advice needed --> advice taken -->update July 27

[PoonTang]

if your sump and tank are still separated from each other how about taking a bit of rock out of the tank and putting it in the sump. Replace the rock with corals in the main tank. What did you do with the sand bed?

[marie]

Unless you have sand (which I know you don't) then cloudy isn't normal. I would change out the water...even better get the 180g set up and transfer everything over

[christyf5]

Shelley, I don't think it was the swap that was the problem, I"ve done it many times before. I think it was the sitting around in rubbermaid totes at 18C that did the job. The corals just got too cold and reacclimating them to normal temperatures just didn't go all that well.

Marie, sadly the 180 isn't going to be ready for quite some time. Apprently we need a sub panel and part of our heat pump whatevery system has to be moved. I'm away for 2 weeks this month and my husband is gone next month. I think we're looking at almost october before it even sees water

I'm brewing up some water right now for a water change. Oddly enough, I have every test kit but an ammonia one, how stupid is that.

My tank doesn't have any sand and hasn't for some time. There was a lot of "detritus" on the bottom of the tank when I took out the rock so I wouldn't doubt that some of the cloudiness might be it getting stirred up but I suspect its the corals that are making the water cloudy. The water was pretty cold yesterday and I'm sure they weren't happy.

[christyf5]

Bleh, I just took a hard look at the tank. Some wicked RTN goin on in there. God I hate this hobby sometimes

[Myka]

Oh Christy...this sucks!!!

I would be doing a 50-75% water change, and checking all the levels. Ammonia would be my biggest suspect right now. Have you checked temp and salinity (sometimes we over look the simple things).

I'm so glad my tank move went to smoothly...I thank my lucky stars every time I look into my 90.

[naesco]

I had a similar problem
Get an additional powerhead in the tank (place it just below the water line) that will stop a natural decline in the oxygen levels ASAP

[michika]

So um yeah, I totally hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but yeah, um when this happened to me we all know what happened...my tank suffered a complete wipe out. While I'd be thrilled for your tank to recover, and I hope it does, unfortunately in my experience it didn't.

I did water changes, I ran carbon, and loads of it. But really all I could do was wait it out. The milkiness is from your SPS dying off, and it takes about a week to clear, or did when it happened to me. The next step after the milk-water is the stench of doom, the smell is in the water, and it takes about another week of 5% daily water changes to get it out.

Something you should probably do as soon as you are able is to pick up a few new pieces of rock. The low temperature seems to kill off some of the much needed bacteria in your system, and in my case my system (back in 2007) was unable to sufficiently repopulate the lost bacteria. I experienced SPS death after SPS death for 8 months before I figured it out.

I'm so sad to read this.

[christyf5]

well bloody hell catherine, that is not what I wanted to hear at this point

naesco, I already have a powerhead in place at that location, hopefully it helps

as for the waterchange, I'm making water but it just isn't happening fast enough for my liking

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by michika

The milkiness is from your SPS dying off, and it takes about a week to clear, or did when it happened to me. The next step after the milk-water is the stench of doom, the smell is in the water, and it takes about another week of 5% daily water changes to get it out.

Yup, gotta agree with this. Cold temps moving into my 150 did the same thing. I did recover though, and after all was said and done, it turned out ok. Don't give up hope yet.

[Navarchus]

Pleas check ammonia levels….a.s.a.p.