Tank transfer not good

[Guttersnipe]

Hi reef2reef! I recently bought a new tank and transferred at of my corals into the new tank. The new tank is 20 inches tall; the previous one was 24 inches tall. Ever since setting up the new tank I lost a good amount of corals. I know the shorter tank has something to do with the corals getting too much light so I raised my lights up back to where I would normally have it on the 24 inch tall tank. Besides the light issue, how long do you think it’ll be till everything settles in?
Thanks reef2reef!

 

[SeaDweller]

interesting. everything in the new tank is from the old right? Rock, etc? new water maybe? I know people have issues with transfers into new tanks with new rocks, but your stuff is a straight transfer right?

 

[Guttersnipe]

interesting. everything in the new tank is from the old right? Rock, etc? new water maybe? I know people have issues with transfers into new tanks with new rocks, but your stuff is a straight transfer right?

Everything is from the old tank. The only thing new is maybe 25 gallons of new water.

 

[Mical]

Did you reuse old sand by any chance?

 

[Guttersnipe]

Did you reuse old sand by any chance?

No sand at all.

 

[Mical]

No sand at all.

What are your current params? I'm guessing you might have stirred things up and corals reacted maybe a mini cycle. If it was lighting related you could cut back your lighting intensity and time period till they stabilize.

When I moved 2 tanks back in May that was my biggest fear losing coral & livestock. I moved a 65gal & 120gal (5 gal buckets at a time - I had no help) Both got 1/2 tank of fresh saltwater, and Dr Tims One & only. The only thing I lost was an urchin.

 

[SeaDweller]

Everything is from the old tank. The only thing new is maybe 25 gallons of new water.

Weird... I don't think anyone can predict how long it'll take to settle in as your dynamics are so different vs any one elses. I know you're barebottom, but maybe you had some extra bacteria growing some where (along the surfaces of coralline maybe? back wall, overflow?) something that added extra bio filtration? I don't know, just some thoughts, and now you're rebooting in essence. hopefully it'll cease.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I went through the same thing and things are finally rebounding and growing after 8 months. I started adding bacteria which could have helped speed things up. I have been using rebiotic and reef bugs.

 

[SPS_ONLY]

Isnt 25 gallons of new water a pretty large portion?

I would assume this would cause some pretty big swings in parameters.

 

[nezw0001]

When i moved my SPS tank I went though a similar problem. I was routinely testing parameters and everything was the same. I think, as stated above, when we move a complex system we disrupt all sorts of things we cant measure. Flow is likely different, the change in lighting, plus a the microbiological life. I lost a bunch of SPS colonies. I saved a bunch by fragging them. The frags did well. It took about a year for things to be firing on all cylinders again. I also did the probiotics, pods, additional micro life.

 

[ScottB]

Perhaps you can share some pictures and parameters?

In the meantime I will share an anecdote that I think is related. Over the past 18 months, I have been expanding a basement frag system incrementally, just daisy chaining each new tank/sump to the last. Up to three tanks and two sumps sharing the same water now.

At each addition, the new tank would just be "off", imbalanced, and kind of grumpy. Systemwide nutrients would drop and the new tank would get dinos. The "old" connected tank(s) would stay mostly to completely clear.

My takeaways from this experience? Bacterial film and slime algae are critical features of a healthy biome. Even if we are just talking about coverage on glass, pumps, powerheads, frag racks etc. Until that gets (re)established, the biome is just noisy and competitive. The uglies are fighting for control. Most corals don't like noise.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Yea I also added a bunch of pods a few days ago. I don’t think it will help much but it’s not going to hurt.

 

[Tahoe61]

Alkalinity issues.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I had to stop dosing for months until the corals started using up alk again. This is one thing I didn’t expect to happen.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I suffered similar but only a couple of pieces but found, The (call it ) swing from the PH,Alk, CA, etc already had an impact, I failed to change my light settings temporarily to Acclimation settings and MOST IMPORTANT is that IU trusted APEX Salinity probe and my IceCap digital and it indicated Low Salt and I kept mixing more until I reached 1.026.
Problem: it was at 1.031. I thought it was weird that I needed 800 gallons of salt mix and I had to use enough to make 910 gals.
I took a sample of water to LFS and he said " WHOA". Of course you look at the guy like you saw a ghost and he had me look through his refractometer. Now corals in my tank are exploding like fireworks. Just added 13 SPS pieces this past Wednesday.
ReCheck salinity, PH and PHOS as any silicates will increase those levels.

 

[Tamberav]

I had the same problem with SPS and moving to a larger tank. It was 20g to 80g though so it was a large difference AND I had also moved apartments not long before so I think everything just had enough. I figure if you upgrade, flow patterns and light will both change some as well as parameters depending how much new water vs old water (dilution of nutrients, etc...).

 

[Guttersnipe]

thank you for chiming in, everybody. I guess the only thing I can do is just wait it out.

 

[Backreefing]

I’m nervous about a upgrade coming soon with a sps tank a cycle is going to be tough.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I’m nervous about a upgrade coming soon with a sps tank a cycle is going to be tough.

Oh it’s such a daunting task. I hope your transfer is successful without any fatalities. I lost a lot on my upgrade. I’m still waiting for coraline to start growing in my new tank. No signs of anything yet.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I’m starting to really regret this tank upgrade. Corals are losing tissue fast.