Huge Tank Crash, Help!
- Thread starter adroitmind
- Start date
lesleybird
Active Member
Did someone put a medicine in the tank that killed the biological filter.....meaning the bacteria that turns the amonia and nitrite harmless quickly? Lesley
reefforbrains
Active Member
I think panic has struck and things might look worse than they actually are.
If Amonia gets much higher or stays so high it WILL stop the natural cycle of the biological filtration inside the tank and all the filters.
Theres no nice way to tell someone that they need to start doing daily waterchanges, Just try to do enough change to drop the levels by dilution , the levels must be kept low enough for the biological function of the baceria to restart. Possibly several weeks.
20% daily perhaps might be in order just use dillution and retest as judge for how often.
Something must have started this downward spiral, but it could have been just rushing along ect building the amonia that finally killed the bio in the tank and then levels would qiuckly go ape.......Sudden Tank Death as its called but its just wives tale fromneglect or misinformed new hobbiests. JMO
If Amonia gets much higher or stays so high it WILL stop the natural cycle of the biological filtration inside the tank and all the filters.
Theres no nice way to tell someone that they need to start doing daily waterchanges, Just try to do enough change to drop the levels by dilution , the levels must be kept low enough for the biological function of the baceria to restart. Possibly several weeks.
20% daily perhaps might be in order just use dillution and retest as judge for how often.
Something must have started this downward spiral, but it could have been just rushing along ect building the amonia that finally killed the bio in the tank and then levels would qiuckly go ape.......Sudden Tank Death as its called but its just wives tale fromneglect or misinformed new hobbiests. JMO
sepulatian
Moderator
Originally Posted by WEBER518
Sepulation,
what is the proper care you spoke of for crushed coral, i have crushed coral and my nitrate has shot up to 10 within the last week from 0, did a 10% water change, checked it later and it was still at 10. all other levels are right on the money. also is a shrimp helpful to lower the nitrate levels in a tank ?
Crushed coral has to be thoroughly vacumed. Shrimp will not help. Crushed coral has so many crevices that debris gets caught up in them. If you don't have much in your tank you may want to switch over to sand which does not need to be vacumed at all. You can buy a few sand sifting detrivores to take care of it for you.
Sepulation,
what is the proper care you spoke of for crushed coral, i have crushed coral and my nitrate has shot up to 10 within the last week from 0, did a 10% water change, checked it later and it was still at 10. all other levels are right on the money. also is a shrimp helpful to lower the nitrate levels in a tank ?
Crushed coral has to be thoroughly vacumed. Shrimp will not help. Crushed coral has so many crevices that debris gets caught up in them. If you don't have much in your tank you may want to switch over to sand which does not need to be vacumed at all. You can buy a few sand sifting detrivores to take care of it for you.
sepulatian
Moderator
Originally Posted by ReefForBrains
I think panic has struck and things might look worse than they actually are.
If Amonia gets much higher or stays so high it WILL stop the natural cycle of the biological filtration inside the tank and all the filters.
Theres no nice way to tell someone that they need to start doing daily waterchanges, Just try to do enough change to drop the levels by dilution , the levels must be kept low enough for the biological function of the baceria to restart. Possibly several weeks.
20% daily perhaps might be in order just use dillution and retest as judge for how often.
Something must have started this downward spiral, but it could have been just rushing along ect building the amonia that finally killed the bio in the tank and then levels would qiuckly go ape.......Sudden Tank Death as its called but its just wives tale fromneglect or misinformed new hobbiests. JMO
I respectfully disagree. High ammonia would not stop the cycle. Something is feeding the ammonia. Someone mentoned above about putting in a chemical that would have killed the biological filtration. I am wondering about that. Something has backed up or stopped the natural breakdown here. Please ask your friend what has been added because nothing that you are describing so far makes sense. Something is being overlooked here.
I think panic has struck and things might look worse than they actually are.
If Amonia gets much higher or stays so high it WILL stop the natural cycle of the biological filtration inside the tank and all the filters.
Theres no nice way to tell someone that they need to start doing daily waterchanges, Just try to do enough change to drop the levels by dilution , the levels must be kept low enough for the biological function of the baceria to restart. Possibly several weeks.
20% daily perhaps might be in order just use dillution and retest as judge for how often.
