Disaster

[Gujustud]

Well I finally got around to hooking up my sump and my overflow.

I've been making up some saltwater over the past few days to fill the sump. Temp was about 1-2 deg higher than the tank, salinty was the same.

I finally turned things on for about a hour, then turned it off. (I had to leave the house, and wasn't 100% satisified things were running 100% so I figured I'd wait till I came home, before letting it run by itself).

I come home a couple hours later and things are in BAD shape.

All my corals look almost dead. Xenia is grey, and completely shrivelled up (more than they do at night time). Looks like they are completely drained. Leather coral which was a nice yellow, is a tiny peice of green. zoo's look somewhat okay.

My clowns were hiding in the rocks, where I've never seen them ever. Couldn't see my little clown goby, finally found him, in the arms of my cleaner shrimp.

My mandarin and firefish are doing completely fine (or so they seem).

I checked my water quality, and everything is good, PH 8.0. I ran to bigal's and got a AquaClear 300 Activated Carbon Insert. I put that into one of the quickfilters on my 802, and I changed the media in the other quick filter.

Just making up some water for a water change. Any idea? Only thing I can think of was that something was in the sump, but I had really cleaned it out with only hot water. I did reseal it up with silicon (I) but that was at least a month ago.

[LostMind]

what brand of silicone did you use?

[Gujustud]

what brand of silicone did you use?

The GE one I believe.

[mr_alberta]

Did you use a silicone made for kitchen and bathrooms? Some of those have anti-mildew chemicals.

[Dale D]

Did you check the PH of the water in the sump before pumping it into the main tank?

What was the PH of the water in the main tank before you added the new water?

A PH of 8 is OK, but, if the water in the main tank was higher than 8, say 8.3 and you pumped in a bunch of water with a lower PH, say 7.8 from the sump, that may have dropped the PH too fast.

Even thought a PH of 8 is still good, it is the speed of the PH change that corals and fish don't like.

[Gujustud]

newguy: Yes I did. I used GE 100% Rubber Silicone (I), which I was told would be okay. I was told (II) was bad to use. Anyhoo, I just took a read on the fine print, and even (I) has the anti mildew. Crap. Even after a month I guess that may be what is effecting it.

Dale D: No I didn't. My mistake. There seems to be a bunch of factors, and I don't really know what it is. I'm going to do yet another water change today. My clowns are swimming around much better today, however the corals aren't doing anybetter. I can't find the body of the clown goby either, as I really want to get it out.

Below are some pictures of my corals, viewer discretion is advised:

http://www.ditchmond.com/images/aqua/disaster/DSCF1940.JPG

http://www.ditchmond.com/images/aqua/disaster/DSCF1941.JPG

http://www.ditchmond.com/images/aqua/disaster/DSCF1942.JPG

http://www.ditchmond.com/images/aqua/disaster/DSCF1944.JPG

http://www.ditchmond.com/images/aqua/disaster/DSCF1945.JPG

http://www.ditchmond.com/images/aqua/disaster/DSCF1947.JPG

http://www.ditchmond.com/images/aqua/disaster/DSCF1948.JPG

http://www.ditchmond.com/images/aqua/disaster/DSCF1949.JPG

[mr_alberta]

Well, what is done is done. All you can really do now is "damage control." Massive water changes, massive skimming and running carbon is all you can really do now.

[Gujustud]

Well, what is done is done. All you can really do now is "damage control." Massive water changes, massive skimming and running carbon is all you can really do now.

I'm wondering what I should do with the sump (which is currently off right now). Obviously take out all the water and chuck it. But what about the silicone inside? Should I rip it all out?

[LostMind]

Yah man, grab a couple of razor blades and rip it out is what I'd do. Then re-silicone it.

I have a lot of aquarium safe silicone if you want.

Do you need to borrow a skimmer for a few days? I have that tunze, you can take it for a bit if you want.

[zulu_principle]

Could be a hundred things, GE silicon ??

Give it a day, xenia can be the most finiky beast in the world with just certain trace elements.

Further water changes could shock the corals even more.

Get a good frag and drop it into just the sump water with a little light and see how it reacts...........


JMHO


wendell

[Gujustud]

lostmind: Yeah, I figure I'll probably do that. I may take you up on that offer on the silicone.

zulu_principle: Yeah, the Xenia looks the worst of all, next is the trumpet coral, and just to think I just bought it just over a week ago.

