Moved tank, unsure about what to expect.

[Paul V]

Good morning R2R!

Im new to this community, however I have learned a great deal, in the last few days, from lurking on this site and reading many informative posts.

I am not new to this hobby, however I havent had a SW tank in about 4 years, so needless to say, I am a little rusty, and after I purchased a used setup on CL, Im unsure of what my immediate future holds, so any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

So last night, I purchased an 85G tank that was completely set up. Setup included tank/stand (obviously), a 3.5" LS bed, about 80 lbs of LR in the main tank, a sump with about 30lbs additional LR pieces (small pieces), a protien skimmer, and a metal halide/T5 light fixture for above. The tank came with 3 snow clowns, and 2 perc clowns, as well as a blue hippo tang. I moved the entire setup last night, and got the tank running, with the fish being kept in a 5 gal bucket overnight, while the main tank heated back up/cleared up. This morning i found that my poor blue hippo did not make it, however all the clowns seemed to be just fine.

I want to put the clowns back into the main tank, because my bucket does not have an aerator, and im nervous about oxygen levels. I know that the main tank is bound to go through a mini cycle, at the least (water dropped to about about 60 on the drive home, but the fish stayed warm in a separate bucket), due to die off, but im not sure exactly what to expect, or exactly how to proceed. I would have rather left the fish with someone else, and taken my time getting this tank stable, but unfortunately that isnt an option. If anyone has experience in this, I would really appreciate any help, or advice on this. I hate watching fish die, and really want these clowns to pull through.

Also, 100% of the water in the tank is from the original setup. no new water was added. Current chem levels are VERY good, temp is about 76, and salinity is 1.029

 

[Feltman]

Get those fish in the main tank ASAP I made the mistake the first time as well of not aerating. Those fish can't survive long in a 5 gl pale without gas exchange. Best thing to do is get some bacteria booster like seachem stability or biospira to try to keep the cycle down. Feed very light the first week skim heavy and test often. Most likely gonna need to do a decent water change at the end of the week plus expect an algea bloom (will actually help water quality as the algea will eat the nutrients)

 

[Paul V]

Feltman,

Thanks for the reply! I started the acclimation process for the 5 clowns. should be ready to put them in shortly.

what can I expect from a cycle stand point? should I be ready to replace 10%, 20% or more? is this tank likely to go through a series of cycles, or just one from the die off, a bloom (like you said, I want that bloom), and then back to normal? I was thinking of going two weeks, to see how everything was going, and if all chems are stable, then starting my clean up crew going. does that sound reasonable? Im skipping feeding today, and will resume tomorrow, assuming the clowns are up for it.

 

[Feltman]

Did you reuse sand and blow off rock before putting it in? These are the 2 biggest factors. As long as u didn't have to much time between breakdown to setup u shouldn't have to much die off on the rock. I feel you'll have more of a mini cycle simply from what u stirred up. Some will recomend not reusing sand at all some will say rinse thoroughly but to be honest I've made 3 2000 mile moves now and done it just about every way u can think of and I had corals mixed in.biggest thing is to get that bacteria booster to help u deal with the nutrient spikes.

 

[Feltman]

As long as u keep the nitrates down through the booster and water changes (keep testing) u shouldn't have any problems adding clean up crew. The cuc will go nuts with the bloom as well. It really depends how well the guy before u handled detritus and how well u got what was left out. That's gonna determine the strength and length of ur cycle.

 

[Paul V]

As long as u keep the nitrates down through the booster and water changes (keep testing) u shouldn't have any problems adding clean up crew. The cuc will go nuts with the bloom as well. It really depends how well the guy before u handled detritus and how well u got what was left out. That's gonna determine the strength and length of ur cycle.

ok, thanks for your help Felt. the guy before me had nothing in the way of CUC. I think ill just stick to my 2 week plan, and do water changes as necessary per your advice. Thanks again!!

 

[Dr. Phil]

I would make sure and keep an eye on the parameters. Like it has already been said, you will want to be very careful if you reused the sand and did not rinse it.

 

[Dtackett]

fish can survive in a bag for 24-48 hours. your fish are fine in a bucket overnight, though I would put an air pump in there to keep some movement even if it didn't add o2. reusing the sand bed was a bad idea. hopefully everything stabilizes and you didn't just quicken old tank syndrome. I hope the best for ya, welcome to the community.

