Catastrophy Strikes

[Smitty]

That's good to hear that the remaining livestock are still doing fine...hope it all works out for you.

 

[Ted]

good for you on hanging up on him. :D I am real sorry you are having to go through this. My question about the sand bed was for my information i just changed mine from crushed coral wasnt sure if i should stir it or leave it alone. Also I have kids thats why I asked the other question. My not so little shits have done some pretty brainless stuff in the past and then tried to "clean it up" without telling me which made it 10 times worse. Just hang in there your are doing all you can. Like I said before I would have done everything you have.

 

[reefer2b]

The smell that is coming from the tank is so bad. It's in my bedroom and Gawd it's awful; smells like the ocean spoiled. I'm going to a water park this morning then it's back to water changes.

 

[Smitty]

Eeewwwww.....lol, that's the smell of death...your tank is going to have to go through a whole another cycle.

 

[yote]

Sounds like you in for a full out cycle.
As bad as I hate to say it,you might be better off to either have your LFS hold your anemone for you,or trade it for store credit.It probably wont last that long living in a bucket.

 

[winyfrog]

+1 yote

 

[reefer2b]

So I replaced about 90% of the water in the tank. I left about 2 inches in the bottom. Will the fact that I left some of the old water in the tank help with cycling? Also what about the clean-up crew can I put them back in if the water stays stable. The anemone already isn't happy in the bucket. Should I take him back because the tank will be cycling again or keep him and put him back in the tank?

 

[Smitty]

I would take it to your lfs to have them hold it for you...it will not last long in the bucket, and the tank isn't quite ready just yet...imo

 

[reefer2b]

it didn't save my edit, what about the starfish??
all the stuff or just the anenome?

 

[Smitty]

All the other stuff may survive a few days in the bucket with water movement and a heater...just make sure you do daily water changes in the bucket also. You may also want to go out and buy a 10 gal tank(about $10.00) and place the livestock in there, and when you are finished with it, you can always use it as a holding tank or a quarantine(sp) tank in the future.

 

[reefer2b]

I have a tank somewhere, I think hubby left it at work. I can clean it if it's here. How long should I wait? When first set up my tank it never did cycle.

 

[yote]

You'll have to watch for the ammonia and nitrites to get back to 0.It could just a couple of days,it could go a couple of months,no way to know how long it'll last.

 

[reefer2b]

Are you meaning to wait for them to go up again and fall? I've got it to 0 now with all the new water so are we talking about a new cycle. I'm starting to confuse myself.

 

[Bifferwine]

Wow, sorry to hear about your tankastrophe :(

You could also buy a rubbermaid tote to keep your livestock in in the meantime. Since your levels are all at 0 again, it's hit or miss if the tank is going to cycle again. You changed 90% of the water, and if I had to guess, I'd say it's going to be a small cycle, if any. But there's no way to tell for sure except to watch it over the next day or so.

 

[reefer2b]

OK, I'll check the levels daily. It's still a little cloudy, but nothing like when I first set the tank up. Like I said it never cycled the first time round but was super cloudy for about 7 weeks. I can at least see through to the back of thank. I guess on the plus side I was able to move the tank away from the wall so now it is about 5-6 inches instead of 2.

Thanks guys for all your help. It is so appreciated and very helpful. The critters in the bucket are doing good. Even the anemone looks better today than yesterday. (I know the buckets not good for it) I don't think it likes the water changes, so if I change it today I'm going to maybe half. I don't think I'll have time to get to the store today to take it back.

 

[yote]

If it was so far down there,I'd offer to hold your livestock untill the tank settled down.
But it sounds like you got it going your way now.

 

[reefer2b]

I got the rocks back in place. Well, not in the same places but stacked and hopefully a little less tipsy. I had to put the crabs back in the tank, they were starting to chow on the starfish (poor guy) I found a few still in the tank that I'd missed. I figure if they made it through the mess the others should be ok, if not their cheap enough. The ammonia is up to .25 not sure if it's from putting the rocks in and moving the sand around or what. I'll be checking again in the morning though.

 

[Smitty]

Aaahhhh....you're making great progress. I'm happy for you:D

 

[reefer2b]

got a question. My ammonia is still at .25 hasn't gone up anymore yet. Since my filter is an established filter do you think I'll have a spike in the nitrites?? I know this is an opinion question but I'll take any thoughts.
The crabs are ok though a few seem frozen in place. I moved a few to see if they were still alive. They walked right back to were they were before and stopped. Weird. My star is still shedding leg segments, obviously stressed. considering putting it back in the tank doubt if I could stress it any futher, will wait until at least the end of the day though.

 

[yote]

A lot of ammonia kits will .25 when its actually lower.But it'd be a good idea to have that double checked by your LFS before trusting that.
I also think that if the nitrites was going to spike,you'd already be seeing them when you test.