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Hows everyone been doing?

Anyways i have a 75gal going i have doing this for awhile if you all rember me if not i only do fish only tried corals didnt work out

Anyways i got ick about 3-4 mo ago and did hypo in the main tank i put all my rocks and inverts into a can well the inverts died and my rocks i think died also i donno why but anyways the tank has been back up and doing great for like 3 mo and my rocks still look a little dead!

I dont see any little critters or anything anymore and the rock has some purple but i wanted to know do you all think i killed it? Also i have been having trouble keeping the ammonia down so i think i need rocks but i wanted to know is there a way to bring them back to life as i have about 130lb of rocks i would hate to just get rid of you know, Maybe i could resead them or somthing any ideas would be great!

Tank is a 75gal, 130lb rock 120lb sand, 4 ph, mag 350, seaclone skimmer, t-5 lights, stock is low as i lost some from ick but have a puffer, sixline,yellow baby clown, percula clown, flame angle, some crabs and snails but the puffer eats them Well thanks alot!

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2571255/2

If you took all your rock out you could have caused some die off. If you didn't monitor the rock and the ammonia levels got out of hand, it's very possible that your rock became uncured, and that is probably why you are experienceing ammonia problems in your tank currently. The LR you have now will probably grow all the beneficial bacteria back that it had previously, and I'm sure some critters and algae survived, so it's probably not necessary to seed the tank with more live rock since you seem to have plenty.

IMO you may never see the activity on those rocks that you had in the past because the angel and the sixline wrasse are going to keep the pod populations down. Before you got all your fish, your LR had a chance to populate with critters, but that will be nearly impossible now.

As for your ammonia problem, make sure you are doing as many small water changes as you can to keep the levels down. maybe 10-20% a couple times a week if it's just trace ammonia, more if there's a significant amount of ammonia. I can't give you specific advice here, because you didn't say what the actual levels were.

Good luck

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

This is kinda tricky see we have a porky pine puffer and my girl friend will put alot of food into the tank so he is well fed so it could just be the food also?

I have to change 8 gal every 2-3 wks to keep it inline if i go 3 wks with no change i have about .25 ammonia and my nitrates are out of control usally around 30-60 even after water changes but i am using tap water

I just put the skimmer on the tank yesterday and got 2 full cups of blackish brown stuff!

As for the rocks you are right i think the ammonia went up and uncured the rocks like i said my inverts died in the can with the rocks say about 20 snails, 20 crabs, 3 starfish!

I have showed her how to feed him better, also put the skimmer on the tank and its been like 4 mo. now so i don we will see how it goes now!

I might add like 8-15lb of live rock maybe to kick it up a little what do you all think? or maybe more as i am thinking about setting up a 20g long to move my small fish to as the puffer gets bigger but i donno yet just let me know what you think about that, Thanks, AL

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2571255/2

The problem is the frequency of water changes, and the amount you do. I'd do 10-15 gallons a week at least since you are having problems. With fish that eat big messy foods you have to expect to keep up on the water changes. The skimmer will help but it won't do all the work for you.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well i have been doing 12gal every 2wks for the last mo.

We are prolly going to add 10-25lb of rocks to give it a little kick!

Other then that i donno hopfully it chills out as i cant change that much water that offten

Its been a wks and the ammonia is gone still but my nitrates are at 20 so i changed another 12gal we will see, But thanks for your help



http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2571255/2

dro still around and active? Do you rember me???

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2571255/2

Dro is stil around.... I remember you. I recently came back as well.

"Party it up, Drink it down"

Moral of the tale ... if you go into saltwater, have a quarantine tank/hospital tank ready at a moment's notice. That way you can treat your fishes and keep your inverts.

I suspect that most of the anti-protozoan meds still in circulation for the marine aquarium are copper based, so you'll NEVER be able to use them in the main aquarium. Get yourself a 29 you can rig up as a hopsital tank - that should be sufficient because you'll only need to keep the fishes in there for up to 14 days max, and you'll be changing the water in it daily when it's in use.

That's another reason I don't have a saltwater aquarium running at the moment (apart from expense) - I don't have a spare aquarium large enough to act as a hospital if the fishes need it, or space to put it for that matter (sigh). I need a bigger house.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

i didnt use meds in my main tank! I removed the rocks and inverts to a can and left my fish in the main and did hypo at 1.009 for 4wks with one of those specail salt metter i forget the name but it was like 75 bucks! The inverts and rocks would have been fine but i didnt think to change water so it started a cycle and killed everything i guess i donno its wired i used water form my main tank and had a power head in there so i donno why the ammonia got high enough to kill stuff or whatever happin?

BUt i got it figured out i will just add 10lb of rocks and change water wkly intil things get settled! Thanks for your help!

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2571255/2