Ughh, Tank is dirty. I am loosing fish.

[sampsonndelila]

My tank is all off... I hate it when that happens. My numbers were rock solid for a year. All of a sudden my numbers are wacky, and both my power heads have stopped pushing- I fixed this problem already. Now I have a nitrite .25, nitrate 20-40, ammonia .50, and I recently changed my pH from 6.5 to 8.2. I know, I know every one will say water change-water change. Easier said then done. I have a entry level RO machine. It only produces 40-50 gal a day. It takes a while to build up the 100 gal or so to do a 20% water change. I have started on that already. Any other suggestions in the interim?

SO far I have lost 2 anemones and 3 fish.

[Europhyllia]

I recently changed my pH from 6.5 to 8.2
???

[Gseclipse02]

if it was me i would use tap water in a emergency i wish you would of posted this about 4 hours ago i had 50g mixed but its all in my tank


give me a call if need anything

[Europhyllia]

use nitrate/ammonia absorbing media.
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Purigen.html

I don't understand your comment about yoru pH though. Surely 6.5 is not possible unless it's freshwater?

[Gseclipse02]

pH from 6.5 to 8.2. I ?
[]



im going to guess lack of water changes latley ?? thats when i usally see people ph go real low

[jrsatx20]

sudden rise in ph may be the culprit.

[Gseclipse02]

also how did you get your ph up to 8.2 >>> and how long did it take to do ?

[ShAgMaN]

Ya, use tap who cares, just get the toxins out. Also I would use poly filters to help out (they have worked really well for me). I'm questioning the same as Karin on your ph variance?

[Reefer4ever]

Its not good to have such a low pH. And changing it really fast wasn't the brightest decision. You should have gradually increased it over the course of a week or two. Anyways, I wish you the best of luck with your problem :) And I am curious. What fishies died? :(

My guess is he used one of those pH powders?

[Pennies2Cents]

Hey Carter.. If you need us to hold anything for ya... We can... Or if you need R/O water, we can begin to make some for you... I got lots of brute trash cans we can fill...I will tell Ross to start making R/O water for you...

[sampsonndelila]

Thanks Penny, I just dont know how we can transport it. Yes It was not bright to change my pH so quickly I remember do it a while ago I thought I was suposta use the whole box of Baking soda. Well thats when things went bad I think. Thats pretty much the only way to raise your pH so fast. (Not recomemded) I lost a bar goby, Pseudo, and 2 clown fish at least. its sometimes hard to tell with so many fish. Thought about the tap water too. I dont know whats worse.

[Pennies2Cents]

Where there's a will there is a way. Anything to save a fish' life.... :) Call me if you need anything.....

[sampsonndelila]

I am filling 3 55 gal buckets with tap water for now.

[Pennies2Cents]

ok by this time tomorrow we should have some R/O for ya... Keep us posted...

[sampsonndelila]

TY I am looking for my silly hose to start draining it. I will have to start again tommorow.

[kkiel02]

With an established tank I am thinking you wont have any ammonia tomorrow. Maybe a little nitrite and of course nitrate but the nitrogen cycle can be quite quick with the correct bacteria. :) This is assuming all the dead organisms are out of the tank. Best of luck. But then again with the ph swing you might have killed off quite a bit of other stuff- bacteria, algae, etc. (which I hope isnt the case) Keep us posted.

[sampsonndelila]

100 gal change done, numbers looking much better. I found one anemone, he isn't dead. That was good news. I will do another smaller water change at the end of the week. I cleaned the skimmer and its running like a champ now!

[Big_Pun]

100 gal change done, numbers looking much better. I found one anemone, he isn't dead. That was good news. I will do another smaller water change at the end of the week. I cleaned the skimmer and its running like a champ now!

thats usually what it is just husbandry stuff, i took all my pumps and skimmer out and soaked in vineager last week, amazing how dirty stuff gets. so before this happen, how frequent where your water changes.

[danvan75]

when you soak in vineager, is it pure vineager or a vineager/water mix?

[Big_Pun]

when you soak in vineager, is it pure vineager or a vineager/water mix?

i do about 60/40 more vineager thats on the big pieces cuz i dont want to buy 3 gallons of vineager to fill the bucket up to put skimmer in, on small pumps and pieces ill fill a big bowl with just pure vinegear

[danvan75]

thanks

[Pennies2Cents]

100 gal change done, numbers looking much better. I found one anemone, he isn't dead. That was good news. I will do another smaller water change at the end of the week. I cleaned the skimmer and its running like a champ now!

Glad things are looking up... We called you back last night.... If you need water by the end of the week ours is still available.

[sampsonndelila]

Quarterly at best. Usually no problem, guess it compounded.

[sampsonndelila]

TY Penny I will call you.