600g Restart

[lavoisier]

I'm using 2 Ranco Controllers along with my apex for safety for the 2 300w heaters.

And then there is the wire jungle I have to organize...soon.

In terms of hardware I want to add two more vortech battery backups to the two I have now--one for each pump.

 

[Muttley000]

Nice! Question and not judging at all but just curious. Are you quarantining these additions?

 

[lavoisier]

Nice! Question and not judging at all but just curious. Are you quarantining these additions?

I fall in Paul B's camp on quarantining, and do not. I will say that I only buy from a trusted source--Live Aquaria or DD. In over 20 years of acquiring livestock from either of them, I've never received a diseased fish. I know some do not like LA but they have been sterling in my experience.

 

[lavoisier]

I think I'm going to try jumpstarting my coraline algae. Has any tried this product: CORALLINE ALGAE IN A BOTTLE, PINK?

from https://arcreef.com/product/coralline-algae-in-a-bottle/

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[lavoisier]

I came back from a week of vacation to what I assume is a bacterial bloom

My plan is water change, water change, then water change! I've also reduced feeding and cut back on lighting (though I'm not sure if reduced light has any effect or not.

 

[lavoisier]

Good news and bad news. We were gone for another week and the water cleared.

Notice where the chromis and anthias are hanging out. Except at night or when they hide this is where they swim all day.

I was able to acquire a bonded pair of Coral Banded Shrimp.

I added 5 Cleaner Shrimp. Two or Three times a day they will set up shop and the Tangs will drop by for the works.

 

[lavoisier]

Now for the bad news. The night before we got back a heater in the 100g salt water mixing tub malfunctioned and melted the Rubbermaid trough. The whole house was filled with smoke and a thin layer of soot has been deposited everywhere! Farmer's insurance has been wonderful and through cleaning begins tomorrow. There were no flames or direct fire damage. My daughter came home to find the smoke, called 911, and we had 3 fire trucks and 3 police cars out front. It make for a spontaneous neighborhood gathering.

Five days after the fact I lost my 2 Powder Blues. I do not know if that was smoke related or not but the cleaning company is recommending the tank be broken down and everything cleaned (rock, sand, and tank) and the water replaced. Insurance will cover everything but I am hesitant to do this. Does anyone have experience such circumstances?

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

Yikes, that's terrible.

IMO, you don't need to clean everything out -- the water is what makes the tank tick, so I would start running carbon, and then do several large water changes. Getting new water in the tank could be beneficial -- scrubbing the rocks inside doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

 

[AZMSGT]

I would get an ICP test and let them tell me what's in the water now.

 

[lavoisier]

Thanks for everyone's input so far. I'll do an ICP test and talk with the cleaners.

 

[gmneil]

i would do a larger water change, run a bunch of carbon and some poly pads , and it should take out the bad stuff if any actually absorbed into the tank.

 

[lavoisier]

So here are my ICP alerts from Triton Labs. I am doing 100g water changes every other day which I will do for another week. Any other thoughts?

Low levels of Copper have been found in your system.

Although not as dangerous at very low levels it is important that you check your system for any possible contaminations.

Your Bromine levels are slightly elevated.

Your Lithium levels are too high.

Your Zinc levels are too high.

 

[FishTruck]

I think you are on the trail - water changes, poly filter, lab data follow up are probably worth a try before breaking the whole thing down again. What is still living in the tank?

One thought... make sure your RO / DI is clean (does Triton check that for you?)

 

[lavoisier]

I lost 2 Powder Blues Tangs, 2 Convict Tangs, 2 Yellow Tangs, 2 Clown tangs, 1 Hippo tang. 1 Peppermint Angel, 1 Anthias, and several blue/green chromis.

Survivors: Emperor Angel, Sailfin tang, Hippo tang, 3 Yellow tangs, 6 anthias, 8 b/g chromis, 5 bangi cardinals, 2 Coral band shrimp, 5 Cleaner shrimp, and all my snails.

I do not know if my 2 Brittle stars survived.

I run a 9 stage RO/DI and always have 0 tds.

I run another ICP test week after next having changed 1000g of water.

Also, my skimmer (6' LifeReef) clogged up yesterday, so I'm breaking it down today, thoroughly cleaning it, and putting it back on line this afternoon.

 

[FishTruck]

I think it is a very good sign that you have some survivors. Hang in there.

 

[Jacques Sal]

Just jumping into this thread today but I know that copper can be leached into the tank via brass fittings interacting with your saltwater. Is there or was there any brass fittings/metals within your system?

I hope that everything is on the rebound! If it makes you feel any better - I’ve been unsuccessfully treating Dinos for 13 months in one of my reef tanks and just now biting the bullet and rebooting the entire system - rocks, sand, everything.... let’s hope it doesn’t come down to this for you

 

[lavoisier]

Thanks, I'm plugging away. No copper.

 

[Achilles Torben]

What is a peppermint angel?

 

[lavoisier]

What is a peppermint angel?

Whoops, writing too fast, I was conflating peppermint/cleaner shrimp, with my Regal angel.

 

[Achilles Torben]

Okay, I had tears in my eyes when I read peppermint angel