Dead fish

[lsawchuk]

So we went on holidays and my automatic fish feeder died!! When we came home everything died. That was January. It’s hard to keep anything happy in the tank now. I do regular water changes but I’m discouraged and sad. Help. Can this be fixed? Also I keep getting red algae I can’t get rid of!!!
Also does anyone have any tips on how to glue live rock together that’s in the tank already? My set up sucks

 

[ichthyogeek]

Hmm...now seems like a good time to do a good ol'fashioned rescape and deep clean.

Evacuate all the live rock and other viable organisms to some buckets. And then just really, really clean the sand bed. Vacuum all of it. Afterwards, drain as muh water from the tank as possible,. Add in another 5-20 gallons or so, and then drain that out. Afterwards, put the rock back in, and scape how you want it to look like. Then add freshly mixed water back in, and then whatever live organisms you have.

Then you can start from scratch. You know it's not any underlying issues because you wiped the slate clean. So you can start from scratch. GHA? You know that's too much nutrients. Dinoflagellates? Not enough nutrients. Cyano/red slime algae? Not enough flow and too many detritus pockets. There!

 

[Cherub]

what are your nitrate and phosphate levels at? lots of these issues can be solved with GFO and carbon reactors and big water changes. if you have somehting dead in there after all this time you might want to add some crabs and snails. IDK you didn't say much about the build.

 

[mike550]

Sorry that you lost your fish. But don’t lose hope. I completely agree with @ichthyogeek that you should view this as an opportunity to “reboot” and make all those changes to the tank that you wished you could have before.

Good luck!

 

[lsawchuk]

Hmm...now seems like a good time to do a good ol'fashioned rescape and deep clean.

Evacuate all the live rock and other viable organisms to some buckets. And then just really, really clean the sand bed. Vacuum all of it. Afterwards, drain as muh water from the tank as possible,. Add in another 5-20 gallons or so, and then drain that out. Afterwards, put the rock back in, and scape how you want it to look like. Then add freshly mixed water back in, and then whatever live organisms you have.

Then you can start from scratch. You know it's not any underlying issues because you wiped the slate clean. So you can start from scratch. GHA? You know that's too much nutrients. Dinoflagellates? Not enough nutrients. Cyano/red slime algae? Not enough flow and too many detritus pockets. There!

Thanks for the tips. Someone said I should change out the sand completely. What do you think?
Also. I don’t love my rock scape. How do you attach the rock together??

 

[lsawchuk]

what are your nitrate and phosphate levels at? lots of these issues can be solved with GFO and carbon reactors and big water changes. if you have somehting dead in there after all this time you might want to add some crabs and snails. IDK you didn't say much about the build.

The levels are good. I do have crabs and my snails are multiplying like it’s their job!!

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Thanks for the tips. Someone said I should change out the sand completely. What do you think?
Also. I don’t love my rock scape. How do you attach the rock together??

What would that accomplish? There is no such thing as new sand so you would be changing out your dirty sand for some other slightly cleaner sand? No just clean yours like @ichthyogeek said. Personally I would remove all of the sand and wash it in a bucket or brute can with a water hose.

As for the rocks you could try epoxy puddy but I dont feel like that stuff holds all that great. Drilling holes in the rocks and pounding in acrylic dowels would be the best way imo

 

[ichthyogeek]

I'm still stuck in the stone age and figuring out how rocks naturally (and magically) fit together. Epoxies and superglue and silicone are too permanent for my tastes.

And agreed. When I cleaned out the sand, I first started by vacuuming as much as possible. After that it was with the garden hose to make the water as not murky as possible.

 

[lsawchuk]

I'm still stuck in the stone age and figuring out how rocks naturally (and magically) fit together. Epoxies and superglue and silicone are too permanent for my tastes.

And agreed. When I cleaned out the sand, I first started by vacuuming as much as possible. After that it was with the garden hose to make the water as not murky as possible.

Thank you