Foggy Water???
- Thread starter bjs
- Start date
reeftanknewbie
Member
I am new also but was the LR fully cured? You might try asking this in the reeftank forum. Does it smell like amonia? How long has your tank been setup? The more details you give in your post the better chance of a reply. They will help here it just may take them a while.
bjs
New Member
Ive had the tank set up for over a week.. I took samples of my water to a pet store and had it tested.. They said everything was great.. But not to get anything but a couple of damsels.. While I was there I bought a small piece of there already established LR. When I got home I put that and a piece of skeleton coral that my fiance had found while diving. I had cleaned the coral before putting it in the tank.. I hope that helps..
melbournefl
Member
Well welcome to the forum and the trials and tribulations of getting dealing with your LFS. Your tank has probably not even started it's cycle yet and the rock was probably not completely cured. Combination would account for the odors I would think. Most of the people here seem to agree that using damsels to cycle your tank is no more effective than tossing in a raw shrimp and letting it decay. Do you have any saltwater aquarium reference books you're looking to for advice?
Sorry I couldn't give you more information but ...
Later,
Paul
Sorry I couldn't give you more information but ...
Later,
Paul
reeftanknewbie
Member
Don't give up it is hard at first. Before you do anything your lfs tells you check here ask around. a lfs is out to make money people here want to see you succed in your new hobby. you can search the threads here about the"cycle" and how it effects your tank. The more info you can give us about your setup the more help people here can help like how much lr you have and so on your lights filter what you want to do with this tank. Patieance is the biggest part of this hobby. Read on this board and a good book i will find mine and post the name I am at work right now so can't think but books and knowledge are the keep this board is full of knowledge use it. Don't give up and good luck. Welcome aboard too.
jim672
Member
BJS,
Based on what you've mentioned I think you may have a couple different things going on. It sounds as if you're just beginning your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle. Adding more rock to your tank may have, if it had any die-off from when you bought it to when you put it in your tank, delayed/restarted the cycle.
The coral you mentioned could be another issue. It's generally accepted that it's not a good idea to put "wild harvested" pieces like that into a sw tank. The problem is one never knows what, if any, contaminates the piece could have absorbed in the ocean. The water volume in the ocean mitigates toxcicity but since your tank is so much smaller, minor amounts of contaminants can have a deadly effect. You mentioned that you cleaned the coral. Boiling the piece for a few minutes is the only cleaning process I've ever seen recommended. If you didn't do that, I'd remove the coral immediately. If you did boil it, I guess it's your choice to leave it or not.
Jim
Based on what you've mentioned I think you may have a couple different things going on. It sounds as if you're just beginning your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle. Adding more rock to your tank may have, if it had any die-off from when you bought it to when you put it in your tank, delayed/restarted the cycle.
The coral you mentioned could be another issue. It's generally accepted that it's not a good idea to put "wild harvested" pieces like that into a sw tank. The problem is one never knows what, if any, contaminates the piece could have absorbed in the ocean. The water volume in the ocean mitigates toxcicity but since your tank is so much smaller, minor amounts of contaminants can have a deadly effect. You mentioned that you cleaned the coral. Boiling the piece for a few minutes is the only cleaning process I've ever seen recommended. If you didn't do that, I'd remove the coral immediately. If you did boil it, I guess it's your choice to leave it or not.
Jim
melbournefl
Member
BJS, don't give up! This hobby requires patience and whenever something goes wrong there's always somebody (almost always anyway) on the board here that will give you a hand. I've learned very quickly that no matter what my LFS tells me, I come here, go on google, go to the library, just do anything I can do to prove or disprove what I've been told. I'm not an expert (by ANY stretch of the imagination) so I'm hesitant to give much advice here yet but I do know that if you wait awhile (patience again remember?) one of the people on the forum will know the answer to your problem. Just hang in there, things will get better!
Later,
Paul
Later,
Paul
jim672
Member
BJS,
I'm going to assume your tank is still cycling.........If you have good filtration and good water movement from some powerheads, I don't think you want to replace any water. Allow the tank to complete its cycle......usual timeframe is 4 to 6 weeks.
What did you decide to do with the coral?
As Paul said, stick with it! Things do get better!
Jim
I'm going to assume your tank is still cycling.........If you have good filtration and good water movement from some powerheads, I don't think you want to replace any water. Allow the tank to complete its cycle......usual timeframe is 4 to 6 weeks.
What did you decide to do with the coral?
As Paul said, stick with it! Things do get better!
Jim
bjs
New Member
I took the coral and put it on my back deck and let it sit in the sun for the day.. Maybe that will help since I had already done the boiling water. I think that maybe the coral was still alive and that maybe what the problem is.. I feel really bad about that now.. My fiance really thought it was dead, it was extremely hard, no scent, no signs at all that it was living. Now that the smell has come about, I think it was alive.. We should be ashamed and we are.. But Im going to let it get some drying from the sun and then boil again.. I hope that works..
jim672
Member
BJS,
If the coral was out of the water for some time, then boiled, I doubt it was alive. Boiling it again won't hurt anything. I like the live corals so all this talk about boiling corals kind of makes my skin crawl
!!
Does the smell remind you of "low tide on the marshes"? A very green-like smell? If so, some of that is just the nature of a salt water tank. If it's very pronounced, the filtration and water movement......and the completion of your cycle, should help that alot.
Jim
If the coral was out of the water for some time, then boiled, I doubt it was alive. Boiling it again won't hurt anything. I like the live corals so all this talk about boiling corals kind of makes my skin crawl
!!Does the smell remind you of "low tide on the marshes"? A very green-like smell? If so, some of that is just the nature of a salt water tank. If it's very pronounced, the filtration and water movement......and the completion of your cycle, should help that alot.
Jim