Help! Cloudy Water, Nitrates Dropped, Corals Retracted after adding Skimmer

[Zakary2003]

You have a uv and are sure it is working? That would clear up a bacterial bloom quickly. I would also double check all you pumps and electrical systems for stray voltage, cracks. If nothing, do several WC, change carbon and keep skimmer going. Hydrogen Sulfide gas could have escaped from your sand while moving or your shrimp is releasing some digging?

Would hydrogen sulfide take 8 days to start affecting the tank and then suddenly crash within 24 hours? I was under the impression that it acts much faster than that.

 

[CHSUB]

Yeah the UV is working. I just opened it to check. I don't see any cracks on anything and I don't know how to test for stray voltage but I didn't get electrocuted messing with stuff. Just a ton of pineapple sponges on the return pump that I had to clean off.

More than likely stray voltage is NOT the cause. I would just continue with small frequent WC. despite your best effort moving the tank caused this upset, imo.

 

[CHSUB]

Would hydrogen sulfide take 8 days to start affecting the tank and then suddenly crash within 24 hours? I was under the impression that it acts much faster than that.

Yes, I agree, but it could be slowly creeping out. I would also slow my carbon dosing, maybe cut in half, than in half again in a few days.

 

[CHSUB]

I offered 2 very feasible ways a skimmer could induce this in a tank… just saying.

It was my opinion, right or wrong, that a skimmer would not cause this….

 

[Formulator]

It was my opinion, right or wrong, that a skimmer would not cause this….

You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. In my 9 year experience, coincidence is extremely rare. Skimmer being added and cloudy water the next day points the finger at the skimmer, at minimum as a contributing factor. Perhaps you are on to something with the tank move as another contributing factor, but skimmers create a TON of gas-water exchange. The increased oxygenation and/or perhaps increased CO2 will have a profound effect on bacterial growth in most situations.

I think it likely was a combination of increased bacterial populations due in part to the move you mentioned, then accelerated by carbon dosing, and then the straw that broke the camels back - increased oxygenation from the skimmer was like giving those bacteria steroids.

 

[hikermike]

Hydrogen sulfide gas is much overplayed in its role in home tanks and is deadly poisonous would kill instantly. Your nose is super sensitive to the smell. If you have a pistol shrimp in a 20 gal tank then it has certainly turned the sand over enough to prevent build up. Also it takes a pretty deep bed to build up. Why a skimmer in a 20 gal. tank? Having small salt water tanks since the 60's I have never had to use them and if the skimmer is that small to fit can they really preform properly.? I too used to move a tank a lot and it almost always resulted in some sort of upset resulting in mortality. And yes sometimes after several days. I would do some small 10% water changes. If ammonia is high or some toxin is present you need large water changes but in general I think too many large water changes is stressful to the fish/invertebrates. Is your shrimp surviving well? They would be sensitive to toxins. I know I'm being a contrarian here but I would remove the skimmer and increase the circulation/turbulence in the tank. It doesn't take a lot to increase oxygenation. In the old days when we used pumps that failed we would take water glasses and just dip water and pour it back from up high a couple of times a day and that would keep the tank going until the pumps were repaired.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Something has gone terribly wrong in my waterbox 20 AIO mixed reef. Yesterday I added a brand new Aquaready Bullet 1 HOB protein skimmer I got for free through an Amazon program called Vine, where people can recieve (mostly) free stuff to review. I wanted to stabilize my pH and be able to feed more heavily because I'm slowly starting to add SPS corals and the skimmer was free. After tuning it to a fairly dry skim, I left it overnight and changed the cup this morning because I wanted to see how much it collected.

By 1pm, it had stopped foaming and wasn't capturing any dissolved solids despite the pump and bubbles working fine. Also at 1pm, I noticed my anemone was looking unhappy and had started to move around the tank, and I also noticed some of my zoas and both of my duncan colonies were closed up and looking upset.
By 6 pm, my 3 different species of leathers, my xenia, my clove polyps, and my GSP also closed up and were looking crappy, and my water got a little cloudy. I did some tests and everything was consistent except for nitrates, which were 0 (down from 5) and my phosphates, which were up to .14. I threw in some reef roids and frozen fish food because that's what I normally do when my nutrients get low.
It's almost 9:00 now, and the water is even more cloudy and there is no change in the corals.

Here are the tank stats:
Tank: >1 year old Waterbox 20 gallon cube AIO tank
Equipment: Nano automatic fleece roller, AI hydra 32 light, cobalt neotherm heater, fzone auto top off, AI Nero 3 powerhead, AI Axis 20 return pump, and mangroves/a plant light in the middle chamber. Also, an aquaready bullet-1 HOB protein skimmer added yesterday and a 15 watt UV sterilizer added a month ago due to some signs of dinoflagellates returning (a problem I've dealt with a few times) .
Inhabitants: 2 clownfish, a yasha goby, a candy pistol shrimp, 3 sexy shrimp, a bubble tip anemone, 2 rock flower anemones, and CuC such as hermits, astrea snails, and a tiger conch.
Corals: a good mix of softies like zoas, leathers, GSP, clove polyps, xenia, etc plus LPS such as duncans, candycane, frogspawn, favia, acan, and chalices, and a couple SPS like a tnt anacropora and some monti caps
Feeding schedule: frozen mysis 1x per day in the morning, pellets 1x per day in the evening, frozen coral food 1x per week, and amino acids 2x per week.
Dosing: just carbon (.5 mL tropic marin bacto balance 1x per day) and kalkwasser in the ATO, plus amino acids 2x per week.


