bristle worms dying

[ccny]

i'm a complete newbie and i have a jbj nano-cube cycling now after the LFS guy told me how easy it is to set up. i think he overstated this and in my naivete, i've initially had problems cycling the tank and sadly killed a few damsels. i'm now in the middle of what i think is a proper cycle with the LS and roughly 16 lbs of LR i have in the tank (about 10 gallons water). i've pulled the sponges and ceramic and carbon out of the back and replaced with LR. also, i put another pump into the tank to improve flow and oxygenation.

the tanks has been cycling well for about 10 days now and is just starting to clear out ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. the temp is 78-80 and the pH last night was 7.8 so i added some buffer. sg is 1.022.

weird thing though. some of the worms in the rock have been coming out onto the sand and basically dying after hours of squirming. is this usual or should i worry about something nasty that i am not measuring? also, would a protein skimmer fit in something this small without disrupting the lid and lighting?

 

[Anonymous]

The A/N/N probably is too high for the comfort of the worm, or the temperature/salinity shock. They should not do that if you acclaim correctly in a mature tank...

Does the rock in which the worms are in kind of "smelly" before you put in the tank? Maybe the worms were out of the water for too long...

 

[Anonymous]

yeah, because my buddy upgraded his tank once and threw his crushed coral substrate in a bucket...this bucket sat in his garage for like 2 weeks with maybe an inch of water over the top layer of the substrate...he left it out there partly from laziness and partly for me to harvest bristle worms from...after a week of them sitting there i pulled out a couple worms from just the top layer real quick and put them in my tank...even after 2 weeks of being in that bucket they were still alive...so it would seem to me that something is quite abnormal....

 

[ccny]

oh boy. that's a real concern then. i've been having tons of trouble with this tank. i'm really not sure the test kit is that entirely accurate. should i do a complete water change or something? the tank itself smells a bit stank but i thought that was natural. newbie me i guess.

 

[ccny]

actually, just sniffed the tank again. honestly, i'm pretty worried. it smells a bit like urine. almost like a NYC subway. that's not normal right?

 

[Anonymous]

yeah a water change could only help so long as its ro....and buffed right....10 days is not really long enough for the cycle though, usually like 30 or so. i like to change 10 percent of the water weekly,to insure you get rid of all the nasties, corals release nasty chemicals as well trying to fight each other...
but people do have at least short-term success with doing few changes....what creatures do you have in there right now?

 

[timclark27]

I'm no expert on reef tanks but I have a medical background and ammonia is what gives urine its smell. So the ammonia level must be reasonably high I suspect.

 

[ccny]

thanks for the replies. i don't have anything in the tank except for the LR and LS. it's basically a new tank that i'd eventually like to put 1 or 2 fish and some soft coral. out of a panic, i did a quick 50% water change and the smell is basically gone or at least much reduced.

as far as the ammonia, it's just so strange that the kit is not really picking it up. it's a bit frustrating. just remembering from biology class, i thought maybe this was urea instead of ammonia and was wondering what kind of bacteria would be doing that.

 

[Anonymous]

well, you're the first person i've ever heard mention reef tank and urea in the same sentence so, i doubt it....which creatures do you wanna keep for the long run?

 

[ccny]

again, i'm a complete newb but i'm thinking of a small clown fish and something small later to pair with him. probably get either crabs or snails for some of the dirty work. as far as corals, maybe some mushrooms and zooanthids. from what i've been reading tho, i worry about the bioload in such a small tank.

 

[ccny]

i forgot to mention, not only was there a bit of that urea/urine smell but it was a bit sulfurous too. was kinda unsettling.

 

[Anonymous]

i wouldn't worry about shrooms and zo's adding to your bioload too much, i've purchased crabs and then removed them because they were too destructive for my liking....they didn't really eat the corals they just would pick through the corals looking for food and it just looked too irritating for the corals....snails are good....do you have any books on clownfish?

 

[Anonymous]

well , is there someone who could have pee'd in your tank? maybe you should do another water change....

 

[ccny]

lol! no, i couldn't imagine anything like that. no kids or pets around or anything. the water change did a lot to get rid of the smell so i'm glad. no books on clown fish or even the hobby yet though i was thinking of picking up one of the books by John Tullock. i also don't use ro/di water cause it seems like the filter will cost more than my tank. should i reconsider?

 

[ccny]

lol! no, i couldn't imagine anything like that. no kids or pets around or anything. the water change did a lot to get rid of the smell so i'm glad. no books on clown fish or even the hobby yet though i was thinking of picking up one of the books by John Tullock. i also don't use ro/di water cause it seems like the filter will cost more than my tank. should i reconsider?

 

[Anonymous]

yeah you should reconsider....just buy it at the fish store but test it good first...

 

[ccny]

how can i tell it's working? as long as it puts out water? can i just get the cheapest one and that's it?

 

[Anonymous]

if you don't want to buy your water from the fish store, you should buy the best one you can afford, even then you still have to change out the RO membrane and other filters in less than a year...
ask your fish store about their RO setup...ask em how old the membrane is and if they have a seperate chamber for silicates....research this a lot before you buy one for yourself....if the fish store gives you sloppy answers about their setup, don't buy from them....i pay $1.25 a gallon for salted RO water buffed just right and ready to go....and like .45 cents per gallon of evaporation make-up water....5 gallons of each a week at least....now that we're in winter though my evap. rate has been cut almost in half so 5 gallons lasts like 10 days or so...but measure the makeup water as well, make sure it's got a good ph...don't be switching salts brands a bunch either on the same tank, pick one and stick with it unless you have problems....i use red sea but i guess people have success with most brands, another time tested one would be instant ocean

 

[ccny]

hmm...thanks. it might make more sense for me to get water from the fish store for now. i guess in the long run, it's better to get the filter if it cost over a buck a gallon.

 

[Anonymous]

if the nano were my only tank, i would prob. only get water from the fish store if it tested out good...the ro setup can be a hassle but on the other hand if you buy a good one you wouldn't be subject to relying on the fish store to give you the best water possible....also check out wetwebmedia.com