urgent help and advice required

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clear-seal1988

New Member
Hey all a quick question after my sugar dose went horribly wrong i did a full water change and water is still cloudy would anyone advise changing the live sand too?

Thanks in advance
 
C

clear-seal1988

New Member
This is my previous post

Hi All and welcome to this thread!!

Well where to start.......... ok so my Nitrates were SKY high through the roof and off the charts so after hearing and reading so much of this so called sugar dosing lark i decided to take the plunge and have a go worst mistake i have ever made i mean dont get me wrong it may work for others very well but with my reef it didn't turn out so good.

i dosed it last night and it went horribly cloudy and i can hear so many of you saying water change and YES thats exactly what i should have done and exactly what i ended up doing but not before to late unfortunately I have lost all 3 of my chromis, my engineer goby and maroon clown are in a very bad way and i feel i will be lucky to save them they are in separate tanks on there own now!

I am not trying to discourage any one from using the sugar method I am a firm believer of dont knock it until you have tried it! what i will say on the subject is do so with caution.

Life is for learning and ok so it cost me a dear lesson but a lesson i will never forget and will never repeat!

Ok now for the reason i came to doing the sugar dosing method in the first place I only had a enough salt for not even a gallon so it was late and the lfs was closed i was looking for a quick fix just until i could get more salt and also to buy myself a little time to figure out the root course of the high nitrates and nitrite needless to say i have done the water change now nice clear water but am just keeping a close eye on he maroon and the engineer will keep you all updated on the condition and hope full progress to a clean bill of health
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
I'm not familiar with sugar dosing but depending on how long it was till you did your water change I can't imagine it penetrating that deep into your sand bed to warrant changing your substrate. If anything, it probably is in your live rock also. If it killed that many fish it probably killed off some of your beneficial bacteria in your whole system so I would keep and eye out for a mini spike as well. All I can say is test your water, keep up with the water changes ( I would do 50%) and run carbon till the water stays clear and your parameters are where they should be. Till then, keep ALL of your live stock in QT for an extra safety measure.

Just a thought.
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
It might help others, that know sugar dosing, to advise you if you posted the exact procedure that you used when you dosed.
 
C

clear-seal1988

New Member
silverado61 said:
I'm not familiar with sugar dosing but depending on how long it was till you did your water change I can't imagine it penetrating that deep into your sand bed to warrant changing your substrate. If anything, it probably is in your live rock also. If it killed that many fish it probably killed off some of your beneficial bacteria in your whole system so I would keep and eye out for a mini spike as well. All I can say is test your water, keep up with the water changes ( I would do 50%) and run carbon till the water stays clear and your parameters are where they should be. Till then, keep ALL of your live stock in QT for an extra safety measure.

Just a thought.
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Hey there Silverado61

Thank you for your reply was beginning to give up hope there for a while! fish still in QT as you have advised! i haven't changed substrate just flushed it and it dose seem to have cleared right up!

How ever still going to leave fish in QT as an extra precaution for now and will keep testing until as you have rightly stated my water parameters are in good stead! i dosed my tank with 1/3 tsp of sugar but have since learnt that my darling daughter thought she could do what daddy had done and had added more sugar ( the joys of parenthood ) i have flushed and flushed and flushed haven't added live rock back in yet still sitting in a bucket of salt water!

Do you think my LR is a loss now? or can it be resurrected? will eagerly await your response thanks again :)
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
I would put the rock back in making sure that the base rock is firmly on the bottom past the sand. Leave the sand alone and keep testing for a mini spike. If you want to help it along, put a small piece of raw table shrimp in a piece of nylon, tie it closed, and toss it in. As soon as you see any ammonia take the shrimp out, do a water change and test every day till your display finishes the mini spike. Add your cuc back in. Then keep testing for at least a week to make sure everything remains stable. If it does, and your Goby and Clown are healthy enough, acclimate them back to your tank. One at a time. At least a week apart and test your water before you add the second fish just to be on the safe side. Your bio load will be delicate for a while, meaning weeks, so keep a close eye on your fish and your parameters for about a month after. This hobby requires a lot of patience.

Keep us posted.
 
