Lesson Learned?......

GabbyR189 posted an excellent thread about nitrates that I just read, and it got me thinking about my next thread I've been thinking about how to write.....Sadly, I just lost my coral beauty, and my xenias are in terrible shape. One reply to Gabby's thread was that things do better when left steady. I believe this to be very true, but I also realized the fact that my 55g needed more flow than just a koralia 750 that I had, so I got another one to even things up. To make a long story even longer, as I placed the power head on the opposite side, I found out how much detritus had been building up over there (instant cloud of crap everywhere). My whole tank erupted in a foggy haze. Quickly I placed the Head in a higher location aiming it down, and things looked fine. The next morning I awoke to a huge hole in my sand bed from aiming the pump too low toward the center, so I quickly adjusted, fixed the sand, and carried on my morning. Hour later, I notice there's not too much going on in the tank, and like a stupid cave man stare at the tank for 20 minutes trying to put the pieces together of what could be the matter. Ammo, which a few days before was 0, is now .25, all others are at 0, Cal is at 450 but really won't have anything to do with my issue. I don't have a Mag test kit, so I cant report anything there sry. Just before she died my CB was breathing profusely and I realized right away something was wrong. The clowns remained tough as nails as always, and a cleaner skunk I just got a few days ago is still running around as if nothing happened. And, last, the Xenia are shriveled up and been so for now day 2. I did a 10% day 1, and another today. My biggest question is, where the heck is the Ammo coming from, is it possible to stir it out of the DSB....Thank you if you have read all of this, I know it's a page full. But it is a genuine concern now for me being everything was doing just fine until I added the new power head. It kinda blew up in my face, and a bad short lesson learned. Now for the long lesson, I want to know exactly what went wrong so I don"t repeat.

 

Ammonia definitely could have come from the DSB. Now you might see a Nitrite and Nitrate spike as the Ammonia goes through the Nitrogen cycle. 20% water changes should be done daily until your ammonia dissipates and try to vacuum as much of that crap you stirred up as possible. Ammonia=fish death.

The xenia will be fine, they actually prefer a bit of a dirty tank.

Good luck.

 

Sorry for your loss and your situation atm.

Yes, disturbing a DSB can definitely cause an ammonia spike as the anaerobic bacteria from the lower region will die in the presence of oxygen. The sand bed will eventually recover, but I would recommend additional water changes to keep the ammonia in check. Some may advise dosing with Prime or some other ammonia remover, but I don't. Using such products in your DT could potentially starve the nitrifying bacteria in your LR and make a bad situation worse.

 

+3 Absolutely agree.I have these same two powerheads in my 90 so it may be a little too much for your tank. It is always a good idea to use a turkey baster right before water changes to blow detritus off your LR. It will build up regardless of your flow.

 

How mature was the DSB? And what types of organisms do you have in there to clean it?

 

Thank you MrB, that's the best reason I've heard about where the ammo came from, and yes JR, it cycled quickly and three days later I'm back to normal. I'm pretty upset about loosing the CB though, it really settled in nicely and was a nice addition to the tank. The quick cycle was comforting in showing that the tank was all in all healthy.

Vinny that's not a bad idea to lower the flow, I think I'll keep them both where they are now (aiming straight across to the other side, not downward) and just put them on an alternating pattern on and off. that'll keep things mixed up and won't flow too hard.

About 6 months young Dingo, Copods very abundant, bristle worms, and a standard CUC.


Thanks everyone for the good input. This will have to simply be a lesson learned, This might be an excellent time for a QT tank. That'd probably saved the CB and gave me time to figure out what was happening. Thanks again.