Spilt Beer?

[cronin]

I had a party Saturday night with about 100 guest. Woke up Sunday late morning. Took a look at the tank around 3:00 pm and half my fish were struggeling and half were dead. I did an emergency water change and checked the water. I found that my PH had dropped off the scale. I checked the PH a few days before and it was fine. Any idea how this happened?
The only thing I can think off is something was introduced to the tank during the party. ie. spilt beer?
I have too make sure this never happens again because I can't afford it. How long do you all think I should wait before adding fish again?

 

[kris walker]

Man, that really stinks.
How low was the pH? How much of a water change did you already do? How big is your tank?
sam

 

[cronin]

My PH went from 8.4 to well below 8 in less than 3 days. I mean the damn tube was yellow. Not even a tint of purple.
I did a 20% water change (55 Gallon tank)as a last ditch effort. It only saved one of my fish.
Has anyone else ever had such a drastic PH change?

 

[kris walker]

Cronin, I hate to say it, but I think you have to replace the entire water column and start over.
Good luck,
sam

 

[wamp]

Is the water clear? Alot of smoking in the room with the tank? What is amonia level?

 

[cyn]

New tank Dec. 10th? How many fish were there? Don't get me wrong, but I wonder if this was from going too fast and the party was just a freak coincidence? I am not trying to get any toes here, just offering another perspective.
cyn

 

[ubeturwrasse]

what are your orther readings? ammo, trites???
beer would prolly not hurt much, unless it was a lot of beer. wouldnt be good, but dont think it would crash a setup.

 

[kung fu]

You know...I hate to follow Cyn's possible toe-stepping here, but I have to ask too...
I started putting together my 110 around Dec. 16th (at least I purchased it then). Substrate and water on 12/23...LR on 1/4, the sump was installed on 1/12...1st small janitor crew on 1/13...and I'm just now finishing my cycle (NH, trites, and trates down to 0 this past weekend).
How in the world did you get your reef up so quickly (to the fishy stage)? And if so...am I doing something wrong???
Hmmm...
Peace...

 

[info_sponge]

hi kung fu
I read your setup there and was wondering 1 thing. I always thought you were supposed to drop your LR in before your substrate to prevent rock slides from burrowing animals etc. I guess it depends on your setup? hmmm. I was gonna mix water, drop LR, and then LS. Will I have a problem with LR or LS dying if i do it this way?

 

[kung fu]

Well first...I'm no expert here either
One point is that few people recommend placing LR directly on your substrate due to the possibility of harmful build ups created by the small pockets that can be formed between LR and substrate. For instance I placed my LR on a really secure base of lace rock that I sunk down pretty hard into the substrate.
I also only have about a 1 inch layer of Aragamax for my substrate (I'm using a plenum system - with a few extras added - in my sump). So I don't really have a DSB in tank for the LR to sit on.
But you probably do bring up a good point here...
I've also read about some reefers actually superglueing their LR and base rock together to prevent major rockslides...this would work I suppose!
Peace...

 

[cronin]

I ran the tank with just liverock for about 4 weeks. Added a clown and a cardinal on the 4th week. Added a cleanup crew and 3 small firefish on the 6th week. Had this probelm on the 8th week. Pretty agressive schedule but my water readings have been perfect the whole time and I am positive my tank cycled with just the Live Rock.
Could just be a bad coincidence. My water readings are back to normal once again after adding some additional pH buffer on my water changes.
I think i will monitor the system for a few weeks befoer adding anything else.
Thanks,
Cronin

 

[kris walker]

Glad to hear things seem back to normal. Good luck!
sam

 

[saltwater in nebraska]

I had that problem a few years back with a freshwater tank. Had a party and some people were drinking and smoking around the tank, I never tested the water but within 3 days my 3 red belly pirahnas were dead. To bad everyone doesn't respect the life of a fish.

 

[mlm]

This reminds me of a party I went to when I was in high school. This guy I knew his parents were out of town and he had a party at his house with about 100 of his "friends". Any way his father had a nice reef setup and some @#$hole poured a bottle of Vodka in it and killed the whole tank. Needless to say he was in some trouble when his parents got home.

 

[ebeckels]

I don't know what I would do if someone i knew poured kodka in my tank!!! I'd consider capital punsihment for that one!!! <img src="graemlins//yell.gif" border="0" alt="[yell]" />