C

clear-seal1988

New Member
silverado61 said:
I would put the rock back in making sure that the base rock is firmly on the bottom past the sand. Leave the sand alone and keep testing for a mini spike. If you want to help it along, put a small piece of raw table shrimp in a piece of nylon, tie it closed, and toss it in. As soon as you see any ammonia take the shrimp out, do a water change and test every day till your display finishes the mini spike. Add your cuc back in. Then keep testing for at least a week to make sure everything remains stable. If it does, and your Goby and Clown are healthy enough, acclimate them back to your tank. One at a time. At least a week apart and test your water before you add the second fish just to be on the safe side. Your bio load will be delicate for a while, meaning weeks, so keep a close eye on your fish and your parameters for about a month after. This hobby requires a lot of patience.

Keep us posted.
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Thank you again silverado61

i will definitely keep you posted will also be keeping little fingers away from the tank! a small update on the goby and clown both are eating and seemed to have calmed right down in QT just keeping a close eye on them! but they seem to be doing ok which i am pleased about i suppose the amount of sugar would have been in the system for a maximum of 5 hours! bu will keep an eye out for that mini spike i kinda know its coming!

and yes patience is a virtue in this hobby and well i wont be dabbling with sugar doing again even if i was on the right track with 1/3 tbs never the less i have learnt from this experience

Thanks again my friend and happy reefing :)

P.S when everything is back to normal i will post you some pics :-D
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
Awesome. Now, take a deep breath. You deserve it. :)
It's the holiday season. That's probably why you haven't gotten anymore responses.
 
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C

clear-seal1988

New Member
snakeblitz33 said:
Sounds like you need to lay some ground rules with the little one.

Best of luck.
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Hey there Snakeblitz33

LOL absolutely ground rules are now in place she knows now not to play around with daddy's tank and she also knows that Santa clause dosnt visit little girls who dont do as they are asked/told hehe :)

my goby and clown are on the mend now still in QT but clearly picking up my DP tank is still running nice clear water have adjusted the skimmer also just to catch any nasty residues or anything that shouldn't be present

Thank you for your advice in the other two post's as you said all we can do is learn from our mistakes and i have learnt this time for sure A) to wait until little helpers are in bed, and B) not to rush into drastic measures :) gutted about my chromis but would have been worse still to lose everything

Any how thank you my again my friend and happy reefing i will be keeping you all up to date and always eager and keen to learn :) :)
 
C

clear-seal1988

New Member
Hey all another update both engineer goby and clown are doing absolutely great they are taking there feeds every feed!

they are still in QT and my DP tank is still crystal clear water did a test this evening and have ammonia readings of 0.25 ppm so this could be that spike starting to rear its head will give you more up dates as soon as there is anymore to update with :)
 
C

clear-seal1988

New Member
hey all its dawned on me i never gave you the full report of the water test so here goes

High Range PH =8.0
Ammonia = 0.25 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 0 ppm

I imagine because my tank has to practically cycle again?

whilst observing my tank i saw a blue legged hermit crab which i had given up looking for weeks ago hes still very much alive and kicking LOL not sure if that so much of a positive thingi mean dont get me wrong i am glad he is not dead just a little concerned with the thought that maybe he is trying to relocate? what are your thoughts?

Will eagerly await reply's

Happy reefing guys :) :) :)
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
I take it you have a half way decent/working protein skimmer? They are a absolute must have for any carbon dosing regimen.
 
C

clear-seal1988

New Member
Hi there 2quills
Thanks for your post :) and yes it seems i have got lucky with the protein skimmer originally i bought this skimmer (JAD WG-308) hang on skimmer after i had purchased it and still in the research stages of setting the tank up i had read reviews and watched videos on said skimmer the reviews for the most part weren't so good and neither were the videos but i thought hey im still in the setting up process and still learning but if needs be i will replace it with a better one at a later stage! ( thinking to my self my own experience is what will teach me best) as it turns out i have been lucky with this said skimmer if the reviews and videos are anything to go by as this skimmer seems to work fine for my needs at present :)
 
C

clear-seal1988

New Member
Hey guys quick update!

Tested my water today and spike or something is defiantly happening hears the test readings as follows

High Rang PH = 8.0

Amonia = betwen 0.50/1.00 PPM

Nitrite = 1.00 PPM

Nitrate = 20 PPM

would we agree that the tank is cycling all over again? will eagerly await responses thanks in advance guys :)
 
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