What to do with my tank

[rane]

Ok, all my fish have been out of the tank for 2 weeks now, gave the trigger and tang to the lfs, they had a ick outbrake, what should I do with this tank, right now for some reason ( I think its the tap water) its nitrates are off the wall and there is nothing in the tank I have a bunch of red slime on the bottom of the tank, I just ordered an RO/DI unit that I picked up on ---- for about $150.00 it does 100gpd, how do I go about adding this new water in the tank, should I just start all over again and empty out all the water and add all new water from the RO/DI unit, or which I was thinking about should I just quit the hobby and give up( if this is the case tank is up for sale) I have lost about $800.00 in fish since I have started in this hobby and dont want to go through it again, I love the reefs but I dont want to spend $800 for lighting so I dont know what to do any sugestions
Thanks all for all your help

 

[alti]

hi rane,
dont throw in the towel. you have a very nice tank and now you have a chance to start over from scratch. i would empty the whole tank and start over. that way you are sure that there is no more ick in the tank. ick will stay in the tank after you take the fish out for up to a month. just fill it with fresh water for a couple of days and all the ick and algea will die.

 

[rosco05]

Ick is almost always present in all tanks. The thing is it only shows itself when the fish in the tank become stressed and are susceptible to infection. So IMO you dont need to completely start over just figure out what caused the fish to become stressed.

 

[splash1914]

I been in this hobby for over 10 years now... I had my share of deaths and diseases..... you learn from your mistakes and move on.... I think your main problem was your tap water.... now you have a RO unit you moved in the right direction.. If this my tank I would:
1)Do a 50% water change with RO water (just freshwater) to kill any ich present...
2)add some chemi-clean (or any "red slime remover")
3) once your red algae is gone (should be in about 2 days after you add the red slime remover) do another 50% water change and add the nessary salt to get the specific gravity up in the range you usually keep it at..
see where your nitrates are after this... if they are still high do another 50% water change... you have no fish in there so it will not stress anything out....
DONT GIVE UP.......

 

[preluded]

I agree with Splash1914 also you may look at adding a uv sterilizer to help with the ich and algea in the future

 

[pferboy]

i have been going through the same thing that you have. i can't bring my self to throwing in the towel because this hobby is too much fun. stick with, but pay extra attention to what is going on in the tank. make sure you know how your fish will act with each other before you put them in. lol
"don't give up don't ever give up" Jimmy V

 

[rane]

Ok I just got me Ro/Di unit in, now I took some water from the ro unit and tested it and teh amonia and nitrates of the water that came out are off the charts is this normal? if I add 50% of this water too my tank wont my tank cycle again or should I just empty out all the water and just add all ro/di water?
someone help quick as I am doing this as we speak
thanks

 

[splash1914]

you tested the water that came straight the RO and it was off the charts? did you mix it with salt first? the water out of the ro should be 0 accross the board.

 

[rane]

Ok I did about a 50% water change with ro/di water damn that took forever... and everything is at 0 except for nitrates its at 20ppm should I do another 50% water change? the 2 starfish that I had in there came out of hiding and died thisis the first time I see them since I put the in, I added the Ro/di water with no salt so I know my salt levels are low so should I do another 50% water change or let it be?
Thanks

 

[splash1914]

I would do another water change to get the salinity right. you never want to add just salt into the tank....... try putting in some damsels for a week or two to see if it goes through a mini cycle... leave your skimmer off for a couple weeks.

 

[rane]

humm come to think of it I dont have a protein skimmer setup in my system could that be the problem that I am having?...if so splash is there a skimmer that you think might be good I have a 155gl and I dont want a hang on skimmer I want an in sump one
Thanks
Ramon

 

[splash1914]

I think that is one your problems!!! I use sealife skimmers becuase they are cheap and work pretty well. this site sells them with free shipping. I just bought 2 of them from this site for my work. make sure you have enough room in your sump for your skimmer......