Now what?

[Phinatic514]

Hi Reefers.

Here's the story: I m NOT new to the saltwater aquarium world, but my tank is. My 20+ year old, 55 gallon saltwater tank, started leaking, this past Friday. I tried to patch the leak, but it just found a new "home". I thought the wave-maker was the issue, like the last time I had a "leak", but turning it off did nothing. So, I had no choice, but to get a new tank. Since the stand was covered in Felxtape(to try and patch the leak), I got one of those too. What I have now is a 60 gallon, fish-only saltwater tank. What I was planning on, and did do, was drain 95% of the water that was left in the old tank, and move it to the new tank. I kept the other 5% in the old tank, to keep the bacteria wet/alive. The water I was able to drain from the old tank, and move to the new tank, filled about 30% of the tank. The rest of the water was fresh-mixed saltwater. I then moved the gravel, that was still underwater, from the old tank, to the new tank. I didn't move all of it, but probably at least 85% of it. I also moved the well-established Aquaclear70, from the old tank, to the new one. I did all this. to immediately cycle the tank. Once I got everything set up, I moved the powder blue tang. from the bucket he was in(which had an aerator). I mistakenly had the heater set at 72, and not the required 78-82. At one point, in the past, I had a small school of clowns in the tank. They all disappeared mysteriously, so I only had the tang to move.

The problem is that the tang was pretty listless. When I tried to feed him, and also hang his dried algae on a clip, as I usually do, nothing changed. After I fed him, I tested the water, and ammonia was present. When I tested it again, in the morning, the ammonia was gone. I then fed him again, and the ammonia popped up again. Not long after that, he died. I then tested the water, maybe and hour or two after he passed, and the ammonia was gone. I threw some food in their last night, and everything tested fine. So, what happened here? If the tank was in a full-blown cycle, the ammonia would still be in the tank. Was the way I moved him the "killer"? My second question" what do I do now? Do I keep putting food in the tank, and testing it soon after? If everything tests clear, do I go buy new fish?

 

[Dragen Fiend]

You can still have spikes in ammonia from tank transfers. Especially when moving sand from one tank to another on top of using the same water. There is a lot of trapped detritus that you will unleash from stirring up sand.

No signs of stress or heavy breathing during the initial feeding?

 

[edsbeaker]

My thought is that transferring the old sand without cleaning it of debris first is what caused this. Once sand has compacted in a tank if you move it all those nasties are released affecting your tank parameters including ammonia.

 

[Phinatic514]

My thought is that transferring the old sand without cleaning it of debris first is what caused this. Once sand has compacted in a tank if you move it all those nasties are released affecting your tank parameters including ammonia.

Thanks for your reply. I actually don't have sand. At least not yet. I only have gravel. No, I didn't clean it, because I thought that would wash all the bacteria that may lay within it. What are your suggestions, as far as what I should do now? Wait for a bit? New fish this weekend?

 

[Phinatic514]

My thought is that transferring the old sand without cleaning it of debris first is what caused this. Once sand has compacted in a tank if you move it all those nasties are released affecting your tank parameters including ammonia.

I don't actually have sand. At least not yet. I thought that washing the gravel would erase the bacteria, that may live in the gravel. What are your suggestions? should I wait a bit? Get new fish, this weekend?

 

[edsbeaker]

I think gravel had the same issue as sand would have had. Do you have live rock that you transferred over to the new tank or did you have just the aqua clear filter that was transferred over? Is there any other livestock left in the tank and is it a fish only setup? If nothing live is in the tank I would probably take this opportunity to remove the gravel and change it out to sand. Any reason that you were using gravel instead of sand?

 

[Phinatic514]

I think gravel had the same issue as sand would have had. Do you have live rock that you transferred over to the new tank or did you have just the aqua clear filter that was transferred over? Is there any other livestock left in the tank and is it a fish only setup? If nothing live is in the tank I would probably take this opportunity to remove the gravel and change it out to sand. Any reason that you were using gravel instead of sand?

At the moment, nothing is in the tank. I first got the tank 20 years ago, and it was a fish-only tank. I guess I never really made the change because I was in school/graduate school, and I have had to deal with a lot of health issues, in the past. Now that those are in the past, and I am out of school, I guess I never thought about making a change. Wouldn't taking out all the gravel hurt the beneficial bacteria? I just threw some food in the tank, and everything tested good. That could be due to the fact that there is no fish in the tank. I wans to get fish in the tank ASAP. Tell me more about switching to sand?

 

[edsbeaker]

I think that gravel does have some beneficial bacteria, but your filter should be the primary source of it. Most reefers have live rock in there tank that is the only biological filter in the tank.

Sand has lots of benefits in saltwater. First, It is made of calcium carbonate which helps to increase the pH in the saltwater. Higher pH is preferred by many saltwater fish. Most gravels are inert, meaning they don’t help in any way.
Secondly, sand is finer than gravel which helps to keep the detritus on the top surface so that your flow can help to keep it suspended in the water and picked up by your mechanical filter. Gravel has larger pieces which allows detritus to fall in between the individual pieces where it just rots. This increases the nutrients in the tank, primarily nitrate and phosphates leading to algae issues and poor water quality.
Lastly, there are many wonderful saltwater fish that need sand to thrive. There are gobies and some blennies that live in the sand by digging out little caves. They are very entertaining. You can even get a shrimp/goby pair. The goby brings food to the shrimp who can not see well and allows it to stay safely in his cave. Also if the fish you choose are the type that do not harass snails, hermit crabs and other small inverts, you can get some of those. They are great little tank cleaners that eat detritus, excess food, fish pop and nuisance algae.

