Woke up to a super cloudy tank!

[Phranque]

I went to Gerber's SaltWater ware house...

That's what I was afraid of..... I hate to talk bad about a particular place online, but these guys are all about the sale $$$. They keep poor looking coral tanks with aiptasia all over the place, usually have dead fish in their tanks, and will do things like keeping 15-20 hippo babies in one of the 2 gallon holding cells on the upper racks. And don't get me started about the giant stars & stripes puffer he keeps in that small cubicle...... been in there for years, beak's overgrown, but it's not for sale. If you're going to keep something like that, at least give it a good home.
Whatever advice you get from them, always come back here & verify for yourself before proceeding. That's where I went when I first got started, only to later find some of their advice was beyond horrible. Plus, the one decent employee he later picked up, that I got to know, was fired for giving good advice that was contradictory to making sales........

I had my levels tested last Sunday when I did a water change routine, they were all zero and 8.4 ph

Well, if your blenny is accounted for, it didn't die & pollute the tank. A single pound of liverock wouldn't cause your levels to spike, which leaves the RBTA as the only other thing changed since last week........ Do a few 50% water changes to get your levels down and take it from there.

 

[Abiroad]

Oh dear ? I wish some LFS would just give good advice do you go to any others around here?

Did the chemicals make it worse?

 

[Phranque]

Oh dear �� I wish some LFS would just give good advice do you go to any others around here?

Coral Cove up in Englewood isn't bad. It's small, but knowledgeable owner & well kept tanks & equipment with good looking livestock. He also sponsors a local forum/club in the area. I don't think I'm allowed to post a link to another forum on here, so I'll PM it to you.
Corals Galore in Fairborn is a newer store in an industrial building..... it doesn't look like much, and I've never "probed" them for advice, but they've got pretty good prices on their fish & inverts.... corals prices are a bit high, but not bad, and much more colorful pieces than Gerbers.

Did the chemicals make it worse?

Pretty much what you added was more of a neutralizer.... You're always better off with water changes to get rid of bad stuff rather than trying to bind it.

 

[Abiroad]

Nothing is better yet....
Everyone is still accounted for, but corals are looking rough and the anemone looks terrible.
Couldn't do anything today, I work 15 hours. Tomorrow going to do a huge water change and keep praying.
If it is a mini cycle, how long before it's back in place?

 

[Daniel Fishy]

I would remove the anemone.

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

Quick question... Do you have a refugium?

 

[Abiroad]

Anyone want a bubble tip nem? Lol

And I have a trickle system with bioballs and a liverock and cheato

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

Anyone want a bubble tip nem? Lol And I have a trickle system with bioballs and a liverock and cheato

Okay because I thought your caulerpa could've gone sexual, but you don't have any to go sexual! Lol. I'd take a BTA lol

 

[Abiroad]

R u close to dayton? It's so stressed idk if it would ship well

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

R u close to dayton? It's so stressed idk if it would ship well

Nope NH. Haha. I'm sure you'll find someone though.

 

[Abiroad]

Yeah! I think I have bit off more than I can chew with the 55g.... It seems like as sons as everything is good and thriving and looking good something happens that wrecks everything and I can't afford to keep it looking good after a crash. I'm thinking of trying to trade my whole system for a biocube

 

[Abiroad]

I haven't lost any of the fish in my system though and I'll be heart broken if they don't survive

 

[jeffaquarius]

How often do you have your water tested, is it possible this didn't happen all of a sudden? Water params don't often read off the charts overnight without a drastic change in the tank. It may have been building up for ages before you noticed cloudy water?

I have the same line of thinking as yours. Since the tank crashed a while back, using the same substrate and rocks would cause such mini cycle. The tank must have been running at the threshold level and finally reach the breaking point when some more live stocks were added. In other words, the tank might be over stocked and crashing.

 

[Phranque]

It just sounds like you tried a little too much too fast, especially with the nem..... You're actually better off sticking with the 55 rather than going down to a 28 or 29 nano/bio cube. The larger water volume affords you some more stability. If you think you're having problems with a 55, it would be twice as bad with half the volume.... trust me, I tried it. Working in construction, I put in some long hours as well. When you have a really long day, sometimes the last thing you feel like doing is working on your tank, and you absolutely cannot neglect a smaller tank. I wound up building a rescue tank with a sump system in the basement just to save what was in my nano, and after it fully establishes, I'll be tying the nano (or larger) back into the system.

 

[Abiroad]

I have the same line of thinking as yours. Since the tank crashed a while back, using the same substrate and rocks would cause such mini cycle. The tank must have been running at the threshold level and finally reach the breaking point when some more live stocks were added. In other words, the tank might be over stocked and crashing.

Since the heater incident and I lost everything but fish ( 1 month ago) I have been doing weekly 20% water changes and testing my levels once a week. Zeros across the board an oh perfect everytime with my home test until it ran out and the LFS test.
I have never had a water quality issue before. I use ro/di everytime and use bright well reef crystals

 

[Abiroad]

It just sounds like you tried a little too much too fast, especially with the nem..... You're actually better off sticking with the 55 rather than going down to a 28 or 29 nano/bio cube. The larger water volume affords you some more stability. If you think you're having problems with a 55, it would be twice as bad with half the volume.... trust me, I tried it. Working in construction, I put in some long hours as well. When you have a really long day, sometimes the last thing you feel like doing is working on your tank, and you absolutely cannot neglect a smaller tank. I wound up building a rescue tank with a sump system in the basement just to save what was in my nano, and after it fully establishes, I'll be tying the nano (or larger) back into the system.

I hear ya. It's funny because I have had zero problems with my 12g fowlr.

I love this hobby. Situations like this is just so discouraging.

 

[jeffaquarius]

I suspect you are having a diatom bloom. A new LR added can cause this as the link below suggests.

The Dreaded Diatom Bloom


.

 

[Abiroad]

That sounds about right.

Doing a 50% water change tomorrow first thing.

While I was at work my boyfriend dropped the pitiful Nem off at a friends house to see if he could rehab it. And it might be my imagination but the tank has cleared up incredibly in the hours after it's been out of the tank.

 

[Travis55]

Any updates? Hows it goin?

 

[Abiroad]

Yes! Did a 50% water change last night and woke up to crystal clear water today. Ran a test kit no nitrates nitrites or ammonia and 8.4 ph!!!!!!! I was so happy.
My Nem at my friends house doesn't look like it's going to make it

But I'm so relieved. All the coral looks bak to normal. I still wish I knew how it happened.

I did remember my cleaner shrimp disappeared a whole ago , my brittle star usually eats anything like that that dies... But if the shrimp did decompose would that be enough to spoke ammonia super high?