bad news....=new tank..

[d0 thy d3w]

well..today is good bad day for me...yet a good day at the same time if all goes well...here is what happened...around 6:00pm today i discovered that my 29gallon was leaking....so being the person i am i got wide eyed and totally flipped out...so i instantly went and told my parents...(who know absolutely nothing about fish)...so we ran up to the lfs realy quick and bought a 20L for a replacement..50bux not to bad i guess..i like the new tanks dimensons better than my old one but...i have never had to move my fish before..(ive done freshwater moves but thats soo much more simple)...luckily for me i dont have alot of livestock..3 snails and a lawnmower blenny...so i put my bleeny and snails i a bucket filled with siphoned tank water....finished emptying my old tank and put most of the water into my new one...same with the sand..with an aditional ten pounds of newly bought sand since the new tank has more floor space...i turned on my skimmer and powerhead i the new tank and im hoping for the best....after the water cleans up..how long do you think illhave to wait to put my livestock back in? il test of course but does anyone have a good guess on this??? any help greatly appreciated!!! im flipping out and thinkin im gunna lose my LMB...thanx in advance!

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by d0 thy d3w
well..today is good bad day for me...yet a good day at the same time if all goes well...here is what happened...around 6:00pm today i discovered that my 29gallon was leaking....so being the person i am i got wide eyed and totally flipped out...so i instantly went and told my parents...(who know absolutely nothing about fish)...so we ran up to the lfs realy quick and bought a 20L for a replacement..50bux not to bad i guess..i like the new tanks dimensons better than my old one but...i have never had to move my fish before..(ive done freshwater moves but thats soo much more simple)...luckily for me i dont have alot of livestock..3 snails and a lawnmower blenny...so i put my bleeny and snails i a bucket filled with siphoned tank water....finished emptying my old tank and put most of the water into my new one...same with the sand..with an aditional ten pounds of newly bought sand since the new tank has more floor space...i turned on my skimmer and powerhead i the new tank and im hoping for the best....after the water cleans up..how long do you think illhave to wait to put my livestock back in? il test of course but does anyone have a good guess on this??? any help greatly appreciated!!! im flipping out and thinkin im gunna lose my LMB...thanx in advance!
Ah geeze, I am so sorry, that stinks that your tank sprung a leak, but it happens. My 46 bow did that as well. I was going to use it for a reef, but now after I re-seal it I don't trust it anymore. Back to your situation, If you just bought live sand then your blennie shouldn't have been in there while you added it. Are the fish still in the bucket? If so, do you have a heater in there? Is this an emmergency where the fish have to go back in tonight?

 

[d0 thy d3w]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
Ah geeze, I am so sorry, that stinks that your tank sprung a leak, but it happens. My 46 bow did that as well. I was going to use it for a reef, but now after I re-seal it I don't trust it anymore. Back to your situation, If you just bought live sand then your blennie shouldn't have been in there while you added it. Are the fish still in the bucket? If so, do you have a heater in there? Is this an emmergency where the fish have to go back in tonight?
alright..here we go again...the fish and snails are still in the bucket..i really dont think they need a heater as the room theyre in stays at a constant 72degrees...the sand i bought extra today was not live sand...just packaged stuff from the lfs...the fish dont have to go back in today or even tommorow but id like to be able to add them as soon as possible without harming them....my LMB looks really stressed out and isnt moving much..i dont blame him..hes probly as stressed as i am... i think taht covers everything for now..

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by d0 thy d3w
alright..here we go again...the fish and snails are still in the bucket..i really dont think they need a heater as the room theyre in stays at a constant 72degrees...the sand i bought extra today was not live sand...just packaged stuff from the lfs...the fish dont have to go back in today or even tommorow but id like to be able to add them as soon as possible without harming them....my LMB looks really stressed out and isnt moving much..i dont blame him..hes probly as stressed as i am... i think taht covers everything for now..
If your fish are in a bucket without a heater and the room is 72, that puts the water at about 67-68 degrees. Put a thermometer in there, LMB will be VERY stresed out in a bucket. He is better off in the tank. Water gets colder than the air around it, and it warms up slower as well. The new sand was not live, how long has the new tank been set up? Has everything settled yet? Have you tested the water? Post your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, SG, and temp.

 

[d0 thy d3w]

the new tank has been up and filled for less than an hour..i finished right before i posted this thread....i really dont think anything could survive in the water right now...ill go test it now..and ill post again with results

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by d0 thy d3w
the new tank has been up and filled for less than an hour..i finished right before i posted this thread....i really dont think anything could survive in the water right now...ill go test it now..and ill post again with results
OMG, no, do not put them in there tonight. Do you have a small heater and thermometer you could put in the bucket? A small powerhead perhaps. They won't survive without air and will get too cold without a heater.

 

[d0 thy d3w]

ammonia .50
trites 0ppm
trates 0ppm
sg about 1.020 (i know too low..ill boost it later)
temp about 65...(i had to used cold water to mix the remainder of my water)
as for for amm. trate, and trite tests im actually surprised...i usually test no ammonia no trites and about .50 trates...i hope everything hops back to normal quick!! im gettin stressed!

