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Post by herefishyfishy on Jan 17, 2016 9:36:37 GMT -5
So in an attempt to make things better I screwed everything up and lost just about all my fish. I feel like such a sh%thead.
Too much too fast! argh
Got one guy (my oldest fish) on the ropes, just don't know what to do to save him!!! : (
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Post by Syntax on Jan 17, 2016 9:40:02 GMT -5
What happened?
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Post by herefishyfishy on Jan 17, 2016 11:09:15 GMT -5
Shocked the poor little guys... completely unintentionally; They are all gone, except for a starfish and a couple of snails. I AM SO SAD!!!!
SO.. now I have to start all over. Gonna let it cycle....
Tried to make things better, finally decided after 5 or so years that I NOW really had time to take care of it, realized the nitrates were off the charts. Been running a cannister and not cleaning it well... the tank was a mess (from a REAL FISH PERSON'S PERSPECTIVE) so I was trying to make it better.
Cleaned it up, changed some water (against my better judgement I changed too much...which is what I think screwed things up); put in some new live rock.... good intentions gone horribly wrong.
unfortunately, everything was alive and thriving when it was icky. So my lesson (good, bad or otherwise), if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Clean, dirty...unless stuff is dying, leave it alone.
SO mad at myself!!!!
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Post by Syntax on Jan 17, 2016 11:54:10 GMT -5
You probably caused a cycle, add prime.
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Post by spotfin on Jan 17, 2016 20:49:45 GMT -5
Bummer you lost your fish. Too drastic of a change all at once. Hope your one makes it.
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Post by reefkprz on Jan 18, 2016 7:07:23 GMT -5
Cleaned it up, changed some water (against my better judgement I changed too much...which is what I think screwed things up); put in some new live rock.... good intentions gone horribly wrong. changing water will only mess things up if the water is not correctly mixed, aerated, or at the wrong temp. I do rather large water changes regularly 50% or more. doing so improperly can be dangerous but doing it properly is fine. Likely stirring things up doing the water change then adding the rock at the same time caused an ammonia spike. The only thing that happens fast in marine tanks are disasters as you have learned. I disagree that you should wait for stuff to be dying to take proper care for your tank do you wait for your kids to start dying before you take the rest to the hospital when they are all sick? I think maybe a regular maintenance ritual would benefit your tank better and the lives that you are responsible for. And dont take it so hard that you tried and something happened there are more than one of us on here that have screwed up pretty big. I got lazy and started using an auto top off years ago instead of manually refilling my tank. the ATO failed pumping a whole lotta freshwater into my tank killing almost everything in my 125 gallon tank that had taken me about a decade to build up to. When I ran a deep sand bed in my 45g high tank I accidentally disturbed the anaerobic layer trying to clean the upper layer killing all my fishes except one in that tank many years ago. these things happen, learn from it and move on, if we dont let our tanks get to the point that drastic steps are needed we wont lose things to drastic steps. |
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Post by herefishyfishy on Jan 18, 2016 17:29:18 GMT -5
Thanks. That makes me feel better. I really do want to get on top of it and stay on top of it. All of the fish are dead. Alive is a choc. chip starfish, 4 snails and a coral that I got when I got the live rock (and it looks great); I have a couple things living on the rocks, but not sure what they are.
So I have a 90 gallon tank and I think it is cycling because the nitrates and nitrites are off the chart. The salt and temp are good.
My current set up is: 90 gallons; about 90 lbs of live rock; 2 bubblers and a fluval cannister that right now is completely empty but is my only source of water movement.
My ultimate goal is to get back into fish, shrimp, maybe a couple anemones, crabs etc. I don't think that I will get much in to corals (1. they are so fragile and 2. they look like they could be more expensive and addictive than fish) but I may dabble in them (cause the one that i have is pretty cool) but mostly things that move around.
MY PLAN: (this is open to suggestions); 1 ordered some purigen that I am going to put in the cannister. I also have 2 powerheads that I am going to put on either side of the tank. I may keep the bubblers, I may not, undecided. I don't have a plan for the detrius(?), it could be through the cannister, but I can only unhook and clean that thing a couple times a month, so it doesn't seem like that is a great plan. I may go with the sock thing because even though it isn't pretty, it is functional and easier to deal with.
My husband thinks we shoudl go with a sump, but I am leary. I have a protein skimmer for it, but am leary of the overflow thing and the possility things could go wrong. Ultimately he is the one that has to build it and make it happen, so we shall see if that happens until then, I have to make it with the system that I have.
I am hoping that increased water movement and the purigen will get the nitrates down. I will also plan on doing another water change in the next week or so but am not anxious to do so. (water changes are time consuming for me as I am doing it by bucket...argh) At some point, we may get a better location and better plan, but right now, the tank is where it is and the system is what it is. I am hopeful that with some minor (relatively minor) tweaks I can make it work.
I agree, better maintanaince is important. I have to figure that out too. I was pretty lax and complacent and when I finally got it together, my poor fishies paid the price. So I am going to try to be better about it. I am also hopeful that some of the changes that I have made will help to make that job easier too (more rock, taking out the majority of the media in the canister, purigen)
One step forward, 5 steps back, but hopefully, I am making the right moves to going forward again.
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Post by jasonbowdoin on Jan 18, 2016 17:52:42 GMT -5
I found a 1200 gph pump for 20$ used and got some python tubing a few fitting to make water changes fast and cleaner. I also use the set up to add the water back to the tank from my water changing station... It's important to make it easy as you can make it... I can change out 15 gallons in 20 minutes including clean up
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Post by spotfin on Jan 19, 2016 8:21:28 GMT -5
Small steps.
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