I’m not saying the gravel doesn’t work, it’s just that sand has many more benefits and no negatives. It’s obviously up to you.

If you do decide to switch to sand two of the most popular choices is caribsea special grade sand, or caribsea Fiji pink sand. They both come in a live, has water in the package, or dry version. Most believe the live version isn’t very live, so the dry version is what I use. It is dusty so should be rinsed until the water runs clear.

Hope this helped!

 

[Phinatic514]

You can still have spikes in ammonia from tank transfers. Especially when moving sand from one tank to another on top of using the same water. There is a lot of trapped detritus that you will unleash from stirring up sand.

No signs of stress or heavy breathing during the initial feeding?

The tang definetley showed signs of stress. He was moving around very slowly. He had short bursts, like he swam in the old tank, but there were not many of them. He wouldn't eat, and he was usually a beast when it comes to the Omega Once green algae, on a clip. In the old tank, he spent all day looking for it. Once I put it out, he was an absolute beast. He never touched the algae. The whole time in the new tank reminded me of his behavior during power outages, in the past, before i got a generator. The water would get cold, and he would be moving around very slowly. He always survived those, as did my other fish. what do you think happened? Should i go fish-shopping this weekend?

 

[Phinatic514]

I think that gravel does have some beneficial bacteria, but your filter should be the primary source of it. Most reefers have live rock in there tank that is the only biological filter in the tank.

Sand has lots of benefits in saltwater. First, It is made of calcium carbonate which helps to increase the pH in the saltwater. Higher pH is preferred by many saltwater fish. Most gravels are inert, meaning they don’t help in any way.
Secondly, sand is finer than gravel which helps to keep the detritus on the top surface so that your flow can help to keep it suspended in the water and picked up by your mechanical filter. Gravel has larger pieces which allows detritus to fall in between the individual pieces where it just rots. This increases the nutrients in the tank, primarily nitrate and phosphates leading to algae issues and poor water quality.
Lastly, there are many wonderful saltwater fish that need sand to thrive. There are gobies and some blennies that live in the sand by digging out little caves. They are very entertaining. You can even get a shrimp/goby pair. The goby brings food to the shrimp who can not see well and allows it to stay safely in his cave. Also if the fish you choose are the type that do not harass snails, hermit crabs and other small inverts, you can get some of those. They are great little tank cleaners that eat detritus, excess food, fish pop and nuisance algae.

I’m not saying the gravel doesn’t work, it’s just that sand has many more benefits and no negatives. It’s obviously up to you.

If you do decide to switch to sand two of the most popular choices is caribsea special grade sand, or caribsea Fiji pink sand. They both come in a live, has water in the package, or dry version. Most believe the live version isn’t very live, so the dry version is what I use. It is dusty so should be rinsed until the water runs clear.

Hope this helped!

It does help, thank you very much. If the gravel does have some beneficial bacteria in it, I would think that taking it out would hurt the tank. Sand is definetley a possibility, and it would open the door to a lot of other things. I want to add fish ASAP. I would think that moving to sand would delay the process significantly. As far as adding new fish: I am throwing a little food in the tank, twice/day. I am then testing the water. Everything has come back clean. Do you suggest continuing to do this, and then going shopping for fish if everything comes back clean, consistently? Should i wait a while?

 

[edsbeaker]

Going forward I would say add one or two small HARDY fish and see what happens with ammonia. If there is no ammonia after a week, add another fish. I would move very slowly, though.
There is a product that may help to strengthen the biological filtering capacity of your filter to help out, and it’s not expensive.

MicroBacter7 - Complete Bioculture

Complex system of non-pathogenic aerobic and anaerobic microbes, as well as natural enzymes, specifically formulated to establish biological filtration in new aquarium set-ups, and to enhance the rate of nitrification, denitrification, and organic waste degradation in marine and freshwater...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

If ammonia does pop up, have clean heated saltwater available for a quick water change.
Here is one other product that will detoxify any ammonia or nitrate temporarily in an emergency. It will detoxify for approximately 24 hours so you would need to dose it each day. It does not get rid of ammonia, just detoxifies it temporarily.

Amazon product

Good luck!

 

[Phinatic514]

Going forward I would say add one or two small HARDY fish and see what happens with ammonia. If there is no ammonia after a week, add another fish. I would move very slowly, though.
There is a product that may help to strengthen the biological filtering capacity of your filter to help out, and it’s not expensive.

MicroBacter7 - Complete Bioculture

Complex system of non-pathogenic aerobic and anaerobic microbes, as well as natural enzymes, specifically formulated to establish biological filtration in new aquarium set-ups, and to enhance the rate of nitrification, denitrification, and organic waste degradation in marine and freshwater...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

If ammonia does pop up, have clean heated saltwater available for a quick water change.
Here is one other product that will detoxify any ammonia or nitrate temporarily in an emergency. It will detoxify for approximately 24 hours so you would need to dose it each day. It does not get rid of ammonia, just detoxifies it temporarily.

Amazon product

Good luck!

I have never seen the first product. I did pick up Pristine, by Seachem, as well as Stability, also by seachem. I will definetley look into what you posted, because it looks like it will help establish, what is already established. I have been dropping some food in the tank, to see what happens/anything spikes. Everything has tested clean. What kind of fish could I add, that isn't a damsel? Those things are nasty. I used them for the last tank, and they are nasty. Once get to the point where i want to add another tang, and the other fish I am thinking about, I will have to deal with the damsels too.

 

[edsbeaker]

I don’t like damsels either. Most reefers get a couple of clownfish as the first fish. They are pretty hardy.