 

[d0 thy d3w]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
OMG, no, do not put them in there tonight. Do you have a small heater and thermometer you could put in the bucket? A small powerhead perhaps. They won't survive without air and will get too cold without a heater.
man..today is one sucky

[hr]
day for me..i dont use a heater in my DT but i can hop out in the garage and try to find the one we used on our old FW tank...as for the powerhead taht can easily be done...im tryin to do my best..but freakin god...thanx for bein patient with me tho! im on my way to the garage to look for my heater

 

[d0 thy d3w]

ok more bad news..it seems that when my mom sold our old 55gallon to her friend..she gave away the heater as well..but maybe all hope is not lost..i have an extra heat lamp layin around from my reptiles...tahts all i can do for now...ill go put it over the bucket...or would this be bad?? i dotn see what harm it could do..

 

[zanoshanox]

agreed, i think ti should be fine. We need to get that temp up though, once we do, it'll just make one less thing for your fish to stress about. Can you get the water flowing in the bucket soemhow? The fish will need air. If you can't get these things, i woudl put the fish back in tonight. i was faced with this same dilemma a couple weeks ago when i upgraded...put the fish in that night, water was still a little cloudy, and all fish survived and showed no sign of disease. i got lucky though. Whats the status of the situation now?

 

[d0 thy d3w]

ok i just took sum pictures of the tank..i dont think it will help any..but i just thought yall should see this...kinda looks like a nuclear war just occured in fishtopia..

 

[d0 thy d3w]

Originally Posted by zanoshanox
agreed, i think ti should be fine. We need to get that temp up though, once we do, it'll just make one less thing for your fish to stress about. Can you get the water flowing in the bucket soemhow? The fish will need air. If you can't get these things, i woudl put the fish back in tonight. i was faced with this same dilemma a couple weeks ago when i upgraded...put the fish in that night, water was still a little cloudy, and all fish survived and showed no sign of disease. i got lucky though. Whats the status of the situation now?
well.the pics i just posted is my situation..i tested my parameter less than 20 minutes ago..and posted it a few posts back..im not gunna risk puttin my fish back in yet..take a look at the tank..it has fish killer written all over it

 

[d0 thy d3w]

its things like this that cause people to chain smoke..and drink their lives away...

 

[zanoshanox]

aahhh....doesnt look good....why didnt you use some of the sand from the other tank? Ehat equipment do you have runnign on it right now as far as filtration, skimmers, etc? We shoudl be able to get an idea of how long it will take to clear upp....i'd say give it til morning. but the fish wont be able to make it much longer than that in the bucket...

 

[d0 thy d3w]

i did use sand from the old tank..but i ahd to add 10 extra pounds of new sand because this tank is longer than the old one....so total its got about 20pounds of sand in it...i got a prizm deluxe skimmer running on it..and a newly built diy HOB fuge...its taking a while for the skimmer to warm back up..probly another 30minutes to an hour before it removes anything...maybe if i mix up sum more salt water tonight...and change out the water tommorow i will be fine to add my fish back in???? i hope!!also..some of the water i used to fill this tank up came from the old one..so i think there is hope..im just nervous because ive never had to do any of this with SW fish..just freshwater...and freshwater fish are soo much easier

 

[d0 thy d3w]

wheres the whiskey when u really need it???

 

[zanoshanox]

How much of the water from the 29 g did you take? If yuo took 15+ gallons, you're probably okay to do a water change tomorrow, if you took anything less than that, i wouldnt do it....then you're loosing a lot of your beneficial bacteria...

 

[d0 thy d3w]

well crack in a stack!!! i used about 5-10..would have done more but i had a lack of buckets..i really need to stock up on emergency items..i mean honestly..in december..about 5 days before my birthday.. we had apower outtage that l lost all of my livestock in..except for 2 snails....

 

[d0 thy d3w]

tank looks a bit more clear now...i can actually see the sand somehwat...if my lmb lives thru this i shall name him achilles for his bravery and strength...

 

[rbaldino]

Originally Posted by d0 thy d3w
ok i just took sum pictures of the tank..i dont think it will help any..but i just thought yall should see this...kinda looks like a nuclear war just occured in fishtopia..
What makes you think the fish can't handle cloudy water? If you transferred over all the filtration from your 29, there's no reason why they can't go in the new tank. Here's a little anecdote... A couple of months back I took out all the fish, rock, and sand in my tank. Put the fish in a bucket, dumped in a bag of new sand, put all the rock back in, and put the fish back in within about a half an hour. Nothing happened to the fish, and the water was back to normal the next day. It's dust, not a cloud of poison gas. Anyway, it's up to you to decide what you want to do. If you choose to leave the fish in the bucket overnight, make sure they at least have some heat. Remember, everything in that bucket was at one time shipped overnight (at best) to a LFS in small plastic bags with no light or aeration. They can handle a bucket.
p.s.
Keep a used 1 gallon plastic milk container around. Great way to move water from one tank to another.