Moved tank and nutrients increased substantially

[teethdoctor23]

Hey all,

I recently, (for the first time), moved my 45 gallon mixed reef over the weekend and thankfully had zero casualties in a well stocked tank, including fish, LPS and SPS . 48 hours later my nutrients are pretty high. We kept the 1~ inch sandbed intact, trying to stir up as little as possible.

nitrates: 34.4
Phosphate: .14

Now my tank normally sits at around ~20 nitrates and .07 phosphates, so it’s not a massive spike, but definitely considerable. However, I want to make sure I’m not going to get receding flesh bands and brown acros from this.
My current plan is to implement a Refugium, remove settled detritus from the sump and play the waiting game.
All of my corals are opening and extending just fine, I don’t see any issues with these nutrients at the moment in terms of coral/fish health.

Would y’all recommend just removal settled detritus from the sump and waiting it out to allow the corals to take up the nutrients naturally? Or implement the Refugium immediately. Thanks in advance

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes, I'd watch and see how things stabilize.

 

[brandon429]

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

I wanted to post in this thread because it's the opposite of that thread for the same job and over the next few months we can check progression in the non rinse system.

the truth is you should do it over that way above, I know that sounds close minded but consider the tracking data

those jobs go back eight years, from the early pages click any entrant who removed their waste and track their posts about the tank, there is outcome tracking gold above.

waste in your tank was stratified before it was moved

animals and currents and deposition factors and sink catches all combined to change the nutrient levels at different zones in that bed, and jostling by rule changes that all around but keeps the decaying mass in place, advancing your tank age.

above in the link is literally tank de-aging, a non rinsed transfer is advanced aging due to retaining mass and turning it over within the system all at once vs as a progression.

what happened above is exactly like someone going into a dentist with advanced plaque presentation, enhanced reduction of oral surface area by attachment of plaques and scum layers, and then they get treated only with the best liquid swishes the office has to offer. no form of rasping, picking, scraping, flushing allowed.

their gum disease is evident when you look at the line of demarcation and right above that sandbed cross section is reef tank gingivitis

that patient will be back in office sooner vs a patient you absolutely detailed the mouth and teeth into clean running before they left. the person who got the surgical plaque removal gets the longest sustain between visits.

I know it doesn't appear that way now, though.

if you want to extend the life of that reef tank you need the waste gone, not upwelled and resettled and added to this month's waste coming. a dental opportunity for the reef tank was missed in my opinion , you had to take the tank apart for the transfer but opted to keep the waste thinking that was bacterial safety

giving your surface area a chance to breathe without being blanketed in waste is the hidden safety boost, the years-extender.

it's not that there's a problem with your reef right now, it's the long game we're talking. the tradeoff invasions, the new GHA in April that comes up due to the waste transfer. your corals would be even brighter extended if they were in a rip cleaned system being fed at twice the common rate vs now. you can't double up your feeding now due to current waste stores.

 

[brandon429]

99.9% of people will not turn around and disassembly clean a reef tank they just moved, so this will be a fascinating case study in reef tank aging prevention, stasis or suppression. since that's not a huge reef tank / closer to a nano we can see effects or noneffects of unrinsed tank transfers in just a few months.

it's not that your tank can't live years longer as it sits now, it's that removing it's waste and rock covering is associated with surface area restoration and aligns that many tanks above for a common outcome. rinse prep reduces the varying ways your tank can respond to an unrinsed move.