Media Crash

[brandon]

hi all i added a 2 little fishes media reactor yesterday with a cup of seachem de nitrate and in the other compartment of the media filter i added half a cup of chracoal. when i woke up this morning my tank is cloudy my zenias look like they are melting most of my sps is dead, my mushrooms look weird, my clam wont open, and my turbo snails are sitting in the sand or glass and not moving much. I rinsed the media very well with ro water before adding to the media filter. I quickly pulled out both media's this morning and put in new charcoal. i also cleaned my protein skimmer last night. Any ideas of what went wrong?

 

[sasquatch]

its called shock? charcoal will quickly clear water, depending on how yellow the water was the light level would have increased a lot, maybe fried some algae or made something go sexual?

 

[softreef]

its called shock? charcoal will quickly clear water, depending on how yellow the water was the light level would have increased a lot, maybe fried some algae or made something go sexual?

Agreed. Also, the new media may have pulled too many nutrients out too fast, also shocking the tank inhabitants.

 

[sasquatch]

Agreed. Also, the new media may have pulled too many nutrients out too fast, also shocking the tank inhabitants.

I thought that also as Ive done that with Purigen, the De Nitrate seems to need a few days to actuallt start doing anything so??

 

[BLADEYAMAHA]

I'd say it was the Seachem.

 

[sasquatch]

I'd say it was the Seachem.

based on what? its a de nitrator that work anaerobically, its not a resin like some nitrate reducers

"denitrate™ is an economical, natural, porous material with a pore distribution and geometry that promotes both aerobic nitrification within the first few millimeters of depth and anaerobic denitrification at the core. The material has a high surface area and supports a high density of bacteria. Although de nitrate™ has capacity to trap nitrate, this, as with other nitrate retaining materials, such as certain zeolites and synthetic resins, is quite limited and the primary mechanism of nitrate removal is anaerobic."
from seachem

 

[brandon]

thanks for the input guys went to the lfs yesterday after doing constant water changes. I told one of my buddies there what I did and basically said I wiped out most of my bacteria. He suggested bio cheist or something along that name. Its live nitrifying bacteria. I lost my cleaner shrimp this morning. Man I feel like such a noob. I added 2 viles of the bacteria he told me to becareful not to use to many or it will restart the cycle of my tank.

 

[dmatt88]

Its a good reminder to all. Any changes that are made need to b small changes. Consistency in water is one of the most important aspects of reef keeping.

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[steved13]

thanks for the input guys went to the lfs yesterday after doing constant water changes. I told one of my buddies there what I did and basically said I wiped out most of my bacteria. He suggested bio cheist or something along that name. Its live nitrifying bacteria. I lost my cleaner shrimp this morning. Man I feel like such a noob.

Did he say how? I can't see how either of those 2 media could "wipe out most of your bacteria". Did you have an ammonia spike? If you had added bacteria or a food/carbon source for bacteria, I would have suspected a bacteria bloom, which is the opposite of "wiping out most of your bacteria".

 

[brandon]

He said the seachem denitrate pulls out ammonia nitrites nitrates and organics meaning bacteria. It said the same thing on the label but it totally bypassed me on the organics part when I read the label. I was thinking algaes instead of bacteria for organics. The denitrate ran about 15 hours on my tank and now has cost me a couple hundred in corals and inverts

 

[PSU4ME]

Sorry to hear that you lost so much.....we should add this to the "mistakes I've made" thread.

 

[brandon]

Lol way ahead of you my friend. I know I shouldn't laugh but I dont know what else to do.

 

[steved13]

He said the seachem denitrate pulls out ammonia nitrites nitrates and organics meaning bacteria. It said the same thing on the label but it totally bypassed me on the organics part when I read the label. I was thinking algaes instead of bacteria for organics. The denitrate ran about 15 hours on my tank and now has cost me a couple hundred in corals and inverts

Could be something I don't know (which is a lot), or something that has been left out, but this doesn't really make sense to me. I've never used this product, but reading about it, doesn't suggest this could wipe out your bacteria. Why would your nitrifying bacteria that has been in your live rock and wherever else, leave so quickly and move to this media? The way it should work would be to provide a new place for some additional and different bacteria to grow...and as Sas stated this would take a little time. I'm not looking to disagree with your friend at the LFS, but these are great learning experiences for myself and others on "what not to do"...I don't see the smoking gun on "what not to do".

Maybe someone with more knowledge on this product can clear it up for me?

Hopefully you're over the problem and it won't resurface. I think there is a piece of this puzzle missing, just be careful going forward, so that missing piece doesn't bite you in the ...


I'd be more suspect of something died and gave an ammonia spike and triggered the die off, or something like that.

 

[brandon]

The day I added the media everything was fine I did a 10g water change went to the fish store got the media the reactor and a maximum jet 400. Went home rinsed the 2 little fishes reactot and de nitrate and charcoal with ro water till there was no more dust. Took off my protein skimmer soaked the maxi jet 1200 pump in vinegar like I always do every 6 months to get rid of the coraline on it. Rinsed out the skimmer and a few hours later put back on my tank. By then I noticed none of my zoas were open along with my toadstool was closed and my zenias. I did another 10 g water change before I went to bed since my water was cloudy and none of corals were open. I woke up the next morning the tank was cloudier my sps were all white and dead. My zenias were very shrunken none of my turbo snails have moved since the day before. I quickly unhooked the media reactor dumped out the charcoal and de nitrate put in new charcoal and re hooked up the media reactor. That's all I changed and added to the tank in those exact steps.

 

[mcentire1123]

Sorry for your losses!

 

[brandon]

Thank you I hope I dont lose everything I did dose magnesium and aqua vitro fuel yesterday to put some trace elements back in the water

 

[brandon]

Water is still pretty cloudy this morning and its going through a diatom bloom in the tank. I took out what was left of the zenias yesterday. Guess ill do a water change when I get home

 

[catran]

Wow, that's a lot of changes made in the last few days. Sorry to hear about all the losses!


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[brandon]

Hey all i figured i would do an update on my tank since my crash. I did loose my zenia colony, my clam, a cleaner shrimp, a few chalices all but one of my sps, all my turbo snails, some zoas and polyps. Here are some actinic pics i just took. Im still dosing the aqua vitro fuel. A couple of chalices are still coloring up and my purple hornets shrunk during the crash but duplicated and lost a lot of color but are coming back.

 

[Blue Space]

Sorry for your troubles B but I'm glad to hear that you've got it under control now... whew! A horror story that I hope nobody else has to endure!