Is this normal

Shawntay

New Member
Hi so I'm still a bit new to saltwater tanks and I want to see if I'm going in the right direction. Here is the back story for those that aren't following my tank thread. So I'm in the process of probably killing this tank. I added my sand, 70lbs of dry rock, and about 10lbs of live rock I realized that the water I was pumping in was RO/DI as I had forgotten to add the salt. The water had to sit about 2 days before I could get the RO/DI out and add the right mixture of saltwater. Now I have it running with the right water and I see the clam that was on the rock is dead but what about the rest of the tank. What is this growth? It's on the rock, sand, and tank walls. Am I screwed or is this normal? Please help. Thanks.

77a46f31ea32dbb196e073e51e8a95a3.jpg


3b97dbfaa7ac9cb3780f125c8e930957.jpg


9fb18bc7230af46d05b3fc44e5394e3c.jpg



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

DaveK

Well-Known Member
In effect the entire tank can be considered dead. Almost nothing is going to live through going from SW to RO/DI water.

However it's not quite as bad as it seems. At this point, add your salt to the system, and mix it to a SG of 1.025. Then add a raw shrimp from the grocery store to start the initial cycle. Once you see ammonia and nitrite peak and drop back to zero, you can add a piece or two of live rock to seed the tank with something other than bacteria.

Once you see that run for a few weeks, and have ammonia and nitrite readings at 0, you can then add a clean up crew. After that is all working, you can add other livestock.
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
Shawntay, sorry to hear of the setback. Dave K is right just start over again. Minor setback to test Your patience !
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
+3 minor set back, at worst you have only killed the LR - if you started a tank with dry rock only which many do... you would be at the same place, at worst... you have not messed anything thing up... other than the need to one day when ever... add a bit more lr.
 

Shawntay

New Member
+3 minor set back, at worst you have only killed the LR - if you started a tank with dry rock only which many do... you would be at the same place, at worst... you have not messed anything thing up... other than the need to one day when ever... add a bit more lr.


Thanks for the info. Is it ok to keep the lf that's in there now and what about the stuff on the rock, tank, and sand? Is this a cleaning crew issue ?
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
absolutely - I would guess... some life is still on it, if not it's just now another piece of dry rock - what you see on it that may be dead, is a great ammonia source to help get the cycle going.

once the cycle completes... and you then add a cuc, they will start on the algae.

here a bit of what you are starting to see now...
brown & green algae in new tanks

+1 dave advise ^ go to the store deli & ask um for one raw deli shrimp and drop it and let it rot (ammonia source)

Cycling tank:

Watch for the ammonia to soar then fall to zero, then the nitrites soar & then fall to zero, then the nitrates soar, once this happens, do water changes to get rid of the nitrates - tank cycled

in general it will look something like this...


CyclingGraph.gif
 

Shawntay

New Member
[emoji50][emoji33][emoji1419][emoji1417] whew ok. Off to read more about algae


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Top