Tank crash

[andrewttw]

Did something really stupid... *vent* tank crash! Everything died except for boxing shrimp, 1 (out of 2) clown fish, 1 starfish and nassarius snail. Didn't think my actions would have killed them, but on hindsight I can't believe it did it

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[solasido]

Boxfish?

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[ASHWIN]

Sorry To Hear That..

[kenyee]

What happen?..care to share why?..life goes on..

[andrewttw]

Ok don't judge too badly...

1. Wanted to do major water change because NO3 was 50ppm. Anemone and fish weren't looking too good.

2. Siphoned out 1/2 of the water to do the water change.

3. When the water was low, stirred the sand bed (1 inch thick) to try and siphon out the sediments.

4. Tried to clean the salt crystals at the top of my tank with vinegar because it was the most organic thing I could find. And I thought it was safe for reef fish because people are like dosing vinegar and all that.

5. Mixed a fresh batch of salt water and added it into the tank via the refugium.

Death list:

1 mandarin (wife's favorite fish)

1 clown fish

1 black damsel

2 yellow tail damsel

1 Cory wrasse

1 doctor shrimp

1 sabae anemone

1 blue sponge

1 turbo snail

Think combination of 3, 4 and 5 killed everything

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[ASHWIN]

Since Your Nitrates Was High..When the sand got stired more came out+might hv put tooo much vinegar man

Its ok life goes on

Every reefer Has Thier Ups And Down!

[Aquareef123]

how much vinegar you use? Should not crash the tank if you just use a bit to wipe the glass right?

[Clement Chen]

just to check if u regularly do siphoning of e sand bed, it wont have any nitrates build up right

[Evolutionz]

Regular siphoning is fine as long as you do not stir too much. The thicker the sand bed the more stuff it gets trap inside. Just a very thin layer on sand is enough to cause trouble.

[youdontnowm]

Large water change is no good, will make parameters change too fast.

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[vidextreme]

Sorry, bro. Don't give up, though. You can look at this as an opportunity to reset and make it better.

I don't think it's caused by the vinegar (btw, I'm just curious.. did you use the artificial acetic acid vinegar or natural distilled vinegar? Though no point at this time, but it could be a useful insight. )

It's most likely a hydrogen sulfide poisoning. By it's name, yes hydrogen sulfide and it's sulfur brothers such as sulfur dioxide are toxic. I'm totally against siphoning the tank's substrate and rather use snails or starfish to sift the tank for me. The reason being is, first, sand beds are NOT producing nitrate out of thin air(or water) and don't really require cleaning(at least for saltwater tank). If we got some elevated nitrate level, it only means we fed the tank more than we should or our bio load had exceeded our bio filtration capacity or something recently died and decomposed in the tank and not because our sand bed is evil and needed to be cleansed by our holy siphon tube . Hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide are released naturally if our sand bed is healthy. Typically, these sulfur gas/metal are trapped 2+ inches below the sand where there is low oxygen availability. This is due to decaying matter being trapped there in that anaerobic environment where sulfur bacteria decomposed it. Natural sand sifters will slowly release this trapped gas or metal form that's how nature works. And that's why I don't eat snails and sea cucumbers, because I know exactly why they are 'delicious' . Siphoning the substrate however will have a greater chance of trapping more organic stuff that we don't want, because the more we trap the more sulfur gas has to be released. Concurrently, by siphoning, we release and exposed too much of this sulfur stuff. Which can cause critters/fish death and might be the cause of your tank crashing.

Btw, hydrogen sulfide is even poisonous to us humans. This is why people who knows this will discourage tank being placed in a low ventilated area. For us here in Singapore, it's a bit hard to do, considering most tanks are in an airconditioned room. The solution is opening the window regularly and let the natural air comes it... good for us humans too!

[andrewttw]

I was doing small water changes at least once a week but my no3 kept high probably because of over stock fish. (About 40cm of fish for 120l). That's too high right? Got abit over zealous and did a big water change to try to get the no3 back down.

I stir my sand bed occasionally because I thought it was a shallow sandbed so not much toxic stuff trapped inside (1 inch). Then I'll let the wave maker carry the dirt to the overflow. Also because I'm having a diatom problem. Probably because of the high no3. And and I wanted to get the stuff off my sand bed.

Vinegar I used was artificial now that I checked it *bish*. I just dipper a totally new sponge in abit of vinegar and started wiping. Did that about maybe 2 times.

My wife came back at night and only glanced at the tank and was like "what did you do?!?!" I only told her i did a water change that afternoon. That was how badly the fish were reacting. They all seem to be in a daze at the corner of the tank.

Sigh. Gonna wait a while before doing anything. Let the tank settle down first.

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[vidextreme]

How old is you tank? Typically what I do when nitrate is high, I just don't feed the tank. I then replace my carbon source (plastic pellets) and/or dose Reef Fuel and bacteria dose. That way I try to lower nitrate naturally at first. If it persists, then I feed the tank drastically less than before. No, frozen fish unless fish can finish it all. I also dose iron supplement to induce cheatos growth so they absorb the nitrate faster as they flourish. If still doesn't change, which seldom happens, that's the time I'll consider water change. But small portions only.

The 2+ inch sand band btw, well, it's really an estimate. This is dependent on the size of sand granules and/or composition.

Yes, let it settle down first. Never give up. We're here for you bro!

[andrewttw]

Tank about 4 months old. Thanks for the tips guys. Gonna be much more careful

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[sunnymau]

Tank about 4 months old. Thanks for the tips guys. Gonna be much more careful

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If you want to do major water change is safer with nsw. I do almost 30 to 40 percent of water weekly and 40 over ml of vinegar daily. Don't think is the venigar that caused the problem.sudden major water change may result in drastic drop in bacteria count that might caused tank crash.

[vidextreme]

If you want to do major water change is safer with nsw. I do almost 30 to 40 percent of water weekly and 40 over ml of vinegar daily. Don't think is the venigar that caused the problem.sudden major water change may result in drastic drop in bacteria count that might caused tank crash.

I'm not too sure NSW will be safer. But it make sense that sudden water parameter changes AND composition may shock or stress the living stuff in the tank.

But I agree sudden water changes have some effect on microorganisms in tank and in the bio filter media as well.