Advice Please (Cloudy Tank)

[BBurrows13]

Please help me out with this,
Two Days ago i added some Live Rock to my aquarium, (since i get my live rock straight from the ocean it had some tiny starfish, feather dusters, etc. on it) Everything was good in the tank. Yesterday I added some coral-Accel by Kent Marine. This evening when i arrived home i notice the tank was cloudy (milky sort of) and all of my tiny starfish, as well as other small critters were dead.
My Temperature: 79
PH: 8.0
Nitrate: 10ppm
Nitrite: .25
Ammonia .50
Salinity: 1.025
I was wondering what all of you think i should do or what will happen (i already added extra carbon)
I would really like to avoid a massive water change

(My parents are on the verge of selling my aquarium:shock:.... I really need some advice, and keep in mind there aren't any marine supply stores here)

Thanks to all

 

[BBurrows13]

It also smells a little...

 

[Scooterman]

Water changes are your best option, you have to do them regularly or else you will continue to loose life in that tank! Also don't add stuff like that unless you actually test for it, no need to just add stuff to your tank like that.

 

[BBurrows13]

Water changes are your best option, you have to do them regularly or else you will continue to loose life in that tank! Also don't add stuff like that unless you actually test for it, no need to just add stuff to your tank like that.

I know water changes are necessary and i do 20% every 2 weeks or so, i'm just wondering if i have to do a 100% change immediately,
thanks for the advice on the kent stuff, i think i'm goin to toss it

 

[Scooterman]

I'd do a 20 or 30% & see how it goes! Remove all dead stuff!

 

[BBurrows13]

way ahead of you on removing dead stuff, i think i'll go ahead and do a 20% change...
So do you think it'll eventually go back to normal???

 

[returnofsid]

You may be experiencing die off on your new live rock that's creating ammonia. Any ammonia level is BAD. I'd also recommend doing a 30% water change immediately. Might need to do the same in a couple of days. As to if things will return to normal, that all depends on your aquarium husbandry and finding out what's causing the problem.

 

[Sascha D]

It probably wasn't what you added. What most likely happened is that your rock had a bunch of sponges on it that died off and created a huge spike in a small volume of water. The cloudy water is a result of the ammonia. The sudden change in water quality will also smoke starfish.

15% wc every 3 days, until no more ammonia. Tank should return to normal as long as you do not add anymore rock. If you do add rock expect a similar spike with a lower intensity.

 

[luke33]

Yea, i'd agree with the live rock, although the adding calc supp i'm guesssing could cause some coudiness too. Some amm mixed with some precepitation.

 

[warforged]

The PH is 8.0 and should that not be at 8.3 ? I mean the ocean sits around 8.4 ...so you placed things from the ocean into a tank with PH 8.0... PH Shock anyone?

PH being low should also put up red flags to check your Alk and Calc ...

I advise using C-balance as a dosing item over anything else... Coraline algae is all over my tank and thats all I use...besides Reef buffer.

As others said...the ammonia is a concern.. PH and Ammonia are killers in tanks.

Products I suggest ordering:
Prime or Cycle
C-balance
Reef Buffer

Few reefers I talk with locally are all on the same page about using these products

You may want to daily test your Nitrate levels and log them too...if you see an increase and noticeable one...You have more decay than you thought and expect more imbalances of chemistry...

Im no expert ...I just screwed up a lot and learned ..so sharing what I learned from my stupidity.

Could this have caused a mini cycle to his tank to?

 

[BBurrows13]

How many days before it clears up?????

 

[warforged]

Question to others is... the Live rock straight from the ocean directly to tank...is the source...

In a way he put "not cured" rock into his tank...causing the influx of decay and chemistry issues and cloudy waters...

Would it not be best he pulled those rocks out ....and cure them properly first?

It seems to me by your story that the problems are from the rocks themselves. So take them out and cure them seems to be the answer to me.

I investigated a bit more and a phone call to a friend:

It seems its not so great idea to place rock from the ocean directly into your tank at all:
1. hitch Hikers for one.
2. there will be die off from the rock ..=decay=amonia

Seems to be more troublesome than its worth... plus if you placed a few pounds in it probably really impacted your tank a lot chemistry wise.

good luck..hopefully the Elder Marine guys here can zero in on the issue... just passing a thought on the rocks.