# Adding Caribsea aragonite sand caused ammonia spike



## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

I've been moving tanks from one location to another. I moved about 30 lbs of rock over the space of a week to new tank (15 minute drive to new location-water kept as wet as I could) along with a clump of chaeto in which my bicolour blenny hitch hiked. I didn't realize he was in there so he basically was dumped into the tank. 

He was doing well then disappeared when I added more rock. I tested for ammonia but it was fine.

Today I added a bag of aragonite sand (reef ready the bag claimed) and tested for ammonia and it was spiked at .25. Hmmm..,

I have no clean up crew except for the bristle worms and smal serpent stars etc in the chaeto. 

Does this suggest the blenny is a goner or was it the sand?

I need to bring my maroon pair over tomorrow but now I'm worried...
Will it be safe to do so? I'm running out of time. Tomorrow I will do more tests for nitrates and nitrites but it's not the best tests that I have (API).

Thoughts? I will bring along some prime tomorrow but thinking the horses will need to wait?


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*sand*

hey there I to myself did a tank breakdown and stirred up the sand on my tank the next day I had several fatalities , I believe that we stir up the sand and it has ammonia pockets of some sort .. therefore I have always replaced my sand in the new set up ... now u added some did u rinse it ...
if u have sensitive fish I would not add it to the tank id wait till u see no ammonia if u have seahorses I would deff wait .. I know its a pain in the ass but will save u some heartache ...
good luck 
tom


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

Thanks for your reply. The sand I used was new.. The fish are a fairly hardy pair of maroon clowns... Guess I better do another test.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*sand*

last tank move I did was fairly recently I used the old sand but when I set it up I let the tank run a week before I even thought of putting anything in 
till then they lived in a Rubbermaid tub...with no probs


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

How well did you rinse the substrate? I wouldn't add any livestock until the water is cleared up, it should have caused a lot of dust.


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

The tank has been running for well over a week and the new substrate (Caribsea black I forget the name now) but it is supposed to be reef ready and the instructions said to not rinse it. I'm going over there this morning to see what's going on...bringing a bottle of prime.

My concern is that the blenny has disappeared. I see no corpse on the floor anywhere...

Edited to add: I gently placed the substrate into the tank one cup at a time. It didn't cause too much of a sand storm...


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

Norman said:


> The tank has been running for well over a week and the new substrate (Caribsea black I forget the name now) but it is supposed to be reef ready and the instructions said to not rinse it. I'm going over there this morning to see what's going on...bringing a bottle of prime.
> 
> My concern is that the blenny has disappeared. I see no corpse on the floor anywhere...
> 
> Edited to add: I gently placed the substrate into the tank one cup at a time. It didn't cause too much of a sand storm...


I'm happy to house your blenny for as long as you want (if you find him/her)


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Sorry to hear about the troubles you are having. I move my 20 gallon with everything in it and about an inch of water passed the sand. The fish were not happy. I put all the original water back in and boy was it dirty. I have not lost anything yet all the corals and anemones look great. Lifting a tank like that up 2 feet to a higher stand isn't easy 

only thing i would suggest is waiting till everything settles down. if you can find the blenny maybe put him in a small tank or holder until the dust settles. I rinse sand over and over. but never used live sand so maybe you did okay.


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

Well... I'm happy to report that I tested the water this morning and there was no ammonia. I needed to put the maroons in so that's what I did. As I added Mr. Nemo I saw the blenny perched on one of the rocks.

Of course I had assumed he was a goner and now I'm praying that the Nemo's leave the blenny in peace and set up house on the other side of the rock structure. Are bi-colour blennies passive or semi aggressive. I hope he holds his own in there...


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

Bullet said:


> I'm happy to house your blenny for as long as you want (if you find him/her)


Thanks for the offer but I'm hopeful he will be ok in there. Catching a fish that hides in rocks would I suspect pretty difficult.


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

Glad that all parties are accounted for 
The blenny will stand up for himself and should be ok with the clowns. 
Unless the clowns are spawning, at which time they can get pugnacious and territorial


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

Bullet said:


> Glad that all parties are accounted for
> The blenny will stand up for himself and should be ok with the clowns.
> Unless the clowns are spawning, at which time they can get pugnacious and territorial


Oh thank you that's a relief. I've never had them spawn yet and the female is pretty good she hasn't even tried to bite me. I like them they are entertaining fish... Even if the mess up my sand and rearrange the rock to their liking. Plus the blenny is a cool little fish. I'd hate to lose him.


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