CanadianReefer
Active Member
I had to go out of town for 3 weeks because of a family emergency, so I left my hubby in charge of taking care of the aquarium. He usually helps out when I do regular maintenance etc., so between that and the fact that he had called several times to get the "honey do" list, I thought my aquariums would be okay.
He tried very hard, but I just returned to find out that things have gone to ****. He forgot the cylopods in the food mix, so my filefish died (it was the only thing he would eat). I had a beautiful copperband in QT that was destined for my softie tank - he was eating when I left (small mysis) but the hubby kept feeding him jumbo mysis (it was a small juvenile fish) which he couldn't eat... He starved to death
my nitrates were at 0.2 and my phosphates at .05 a few days before I left - even after I cleaned the sump, cleaned the skimmer, changed all the filters and did a 45g water change, my nitrates still tested at 40 and my phosphates at .88. I've lost most of my SPS by the looks of it, save perhaps 5 of them... as for my softie tank, my nitrates are past 80 and although most of the corals and all of the fish/inverts look okay, my zoanthids have all closed up. Sigh.
... but there's more... my freshwater tank also suffered. I did a 50% water change, siphoned the substrate and cleaned the filters... my nitrates are still at 80 and 2 of my fish have disappeared.
How much food does it take to increase my nitrates and phosphates by this much?? Not only did he overfeed and not use the right foods, but an entire large bottle of reef roids is completely gone. So I ask how often he was feeding the corals... once every day or two... OMG :O
Since I can't yell at the hubby whatsoever (he thought he was doing a good job) I figured I'd come on here to vent... it's amazing how quickly downhill something can go when you aren't there to keep an eye on it
I'm going to have to do many water changes to fix these issues... I hate to do it to my reef since stability is key, but I can't afford to keep the nitrates this high for too long... now it's a matter of finding the balance... maybe a 45g water change every 2-3 days till I see better numbers??
He tried very hard, but I just returned to find out that things have gone to ****. He forgot the cylopods in the food mix, so my filefish died (it was the only thing he would eat). I had a beautiful copperband in QT that was destined for my softie tank - he was eating when I left (small mysis) but the hubby kept feeding him jumbo mysis (it was a small juvenile fish) which he couldn't eat... He starved to death
my nitrates were at 0.2 and my phosphates at .05 a few days before I left - even after I cleaned the sump, cleaned the skimmer, changed all the filters and did a 45g water change, my nitrates still tested at 40 and my phosphates at .88. I've lost most of my SPS by the looks of it, save perhaps 5 of them... as for my softie tank, my nitrates are past 80 and although most of the corals and all of the fish/inverts look okay, my zoanthids have all closed up. Sigh.... but there's more... my freshwater tank also suffered. I did a 50% water change, siphoned the substrate and cleaned the filters... my nitrates are still at 80 and 2 of my fish have disappeared.
How much food does it take to increase my nitrates and phosphates by this much?? Not only did he overfeed and not use the right foods, but an entire large bottle of reef roids is completely gone. So I ask how often he was feeding the corals... once every day or two... OMG :O
Since I can't yell at the hubby whatsoever (he thought he was doing a good job) I figured I'd come on here to vent... it's amazing how quickly downhill something can go when you aren't there to keep an eye on it
I'm going to have to do many water changes to fix these issues... I hate to do it to my reef since stability is key, but I can't afford to keep the nitrates this high for too long... now it's a matter of finding the balance... maybe a 45g water change every 2-3 days till I see better numbers??
