Tank crash need help

[samuel88]

hi i have a problem about my tanks that keep crashing.

this is what happens, protein skimmer overactivate similar to epoxy effect, clear skimmate and over flows. funky smelling water, live stock keep dying or are in great distress until the protein skimmer is done overactivating. and i guess whatever is causing it is skimmed out.

these crashes have happened to both of my tanks numerous times, and can take from 1 week to 9 months to occur.

i find this weird because, in the beginning i could have attributed these tank crashes to poor husbandry skills, but i have improved them alot since i was a newbie and it still happens, some of the examples of what i mean by improvements are, stocking my tanks extremely lightly, like having a fishless 25 gallons tank. i hardly keep fish. i wait a month(s) between addition of live stocks, using only RO/DI water, weekly water changes, testing my water parameters like nitrates, PH and alkalinity to make sure everything is constant and if need be adjust it slowly.

i can be having a very consistent maintenance schedule for months or weeks at a time and then boom it happens.

what's even weirder is that sometimes one tank crashes but the other's ok, or sometimes at the same time. AND there was once i had a dish of water in the same room as my tank and that dish of water became cloudy and funky smelling as well!

FAQ about what people suggest to me it is

Q: maybe its cause your temperature fluctuates, or you use tap water,

A: i use a chiller and RO/DI, my temperature is at 26 degress. and my RO/DI TDS reading is 0, and i test it every few days.

Q: maybe it could be your PH levels fluctuating?

A: i keep my alkalinity pretty high, at 4 to 4.5 meq/l, and the crashes have happened during the day before where PH isn't supposed to drop.

Q: could it be chemicals sprayed in the air?

A: if it was, i'm not sure what chemical it could be that it can be skimmed out, and also, after its skimmed out, life seems to continue in the tank. so i would kinda think that it is more biological in nature.

Q: you stocked your tank too quickly?

A: i sometimes have nothing in there but live rock and a few hermits that i add over the course of a month. or sometimes my tanks have nothing at all except for live rock. also that wouldn't explain why a dish of water could become cloudy. maybe that dish of water was a one time thing, but it really makes me think.....

Q: have you tried starting totally anew? with all new rocks, water and sand?

A: yes. but to no avail.

Thanks for reading, i'm really at my wits end, so any suggestions would be helpful.

[reckless]

might be something/vapour in the air that gets settled into the water already. has anyone been spraying deodorant or insecticide? check with your family members as well coz u mentioned that you're having consistent good parameters and this happens. although skimmer can skim out everything.... whatever that got into your tank, got to your fishes and corals first before being skimmed out.

cannot be from within the tank or any of the sand or rocks itself coz u also mentioned u had a dish of water in the room once before and it gave out similar smell after being left there.

IMO, whatever it is, its not coming from the tank or its content.

try leaving windows open for ventilation and get your tank covered with a proper hood or something. Good luck!

[samuel88]

It's not possible to open my windows all the time because when I leave the house I have to close the windows or rain gets in.

I'm thinking of closing the room off instead when I'm not around to keep whatever is doing this out.

the tanks look ok, for now but can see the live stock stressed, some died. I worried the bacteria in the tank might be greatly reduced so ill be dosing bacteria for the next two weeks

If anything happens I'll update this thread

[kaykay]

Wonder if it's a case of sabotage?

[Guest]

Try running carbon and see if it helps? There might be unknown containment in the water which cannot be tested or seem visually.

Alternatively you can also use poly filter which can show you what it filter off by the change of It"s color.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[vinccc2009]

maybe you can give us a pic of your tank with your livestocks?

get a hood first to cover your tank.

[geckus]

U must have something foul in the air

[netviper]

Seems like a sabotage to me as well. Maybe someone in the family hates ya hobby?

[inwear]

It maybe cause by household bleach

[Firestarter]

Any updates/ findings?