NEED HELP: funny story for those who have kids

[cameltowing]

my wonderful precious 3 yo boy thought he would help daddy this morning but feeding the fishies.
a whole 1 lb bucket of flake food and a whole can of shrimp pellets. and seeing the look on his face when i walked into ythe room... priceless.
so an hour and a half of netting the food and vacuuming the chunks left in the corners i dont see any more. water is cloudy and corals look pissed off. am i ok or will this feeding kill everything?? its a 150 display and a 100 sump with a skimmer. set up for 4 years. any advise please.

 

[bigarn]

wow! .... a winter wonderland.
get as much out as possible, do frequent water changes for awhile and check your water parameters. It's not catastrophic ...
Oh yeah ... tell the little guy only dad can feed the fish for now.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by bigarn
http:///forum/post/2845236
wow! .... a winter wonderland.
get as much out as possible, do frequent water changes for awhile and check your water parameters. It's not catastrophic ...
Oh yeah ... tell the little guy only dad can feed the fish for now.
+1
Be sure to test test test over the next few days.

 

[spinylobster]

funny stuff... Kinda! Hope everything works out. My 2 yr old put a chocalate chip cookie in my reef a couple weeks ago. Luckily I got it out immediatly, and he knows not to do it again. The good thing is that these kids take a liking to the reef and maybe what they learn will beneficial to them

 

[kssalah]

I'm really sorry to see your mess! I hope everything turns out ok. I don't have much advice for the tank but since the kiddo is showing interest maybe you could give him the job of feeding pre-measured amounts of food. Thats what I do with my son who wants to be involved. Maybe it will instill a life long interest and a bond that will be nice as he gets older. Best of luck!

 

[cameltowing]

got most of the stuff out by vacuuming and netting. water is still way cloudly. and stinks. skimmer has filled up 3 times yesterday. usually fills up every two weeks. did a 30 gal waterchange last nite and am mixing another right now. all the sps is dead. 2 wrasses and dead. softies look real good. elegance is loving it. anemonies are hating life. any other advise to save some of my stuff? theres thousands of dollars of corals in here. can i take them out and put them in freshly mixed water withoput cycling?

 

[stdreb27]

I think you'll be ok with that much water... If you can I'd hook up some sort of mechanical filtration like a canister filter too. For the time being.

 

[pbienkiewi]

hay, I am going on vacation next week. Do you think you could spare the little one to feed my fish tank? It would be greatly appriciated.

 

[natclanwy]

If you have a canister use it and clean it everyday, and twice a day if you can. Use a power head or turkey baster to stir up the food that is caught in the rock work and in the corners then siphon off as much debri as you can. You may need to do daily water changes until you can get your parameters stabalized again. Also continue to keep emptying and cleaning the skimmer cup as often as you can, the stuff that collects in the riser tubes will decrease the performance of your skimmer so try to keep it as clean as you can.

 

[cveverly]

I think I would run some carbon if you have it.
I also think you could setup a temp. tank with fresh saltwater for your coral. Just don't feed and there should not be a much of a cycle. Moving them twice might be detrimental but leaving them where they are is not good either.

 

[salt nate]

youre a much more patient dad than I am, I can tell by your tone. I would have frieked. I have made it very clear to my 3 and 6 year old boys that I will take their game boys and smash them in the road if they even touch the glass. Its been 4 months and they havent touched anything yet!
I do sit in front of the tank and teach them and have fun with them. They love the tank, but know I am very serious about it. Ive invested too much money and time!
But good for you...your a good dad

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by salt nate
http:///forum/post/2846869
youre a much more patient dad than I am, I can tell by your tone. I would have frieked. I have made it very clear to my 3 and 6 year old boys that I will take their game boys and smash them in the road if they even touch the glass. Its been 4 months and they havent touched anything yet!
I do sit in front of the tank and teach them and have fun with them. They love the tank, but know I am very serious about it. Ive invested too much money and time!
But good for you...your a good dad
Are you serious? Kids do things on accident. Mistakes happen...Wow.

 

[mboswell1982]

im gonna have to agree, kids will make mistakes, and do stupid things when it comes to animals.
i used to get my butt tore up for even getting near one of my dads many rifles and shotguns when i was little, but, i learned very fast not to even attempt to touch one unless he said it was ok, but, in my mind, that was totally, and 110% different, yes, the fish are living, they are your pets, but, ur kid dumping a can of feed into tank wont kill your kid, him playing with a rifle orshotgun can kill him if its loaded, so, to my mind, my getting my butt tore up for that infraction was justified, ur reaction to them messin with the tank, not cool man

 

[kssalah]

How is the tank coming? Were you able to save it for the most part?

 

[salt nate]

guys, whats so wrong with telling my kids if they put anything in the tank with out me in the room that I throw away their gameboys????
I think thats a pretty fair deal!

Im not a militaristic dad by any means, but they need to know Im serious. and gameboys are their favorite, so they know not to touch it. You guys can have some kids and then tell me how to parent

 

[stanlalee]

wow thats bad. On a tank that big I dont know what I would have done. On mine I'd have just done a 90% water change. my 5yr old thought he'd help me clean the glass by running the magfloat (what I get for leaving it on the tank). well the outside glass was completely wet and he actually scratched one side of my glass all to hell. I am still contemplating replacing the tank other than the hassle. Well I warned him the first time but he did it like 2 more times and lets just say he wont do that sh*5 anymore (and I no longer leave it on the tank) ! mess up my tank and not listen

 

[spinylobster]

Man.... Nate its all good man. I have a 2 year old, and like I said in my post b4 he dropped a cookie in my tank. Was it an accident?? No, he may be only 2 but he knew what he was doing(he was gonna feed the fish). Did he know that cookies are bad for the tank?...No. But he got punished, its not a big deal. He is over it. Im over it. I still love him more than anything in this world, and I assure you he won't throw a cookie in my tank again.

 

[cameltowing]

the tank has been totally switched. all new sand and new water. lost 6 or 8 fish and looks like a few corals arnt going to recover. heres the link to the build thread https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/340804/300-gallon-reef-upgrade-build-need-equipment-suggestions
my boy new he had done something wrong when i walked into the room and saw him. but my tank is tall. like the top is 6 ft. i think that he was thinking he was in trouble for dragging the barstool over and climbing up on it. i have 400 watt metal hadides that his head was inches away from. he didnt get beat. but now its a rule that the boys dont touch the aquarium. no cleaning, no feeding, nothing but looking. not for all the money he wasted but for his saftey as well. all that electric. and if he'd splash water on the halide buld and it exploded???? could be a real big deal!

 

[mboswell1982]

glad to hear he's ok, and im sure he learned his lesson too didnt he?

 

[kssalah]

Originally Posted by salt nate
http:///forum/post/2851598
guys, whats so wrong with telling my kids if they put anything in the tank with out me in the room that I throw away their gameboys????
I think thats a pretty fair deal!

Im not a militaristic dad by any means, but they need to know Im serious. and gameboys are their favorite, so they know not to touch it. You guys can have some kids and then tell me how to parent

I completely agree... If you break it down to a kid that messing with something will cost one of their favorite possessions then they understand. There are a million reasons to put a threat like that on it. Safety... mainly, but the tank and its creatures need to be cared for. My kid knows the same thing... If he messes with my tank, HE IS DONE! It's like you said, don't say what you are or aren't gonna do until. Because thats exactly what you will do in the end.