29G Foam Build Complications, Plz Help

[cman_pogey]

Hello again everyone! I have not been on here in a really long time because of a head injury, but now I am back and have would once again like to tap into the vast knowledge base of RC. Well, where should I even start? In last August, I set up my first SW tank, and being a complete noob to salt, I made many mistakes that would hurt me in the long run, the major two being tap water and a terrible fluorescent light. After a few months of somewhat satisfaction, I decided I really wanted to grow just some basic corals, but quickly realized I couldnt with the conditions of my tank. Then I had a major ordeal with an injury I got in HS sports and had been in the hospital for a while. Needless to say, my tank went to hell.

Now, after finally getting most of my medical issues out of the way, I was ready to start a ''new'' tank. I was dead set on doing a foam build because I loved the ones that I saw here on the forums. As I am sure all of you know, I simply made my egg crate structure, zip tied my rocks, and filled in with GreatStuff (which I now sincerely regret and wished I had used PondFoam, but this is a town of 25,000 and I was lucky to get the GreatStuff, and I wasnt near patient enough to wait a week to buy PondFoam on the internet.) Now comes into play one of my possible mistakes.... I could not find any of the correct epoxy that I need to stick my sand on, so after some research and seeing a few others had used it, I bit the bullet and bought BondoGlass Fiber Glass Resin/Epoxy. Wow was that a P.I.T.A. to apply, and it didnt help that I had to do it while it was twelve degrees outside!! So, I let both of my structures cure for three days or so, then I siliconed them into the tank (which much to my frustration I realized I did NOT silicone the bottoms pieces, therefore allowing sand to get under the structures partially showing the egg crate base!)
Okay, next, I got all of my R/O water and filled my tank. Now bare in mind that all this time I have all of my live rock, two clowns, damsel, and chromis in a ten gallon 'holding' tank for about a week while I was doing all of this. Much to my worry and dissapointment, the tank for a solid five or so days emitted a VERY strong chemical smell. This deeply worried me, and had visited the Not-So-Local-Fish-Store (2HR drive from where I live...) the previous day, I also had a mushroom and colt coral waiting in my 10G holding tank to be placed in the main tank (Keep in mind that I planned on adding them to my main tank immediately, but was afraid to because of the chemical smell.) Fast forward to January 15, and the chemical smell was getting pretty faint, so I decided to test the water on my poor little damsel... That night I stayed out at a friends, and came back the following after noon to my fish sunk at the bottom, clearly dead . At this point I kind of panicked because I REALLY needed to move my other stuff back to the 29 because they were not looking too great. I had figured that the reason that my fish had died was because of the BondoGlass resin that I used on the sand work. (Sorry I know this is really long!)

I then come to realize later that evening, that my mom had been in my room, and decided to clean my mirror that was attatched to my dresser (my tank is on my dresser). She used windex or some other glass cleaner earlier that day and I told her that my fish had died. She said that she covered the top of the tank with a towel, and sprayed the windex, after she was done, the towel accidentally fell into the tank. I proceeded to call my Not-So-Local-Fish-Store and they told me that the likely cause of my fish to die was because a drastic ammonia spike created by the ammonia based glass cleaner that was dipped into my tank. This was somewhat of a relief, because that led me to believe that it was not actually the resin that had done the damage!

Okay, so the next day, I decide to bite the bullet yet again, and add one my clowns. At first he kind just sits on the bottom, but to this minute is doing from what I can tell very well. Now, over the last 48 hours or so, I have been slowly trying to introduce my firefish, and black clown. This is one of my main problems! I acclimate them both over about an hour, by adding some of the tank water to the floating bag, and after an hour released them both. The firefish immediately hid in a cave, and i couldnt find him as of last check , and whats worse, is my black clown simply sits on the bottom of the tank, and moves his mouth VERY fast, presumably breathing fast. I left him for a couple of hours, and came back. Same thing. At this point I got really worried and put him back into my crappy little thrown together salt-tap-water holding tank, where he seems to slowly become just fine. What is happening!? Why is he doing this?? I thought he was gonna die in the 29, but the other clown seems to be just fine

Okay, well I guess I just want to know what on earth is happening to my fish and tank?! Im really worried, and I know that some of you have thousands of dollars in your tanks, and I dont have near that much, but its still a lot to me, and I have been working my *ss off for the last two weeks building this tank, and to see it not come together as I had hoped is really annoying/frustrating/saddening/dissapointing.

