Help Please!!!!

[mikeguerrero]

Hey Reefers,

I need your help. Okay, let me start. I don't know if you guys know, but my replacement tank came in. So I transeferred all my items from tank 1 to tank 2.

But I made a modification to my new tank. I purchased a stronger pump just like Dragons, Mini Jet 606 MN 159 gph. I also picked up a new chemi-pure package. And lastly, I purchased 3.5 pounds of live rock rubble and I added a 13 watt day light 7,500k fuge light.

I was able to get in all the pieces into chamber number 2 and chamber number 3 in the back of the cube.

I got all my corals and critters safely back into the new cube. All animals are fine, but here is the problem. My water is cloudy, not crystal clear like it use to be.

So I place my HOT magnum filter and run it with carbon, usually only takes 1 hour and the tank is clear, but it's not. I would say it's not as cloudy but still I see the haze in the tank.

I am suspecting that the live rock rubble is causing the haze, but I'm not sure. Can anyone let me know if it's this and if it's dangerous for my tank. I left the HOT filter going all night and it's still on and I'm not running the lights today, I want my critters to adjust.

The haze. cloudy tank reminds me when I first cyceld my original cube last year, I had the hazy tank for more than 1 month. I haven't tested for any paramenters other than the salinity is 1.023.

Any precautious I'll take if someone can alert me before something goes bad.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[dragon79]

cloudy tank

If I had to guess Mikey, I would say that the place that sold you the LR, wasn't fully cured/cycled rock. When I chose my pieces, they came from a crystal clear tank that had dragonnette and mandarins in them. I haven't had a problem like yours, so I'm guessing you'll have to either have to return it for fully cured/cycled rock or go through a month of cloudyness like before. Good luck.

 

[incysor]

I'd suggest stopping your return pump for a couple hours, Just run the HOT magnum...Maybe with a bit less flow through the tank it'll be able to suck out the particulate matter in the main tank area a bit quicker. After a couple hours check and see if it's any clearer, if not, just leave the HOT running and turn the return back on. If it is clearer you may need to repeat the process a couple times.

B

 

[mikeguerrero]

Okay,

So after reading Dragons post, that he experienced no cloudiness in his tank and that his rubble was cycled, I call my LFS immediately.

The owners says, you bought uncured rubble, oh no!!! He said he does sell rubble from his main tank but I thought I had puchased the right bag. It was only $9.99 and it was a lot of nice looking tongan branch rock.

So he says, I need to pull all of it out, since it will cause an ammonia spike in such a small tank, oh no!!!

So I'm at work and tell him, pulling all that rubble is going to be a bitch, have you seen how small the compartments are back there??? And I only get 1 hour lunch, plus I have my wifes graduation ceremony, I still need to plan for that, oh no !!!

So I say, give me option B, he says puchase Bio-Spira, to safe guard against the spike, it will take about 1 week for it to cure he said maybe sooner.

On my lunch break, I will purchase the bio-spira and race home and drop it in. Man I cannot believe I got the wrong rubble. But I'm happy that Dragon was successful with Bio-spira, I will see if it will save me.

Man Dragon was right, no need to be guessing anymore, you were right on target with your assumption.

Mike

 

[mikeguerrero]

Incysor,

Is the uncured rock dangerous, I place 3.5 pounds of rubble, it smelled fresh and looked nice.

Will the bio-spira help against a spike? Is the cloudiness particulate matter or ammonia?

Brian, about turning off the return pump, I can do that, sounds like a good idea but should I run my carbon or micron filter in the HOT magnum. Right now I have the carbon going.

I left it running this morning. The tank was a little better but still cloudy.


Mike

 

[ExiledInfidel666]

that happened to my ten when I added a few more pounds of rock, this was about 4 months ago but I had a big ammonia spike, killed one of my fish, very sad, but I have had similar situations where I just moved the rock and it was cloudy a long time even with the carbon, I say give it a couple days and you should be set, watch you ammonia carefully, can you set up a safe tankl on the side with some old rock to throw the corals and any other vaunarable creatures in if you have to?, that would be wise, good luck

 

[mikeguerrero]

Thanks for the insight exile, I do have an emergency tank, it's only 2.5 gallons and it will get crowded rather quickly, so I need another plan.

Will the bio-spira work?

Mike

 

[incysor]

I haven't used the bio spira, so I don't really have any input on it. Your bro had good results with it, so hopefully it'll help. Do you have, or know anyone you can borrow a hang on tank skimmer from? That would help keep pull stuff out as well. I ran my magnum with both the micron and the carbon in it.

B

 

[mikeguerrero]

Brian,

How do you run both mediums at the same time? Wish I did have a hang over protein skimmer but I don't.

I spoke to my brothers friend, he told me don't jump the gun, you might have a small amount of nitrite jump but probably not ammonia since the rock is semi cured not dead or dieing.

He said the cloudyness is also probably particulate matter like you suggested. He said ammonia is not visible in the water.

If I don't have to buy the bio-spira I won't, he said test the water first. That will tell me what my parameters are and I can go from that.

My wife called me and said, that most of my corals are not open, but that's probably because I have the lights off, I shut off the timers. I asked her if the tank is clear or cloudy, she said it looks clear.

I'll have to check everything out when I go home but I think it's clearing up.

Because I had all the critters out of the tank, I only reentered the six line and the yellow clown goby in the main tank. In the 2.5 I placed the red-banded goby and his side kick pistol shrimp. Also the smaller goby size of a catalina goby went into the 2.5.

Thanks for all your inputs...

Mike

 

[dragon79]

question...

