El Guappo's Red Sea Max Reborn.

[ElGuappo]

Well i have completley destroyed my tank to the point that today i restarted with new sand and stanky LR. everything that used to be in it is now in buckets or temporary tanks.

In the last monthe i have lost two fire shrimp, a cleaner shrimp, a camel back shrimp. a tobbacco bass, a pearly jawfish, 2 porcelin crabs, 1 pep shrimp, and two chromis. i watched something drag a fireshrimp into the jawfishes home.

this is when i decided he (the jawfish) wasnt coming back. he had disapeared once before only to turn up days later. this time after a week i took my skimmer out, the powerheads, and such to look in the sump nothing. since his disappearance i have seen a sandsifter upside down in the cave and a fire shrimp get dragged down to the same spot. plus various hermit parts lying around.

i took my two clowns and put them in a 10 with some coral and lr. i also have a 25 that is now home to my elbli angel and 6line, with my sally light light foot. this is the tank that the chromis died in im thinking they may have died from the move !?!

I have tried numerous traps only to come up empty. Doug (thanks again) helped me check existing lr crevices and nothing. i am just at a total loss. i have started the max to cycle today and think i will be seting traps before i add any LS after the cycle.

One question how should i store sand for later use and if i want reuse this LR again should i cycle it with the rest? or cook it?

Thanks for any help.

Peace

[Carmen]

Wow, I am so sorry to hear of all your losses! Well I hope you catch whatever is the culprit????? I would love to know what could be causing so many casualties! Best of luck with starting over.

[Red Coral Aquariums]

Originally Posted by ElGuappo

One question how should i store sand for later use and if i want reuse this LR again should i cycle it with the rest? or cook it?


Peace

If it is Live Sand and you want it to remain LS then you will need , salt water, circulation, and heat.
So you have your old live rock quarantined because of the hitch hiker?

Kevin

[ElGuappo]

well heres what my rsm looked like right before i had all the trouble.



And after the carnage. this is 25lbs of new lr and 5-10 lbs of old lr from tank previous to take down. after the cycle i have have a couple of pieces i will be using from my current temp tanks. i have also added 20 lbs of new sand and added about 10 lbs of old sand. not a very good pic as i am still tring to filter out all the fine dust.



side pics on flickr.

[ElGuappo]

So here is a better FTS without the HOB filter on the front. i have used far less rock and decided to keep all the lr away from the back wall and far enough away from the sides to get a mag scrubber in there. i have use one great free standing piece to create the canopy. it will be better after this new lr cycles as i have one good round plate like piece of rock i plan on moving back in. it is now in a temp tank.



MY temp 10 G


My Temp 25 G

[motokorth]

Shitty to hear that, good luck with the restart.

[christyf5]

Did you figure out what was in the rock eating all your livestock?

[Myka]

Even though you looked through all the rock, I would be UBER hesitant to put any of it back in the tank!! There HAS to be some sort of critter lurking...you said you saw something drag your Fire shrimp in a hole? What did it look like?

[ElGuappo]

No i havent found it yet but will be setting a trap tonight. got a great crab trap the other day. i uncertain it it will go back or not at this point its just what im hoping to be able to use. privided the monthe i have to find something ( while new rock cycles) goes well. never actually saw the culprit but the front half of the shrimp, clogging the opening.

[fishytime]

Do dig the new aquascaping bud. Its more impressive in person.