Frags died in new tank

[taquadam]

hi. a newbie here.
i did some research but indeed underestimated sensitivity of those wonderful tiny coral beings.

i got tiny 5L tank with filter, pump, heater to 26C and blue LEDs. got matrix 'stones', live sand, dry rock and a volcanic rock (from travels in Iceland) in. kept it just running for 10 days and then brought in 3 frags (zoa, stylophora and {unsure}). a snail included.

didn't dip them, but i broke the bottom part of the ceramic frag, so perhaps stressed them(?)

anyway, once in tank, they didn't look healthy. zoas kept closed and (what i think was) stylophora slimed thin 'hair' around, and seems with its green shiny parts (the algae symbionts?). after maybe an hour i gave them some reef roids. sliming stylophora seemed feeding through its pores.

but in few hours, stylophora was bleaching. no slime anymore, but next day no shine at all. same with the unknown one. zoas kept closed.
the snail behaved weird as well - found him naked moving wildly side to side.

tried partial water change and tested things, all looked ok (ph, 35 ppm salt, no ammon.,low nitr., but quite high hardness). but i didn't test on alcalinity. it is 10 days now, two bleached frags and zoas that didn't open.

i call my tank a memento mori now.

do you have any thoughts here? could it be that (black mushy) lava rock (metals?) or the Himalayan salt ? and what would you check first? the bleaching happened very fast, white in a day or so.

 

[Macbalacano]

Welcome and sorry for the troubles! Aside from living things and actual equipment, I would not put anything else aside from actual live or dry rock meant for reef aquariums. I would not put any other type of rocks/sand in there.

Also, what do you mean Himalayan salt? I would only use reef salt (pre mixed with reverse osmosis water) for the tank.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

hi. a newbie here.
i did some research but indeed underestimated sensitivity of those wonderful tiny coral beings.

i got tiny 5L tank with filter, pump, heater to 26C and blue LEDs. got matrix 'stones', live sand, dry rock and a volcanic rock (from travels in Iceland) in. kept it just running for 10 days and then brought in 3 frags (zoa, stylophora and {unsure}). a snail included.

didn't dip them, but i broke the bottom part of the ceramic frag, so perhaps stressed them(?)

anyway, once in tank, they didn't look healthy. zoas kept closed and (what i think was) stylophora slimed thin 'hair' around, and seems with its green shiny parts (the algae symbionts?). after maybe an hour i gave them some reef roids. sliming stylophora seemed feeding through its pores.

but in few hours, stylophora was bleaching. no slime anymore, but next day no shine at all. same with the unknown one. zoas kept closed.
the snail behaved weird as well - found him naked moving wildly side to side.

tried partial water change and tested things, all looked ok (ph, 35 ppm salt, no ammon.,low nitr., but quite high hardness). but i didn't test on alcalinity. it is 10 days now, two bleached frags and zoas that didn't open.

i call my tank a memento mori now.

do you have any thoughts here? could it be that (black mushy) lava rock (metals?) or the Himalayan salt ? and what would you check first? the bleaching happened very fast, white in a day or so.

You moved too fast.
A brand new tank, ESPECIALLY a small one, is not ready for coral in 10 days.

*Edit: this may not apply to experienced reefers, but for someone just starting out, don't waste money on corals until the tank is stable.

 

[I never finish anythi]

Ditch the lava rock and use a decent salt . God knows what salt you are using. 5 ltr tank will be very hard to keep stable. How are you topping off for evaporation??

 

[taquadam]

thanks!

topping up by freshwater (carbon filtered tap water left overnight, i have read that's fine instead of RODI), no salt.

removed the volcanic rock and ordered proper salt..

actually it was live rock i got there so i thought 10 days could do (seen a bit of nitrite and now nitrite is 0 but nitrates went up, so i thought bacteria do their job).

Can you give some estimate for the tank maturing, a month of just running/topping up water?

 

[Macbalacano]

There will be many people that will disagree with me but you can set up a tank and have corals in same or next day. It’s about your level of comfort with risk and your ability to maintain the proper water parameters.

Most will tell you that you should wait a long time before dropping in corals but that isn’t necessary. Fish and inverts though are a different story - you’d need to make sure the tank is cycled prior to putting them in and that there is no amonia present.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

topping up by freshwater (carbon filtered tap water left overnight, i have read that's fine instead of RODI), no salt.

This is fine for freshwater but unless you're sure of your tap water contents, RODI (or at least RO or distilled) water is a much safer option.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

There will be many people that will disagree with me but you can set up a tank and have corals in same or next day. It’s about your level of comfort with risk and your ability to maintain the proper water parameters.

Most will tell you that you should wait a long time before dropping in corals but that isn’t necessary. Fish and inverts though are a different story - you’d need to make sure the tank is cycled prior to putting them in and that there is no amonia present.

The logic of waiting to add corals is exactly what you mentioned - the stability of the tank. Most new reefers have a bit of a learning curve (totally fine, we all started somewhere), and new tanks are inherently unstable in most cases. So waiting a while to add them increases the probability that the tank can support coral.

 

[Garf]

thanks!

topping up by freshwater (carbon filtered tap water left overnight, i have read that's fine instead of RODI), no salt.

removed the volcanic rock and ordered proper salt..

actually it was live rock i got there so i thought 10 days could do (seen a bit of nitrite and now nitrite is 0 but nitrates went up, so i thought bacteria do their job).

Can you give some estimate for the tank maturing, a month of just running/topping up water?

What’s the alkalinity of the tap water? I’m assuming you also used this to mix up the saltwater?

 

[Ron Reefman]

SLOW DOWN and ask more questions before you do something rather than after you do it. That will really help avoid bad results. Consider looking into this newer thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/minimalist-reefer.1030960/

It's for people trying to keep their tanks simple and as inexpensive as possible.