And by the way, I thought these are some other factors to think about. I fixed my previous mistake of a terrible light, and have a 250W 14K MH (Yes, yes, I know this overkill, but I was mis informed, bought the 250 instead of the 150, and now have my light 24'' above the tank to compensate....By the way, could this be part of the problem?) Also, I now have three frags in the tank, which two of them seem to be doing OK, they are colt, pulsing xenia, and a simple mushroom. Another problem is that I had to leave my xenia in the holding tank for a while, without much light, and it got really limp and I though it was dead, but ive had it in the 29 with the MH for about twelve hours now and its still not out what so ever It gave off a ''icky gross stuff'' for lack of a better word when I moved it from tank to tank, does that mean its dead? Another factor, is that I am using strictly R/O water which I did not in the holding tank.

I will try to post pics as soon as I can, hopefully tonight as well. Guys and Girls, I cant tell you how worried and frustrated I am about my tank, and if anyone could please help me out, you dont even know how much I would appreciate it! Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your responses!!



Connor

[Maverick2009]

What are your water parameters. this would be the first step. Also, was the LR cured or dry? Also, is the tank cycled?

[cman_pogey]

Well, Im not exactly sure what they are, but I can get them tested tomorrow. I took my water to the fish store 2hrs from here, and they said I have really good water, and my nitrates were 0, so my tank is cycled, the only problem was my PH was a little low. And my salinity is 1.025-6 Also, I used all dry rock with live sand... Hope that could help, I'll try get exact perams by tomorrow...

Also, could anyone plz show me where to find out how to post pictures within the thread itself, not just a link? Thx!

Connor

[cman_pogey]

[zooty]

Never rush anything with saltwater tanks.

I have a 180 with a foam wall, we used the pond foam though. Ordered online, had to wait for it.

I would be slightly worried about the chems from the wall and the towel. However the fish seem to have made it 24 hours (is this correct). I hope that even though you have no live rock you have other filtration? A good skimmer? Have you been running carbon?

Your corals will probably be OK. Colt, Xenia and mushrooms are pretty sturdy.

The bad part of this hobby:
1- Nothing happens fast. Ever. No matter how much you want it too.
2- Most of you money is spent on "boring" stuff. Rock, sand, filtration/skimmers. Deal with it. "Yup, this is the $200 dollar skimmer and test kits I bought, in 6 months I'll have enough money for a fish".
3- Yes, you need a RO/DI unit and test kits especially if the LFS is 2 hours away.


So for your issue, run carbon, do a water change and hope you have no chems leeching from he foam.

Good luck and remember "Nothing good ever happens fast with saltwater tanks"

[griffithimage]

Hi, what are the issues with using Great Stuff foam?

[matt210G]

Great stuff foam is fine to use in your display tank. Over time the foam will shrink and discolour due to UV lighting. To prevent this most people will cover the foam with Epoxy and sand mix. I have used great stuff in a number of tanks with no negative effects. However if it is not sealed be prepared for a yellow blob to form that looks very un rock like! It also should be noted that Great Stuff is very bouyant. It will require a fair quantity of dry rock to weigh it down without siliconing it to your display tank. From experience!!! I do not recommend siliconing the rock wall in place. Detritus will gather behind it regardless of how "well it is sealed to the tank". In my case removing it was a disaster that required a reciprocating saw. Pretty scary endeavour while working around a glass tank.
End result was a very scratched up tank that is now useless as a display.

[Tat2demon]

I don't usually jump on people but 24 hours after a possible chemical contamination that quickly kills a damsel you decide to throw clowns and firefish into it? Really?

You don't use live fish as a replacement for a $10 test kit. Not the first time and sure as hell not again the next day.

If it was an ammonia spike from the cleaner it wont just up and disappear in a day. You'll need to completely re-cycle the tank and hope ammonia is the only bad thing in there.

[Tat2demon]

I also want to add that by the looks of the pictures you didnt use live rock? That by itself isnt a big deal but by the sounds of it your cycle never got started, then basically pure ammonia was dumped in.

[sirreal63]

Nate...do you realize you are beating up a 10 month old thread? Don't you just hate it when someone bumps up an old thread and it isn't noticed? :-)

[Tat2demon]

Ugh, wth.