Added sand, coral looks terrible

[ohio reefer]

Added sand to an established system, 3 year old tank that I have had issues with keeping nutrients up in, so wanting to add some wrasse I decided to add in some live sand, after rinsing the crap out of it for hours with some RODI. Since adding the sand, my torch hasn’t opened at all and I fear it is gone, and my mushrooms which were previously thriving look sad, deflated, and on the verge as well. The only difference in the system is the sand being added, my fish look happier, my clam is thriving still, and anemones look great. Is a large water change in order? I am confused by the sudden issues. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Added sand to an established system, 3 year old tank that I have had issues with keeping nutrients up in, so wanting to add some wrasse I decided to add in some live sand, after rinsing the crap out of it for hours with some RODI. Since adding the sand, my torch hasn’t opened at all and I fear it is gone, and my mushrooms which were previously thriving look sad, deflated, and on the verge as well. The only difference in the system is the sand being added, my fish look happier, my clam is thriving still, and anemones look great. Is a large water change in order? I am confused by the sudden issues. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Can you post a full tank shot under white lighting? How long since you added the sand? What kind of sand? Have you checked nitrates/phosphates? Possibilities that should be ruled out: 1. water clarity worsened which is just making these corals temporarily unhappy 2. the sand is leaching nutrients into the system (phosphate/nitrate) 3. sand is leaching some other unknown toxic substance or irritant 4. the sand is acting like a GFO and absorbed and bottomed your systems phosphate out.

I'd check parameters like nitrates/phosphates, salinity, etc. Maybe add some carbon to the system, and do a water change as well. Sometimes corals just need a minute to adapt, if everything else is looking ok it is probably best to leave it as is and see if everything recovers. Pictures of the torches and mushrooms would help as well. They might be just fine and look worse than they are.

 

[ohio reefer]

Can you post a full tank shot under white lighting? How long since you added the sand? What kind of sand? Have you checked nitrates/phosphates? Possibilities that should be ruled out: 1. water clarity worsened which is just making these corals temporarily unhappy 2. the sand is leaching nutrients into the system (phosphate/nitrate) 3. sand is leaching some other unknown toxic substance or irritant 4. the sand is acting like a GFO and absorbed and bottomed your systems phosphate out.

I'd check parameters like nitrates/phosphates, salinity, etc. Maybe add some carbon to the system, and do a water change as well. Sometimes corals just need a minute to adapt, if everything else is looking ok it is probably best to leave it as is and see if everything recovers. Pictures of the torches and mushrooms would help as well. They might be just fine and look worse than they are.

Thank you so much for the response, my salinity is 1.024, nitrates are at 4, phosphate is reading out at 0 right now so this may be the issue.

 

[Tavero]

Added sand to an established system, 3 year old tank that I have had issues with keeping nutrients up in, so wanting to add some wrasse I decided to add in some live sand, after rinsing the crap out of it for hours with some RODI. Since adding the sand, my torch hasn’t opened at all and I fear it is gone, and my mushrooms which were previously thriving look sad, deflated, and on the verge as well. The only difference in the system is the sand being added, my fish look happier, my clam is thriving still, and anemones look great. Is a large water change in order? I am confused by the sudden issues. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Why did you rinse live sand with rodi? You probably killed every single microorganism that was alive zu there, which are now rotting away. Just get normal sand if you want to rinse it.

Edit: was this an bare bottom before?

 

[ohio reefer]

Why did you rinse live sand with rodi? You probably killed every single microorganism that was alive zu there, which are now rotting away. Just get normal sand if you want to rinse it.

I’ve rinsed live sand numerous times with no issues, when I haven’t rinsed it I ran into issues with cloudiness whenever it was moved around, I wasn’t looking to seed the tank it is an established system, just wanted to add the sand

 

[Tavero]

I’ve rinsed live sand numerous times with no issues, when I haven’t rinsed it I ran into issues with cloudiness whenever it was moved around, I wasn’t looking to seed the tank it is an established system, just wanted to add the sand

Just get normal sand then.
Was this a bare bottom before?

 

[ohio reefer]

Just get normal sand then.
Was this a bare bottom before?