I haven't used the bio spira, so I don't really have any input on it. Your bro had good results with it, so hopefully it'll help. Do you have, or know anyone you can borrow a hang on tank skimmer from? That would help keep pull stuff out as well. I ran my magnum with both the micron and the carbon in it.

B

how much do the hang on tank skimmers costs? I'm sure Mr. Money Mike can afford it, hehe.

As for you Mike: If you were worried about that being the wrong rubble, you should have just pulled it back out using a long needle nose. Get it at Kraegen or any autoparts store. That's what I use, and its super easy to get those pieces in and out. No sense of going through cloudy stage again, I'm sure you've seen enough of that in your 2.5. It's more worth your time to get the correct kind and place it carefully back in the compartments back there. I know you have a tight time schedule, but I'm sorry but I had to really bust your balls on this one! (hehe, j/k)

 

[mikeguerrero]

Mr Dragon,

The only one that can bust balls on this site, is Phishcy. And you are no phishcy,, last time I checked you still have the same avatar and if you are going to take phischys sayings, you need to borrow his avator of the little kid drinking beer... hehe

Take it or leave it, Mike Guerrero had to say.....

hehehe

 

[dragon79]

oh boy

Mr Dragon,

The only one that can bust balls on this site, is Phishcy. And you are no phishcy,, last time I checked you still have the same avatar and if you are going to take phischys sayings, you need to borrow his avator of the little kid drinking beer... hehe

Take it or leave it, Mike Guerrero had to say.....

hehehe

Now you did it, oh boy, now you did it! That is just asking for an invitation for phischy to come on in on this one. I bet it wont be long before ol Phischy leaves his famous lines on you! haha.

Anyway good luck nevertheless, hope the water clears in whatever way you choose to handle it.

 

[incysor]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the magnum.....Mine has a cylindrical filter that sits in the middle. I thought that was the micron filter. You can pour loose, (but rinsed off) carbon on the outside of that filter.

As for how much a HOT skimmer would cost, I don't really know in your area. Around here you can pick up a prism skimmer for $50-$75. Jebo makes one, but I haven't really been looking, so I don't know if any of the LFS around here carry them. My boss got one that sits in his refugium, but I think it was 'supposed' to be a hang on type. He got it for $30-$35, and it does at least as good a job as the prism. It would take up a bit more space though....But since this wouldn't be for permanent use, that doesn't make that much difference I suppose.

B

 

[mikeguerrero]

Brian,

The HOT magnum can only house one at a time. I have both, the micron is really good a purifying the water with particular stuff and the carbon for making it crystal clear, I just got confused when you said you run both at the same time.

Mike

 

[incysor]

Brian,

The HOT magnum can only house one at a time. I have both, the micron is really good a purifying the water with particular stuff and the carbon for making it crystal clear, I just got confused when you said you run both at the same time.

Mike

Hmm...I swear I'm running both....I'm leaving work now and I'll check it.

B

 

[mikeguerrero]

Looks like my tank is clearing up a ten fold. It's not crystal clear, but it's getting there. I've been running my HOT filter on the tank non-stop.

Mike

 

[incysor]

Brian,

The HOT magnum can only house one at a time. I have both, the micron is really good a purifying the water with particular stuff and the carbon for making it crystal clear, I just got confused when you said you run both at the same time.

Mike

Hmm...I swear I'm running both....I'm leaving work now and I'll check it.

B

Finally got a chance to check it...I've got the micron cylinder in and carbon and phosban poured down inside of it.

B

 

[mikeguerrero]

Incysor,

I just did my Ammonia test with Salifert. I have 1.5 mg/L. What should I do? Should I purchase the bio-spira? My nitrite reads .25 ppm. Wow, I need some input here guys.

Mike

p.s

I have two fish in the tank, yellow citron goby breathes heavy but is swimming around normal. Six line wrasse is also breathing a little heavy but swimming around.

 

[dragon79]

Incysor,

I just did my Ammonia test with Salifert. I have 1.5 mg/L. What should I do? Should I purchase the bio-spira? My nitrite reads .25 ppm. Wow, I need some input here guys.

Mike

p.s

I have two fish in the tank, yellow citron goby breathes heavy but is swimming around normal. Six line wrasse is also breathing a little heavy but swimming around.

looks like your fish already notice the imbalance of the rising ammonia. Adrian told me that you could try using stress zyme, similar to bio-spira, but it's one of those that you add each day til it's back to par. Bio-spira you just add in and watch it do it's thing. Not sure if it'll affect your fish though while they are in there...remember when we first did it to Sandra's jbj, there were no fish. We then waited for it to cycle for about an hour, then we dropped in nemo, so perhaps you may want to remove your fish before doing this....wouldn't want them to choke on that stuff, it's pretty potent.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Steve,

Thanks for you concern, you are right my fish are experiencing the effects of Ammonia and Nitrite.

I rushed over to my LFS and purchased Bio-Spira. I rushed back and read the instructions.

I am to shut off any protein skimmer and uv light. And I'm also to stop any medication and remove activated carbon.

So I removed my chemi-pure and removed my HOT magnum. I forgot to mention that my pulsating Xenias look really sad and shrunken. I thought it was because of the transfer of tanks but didn't realize they are the most sensitive to water parameters.

My LFS says they are really hardy but super sensitive to Ammonia and Nitrite. I hope they pull through. The Bio-spira has been in my tank a little of 1 hour.

The bio-spira works immediately, just shake and add the contents to the tank. It's created for new tanks or if you have a sudden change in water parameters it is to set them back in order. With this said Steve, it doesn't matter if my fish are in the tank or not when it's poured in, it's not like it's medication, it's beneficial bacteria.

Mike