filtration change - nano provided vs lr

[kmerchant]

I've had my nano up and working well since January. From reading postings here and talking to people at the lfs, I was convinced I needed to change the filration from what was provided with my 24g nano deluxe.

So last weekend, I took out the bio balls, most of the sponge, ceramic cylinders, and carbon.

I left one piece of sponge, added a cut of poly-material on top, and filled the rest of the left two compartments w/ live rock rubble from the lfs.

So this is what happened...

My flame angel died
My cow fish died
My two cleaner shrimps died
One of my pulsing Xenia corals died

I had an algae bloom (green algae everywhere)

I tested the water the next day after changing the filtration and two days later, with no detection of amonia, phosphate, nitrite or nitrate. So what I figure is the lr had not cured, and by adding so much rock at once, it messed up my biological filtration balance.

It's been a week, and my blue tang, percula clown, clam, fungia, and flower pot are doing ok.

Has anyone had this happen, or heard of other ill-experienced reefers?

[Subrafta]

It sounds like you removed most of the existing bio-filter and went through a mini-cycle with the live rock. It's never advisable to add live rock to an existing system with livestock unless you're absolutely sure it's fully cured in your tank's conditions. I'm sorry to hear about your lost fish, shrimp, and corals. Live rock rubble can be a good filter media once it's cured.

It also appears that you have a very large number of fish for a modest sized tank. Saltwater only has about 1/10th the dissolved oxygen of freshwater, so the number of fish that can be kept per gallon is greatly reduced. The flame angel, cow fish, and blue tang all will / would have have outgrown your tank fairly quickly. The very high bioload probably left your tank even more susceptible to your change in filtration.

Best of luck,

John

[kmerchant]

Thanks...

I've decided I'm going to try and focus on more of a reef tank (less fish more corals). So once everything is stable for a couple weeks, I'll add a shrimp (probably a banded since they eat brisstleworms which I have) and then just corals.

[CPT. MURPHY]

sorry to hear about your loss :(