Something must have started this downward spiral, but it could have been just rushing along ect building the amonia that finally killed the bio in the tank and then levels would qiuckly go ape.......Sudden Tank Death as its called but its just wives tale fromneglect or misinformed new hobbiests. JMO
I respectfully disagree. High ammonia would not stop the cycle. Something is feeding the ammonia. Someone mentoned above about putting in a chemical that would have killed the biological filtration. I am wondering about that. Something has backed up or stopped the natural breakdown here. Please ask your friend what has been added because nothing that you are describing so far makes sense. Something is being overlooked here.
reefforbrains
Active Member
Sep- we have disagreed in methodology in the past and it may often read akwardly but I mean no sarcasm. We do often fundamentally have different tactics and methods but generally they fall in line. I would however be interested in your thoughts on this.
I agree that something was indeed overlooked but with Amonia so high, playing detective will use valuable time before a complete crash comes. Tank is not so large that whatever might be skunking the tank currently can be dilluted out without a total teardown. Problem is in filtration ect and will be addressed but please agree amonia at 6 is sure death if left for any period.
I agree that something was indeed overlooked but with Amonia so high, playing detective will use valuable time before a complete crash comes. Tank is not so large that whatever might be skunking the tank currently can be dilluted out without a total teardown. Problem is in filtration ect and will be addressed but please agree amonia at 6 is sure death if left for any period.
sepulatian
Moderator
Originally Posted by ReefForBrains
Sep- we have disagreed in methodology in the past and it may often read akwardly but I mean no sarcasm. We do often fundamentally have different tactics and methods but generally they fall in line. I would however be interested in your thoughts on this.
I agree that something was indeed overlooked but with Amonia so high, playing detective will use valuable time before a complete crash comes. Tank is not so large that whatever might be skunking the tank currently can be dilluted out without a total teardown. Problem is in filtration ect and will be addressed but please agree amonia at 6 is sure death if left for any period.
I completely agree that this ammonia has to be diluted out immediately or death is likely to occur. This situation has to be handled ASAP. However, while the immediate issue is being corrected, we must look a why this happened, what can be done to correct it, and how to avoid this again in the future.
Sep- we have disagreed in methodology in the past and it may often read akwardly but I mean no sarcasm. We do often fundamentally have different tactics and methods but generally they fall in line. I would however be interested in your thoughts on this.
I agree that something was indeed overlooked but with Amonia so high, playing detective will use valuable time before a complete crash comes. Tank is not so large that whatever might be skunking the tank currently can be dilluted out without a total teardown. Problem is in filtration ect and will be addressed but please agree amonia at 6 is sure death if left for any period.
I completely agree that this ammonia has to be diluted out immediately or death is likely to occur. This situation has to be handled ASAP. However, while the immediate issue is being corrected, we must look a why this happened, what can be done to correct it, and how to avoid this again in the future.
sepulatian
Moderator
At least 20% daily changes should be made.
1journeyman
Active Member
From what I've read and an email from Fenner, as I understand it ammonia over 1 begins to kill beneficial bacteria and can harm your cycle. While maybe not "stopping" it, it certainly will hurt it. Plus, as bacteria dies, your cycle gets farther off, killing more bacteria....
Some things don't add up here though.
125 gallons of water at 6 ammonia would not drop to 2 ammonia with a 20% water change. Something is wrong, first off, with either the test kits or methods of testing.
Second, good heavens something died or someone poured ammonia stragiht into the tank. 125 gallons of water going to 6 ammonia is a lot of ammonia... Any chance cleaning solution, windex, etc. got in the tank?
Cleaning the filtration media all at once was a bad idea, but from the bio load I don't think that is the issue. There should have been plenty of bacteria in the rock and substrate to prevent this big of a sudden swing.
Some things don't add up here though.
125 gallons of water at 6 ammonia would not drop to 2 ammonia with a 20% water change. Something is wrong, first off, with either the test kits or methods of testing.
Second, good heavens something died or someone poured ammonia stragiht into the tank. 125 gallons of water going to 6 ammonia is a lot of ammonia... Any chance cleaning solution, windex, etc. got in the tank?
Cleaning the filtration media all at once was a bad idea, but from the bio load I don't think that is the issue. There should have been plenty of bacteria in the rock and substrate to prevent this big of a sudden swing.
adroitmind
Member
Well My friend came into work today and said everything but the two damsels died last night. He's going to take the two fish back to the LFS, tear down and start over. His amonia is so high it won't even read anymore. The test water is so dark green that it looks black! I'm not sure about many of the specifics anymore but he did say all his snails died but all of his hermits and his decorator crab are doing fine. I'm confused now too so i guess if anyone wants to keep commenting thats fine but i'm considering this topic about closed.
1journeyman
Active Member
Be sure he buys new test kits.