Neptune Aquatics

HELP! MY TANK IS CRASHING!

Euphyllia

Euphyllia

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I came home today to find all the corals in my Red Sea Max completely closed! The fish are fine and my clownfish's eggs are still bright orange and attached to the rock. The hermits are fine and the snails are fine. The temperature is 77F. My test kits for ammonias, nitrates, and nitrites are outdated and my pH kit will only read 8.3 for every single tank for the past month so I assume something is wrong with it. I was going to buy a new one this weekend.

I don't know what the shizz happened so I'm mixing and heating a fresh batch of water to do a 5g WC, then another 5g WC later this evening. If the corals still won't open, I'll be putting them all into my BioCube 14 and my BioCube 29 HQI. The BioCube 29 HQI only has a BSJ in it so if something goes wrong I could put the clowns into there.

Recent changes to the tank:

Two days ago I added the recommended dose of ChemiClean to treat for cyanobacteria
I started to use B-Ionic Ca Alk two part, but haven't dosed it for the past week
I did a WC earlier in the week
I turned off the skimmer for two days while the ChemiClean was in

I just took out the old carbon/phosphate remover in case that would have done anything. What are some other things I should check or do to the tank? I don't want it to crash! :(
 
You are supposed to only have the chemiclean in for 24 hours and then do a water change. You probably don't need to dose anything if you are doing weekly water changes as well.
 
Erick said:
You are supposed to only have the chemiclean in for 24 hours and then do a water change. You probably don't need to dose anything if you are doing weekly water changes as well.
Click to expand...

It says 48 hours on mine. Its about three years old, though.
 
We already tried to help you before your tank crashed when we told you not to use ChemiClean.

Open the lid to the tank, and aerate the hell out of it. Use airstones if you have to.

And make up big batches of change water. 5g won't do crap.

Aeration will buy you some time.

You really deserve to be yelled at.
 
I don't recall anyone saying specifically not to use ChemiClean which is why I went ahead and used it. I added an airstone and will add another when I finish typing this. The skimmer is on again. Will carbon help?

BTW the zoas were acting strange before this happened, so it might not just be the ChemiClean.
 
Same month same week Last year. (2010)

http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/9915?page=1#comment-123191

Another thread that you started. Same month.

http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/10041?page=1#comment-124369
 
Mr. Ugly said:
But really, Matthew doesn't need to be putting any more stuff into his tank. Food or otherwise.

Or next he'll be asking about Algaefix, Chemiclean, Erythromycin, and a bunch of other stuff we don't want him to use :D
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Euphyllia said:
CHEMICLEAN IS BAD?! :O
What does it do that is so bad?
Ooopsies... :tired:

It is a lot of work keeping the biocube clean, but I put some zoas and mushrooms in there and hopfully they'll grow fast. I don't have any cleanup crew in the tank so there is lots of poo to eat.

I've turned off the filters and fed live brine before. I watched the tank for 10 minutes. My clownfish enjoyed chasing them.
Click to expand...

This whole thread...

http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/10041

and what Tim said.
 
Corals can close up. Hard to say if you really should be in panic mode or not.
Drastic "fixes" can do a LOT of harm, so be careful.

Suggest Skimmer + Carbon + 25% water change.
Remember to mix and aerate fresh salt water for a while before adding.

The Cyano was a symptom, and you put a (dangerous) band-aid on it, instead of fixing the root problem,
so this could be just another symptom.

Longer term, figure out your nutrient and probably flow issues.
 
Mr. Ugly said:
Mr. Ugly said:
But really, Matthew doesn't need to be putting any more stuff into his tank. Food or otherwise.

Or next he'll be asking about Algaefix, Chemiclean, Erythromycin, and a bunch of other stuff we don't want him to use :D
Click to expand...

Euphyllia said:
CHEMICLEAN IS BAD?! :O
What does it do that is so bad?
Ooopsies... :tired:

It is a lot of work keeping the biocube clean, but I put some zoas and mushrooms in there and hopfully they'll grow fast. I don't have any cleanup crew in the tank so there is lots of poo to eat.

I've turned off the filters and fed live brine before. I watched the tank for 10 minutes. My clownfish enjoyed chasing them.
Click to expand...

This whole thread...



http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/10041

and what Tim said.
Click to expand...

I have a horrible memory and don't recall those threads, but I'm pretty sure I'll remember this incident so I won't be using the ChemiClean anymore. The frogspawns seem to not be closed as tightly so they airstones might be helping.
 
Advice: Before doing anything significant - do a search on it, even if you think you know.
It is so easy to search and find info, there is really no excuse anymore.

Everybody forgets things. Don't forget that.
Goofy, but a true adage.
 
WRT Chemiclean. I gotta say I've used it several times when I've been cyano-plagued and it worked great with nothing (THAT I KNEW OF) died except the cyano. Nowadays I'm more inclined to just WC my problems away rather than try chemicals, but sometimes if things get out of hand, you get frustrated and you reach for the chemi-clean.

NOTE: I also tried cranking up the magnesium to get rid of (what I thought was) bryopsis. As a result my two beloved Bangaiis died. I didn't do any other changes, so the slow increase of magnesium (Tech-M with it's magical impurity was used, not just any old magnesium) did it. That lesson was hard and so I'll stick to WC.

NOTE2: I lied, if I get flatworms, I'll nuke them with FWE, even if my snails cringe. I can't stand them.

V
 
Hey, why not just add some sodium metabisulphite?
Neutralizes Potassium permanganate, which is probably what Chemiclean is.
:)
Kidding. Really. Don't do that.
 
Vince - I agree. I've too had used it; however I followed with big water changes, carbon, and picked up where I slacked off on general maintenance i.e. water changes, flow, cleaning out pumps i.e impeller covers. Generally, if you do consistent water changes, not feed so much or unnecessarily add chemicals that may adversely affect your tank you should be okay.

I agree do a search on everything you can before you make any changes - it's less headache, heartbreak, and loss of corals and fish.
 
Euphyllia said:
There's something seriously wrong. The skimmer completely filled the collection cup to the top in less than three hours.
Click to expand...
Supposedly common for an oxidizer like chemiclean.
And shows you still have a lot in your system.
 
Euphyllia said:
There's something seriously wrong. The skimmer completely filled the collection cup to the top in less than three hours.
Click to expand...
because your organic load went way up when you killed off a lot of your tank with the dosing.
 
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