My rock background.

[Western_reefer]

lol The nano was set up for a year +. I just built this wall and placed it in. The tank itself is not new at all. The empty nano is my friends nano, he let me borrow it so I could build and "map" out the wall background.

 

[JAR]

Yeah dude. Pull that stuff out. It takes a while for 3 tubes of silicone to cure.
Your PH could drop from that.

 

[zambavi]

lol The nano was set up for a year +. I just built this wall and placed it in. The tank itself is not new at all. The empty nano is my friends nano, he let me borrow it so I could build and "map" out the wall background.

Doesn't matter if the nano's been up for 10 years IMO... If you took everything out to put this guy in you stirred up the tank big time. All that silicon needs to cure and you've got die off going on from having the LR out of water for 24 hours. Should keep all your life stock in a rubbermaid, bucket or holding tank until everything settles and cures and has a chance to cycle again and then put yourstuff back in. It's just a friendly suggestion... but my guess is that the shrimp is the first of many things that you'll lose over the next several days.

 

[Western_reefer]

Well, I gave all my high end corals to a friend of mine to hold them for me until things get better in the tank. So far, the losses are: 1 Cleaner shrimp, Red Robin SPS, Candlelight Acro, and Minefield Cyphastrea. All fish, the remaining cleaner shrimp and corals are fine. Water is about 10 times more clearer. All those things that died, they all died on the second day of the bacteria bloom, after that second day, I added 2 skimmers, added some carbon, and did very large water changes and nothing els has died yet and things are improving. The first day of the bacteria bloom, I didn't know it was a bacteria bloom.

 

[mpoletti]

When your tank is ready Moses, I'll give you another Minefield

 

[Western_reefer]

When your tank is ready Moses, I'll give you another Minefield

Wow! Thanks a million!! :hat:

 

[Western_reefer]

Well, I tested my water at 2 different LFS today, so the readings are pretty accurate I suppose. Here are the readings:
pH: 8.0-8.2
Alkalinity: 10-11
Calcium: 450-550
Ammonia: 0
Phosphates: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.026-1.027


Calcium is a little high but that's not really a problem... Looks like my water is good. lol

 

[r0ck0]

Well, I tested my water at 2 different LFS today, so the readings are pretty accurate I suppose. Here are the readings:
pH: 8.0-8.2
Alkalinity: 10-11
Calcium: 450-550
Ammonia: 0
Phosphates: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.026-1.027


Calcium is a little high but that's not really a problem... Looks like my water is good. lol

Yes, the standard tests are good but there might be other substances in the water that you can't test for. these are the things that are leeching from the new rock wall and killing your animals. I would recommend water changes and waiting at least a week before thinking that things are back to normal.

 

[Western_reefer]

Well, I tested my water at 2 different LFS today, so the readings are pretty accurate I suppose. Here are the readings:
pH: 8.0-8.2
Alkalinity: 10-11
Calcium: 450-550
Ammonia: 0
Phosphates: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.026-1.027


Calcium is a little high but that's not really a problem... Looks like my water is good. lol

Yes, the standard tests are good but there might be other substances in the water that you can't test for. these are the things that are leeching from the new rock wall and killing your animals. I would recommend water changes and waiting at least a week before thinking that things are back to normal.

What kind of things would be leeching from the rock wall if its just regular live rock???

 

[r0ck0]

Well, I tested my water at 2 different LFS today, so the readings are pretty accurate I suppose. Here are the readings:
pH: 8.0-8.2
Alkalinity: 10-11
Calcium: 450-550
Ammonia: 0
Phosphates: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.026-1.027


Calcium is a little high but that's not really a problem... Looks like my water is good. lol

Yes, the standard tests are good but there might be other substances in the water that you can't test for. these are the things that are leeching from the new rock wall and killing your animals. I would recommend water changes and waiting at least a week before thinking that things are back to normal.

What kind of things would be leeching from the rock wall if its just regular live rock???

I used 6 sticks of epoxy, 4 tubes of silicone, and about 10 or so lb of live rock.

 

[zambavi]

Agree... give it a week or two with heavy water changes.

 

[Western_reefer]

The epoxy and silicone are aquarium safe. Also, I wasn't planning on adding things back to my tank for at least a week or so anyways.... I just posted my water parameters which are good, but that doesn't I'm adding all my livestock back. lol

 

[tuberider]

+1 on the water changes, a Poly-Filter® can't hurt either.

 

[Western_reefer]

+1 on the water changes, a Poly-Filter® can't hurt either.

I've got 21 gallons of fresh saltwater mixing and an RO/DI unit making more RO/DI water. I'm already running a filter sock.

 

[r0ck0]

+1 on the water changes, a Poly-Filter® can't hurt either.

I've got 21 gallons of fresh saltwater mixing and an RO/DI unit making more RO/DI water. I'm already running a filter sock.

Poly-filter is different than a regular filter sock. They are a cross between chemical and mechanical filters. They are especially good at removing heavy metals and other toxins from water.

http://www.poly-bio-marine.com/polyfilter.html

 

[Western_reefer]

+1 on the water changes, a Poly-Filter® can't hurt either.

I've got 21 gallons of fresh saltwater mixing and an RO/DI unit making more RO/DI water. I'm already running a filter sock.

Poly-filter is different than a regular filter sock. They are a cross between chemical and mechanical filters. They are especially good at removing heavy metals and other toxins from water.

http://www.poly-bio-marine.com/polyfilter.html

Oohhhhh, okay. I'll call up a LFS and see if they have some.

 

[Western_reefer]

I thought we were talking about a Bono cube here? How's you get a filter sock in there?

Whats a Bono cube?

 

[Coral reefer]

I thought we were talking about a Nano cube here? How's you get a filter sock in there?

 

[Coral reefer]

Fixed it. Nano cube. Stupid phone

 

[fingerwrinkles]

Hey Moses - one thing that folks might be saying is that although the surface of the silicone feels dry, it takes quite awhile (several days) for it to fully cure. Until it does cure (meaning hard all the way through) the wet stuff underneath the surface may continue to aspirate into the water in minute quantities. This is also true for the epoxy sticks, and in both the case of the silicone and epoxy, the curing time will increase significantly with the thickness of material (i.e. how much you used).

Back in the days when I worked wholesale, we used to make our own tanks. Even with the small bead you put between the panes and on seams, we would let the tanks cure at lease a couple days to make sure that all the fumes from the curing process had dissipated. I'm guessing that based upon the very large volume of material that you used to make the background, you might have wanted to wait several days or maybe even up to 2 weeks to let this air cure before putting it into a cycling tank (to recycle the formerly live rock) and then into the display. Some here will likely have other opinions on the curing time, but I tend to try and be conservative.

At this point, the suggestions to treat the display separately while the wall continues to cure sound wise. I'd also give the wall frequent sniff and touch (should be firm, not squishy) tests to ensure that all is safe before it goes back into the tank. If you smell even the slightest amount of silicone, epoxy, or "chemical" scent, that means the material is still off-gassing and is not yet cured.

What you've done looks really great and it'll be a neat addition to your setup; it just needs a little more time to get there.