 

[Paranoiattack91]

fish can survive in a bag for 24-48 hours. your fish are fine in a bucket overnight, though I would put an air pump in there to keep some movement even if it didn't add o2. reusing the sand bed was a bad idea. hopefully everything stabilizes and you didn't just quicken old tank syndrome. I hope the best for ya, welcome to the community.

Fish can survive in bags for 24-48 hours in bags because they are filled with pure oxygen, they don't last that long in a bag that was just tied up. Leaving them in the bucket overnight with no oxygen exghange was most likely the reason for the tang loss, the clowns are much hardier though.

 

[Dtackett]

in 20 years of fish keeping ive never lost a fish from letting them sit in a bucket over night. sometimes I had an air pump or small powerhead in it, other times I didn't.

 

[Paranoiattack91]

A powerhead or pump helps with gas exchange. Way to risky leaving them in stale water overnight in my opinion. There a reason vendors pack their fish with oxygen.

 

[Paul V]

Did you reuse sand and blow off rock before putting it in? These are the 2 biggest factors. As long as u didn't have to much time between breakdown to setup u shouldn't have to much die off on the rock. I feel you'll have more of a mini cycle simply from what u stirred up. Some will recomend not reusing sand at all some will say rinse thoroughly but to be honest I've made 3 2000 mile moves now and done it just about every way u can think of and I had corals mixed in.biggest thing is to get that bacteria booster to help u deal with the nutrient spikes.

So I DID reuse the old sand, and it was stirred up quite a bit as I moved it into buckets to transport it, and then back into the tank. The rock wasn't really touched other than moving them around from buckets to the tank. It sounds like I might have set myself up for a rougher cycle than is needed :/

just for my education, what is the concern with using the old sand? is it just the level of waste that accumulates in the sand suddenly being released, or is there something else that happens?

 

[Feltman]

So I DID reuse the old sand, and it was stirred up quite a bit as I moved it into buckets to transport it, and then back into the tank. The rock wasn't really touched other than moving them around from buckets to the tank. It sounds like I might have set myself up for a rougher cycle than is needed :/

just for my education, what is the concern with using the old sand? is it just the level of waste that accumulates in the sand suddenly being released, or is there something else that happens?

There more be more to it then I understand but I understand that it's just the amount of crap that it can hold especially if there were no cuc stirring it up and eating the detritus. It's not that it can't be done ull just have a stronger spike. Watch it and u may need to do a large water change 50% plus.

 

[Dtackett]

the issue with old sand is the build up of detritus. it can nuke everything in the tank if its disturbed. sand is a ticking time bomb if its not shallow, or not maintained. if I was you, and its not too late. I would empty the tank, trash the sand and either go bare bottom or get new sand. youll save yourself a lot of trouble down the line and itll stabilize a lot faster.

 

[Lesley]

I very recently did exactly the same type of move you just did ( 400g) But I used new sand. I did have a mini cycle because of live rock die off. I used seachem stability & seachem prime. Didn't lose any fish or corals. I personally would check ammonia daily and use prime as needed. Between these 2 products the mini cycle was over in about 10 days. We did actually vac out sand about 6 months later and replace with new because the leaching of nutrients ( phos & nitrate ) was terrible. Once we changed out sand was all good. Keeping the water for the tank was actually not so dire , only about 10% of good bacteria is in the water column the rocks & sand holds the other 90%. I would have lots if new salt water , prime & stability on hand just in case. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Paul V]

I appreciate everyone replies!

So far (day 4) I have seen no start of any cycle. ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all at 0, or very close too it. PH is 8.2. all of my clowns are swimming happily and eat very quickly. They dont seem to be under any stress at all. Here's to hoping the cycle is a small one.

thanks again for all the insight an knowledge!

 

[Dtackett]

I appreciate everyone replies!

So far (day 4) I have seen no start of any cycle. ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all at 0, or very close too it. PH is 8.2. all of my clowns are swimming happily and eat very quickly. They dont seem to be under any stress at all. Here's to hoping the cycle is a small one.

thanks again for all the insight an knowledge!

seems like you got lucky. good. personally I would add a bottle of MB7 or Dr. Tims one and only just for a bit more security. it may be overkill, but it wont hurt anything.

 

[Paul V]

seems like you got lucky. good. personally I would add a bottle of MB7 or Dr. Tims one and only just for a bit more security. it may be overkill, but it wont hurt anything.

Already purchased, and already dosed .

 

[Dtackett]

good deal. glad its all working out for you. that's why I just don't use sand anymore lol so much easier.