Normal Parameter averages:
Unreadable nitrites and ammonia
2-5ppm nitrates
0.05-0.1ppm phosphates
420-460ppm calcium
8.1-8.8 dkh alkalinity
34ppt salinity
7.9 pH at night and 8.3-8.4 pH during peak daytime
79°F (heater is set to 76, but the equipment generates heat and the room is set to 74)

Parameters Today:
Unreadable ammonia and nitrite
Nitrate 0ppm (Unreadable on salifert, even when holding the cuvette up to the paper sideways)
Phosphates .14ppm (highest it's been in a month)
Salinity 34ppt
Temperature 79.2
Calcium 440ppm
Alkalinity 8.5dkh
pH 8.02

I moved recently (8 days ago) but the tank was doing well and there were no major changes in parameters from the move. I test calcium, alkalinity, nitrates, and phosphates every other day. I have a wifi thing that constantly tests for pH, salinity, and temperature. I also use activated carbon and I have more coming Monday to replace it in case it's a contamination issue.

Everything was fine before the protein skimmer. I turned off the skimmer, but I wouldn't expect that to cause such a dramatic and quick crash.

Please help me save the tank! What happened!? Was the skimmer too effective? What do I need to do to reverse coarse? Should I do a 25% water change? I just did one on Thursday and I don't have any water made up currently.

How well did you wash and clean the skimmer before putting it in your tank?

 

[UMALUM]

I think there's a good chance that what your seeing is a result of some sort of warfare. It really doesn't take much in a tank that size for a leather to start a chain reaction type event. Everything closed up and your anemones running for the hills tells me toxins. What caused it? Who knows? Could have been the move, some sort of chemical from manufacturing on the skimmer, or even that drop to 0.

 

[Zakary2003]

How well did you wash and clean the skimmer before putting it in your tank?

I washed it down with some old tank water and scrubbed it with some dry salt mix but that's it.

 

[Zakary2003]

Why a skimmer in a 20 gal. tank? Having small salt water tanks since the 60's I have never had to use them and if the skimmer is that small to fit can they really preform properly.?

I only added it because people kept recommending it to stabilize my nightly pH swings and because my phosphates run very high when I don't carbon dose, even with weekly 25% water changes. My LFS's owner also heavily pushed me to get a skimmer. I wouldn't have added it if I thought there was a chance of consequences this big happening.

 

[Zakary2003]

I think there's a good chance that what your seeing is a result of some sort of warfare. It really doesn't take much in a tank that size for a leather to start a chain reaction type event. Everything closed up and your anemones running for the hills tells me toxins. What caused it? Who knows? Could have been the move, some sort of chemical from manufacturing on the skimmer, or even that drop to 0.

So just activated carbon and water changes as a solution?

 

[Zakary2003]

Is your shrimp surviving well? They would be sensitive to toxins

Yes, the shrimp has been extremely active the last few days making his burrow and taking food fine. He was even quite active this morning up until the water got cloudy. I haven't seen him since but I sometimes go a few days without him coming out from his burrow.

 

[Zakary2003]

Right now, my solution is to do a 20% water change tomorrow (its 12:20am here), change out the carbon, and reduce my carbon dosing. I'm going to leave the skimmer on for now in case it's a bacteria bloom causing a lack of oxygen. My weird pH swings today make me think a bacteria bloom is a possibility because they would be causing the CO2 levels to rise rapidly.

 

[Zakary2003]

It's looking a lot better today. The water is still cloudy but less so, and most of the corals are at least partially open. It looks like everything except maybe my anemones will pull through.

 

[UMALUM]

Glad to hear it's looking better. Might have to chalk it up to one of those famous unknown reef mysteries. On a separate note if you want me to hold off on sending the zoas I totally understand. I'm open all week so you can pick whatever day is best for you. LMK

 

[Zakary2003]

Glad to hear it's looking better. Might have to chalk it up to one of those famous unknown reef mysteries. On a separate note if you want me to hold off on sending the zoas I totally understand. I'm open all week so you can pick whatever day is best for you. LMK

The zoas are going in a QT system that is running just fine at the moment. But thanks for the offer.

 

[Spare time]

Is it safe to assume that carbon dosing increases the risk of a bloom? I do carbon dose tropic marin bacto balance.

Stop the carbon dosing for now. Maybe try lowering the dose in the future assuming the skimmer is working fine.

 

[Zakary2003]

Stop the carbon dosing for now.

Yeah, I skipped it for today. I'll probably start again at a lower dose when things stabilize just to keep my phosphates down, but I might not even need to with the skimmer.