BIG PROBLEMS NEED HELP!

[scottbert]

Hi Everyone,
Well I have a pretty big problem over here. I have had my tank for about 4 years now. 29g, 2 fish, hermits and snails, and mushrooms. thats all. Nothing to special pretty basic. Anyway, on Monday, the tank got, well lets just say A LOT of food. I got home from work, everything was dead. I removed the fish. I thought I would take this opportunity (if thats what you want to call it) to re-arrange my live rock to a different set up. I ended up stirring up the sand. The smell that came out of this tank was rediculous. Yesterday I replaced 10g of water, cleaned my filter media, replaced the pads in the filter, added a skimmer (which I have no idea how to use, but I will figure that out later). This morning, STILL stinks, the water is STILL super cloudy (brown & mirky). I am going to change another 5g of water today to see if that helps. Does anyone have any suggestions? Oh, one more thing, my pregnant wife had an "increased" smelling sence, so she is really happy about all of this :-/
So I really need some help here. This is why its in the New Hobbyists forum, never had to deal with this before. Should I shut the power heads off? Replace all the water?? I am lost.

 

[slice]

This is awful news. No one should have their tank destroyed like this, so sorry to hear.
Others will be better at advising you what to do, I would think you should dispose of your water, rinse your sand in sw, perhaps even cook your rock for a while. Lets see what others say.
I do think your rebuilt tank should display this prominently:

 

[1guydude]

lol +1 on the sign....my gf feeds my tank in the mornings, so i hope this one day dosent happen to me...IMO i would totally empty ur tank. Clean the sand outside in a bucket with the hose. You can rinse it to where the detitius and such rinse out the top and the sand swirls around. Put vinegar and water mix in ur tank and let it soak for half the day. Ur rock im thinkin, hold in a bucket of water and just put it back in. Youll obviously have to cycle again but better than wasting ur time with water changes.....id wait and see wat others have to say though. Also id start a thread about ur skimmer in the equipment section if u really dont know. Sry about ur fishys btw.

 

[mr. limpid]

you have major overload of ammonia, your tank is cycling again (or trying to), do 50% water changes until smell goes away. Do not rinse or cook your rock, you need to keep your bacteria alive. also while doing water changes try to siphon out as much of the extra food out of your tank. Also a good time to siphon out detritus. good luck

 

[florida joe]

Can you start from the beginning for us (me) slower people? How much food was introduced into the tank (frozen, dry) how long after the food was introduced did the fish die? Does your tank smell like surfer (rotten eggs?)

 

[scottbert]

Thanks for the advice everyone, and for the record, my wife DID NOT do this to my tank lol. Mr. Limpid - I agree with what you are saying, I have 15g of water being mixed right now and will change out soon. How long do you recommend waiting between water changes? Florida Joe - I dont know how much food went in. And yes, the tank (and rest of the house) smells like rotten eggs. Everyone else - thanks for your suggestions, unfortunatley all the cleaning and such has to be in-doors because up where I live...we still have snow on the ground.

Any other suggestions out there I am checking this forum every 10 minutes!

 

[mr. limpid]

Joe had made a suggestion to another person with a similar problem, you may want to tear down the entire system and bleach it all, because of your wife. This going to smell like bleach though my want to run it past your wife which smell she will prefer.

 

[scottbert]

Will stick to the 50% water change and see how that goes.

 

[florida joe]

A possibility in its simplest form would be
A rotten egg smell would come from hydrogen sulfide gas. When you stirred up your sand bed you released the gas and this is what IMO killed your fish
The gas is formed in areas of the sand bed that lack of oxygen.this is another case in which IMO you are better served by starting over with new substratum

 

[saxman]

I'm with Joe here...I can't tell you how many times I've had folks ask me why their tank died after they stirred-up their substrate. Even with a very shallow substrate, there are still things in the lower layers that do NOT belong in the water column.
If you're using CC, go with something finer, and, as mentioned, if you REALLY want to re-use the substrate, put it in one or more buckets, and rinse the stuff repeatedly until the water runs completely clear and no longer smells (this is time consuming, but will indeed work).

 

[1guydude]

im guessing this is from not rinsing the LS before adding it? I did not do this as i was very n00b....but will do it on my 10gal zoo tank!

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude http:///forum/thread/385328/big-problems-need-help#post_3379101
im guessing this is from not rinsing the LS before adding it? I did not do this as i was very n00b....but will do it on my 10gal zoo tank!
Just to explain.....As I understand it..this is not caused from not rinsing the sand. It is caused by not having a CUC that stirs the sand, also rock on top of sand or behind it where it sits undisturbed for a long period of time. The stuff fish poop and food that was left over breaks down and gets imbedded deep in the sandand without being released it just builds up...then one day you mess with the sand, move a rock and bam, it is released all at once and poisons the tank and everything dies.

 

[florida joe]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude http:///forum/thread/385328/big-problems-need-help#post_3379101
im guessing this is from not rinsing the LS before adding it? I did not do this as i was very n00b....but will do it on my 10gal zoo tank!
Rinsing the LS before you add it to your tank is a good idea but it does not mean you cannot crash a tank due to hydrogen sulfide. Denitrifying bacteria convert nitrate to nitrogen (N2) gas or Hydrogen sulfide when the right circumstances are present. Without venting this gas the build up with in our substratum gets to a lethal level and then when we stir up the substratum we introduce toxic levels into our water column

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///forum/thread/385328/big-problems-need-help#post_3379107
Rinsing the LS before you add it to your tank is a good idea but it does not mean you cannot crash a tank due to hydrogen sulfide. Denitrifying bacteria convert nitrate to nitrogen (N2) gas or Hydrogen sulfide when the right circumstances are present. Without venting this gas the build up with in our substratum gets to a lethal level and then when we stir up the substratum we introduce toxic levels into our water column

I want to add...rinse in saltwater because if you rinse live sand in freshwater it won't be live anymore.

 

[cryptics]

Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///forum/thread/385328/big-problems-need-help#post_3379107
Rinsing the LS before you add it to your tank is a good idea but it does not mean you cannot crash a tank due to hydrogen sulfide. Denitrifying bacteria convert nitrate to nitrogen (N2) gas or Hydrogen sulfide when the right circumstances are present. Without venting this gas the build up with in our substratum gets to a lethal level and then when we stir up the substratum we introduce toxic levels into our water column
Ok 2 noob questions
1) Is there anything we can do to prevent this buildup or just don't touch it?
2) I am waiting for an order from saltwaterfish.com of 20lbs of live sand to seed my new tank. I should wash this? Wouldn't that wash away the bacteria?

 

[florida joe]

Quote:
Originally Posted by cryptics http:///forum/thread/385328/big-problems-need-help#post_3379111
Ok 2 noob questions
1) Is there anything we can do to prevent this buildup or just don't touch it?
2) I am waiting for an order from saltwaterfish.com of 20lbs of live sand to seed my new tank. I should wash this? Wouldn't that wash away the bacteria?
how do you plan of keeping your LS clean
The bacteria colonize ON the sand by washing we mean rinsing just put it in a bucket aid the salt water and gently run your hand through the sand spilling out the water until it runs somewhat clear

 

[cryptics]

Ok I understand now. I will do that when it arrives. How do you keep the sand bed clean on a week to week basis? In my previous tank I had crushed coral so I just used one of those "vacumes" to sift through it. Can I do that with sand? I was under the impression that you should not disturb the sand bed once it is in.

 

[florida joe]

Research cleanup crews and sand bed maintenance