23g CCC build (the CCC stands for cheapy chinese cube)

UPDATE: Ok im a lil worried. I took your advice Steve and turned off the skimmer and the lights. I noticed it was getting a little cloudy earlier, but thought this was just due to the skimmer not pulling the crap out of the water and is normal. Anyway, fast forwards about 4 hours. My girlfriend just moaned at me because the fish tank is smelling really bad. Which it is. Like fart/egg/stinking seaweed smell and is not nice. So i thought id turn the lights on and have a look at the tank. To my surprise there is a large number of dead creatures on the sand/rocks (too may to count) and almost as many still alive, but look in a bad way. Also that halimeda looks like its dead/dying as well

Is this normal? What should i do? should i turn the skimmer back on? As before i turned it off, the water had cleared up and everything seemed fine.

I'm not a big fan of snails,worms and crabs. But i'll feel really guilty now if i'm responsible for all their deaths

 

Hi Luc

yes its normal for the majority of things you get on new live rock to die off
OK the halimeda would have been nice to keep ,and some of it might survive

many people cure the live rock in a seperate container with a power head for this reason
but also people do cure the rock in the main tank, simply because they prefer to do it that way and they can aquascape and then cure in location

most of the stuff you lost , you dont want believe me (some of it would be OK for sure, but some of it represents future issues many people have been there )

what died off, died off due to being in a new system, with new conditions, new water (new tank syndrome) and with or without skimmer running it was going to happen IMO

the curing process takes up to 3 days, and thereafter the decaying smell will fade away

tell your girlfriend its my fault - and then buy her some chocolates

Steve

 

Hi Luc

additional thoughts from me

you are going to need to start posting questions in the related forum
simply because not everyone on this site follows the individual tank builds of all members

so if you want more opinions on the way you set you tank up, to skim or not to skim during cycle, when to add live stock etc

then start posting those questions on the New to the hobby section , that way you will hopefully get more opinions and if you combine them with your own research on Google etc ( try a search on curing live rock or cycling with live rock) this will give you access to more information from which you can make choices

other people do run skimmers during the cycle when using live rock - I never bought a skimmer until my cycle was over and fish where added - so different people have different techniques and its important for you to expose yourself to as many as these as possible - rather than just go with one persons opinions on everything

hope that helps

Steve

 

I would suggest running the skimmer. It makes sense. Craps going to die, you need that crap removed. It's not going to slow down your cycling process much but will give the living organisms a chance to survive. My suggestion is to continue running all accesories in the tank for another couple of weeks. If there are any large dead organisms, remove them. Sounds like the rock that you were using was full of life. During the cycling process there is no need for light, especially because you have no coral. Save some electricity and leave the lights off unless your looking at your rock. Leave the skimmer and all pumps running. Switch up the flow of the powerhead every couple days to get the detritus suspended so the skimmer can suck it up. Get some test kits to watch the cycling process and watch for ammonia and nitrates. when the nitrates finally go down, you should be ready for some cleanup crew.

Also I think you had a die off because of lack of oxygen. You turned the skimmer off, then the tank got cloudy, then crap started to die. The skimmer oxygenates the tank better than anything else and it also helps remove dying organics before they toxify the water.

 

Luc, I've always cycled display tanks with the skimmer running and the lights on. But I've also cured LR in large containers with just a power head and a heater.

I don't think your current die off has anything to do with the lack of the skimmer. It is normal to have a die off and stinky tank for a few days during a cycle

J

 

If you have no oxygenation going on you will have an insane die off. I have heard of people keeping their tanks in basements (on 3reef) and no circulation or fresh air coming into the basement. Skimmer failed, then fish die along with coral because the oxygen is already so low in the room. make sure your powerhead is disturbing the top of the water so it allows for a good water/air gas exchange.

If his rock stayed wet during transport, he should not have noticeable dead organisms laying on his sandbed and some struggling to survive. He should not have such a large amount of die off unless
A. The rock was transported and stayed barely moist for a lengthy transport allowing some life to suffocate
B. The rock was not cured at all (dirty base rock)
C. His parameters are way off from the fish stores when he popped the rock in

According to his post, he got the rock from his LFS. so I doubt it needs to cycle too much. There is obviously some coralline of the rocks so its obviously been in a system for some time. wet transport is not going to kill all life on a rock. I bought all of my rock from established systems and popped it right in the tank with no detectable ammonia/nitrates. If the rock was still in the curing process at the lfs, then ammonia could be the prob, but there was established life on the rock so I disagree.

 

Thanks for all your replies guys. I guess there's no set in stone right or wrong ways to cycle a marine tank. Hopefully the stuff that died was all the undesirables of the hobby. Seeing just how many critters there is/potentially is has already made my skin crawl due to me handling the rock bare handed. hahah. I know, i know...im a *****. But if i have to handle live rock again, im gonna wear gloves. :blink:

So ive done a bit more research. Im gonna turn on the skimmer again, turn the powerhead up to 11, but leave the lights off (unless im doing a tank inspection) and see how that goes for a few days. Now i guess i just play the waiting game and dig out my nose plugs.

Oh and steve, dont worry its not your fault. Besides, my GF cant eat chocolate as it makes her have nose bleeds :S (hmm maybe i will give her some chocolates after all. At least she wont be moaning that the tank smells then! lol)

 

awesome , thanks Luc

Steve

 

Finally an update on this tank!

Its been moved over to our house now, so can start stocking it! yay!

so far: Skunk cleaner shrimp
3 corals i dont have a name for in english. My GF couldnt translate So ID's would be good thanks

PICS:




This one is actualy really pretty. But when i took the pic, the 'heads' decided to be shy So ill try describe them. They are like little green tipped daisies basically.






Full tank shot.

Any opinions of placement? From what i could figure out at the shop and via my gf, that is the best placement for them. But things can get lost through translation right? So if you guys know better...please tell me

Thanks Luc

 

Oh and i bought a new skimmer as the old one truely was a POS. This one is much much better in every way! Also a new powerhead, just to add a bit more flow and a heater. Because suprisingly its getting a bit chilly here now :S

Oh 1 more thing. In the first picture of the pink bubble gum tree, just above it there is a green shoot coming out of the rocks.


Here is a bigger pic of it.

Does anyone know what it could be?