First Tank - sad news...

[Bulld0g]

hello to all in my fist posting here... Started my first tank (all in straight to saltwater) in January 2009.
Made a few mistakes along the way, read all I could (a ton of great information here).. thanks again to all.
Last Saturday did my normal weekly water change, and as I was adjusting the nitrate filter, I let a little more then a second of water out. I noticed that all of my guys were breathing a little heavier than usual, but okay.
I must have spilled a few drops of water on my battery backup and in the middle of the night all of my pumps have stopped working. 4 AM I lost Rocky (six line wrasse) and Spike (Yellow tail damsel). I connected the pumps to another plug and brought up the PH. 10 AM went to Fishtown (I know many do not like them, but they taught me a ton), and had some water at perfect temp and salinity... Added in some tank cycleing bacteria, and prayed that Nemo (obviously a Maroon Clownfish) made it...


Tank setup:

• 24g JBJ Nano

• 150 W HQI hood upgrade

• 20lbs live rock

• 1 inch live sand

• 1st chamber - StevieT media rack with filter pads, chemiPure elite, Puregen, phosban, chateo with underwater lights

• 2nd - Oceanic skimmer (mostly for the airstone) heater, ph probe

• 3rd - stock pump, 2nd pump for chiller, 3rd pump for nitrate filter

• MP10

Corals:

• Finger Leather
• Branching Frogspawn
• Sun Coral
• Red mushrooms
• Zoanthids

Fish (before pump fail):

• Maroon Clown
• Yellow Tail Damsel
• Six Line Wrasse

So now its a couple of days later and the clown looks better. Sun coral is struggling, finger leather looks like he is recouping, branching frogspawn looks okay, and my zooanthids are okay.

 

[Killerdrgn]

what nitrate filter are you using?

 

[Bulld0g]

aquaripure

 

[JonnyJ]

Hey, Welcome to MR

I'm sorry to hear about this. You explanation seems a little unclear too me.

Are you asking for advise on what to do or just Venting?


You mentioned that " I noticed that all of my guys were breathing a little heavier than usual, but okay" Did this occur before or after the water change?

If it was after the water change did you match your salinity and temperature too the tank water before adding?


Then you stated you had a water spill on your power supply after the water change when cleaning your nitrate filter and the tank ran pump-less overnight killing your two fish and some of your coral?


I would have just ran some carbon and perform a series of water changes over the week until the tank stabilized and seen improvement with my water quality and corals.

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whats the reason for the nitrate filter? you don't seem to have much livestock in that tank

From my observations it seems like someone is selling you a lot of unnecessary stuff in my eyes. Again this is my opinion but

A nitrate filter
chemiPure elite
Puregen
phosban

i ran all of those from the direction of my lfs and after speaking with alot of the members on here i stopped. I dont have any of those in my solana. I have live rock, a skimmer, and do bi weekly water changes with quadruple the livestock you have.

then you stated you

"Added in some tank cycleing bacteria"

just a little confused why you did this instead of just doing a series of water changes. I'm seeing a pattern

 

[Bulld0g]

Just venting.

The breathing was before the water change, after I adjusted the filter. Then I did the water change with water that matched the temp and salinity. My assumption is that releasing that water sucked some O2 out of the water (bad smell of rotten eggs after I let the water out).

Correct, pumps died and lost 2 fish. hopefully I will never need to use the advice, but thanks!

The chemicals in the first chamber seem to make the water crisp, and a response to a problem I had in the past. I had a problem (phosphates, cloudy, etc) , read all I could, and found those as a solution.

I would do weekly water changes and still had a problem with nitrates. Not sure if it has something to do with the closed top, something else I do, and no one I ever spoke to could help find a solution. After I started with the nitrate filter, it put everything else in line.

Turned out that the water change and bacteria either worked, or were a waste of $ that made me feel like I was doing something. Either way, it helped me sleep better that night, and the last fish is still alive!

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Bob 1000]

If you were doing weekly water changes and still had nitrate problems then you weren't changing enough water.. Secondly sulfur denitrifiers suck the sulfur eventually builds up in you system.. Then you need to do water changes which in my opinion defeats the purpose of a denitrifier because water changes alone can drop trates..

 

[Dre]

Why did you add cycling bacteria to the tank?

 

[Bulld0g]

I was up to 20% water changes weekly and nitrates up to 80.

Added cycling bacteria because Nitrite spiked.

 

[Killerdrgn]

if your nitrite spiked that means your tank wasn't done cycling. or your feeding too much.

 

[aznt1217]

Just venting.

The breathing was before the water change, after I adjusted the filter. Then I did the water change with water that matched the temp and salinity. My assumption is that releasing that water sucked some O2 out of the water (bad smell of rotten eggs after I let the water out).

Correct, pumps died and lost 2 fish. hopefully I will never need to use the advice, but thanks!

The chemicals in the first chamber seem to make the water crisp, and a response to a problem I had in the past. I had a problem (phosphates, cloudy, etc) , read all I could, and found those as a solution.

I would do weekly water changes and still had a problem with nitrates. Not sure if it has something to do with the closed top, something else I do, and no one I ever spoke to could help find a solution. After I started with the nitrate filter, it put everything else in line.

Turned out that the water change and bacteria either worked, or were a waste of $ that made me feel like I was doing something. Either way, it helped me sleep better that night, and the last fish is still alive!

Thanks again for the advice.

Hey man a picture would help. But I have run all my tanks successfully with Chemipure Elite and Purigen. I have an Aquaripure denitrator and it works like a charm. That egg smell is proof that it's working. I don't understand why you even had nitrates if it was... The smell is basically the gas being released which is what the nitrates were turned into. Just chill out with the water changes. Let everything settle.

Take pictures as well please.

More importantly... I can't believe nobody asked. What water are you using?

 

[Bulld0g]

Thanks for all the feedback!

The nitrates probably spiked because I tested the water after 2 fish were decaying in there for a while...

I use RODI with tropic marin pro reef salt. I will post some photos after work...