nuked tank help!!!!!

[whitetiprs]

heres what happened the tank had about 45lbs of lr.com which had been in there for about a month and a half then we went up and picked up another 55lbs last saturday. I checked the levels and everything was ok alittle ammonia but nothing to big. so we go to bed and wake up in the morning and everything is dead and i mean everything.

the ammonia was through the roof and im sure thats what killed everything.

so my questions are if i blow off all the rocks to get the dead things out drain all the water and refill with fresh ro/di water could things be ok. I know there will not be any critters but can the tank do well with out them and be ok will snails and hermits after it is done cycling. also we may give some of the rock away and go back to lr.com to get some of the cool hitchhikers.

anyone ever experance the same thing happen overnight ????

sorry for the long post

 

[RocketSeason]

yeah, thats why you need to cure your live rock. Althought I do think its weird that the amonia would spike so high in such a short time. perhaps it was just some crazy chain reaction. I would go ahead and let the tank cycle, and do hefty water changes till all the old water is gone and amonia is at 0.

It could have also been something else besides amonia.

 

[pearsont74]

Id do just a partial and try to clean off as much of the die off as you can and see what happens before going thru all that. Sounds like that rock wasnt fully cured. I had a similar issue but I have only lost a fish so far....levels are slowly coming back down now and grwoth of algye is starting....so Im sure in a few days it will be ok

 

[klam]

Do water changes, remove the deaths and wait for your tank to complete the cycle again. Be sure to cure any new rocks before putting them in your display tank even if the live rock is advertised as already being cured.

 

[Phyl]

I would have done the same exact thing with LR.com rock and they have to ship it to me. Is there any way the rock could have been contaminated? Did you bring it home wet? What does Zach/Mike have to say about your experience? Is there anything else in your tank that could have died? That kind of die off from LR.com rock is all but unheard of.

Don't put any straight RO/DI in there. That will cause more die off (of your beneficial bacteria) and you don't want that! Do an 80-90% water change with well mixed, aged SW and see where you are on the charts after that.

I've been through some crazy off the charts ammo (spilled some food in my tank) and never lost a critter (no fish, inverts, etc). Changing the water a couple of times will bring your water in line. Then just wait for the cycle to settle out before adding anything else to the tank.

Good luck. Let us know if you find anything.

 

[whitetiprs]

thanks for the help.

i think ill do a few good sized water changes and get as much of the dead stuff off as possible then wait for the cycle to happen.