Crash out of nowhere!!!

[IronRising]

So i had a huge crash on Thursday. Thank goodness for ammo lock i'm pretty sure it saved my fish. I'm hoping to get some input from you guys on this situation.

First i guess ill explain from the beginning so you guys get the whole picture. I was running a 45 gallon with 90 gallon rated filter and transferred everything (ie live rock, filter, substrate, fish, corals,) from the 45 to my recently set up 90 gallon. I put new clean substrate ( crushed Aragonite 1-2mm) on the bottom of the tank and the already cycled stuff on top. added the filter from previous set up, as well as a new 90 gallon filter. added the 70 pounds of live rock as well as another 30 pounds that i had cured.

I waited a couple of days did some tests before adding the fish and corals in, everything was looking perfect!!! i had a very small ammo spike after adding the fish .25 for about 2 days then nothing , no nitrites , low nitrates.

A couple of days later woke up in the morning had my coffee, decided to run some tests to double check the tank. Good thing i did because the ammo was at 5 and climbed to 7 before i got the fish out! i dosed ammo lock to keep the fish good while i got everything i needed to get a holding tank.

I re-set up my 45 as the holding tank, got the fish out, corals are over at lionfaceman house. All live rock is back out in a curing bin, and substrate has been pulled out of the tank cleaned vigorously and put back in the tank with brand new water. all filter media has been replaced.

I tested my water again to day in the 90 with nothing except water and substrate, and its back up to 5 for the ammo. so im assuming its the substrate. I spent 4 hours washing it out. any thought, idea, fixes?

Thanks crew,

Scott

[Wingin It]

Just curious...when you made the switch, did you wash out the substrate and/or filter from the old system? if, yes, how?

[IronRising]

Just curious...when you made the switch, did you wash out the substrate and/or filter from the old system? if, yes, how?

Yes to the filter with saltwater scrub down. Substrate no. I was told to keep the old sub alive to keep the cycle going.

Thanks

Scott

[Wingin It]

did you wash the substrate with saltwater or tap water? Almost sounds like you may have inadvertantly killed the sand...causing the spike?

[ottoman]

I think the old substrate is releasing dirt, ammo, nitrate, etc. in your new tank.

[IronRising]

That is what I thought it was too. Killed the substrate. I spent about 4 hours washing it after the crash. And i still have huge ammo. Has anybody else had this problem? If so how long did it pump ammo into your tank.

[PoonTang]

Best thing to do now I think is to just let sit, its the only way to get rid of it. let the cycle run its course.

[mark]

Wouldn't of transferred all the old sand, just maybe a bit off the top to seed the new stuff.

Might just as well add the LR back and as PoonTang suggested just let the tank cycle. Once done, then slowly in with the fish and corals.

[bvlester]

+1 Mark...


Bill

[fkshiu]

Substrates are ticking time bombs that have killed almost as many tanks as faulty heaters. So much crap gets built up and locked in there especially hydrogen sulphide gas which gets released when the sandbed is disturbed.

Best thing is to just toss out the substrate on a tank move or hit the reset button using bleach to kill everything and start all over again with pristine "new" sand. The live rock holds more than enough goodies to restart a new tank.