White stuff on rock, fish dying

jaxteller007 · Apr 5, 2018

I'll use this thread to post updates and then I reckon I'll update the build thread I had started once we can actually start stocking again.

shred5 · Apr 5, 2018

I did not read that thread to see if someone answered the question but I can tell you that is aquacultured live rock. That rock was not cured and that is die off and bacteria consuming the die off. Most likely sponges in the rock. It probably smells like sulfur. That rock needs to be cured till that disappears. Until fully cured you should not be adding fish because the ammonia will kill the fish. this completely normal when buy high quality live rock and it is shipped dry, even wet there is some die off because some sponges die once exposed to air.

Where did you get the rock it looks very good?

jaxteller007 · Apr 5, 2018

shred5 said:
I did not read that thread to see if someone answered the question but I can tell you that is aquacultured live rock. That rock was not cured and that is die off and bacteria consuming the die off. Most likely sponges in the rock. It probably smells like sulfur. That rock need to be cured till that disappears. Until fully cured you should not be adding fish because the ammonia will kill the fish. this completely normal when buy high quality live rock and it is shipped dry, even wet there is some die off because some sponges die once exposed to air.

Where did you get the rock it looks very good?

Yea that's what has been discussed. Now all the "non live" rock is in the tank and the pieces of "live" that did not smell like instant death are in there as well. New sand, new water, no livestock.

Rock came from http://www.gulfliverock.com/
I was very impressed with their price and free USPS priority shipping (received it in 2 days to TN). The other place I looked at was tampa live rock or something but they only shipped via air freight which is another $100 minimum on top of the rock price.

shred5 · Apr 5, 2018

jaxteller007 said:
Yea that's what has been discussed. Now all the "non live" rock is in the tank and the pieces of "live" that did not smell like instant death are in there as well. New sand, new water, no livestock.

Rock came from http://www.gulfliverock.com/
I was very impressed with their price and free USPS priority shipping (received it in 2 days to TN). The other place I looked at was tampa live rock or something but they only shipped via air freight which is another $100 minimum on top of the rock price.

ok cool.. Thanks.. I knew by looking at it that it was aqua-cultured..

jaxteller007 · Apr 5, 2018

shred5 said:
ok cool.. Thanks.. I knew by looking at it that it was aqua-cultured..

No complaints about the rock, it was my fault I put it in the tank before curing it. Although I wish the clam would have been live. It never did open.

lmm1967 · Apr 5, 2018

Where did you buy that rock from? Was it shipped to you in water?

That looks very much like Tampa Bay Saltwater rock - but if it was it would have been air shipped to you under water - if it came out of the ocean and was exposed to air for any length of time - or out of water for any length of time. Most life will die off. And that is what appears to have been the biggest challenge you have faced so far.

You should have PLENTY of active and good / live bacteria - you just need to let it all settle and do it's job. I would NOT worry about "live" sand at this point. Feel free to get dry sand and rinse well to get rid of all the sediment etc.

You're experiencing the hard part right now - get it all in your tank, keep the lights off and measure your parameters.

As soon as your Ammonia is 0, Nitrites are 0 and Nitrates are anything above 0 - you're cycled and should be able to start introducing animals.

FYI - that starfish you've mentioned you have in a bucket - he will be very unhappy and likely die slowly if you let the salinity levels change even a small amount in that bucket. Be sure you are replacing any water that evaporates with RO water - NOT SALT WATER!

jaxteller007 · Apr 5, 2018

lmm1967 said:
Where did you buy that rock from? Was it shipped to you in water?

That looks very much like Tampa Bay Saltwater rock - but if it was it would have been air shipped to you under water - if it came out of the ocean and was exposed to air for any length of time - or out of water for any length of time. Most life will die off. And that is what appears to have been the biggest challenge you have faced so far.

You should have PLENTY of active and good / live bacteria - you just need to let it all settle and do it's job. I would NOT worry about "live" sand at this point. Feel free to get dry sand and rinse well to get rid of all the sediment etc.

You're experiencing the hard part right now - get it all in your tank, keep the lights off and measure your parameters.

As soon as your Ammonia is 0, Nitrites are 0 and Nitrates are anything above 0 - you're cycled and should be able to start introducing animals.

FYI - that starfish you've mentioned you have in a bucket - he will be very unhappy and likely die slowly if you let the salinity levels change even a small amount in that bucket. Be sure you are replacing any water that evaporates with RO water - NOT SALT WATER!

We already went ahead and replaced with new live sand, got the Caribsea Agri live or something like that. It was from gulf coast live rock and was shipped in a cooler, wrapped in wet paper towels.

Starfish in a bucket? I'm not sure where I even said that? Our only two starfish are in the 10g hospital tank now with our shrimp and a couple hermit crabs.

jaxteller007 · Apr 9, 2018

Just plugging away. Lots of bubbles right now from the new protein skimmer starting up.

jaxteller007 · Apr 12, 2018

Tested the water today. Ammonia was just a little high, nitrites were at basically 0 and nitrates just slightly above that.

leadsinker · Apr 21, 2018

Good job. It will get easier, unfortunately not any cheaper.;Greedy

jaxteller007 · Apr 30, 2018

Sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been hectic with getting ready to move, stuff at work, NHL playoffs lol, etc. We added the 4 fish we had (tang, diamond goby, bicolor blenny, royal gramma) back about a week ago or so. Tested the water today, Ammonia and Nitrites were right at 0, nitrates were 5. We don't have any coral (other than what was left on the live rock I kept). That's an ok level I assume? We lost the goby (jumped again) I'm not putting another one in the tank until I do a mesh top with only holes for the filter and skimmer. Also this morning our cleaner shrimp was dead on the bottom of the filter (have an HOB Tidal 110). It's weird because the first cleaner shrimp wound up dead in the same spot in the hospital tank (almost like they both got stuck and couldn't get off to feed or something?). So now we are down to the tang, gramma, blenny, sand sifter starfish, and some various snails, hermit crabs and a couple emerald crabs.

We are moving in two weeks and having the tank professionally moved and set back up so we are not going to add anything until after that and the tank has settled back in for a couple weeks.

It's driving me crazy that the skimmer is still producing a lot of bubbles lol. I think I didn't have it set up right at first so it wasn't really breaking in until the last week.