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Had a crash...

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Shad View Drop Down
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    Posted: February 12 2011 at 10:45pm
New 10g tank, 1 week old.  Got LS, LR, LW, & macroalgae from Mark P for the setup.  All the levels looked good last Tues, so I bought a CUC and put them in the tank.  In addition I have a few small corals.  We noticed that the brittle star wasn't looking so good Thursday night, yesterday he died..   Pulled him out.  This morning we noticed that most of the crabs were goners too..  Pulled them out and took a water sample to the LFS to get tested..  Ammonia off the charts, 6.1.  Nitrite .3, nitrate 5, ph 8, & phostphate .5 ...    At LFS suggestion, I just finished a 50% water change.  It sounds like it just got overloaded too fast?  Anything else I should do? 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote boysty Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2011 at 10:51pm
it was probably over loaded to quick. even though you start it with LR LS and LW it still needs to stabialize.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote vadryn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2011 at 11:01pm
10 gallons is a very small amount of water.  Swings in parameters will be exaggerated.  Be patient and plan on getting your tank up to speed over the next 2 months, not 2 weeks.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jmw Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2011 at 11:03pm
you always hear larger tanks are more forgiving. sounds like good advice from your lfs. the  ammonia level sounds scary. i would check that again soon. a 50% water change will not reduce it 50% so plan on another one.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Davidwillis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2011 at 11:08pm
If you still have anything alive in there, you can put in some prime (or other ammonia/nitrite neutralizer) to keep them alive until the bacteria catch up.  Also put the light on that macro 24/7.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SGH360 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2011 at 11:42pm
the tank did not fully cycle even though you had those elements in place. what you did is speed up the cycle of the tank. you need to wait until the ammonia and nitrite read zero. after that you will have enogh filtration to add CUC and brittle star.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CapnMorgan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 13 2011 at 12:58am
I'd still be careful about a brittle star in a tank that small... With your other CUC it may end up starving to death. Remember the two keys to this hobby are patience and stability. 
Steve
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bur01014 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 13 2011 at 2:17am
This happens to probably most of us....we get excited about the hobby and want to get things going....however, it usually causes things to move even slower...

Aquascape the tank and then let it sit....  forget it about for a month....it will be fun to watch it go completely brown(everyone panics when this happens, don't) then a few weeks later it will look like you are farming grass.....after a couple months, your tank will look like crap, you will be embarrassed to have anyone look at it and your wife will make fun of you and tell you that you have no clue about what your doing.   At this point add your CUC.......two weeks later your tank will be getting nice and clean, then you can add your first fish/soft coral......go slowly, it sucks, but its the only wayWink

While doing all this waiting....research, research, research...

btw- the whole process may go by fairly quickly (few weeks, vs. typical months) for you since Mark got you started with LR, LS, etc...


Edited by bur01014 - February 13 2011 at 2:19am
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Mark Peterson View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 13 2011 at 1:36pm
"Fully cycle"? "speed up the cycle"? Even after "the ammonia and nitrite read zero" it does not mean you can then add whatever you want to the tank.
And neither does this have to happen: "watch it go completely brown".  The tank I recently set up never saw any excess pollution and never had any of the typical initial brown algae and within a month was full of frags, mostly LPS and SPS frags.Smile That's because I illuminated a large amount of Chaeto. When there is not a large amount, illuminating a smaller amount 24 hours/day will work.

I do not agree with the use of term "cycle". Lately I have been bothered by the common misunderstanding of the term. The cycle is not a one time thing that ends and then all is rosey and bright from then on. I believe that this particular process, one of many processes going on in a reef aquarium, should be more correctly understood as an excess of Nitrogen compounds in the water. This excess of pollution will happen anytime the amount of organic material (fish waste, fish food, and naturally dieing organisms) exceeds the amount of biofiltration capacity of the tank. Algae and bacteria are the things that eat up this pollution, but they have to grow in size and population so their capacity to eat matches the amount of pollution being created.

Though I talk about setting up a lightly stocked reef within a week using the live components, we must be patient and take things slow to allow the biofiltration to match the pollution.


Edited by Mark Peterson - February 13 2011 at 1:48pm
Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:
www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244
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