Yes it was. The “live” part in CaribSea is nitrifying bacteria, similar to quick start, rinsing the sand is not going to nuke the tank, I just prefer the look and grain size of their sand

 

[Auto-pilot]

Thank you so much for the response, my salinity is 1.024, nitrates are at 4, phosphate is reading out at 0 right now so this may be the issue.

Bumper about the torch, it's a gone for sure. I would second the addition if carbon. Did they get covered in sand at one point??? If any coral of mine gets covered or upsidedown in sand they have experienced issues like this.

 

[doubleshot00]

Man that sucks but I just don’t see why you added so much sand. I bet that thing was a dust bowl. Run carbon asap.

If it was a nutrient issue just dose it.

 

[ohio reefer]

I figured it was, I didn’t see it get covered but I’m assuming this happened. Thank you so much for the help!

 

[ohio reefer]

Man that sucks but I just don’t see why you added so much sand. I bet that thing was a dust bowl. Run carbon asap.

If it was a nutrient issue just dose it.

I 100% overdid the sand and plan on taking some out, I rinsed it so well and did it so slowly that is actually stayed clear other than a tiny amount floating around but it settled pretty quickly

 

[doubleshot00]

I 100% overdid the sand and plan on taking some out, I rinsed it so well and did it so slowly that is actually stayed clear other than a tiny amount floating around but it settled pretty quickly

Yeah I would take some out. My sand bed is only an 1” thick in some places and i have a wrasse that lives in it. Im taking mine out over time but leaving it in the back of my rock work.

 

[brandon429]

you can see from the fifty page sand rinse thread that sand rinsing doesn't kill tanks and that if you didn't rinse it, you'd still be totally opaque waiting for a clearing

an unspoken risk in your setup> likely dropped salinity adding in all the sand at once with RO rinse in between the grains, with that much sand rinsed a final rinse in salt would be better. that's your most likely cause here. not silting and not any chemistry issues other that fast salinity drop.

I'll go add salinity drop watch out to the first paragraph in the rinse thread.

 

[Dburr1014]

I don't think just adding sand would have killed off the torch.
I would have rinsed the sand too. Mostly in tap then final rinse in rodi. It is what it is.

Why sg at 1.024? How do you measure it and is the utensil calibrated? How is it calibrated. I'm asking cuz this is on the low end. Could have fallen below and you didn't know it.

IMO, check all perameters and post.

 

[Dburr1014]

Brandon beat me to it again.

 

[ohio reefer]

you can see from the fifty page sand rinse thread that sand rinsing doesn't kill tanks and that if you didn't rinse it, you'd still be totally opaque waiting for a clearing

an unspoken risk in your setup> likely dropped salinity adding in all the sand at once with RO rinse in between the grains, with that much sand rinsed a final rinse in salt would be better. that's your most likely cause here. not silting and not any chemistry issues other that fast salinity drop.

I'll go add salinity drop watch out to the first paragraph in the rinse

Thank you! I checked my salinity and it is actually running at .26 not .24, this checks out with what I have been running it at, but do not doubt that something swung that I’m not seeing

 

[ohio reefer]

I don't think just adding sand would have killed off the torch.
I would have rinsed the sand too. Mostly in tap then final rinse in rodi. It is what it is.

Why sg at 1.024? How do you measure it and is the utensil calibrated? How is it calibrated. I'm asking cuz this is on the low end. Could have fallen below and you didn't know it.

IMO, check all perameters and post.

Retesting parameters now, I actually have it at .26 not .24, my apologies. I’m about to recalibrate right now, I have the BRS .35 fluid to make sure it is accurate

 

[Dburr1014]

Retesting parameters now, I actually have it at .26 not .24, my apologies. I’m about to recalibrate right now, I have the BRS .35 fluid to make sure it is accurate

Perfect.

 

[Tavero]

Yes it was. The “live” part in CaribSea is nitrifying bacteria, similar to quick start, rinsing the sand is not going to nuke the tank, I just prefer the look and grain size of their sand

BRS TV did an investigation a few years ago on YouTube where they put sand into an established bare bottom tank. It didn't go well.
The correct way would be to put single cups of sand into the tank every day so you transition it over several weeks.