MY TOXIC TANK

[Deathling]

Hi, I am new to the hobby and have just begun cyclying my first reef tank. I have placed 5kg of live rock in my 24L (6g) tank and with 3-4 days it began to small bad. Since then i have done a 40% waterchange, and it only seems to be getting worse, there has been a plethora of worms (majority bristleworm). It has now been one week since begining cycling, the smell is FOUL, worms are multiplying and now a film is beginning to form on the surface.
I have found no cases like this, is this normal??????? How can i manage this??????

 

[NY_Caveman]

Live rock will often have die off in transport. That will cause the smell and it is normal. Many will cure their rock in a garage or basement for this reason before it goes in the tank. You can do it in the tank and it will be fine. The die off will help feed and strengthen the bacteria colonies. Just be patient, think of pleasant aromas, and in time it should subside.

BTW, Welcome to R2R!

 

[sam.veilleux30]

Live rock will often have die off in transport. That will cause the smell and it is normal. Many will cure their rock in a garage or basement for this reason before it goes in the tank. You can do it in the tank and it will be fine. The die off will help feed and strengthen the bacteria colonies. Just be patient, think of pleasant aromas, and in time it should subside.

BTW, Welcome to R2R!

+1, tip for the future... when you eventually decide that you need to add a piece of live/base rock or you upgrade to a bigger volume, never take for granted that said rocks are really cured.
A friend of mine bought a nice piece and add this straight to his display (the lfs assure him it was cured),
and he lost quite a lot of his fishs in the process.
Personally i cured my base rock in a rubbermaid container on the patio for 5 weeks.
Good luck in your build, the smell is not always that bad...
By the way, such a small volume you could transfer the water and the rocks in a brute container (with heating and circulation) outside for a few weeks.

 

[Deathling]

Live rock will often have die off in transport. That will cause the smell and it is normal. Many will cure their rock in a garage or basement for this reason before it goes in the tank. You can do it in the tank and it will be fine. The die off will help feed and strengthen the bacteria colonies. Just be patient, think of pleasant aromas, and in time it should subside.

BTW, Welcome to R2R!

Yeah riiight, thank you!!

 

[ahiggins]

Not sure if you have filtration on there yet but you may want to increase flow and toss in a handful of fitted filter pads or socks to catch the funk coming off the rocks (I like pads because they’re cheap and disposable). With flow, make sure you’re getting enough surface aggitation and that will get rid of the film because you will break it up and filter it out.
The good thing is that you don’t have to worry about tank inhabitants dying

 

[SammieT]

Not sure if you have filtration on there yet but you may want to increase flow and toss in a handful of fitted filter pads or socks to catch the funk coming off the rocks (I like pads because they’re cheap and disposable). With flow, make sure you’re getting enough surface aggitation and that will get rid of the film because you will break it up and filter it out.
The good thing is that you don’t have to worry about tank inhabitants dying

+1

I always keep strong flow in my tank and make sure it hits the surface

 

[ahiggins]

And when we say increase flow, I’m talking like 50x turnover. Normal reef will have 10-20x turns per hour but when you’re trying to get all the dead junk and nastys off the rock-you’ll want a ton of flow. If you think it’s too much-add more lol as long as waters not sloshing our, you’re good.