lot of built up gas since I kept the sand in the tank when I moved it.
If you didn't thoroughly wash the sand before putting it in the new tank that could be a reason, as you said the gases from the sandbed probably got stirred up with all the detritus. Though if your parameters are normal it could just be the stress of moving to a new tank, but I guess the test you do will tell if any parameters are outta wack.
 

melonheadorion

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leaving the sand for the move is almost certainly the issue. there is a lot of nastiness in the sand. a while back, i had to remove a bunch of rock and it ultimately stirred up my sand bed. That instance caused my ph or kh to drop significantly. i dont recall which, but it caused all of my zoas to close up for a significant amount of time.

stirring up the sand bed could cause an ammonia spike, ph to drop, or kh to drop.

when i moved my tank to my new house, i had new sand ready, and glad i did. the little bit of water that was left in the tank, with the existing sand was so dirty and nasty that it most certainly would have caused issues if i kept it as is.
 

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