I've done 2 water changes since, and I think I'm gonna leave it at that for now. The fish seem to be doing much better. The firefish is back in his normal spot, and the clowns are swimming in the currents again, following me around the tank. The mandarin was the only one that didn't seem to notice anything.

I noticed that the GSP are out and looking good, and my big frag of zoo's are fully out, and looking good as well. Just the xenia, colt, leather, and trumpet are still in bad shape.

Still can't find the body of the clown goby. Wanted to give him a good burial at sea (ie: toilet). Should I be worried of any ammonia spike from the body? Another thing I noticed is that both my red scarlet and blue legged hermits molted. Maybe just a coincidence?

Last question, do corals completely die, or will they eventually grow back? The trumpet looks totally dried out.

[christyf5]

The clown goby is pretty small. Do you have hermits? If you do, that goby was probably a nice light snack for them.

[kris_willard]

I am almost psitive it is not the silicone. Was it 100% silicone or was it like the industrial grade. I do agree you dont want to put the mildew resistant stuff in there. THis is the stuff i used on my sump and it was absolutly fine. Its the same as the stuff they previously had which said aquarium safe. Theyt only put 'not for use on aquariums" because of the legal implications of when the tank blows out. Like i said ive used this and had my sump running for at least 6mos now and no proabs.
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=812

[Gujustud]

The clown goby is pretty small. Do you have hermits? If you do, that goby was probably a nice light snack for them.

Yup, and 2 shrimps (cleaner and peppermint). When I first noticed all the corals gone, thats when I first saw the clown goby in the arms of the cleaner. Both the peppermint and the cleaner had it in their arms, eating away.

[LostMind]

The clown goby is probably eaten by now...

I'd personally re-silicon it just in case. I mean, there was nothing else done to the tank to cause the problem. Right?

[Gujustud]

The clown goby is probably eaten by now...

I'd personally re-silicon it just in case. I mean, there was nothing else done to the tank to cause the problem. Right?

Just a small hairline fracture. I'll just pull out the silicone, and run a bead of weldon16 down all the seams. Then wash it out a couple times.

Here's something to boggle your mind however.

All my corals have made a comback. The Xenia is no longer grey, starting as of about 2 days ago. Color is coming back, and they are starting to fill out again. Same with the colt. The leather is back to normal, and looking better than before. So are the green pimple mushrooms which REALLY are spreading out nicely.

However the new trumpet I got from bluetang is dieing right out. It did GREAT for the first few days. Even the 2 polpys that fell on the leather grew out nicely and looked normal, however over the last 2 days they look almost like the picture above (however not with the webbing).

Do you think there is still something in my tank that is bothering that one type of coral?

[titus]

Hello Gujustud,

I am bewildered at why your sump had a fracture. Usually acrylic tanks don't just give. Can you post a picture of that?

Titus

[Gujustud]

Hello Gujustud,

I am bewildered at why your sump had a fracture. Usually acrylic tanks don't just give. Can you post a picture of that?

Titus

Its hard to explain, and a picture won't help. What happened was when I got the tank from Darren, I put it under the balcony in the backyard, and filled it with water since it needed a good clean. I left it over night. When I came back the next day some of the water had leaked out, and I could tell by the wet cement. I looked at all the seams, and there seemed to be a small drop of water coming out from one of the seams. Extremely small, but a leak nevertheless. I figured I might as well put some silicone on the cracks all around just to be safe. Also the tank was sitting outside at his place for a little while, so I figured it may of been damaged by weather changes.

[titus]

Hello,

Wheather shouldn't do anything to seams as they really should be as strong as the parent material. Most of the time when a crack occurs it is due to stress from the load of the water. However, this would have caused by sharp corners, crazing, too thin of a material, etc.

How big is the tank anyway?

Titus

[dirtyreefer]

Last question, do corals completely die, or will they eventually grow back? The trumpet looks totally dried out.

They will not grow back to my knowledge.

Just a quick question though, since your tank is relatively "new", are you able to feed your mandarin? Normally they can only survive on a "mature" tank, or one that's been pod infested Just curious to see how it's doing, cos normally it's not recommended to have one unless you have a well supported pod population.