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tank cracked this morning


potatocouch

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i had minor disaster this morning, my pico 5g tank cracked.

 

the good thing is i have purchased a new 50g tank.

the bad thing is it isn't fully cycled yet.

 

i had no choice but to move these inhabitants to the new tank:

  • Torch
  • Zoas
  • Turbo snail
  • Starfish

 

the questions are:

  1. A friend suggested to dose zeobak to help with the beneficial bacterias. what is your thoughts on this?
  2. My 1st philosophy about cycling is no lights required, but in this situation, would you turn the lights on? If so, will it promote algae growth?
  3. My 2nd philosophy about cycling is to never do water change until ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0 and nitrate is spikingly high. In this situation, would you do water change? or is it case-by-case basis depending on the ammonia, nitrite & nitrate measurement?
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Can you find this anywhere locally? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=18390

 

This works incredibly well for my when I first cycle my tank. I don't recommend any other stuff I haven't use, most of the live bacteria in the bottle don't work but this one works for me. I didn't do water change until I get high nitrate but in my case it was a fishless cycle so no live stock in the tank. In your case though, I would test the water every day and make WC as needed. I'd keep the light on but keep it low, I thinks those corals are fine in lower light until cycle is done.

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how long has your tank been cycling?

 

i've always been able to move stock in within

7-14 days without issue. and like you, i did it

due to emergency reasons. first time my coral

was melting in a Jar of Death (noobie big time)

and i put my mushrooms into a 3g pico after a

week of cycling?

 

i upgraded to my 8g with a week of cycling as well.

 

granted, these are smaller tanks and also, i had

hardy soft corals and in the second instance, had

used one live rock from old tank.

 

i also did dose with seachem stability. i can't tell you if

it worked or not, but other than a diatom bloom 6 weeks

in with pico, i haven't had issues. i'm going into week 5

with my 8g.

 

sometimes, crap happens. and you had to emergency

move. i wish you the best of luck!

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i never dosed stuff ... and wasn't sure if i would need to.

 

i will see what is happening tonight in the tank.

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have you tested for nitrates, phosphates, etc?

 

using your live rock will help. and if you have sand

bed, seeding with a handful or so of sand from old tank.

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will do that tonight..

 

i am looking for Ammonia, Trite and Trate...

phosphate should be 0 ... used RODI water ... but those 3 above is the one i shall be looking for.

 

headache !

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I was just thinking and hoping to prove if my logic is correct.

 

5g tank with fully cured live rocks & 5 inhabitants.

-- this tank is fully cycled and mature.

 

Moved the fully cured live rocks & 5 inhabitants from 5g tank to 50g tank.

-- note that 50g tank has new live rocks from LFS, so potentially it may be uncured.

 

Beneficial bacteria which converts Ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate, will usually colonized at the surface of the rocks and not in water.

Agree or disagree so far?

 

Which means, although the water volume has increased 10x compared to the 5g tank, as long as we do not add any more bioload, these beneficial bacteria that live on the surface of the rock should be able to cope with the conversion of Ammonia to Nitrite/Nitrate.

Incorrect logic?

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What was the reason for the crash? Obviously you didn't lose everything, or you would have nothing to transfer. Transferring sensitive creatures to a tank without an established cycle might not be the best plan.

 

Correct the problem and change out all the water in your old tank. Did the sand bed go bad? If so, replace it (or get rid of it). The bio filter is probably still good. I'm with arkayology about the One and Only being a good try.

 

Otherwise, you might be better off giving the livestock to someone else to keep while your new tank cycles.

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What was the reason for the crash? Obviously you didn't lose everything, or you would have nothing to transfer. Transferring sensitive creatures to a tank without an established cycle might not be the best plan.

 

Correct the problem and change out all the water in your old tank. Did the sand bed go bad? If so, replace it (or get rid of it). The bio filter is probably still good. I'm with arkayology about the One and Only being a good try.

 

Otherwise, you might be better off giving the livestock to someone else to keep while your new tank cycles.

 

It didn't crash, rather it cracked.

 

I haven't lost anything yet but i will monitor the water param when i am home tonight.

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Moved the fully cured live rocks & 5 inhabitants from 5g tank to 50g tank.

Moving the old rocks over should work, if you remove the new rocks. Cure the new rocks separately in a Brute container, then add them back in.

 

It didn't crash, rather it cracked. I haven't lost anything yet but i will monitor the water param when i am home tonight.

Oh, my bad, my brain is running a little slow this morning. You could just move everything to a new tank (Walmart is probably open). Almost any container will work.
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If you can't find Dr. Tims one and only, you can try zeo start 3 with zeobak, bio spira, or bactostarter 7. I've had luck with four.

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PH: 8.0 ~ 8.2 (borderline - hard to differentiate).
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0 - 0.25 (borderline - hard to differentiate).

Perhaps cycled?

Unless my theory is correct, which I usually doubt it biggrin.gif
- The cured live rocks that I put down in the sump have been sitting there for approx. 1.5 weeks.

- I would assume those beneficial bacteria that colonize the old live rocks may have multiply over 1.5 weeks ... yes they are more wall tank surface and more water volume, but it's not logical that they would these medium to colonize. Most would usually be in the surface of the rocks and the inside porous of the rocks, right?

- In goes the "fresh" LRs from LFS to DT.

- The beneficial bacteria may have supported the bioload from the "fresh" LRs, that's why no die-off? but then, it wouldn't make any sense, because it took approx. 2 hours from LFS to my home, just in the stereofoam box and covered in damp wet newspaper. they would have been a die-off in this process.

Hmmmm illogical theory I supposed. I have no idea LOL

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Keep an eye on ammonia. There might be a large enough bio-filter to process the ammonia produced. To me, the biggest question is how cured the store's live rock was and how much die off occurred. If you notice any ammonia, I would pull the new live rock and cure it separately.

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Have some Prime or Alpha on hand if you start to see ammonia on the rise. But with readings like that there's likely little to no more die-off happening on the new rocks, and the old should be enough to keep up with the inhabitants of the 5 gallon tank, provided they didn't get dried out in the tank cracking incident.

 

Plus the extra 40-odd gallons of water should serve to dilute anything bad as well. Now I wouldn't go on a stocking binge or anything for a while, but you should be in OK shape to move the inhabitants over from the old tank.

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i'd move everything in.but i live dangerously. ha

You too like to live dangerously?HA TAKE THAT!!YA HEAR THAT??IM NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO RUSHES THINGS!!!=P

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So let me get this straight ... eventually I will want to add more bioload in this tank.


As you are aware, water param as of yesterday was:

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 0.25

Phosphate 0


Did 10% WC yesterday with the hope to reduce the small amount of Nitrate ... but no biggie here.


If I don't do anything for a while now but then eventually I would want to add more bioload ... can it (nitrifying bacterias) then cope with the new bioloads? Will the beneficial bacterias multiply without presence of Ammonia? or am I confused?

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itsyahboydanny

It didn't crash, rather it cracked.

 

I haven't lost anything yet but i will monitor the water param when i am home tonight.

 

 

how did the tank crack? I just got a 5g from PicO aquariums and now I'm worried :blink:

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how did the tank crack? I just got a 5g from PicO aquariums and now I'm worried :blink:

 

don't worry ... my one is made in china.

 

is yours made in china?

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