Hi guys, I am moving apartment while going through an intense period at work while studying a master's part time on the side. Really exhausting as you can imagine.
I moved my reef and freshwater tank over several days. I moved the freshwater nano first and the fish were perfectly happy in the dechlorinated tap water. No cycle because I threw in a ton of plants. Shrimp were happy so there should be no copper in the water.
I moved the reef tank very carefully in advance of moving and paid for a van to move it. All the live rock was kept submerged in tank water. I had 20 frags, a ton of macroalgae and just one chromi and a couple of other tiny fish in a 30 gallon and so I hoped the tank wouldn't crash. Many people here in Hong Kong do not use RODI for their tanks and mine has always done well with just tapwater. I presumed nothing toxic was in the water as the freshwater fish were fine. I slowly added dechlorinated tap water (+salt) over 24 hours, I had managed to fill 50% of the tank with old water.
I got home late after the 24 hours abd something was not right. The fish and inverts looked a bit slow and drunk. The fish were at the bottom of the tank not the top so I don't think it was an oxygen issue. I didn't have time for many tests, salt and temperature were fine, I hoped it was just a little wobble.
The next morning everything was dead. Coral was bleached. All the bristleworms had crawled out the rock to die. Very depressing.
I'm wondering if the tap water was really acidic for some reason. I need to test it when I finally have time tonight. It's normally ph7. If not I guess maybe a zoa was unhappy with the move and poisoned everything or the bacteria was so disturbed that the tank crashed, but I find that unlikely considering how careful and quick I was and how light my bioload is.
I only have wrist length rubber gloves and I'm worried about putting my hands in to remove the zoas if there is something toxic in the water. Do you think it will be fine?
I'm not sure whether I should throw out all the rock or not in case there is something really nasty now embedded into it.
Any ideas or advice really appreciated.
I moved my reef and freshwater tank over several days. I moved the freshwater nano first and the fish were perfectly happy in the dechlorinated tap water. No cycle because I threw in a ton of plants. Shrimp were happy so there should be no copper in the water.
I moved the reef tank very carefully in advance of moving and paid for a van to move it. All the live rock was kept submerged in tank water. I had 20 frags, a ton of macroalgae and just one chromi and a couple of other tiny fish in a 30 gallon and so I hoped the tank wouldn't crash. Many people here in Hong Kong do not use RODI for their tanks and mine has always done well with just tapwater. I presumed nothing toxic was in the water as the freshwater fish were fine. I slowly added dechlorinated tap water (+salt) over 24 hours, I had managed to fill 50% of the tank with old water.
I got home late after the 24 hours abd something was not right. The fish and inverts looked a bit slow and drunk. The fish were at the bottom of the tank not the top so I don't think it was an oxygen issue. I didn't have time for many tests, salt and temperature were fine, I hoped it was just a little wobble.
The next morning everything was dead. Coral was bleached. All the bristleworms had crawled out the rock to die. Very depressing.
I'm wondering if the tap water was really acidic for some reason. I need to test it when I finally have time tonight. It's normally ph7. If not I guess maybe a zoa was unhappy with the move and poisoned everything or the bacteria was so disturbed that the tank crashed, but I find that unlikely considering how careful and quick I was and how light my bioload is.
I only have wrist length rubber gloves and I'm worried about putting my hands in to remove the zoas if there is something toxic in the water. Do you think it will be fine?
I'm not sure whether I should throw out all the rock or not in case there is something really nasty now embedded into it.
Any ideas or advice really appreciated.
