Hey guys,
I bought some corals on e-bay from one of the dealers and they sent me a leather and brain coral attached to a dead mussel. I knew it was a bad idea when the guy told me to put the leather and brain into my tank to try and save them. I ripped off the slimy piece of junk, but it still had mussel flesh attached to it. My nitrates went from non existent to 100ppm. I'm going to do a massive water change tomorrow, even though I just did one yesterday. Do you guys think I'm going to lose any of my animals? What else can I do?
Help Nitrate Spike!!
7 posts
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saltwaterpimp - Posts: 1307
- Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2007 2:22 am
change your filter media more often and water changes more often. it sounds to me like you have somthing else going on in there.. how long has your tank running for?
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newbie916 - Posts: 375
- Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:12 pm
Hey Saltwaterpimp,
I bought the tank established about three months ago. The tank was running for 18 mos. prior to me purchasing it. I've had some nitrate problems at the very beginning because I think I had some die off on the 125 lbs of live rock and 100 lbs of live sand that came with it. However, my water's been running clean with no problems until I bought some of those corals and was told to try and save the toadstool and brain coral that I received half dead in the mail. My water was perfect before I listened to the damn guy and did a water change the day I received the corals. It wasn't just the nitrates that went haywire. I took a water sample to my LFS and they found out that my phosphates and nitrates were high and my ph dropped.
I've been changing my filter media once every two weeks and clean out my filter sock every other day. I also do 15-20 gallon water changes in my 100 gallon at least once every 10 days. I only use RO water and I mix my own water with Red Sea salt. I ended up doing a water change on Thursday morning and I ended up losing one of my new sps frags. Well, I learned my lesson about listening to business owners. I should have just junked the half dead animals and got replacements. Oh well.
Thanks
I bought the tank established about three months ago. The tank was running for 18 mos. prior to me purchasing it. I've had some nitrate problems at the very beginning because I think I had some die off on the 125 lbs of live rock and 100 lbs of live sand that came with it. However, my water's been running clean with no problems until I bought some of those corals and was told to try and save the toadstool and brain coral that I received half dead in the mail. My water was perfect before I listened to the damn guy and did a water change the day I received the corals. It wasn't just the nitrates that went haywire. I took a water sample to my LFS and they found out that my phosphates and nitrates were high and my ph dropped.
I've been changing my filter media once every two weeks and clean out my filter sock every other day. I also do 15-20 gallon water changes in my 100 gallon at least once every 10 days. I only use RO water and I mix my own water with Red Sea salt. I ended up doing a water change on Thursday morning and I ended up losing one of my new sps frags. Well, I learned my lesson about listening to business owners. I should have just junked the half dead animals and got replacements. Oh well.
Thanks
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Snowboss4492 - Posts: 2098
- Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:24 pm
sorry for the loses newb, unfortunately a good rule of thumb is to remember LFS owners are in the biz to make money and will usually tell you anything you want to hear to sell you on something..............NOW ............there are some very good LFS owners out there i'm sure .........that care about their products and their customers and most of all their stock .................I just haven't met one in my area
take notes on what doesn't and didn't work, and don't do it again, look at it as a very expensive learning curve, we all go through em................and lets move on
good luck bud, Snowboss
take notes on what doesn't and didn't work, and don't do it again, look at it as a very expensive learning curve, we all go through em................and lets move on
good luck bud, Snowboss
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newbie916 - Posts: 375
- Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:12 pm
Hey Snowboss,
It really sucks when you finally get your water stable and then some idiot tells you to do something stupid. I knew I shouldn't have listened to the guy, but I wanted to try and save the animals vs. tossing them. He's should be sending me replacements in a few days, but I did lose a nice frag of acropora when the water went out of whack. It was the first time I bought anything online. The rest of the stuff I bought seems to be doing well and the guy is working with me. This is a very expensive and sometimes stressful hobby :) Oh well, it's fun though most of the time.
Thanks again,
newbie
It really sucks when you finally get your water stable and then some idiot tells you to do something stupid. I knew I shouldn't have listened to the guy, but I wanted to try and save the animals vs. tossing them. He's should be sending me replacements in a few days, but I did lose a nice frag of acropora when the water went out of whack. It was the first time I bought anything online. The rest of the stuff I bought seems to be doing well and the guy is working with me. This is a very expensive and sometimes stressful hobby :) Oh well, it's fun though most of the time.
Thanks again,
newbie
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fihsboy - Posts: 1837
- Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm
set up a quarantine tank.......that would be the best thing in the world for someone with a soft heart. I have a flame scallop in my quarantine now, it may or may not make it.........thats why its there, so it doesnt pollute my main tank. plus with a smaller tank for sick fish/corals you dose less which is cheaper and you save your corals in your big tank which saves big money. :) Just an idea though. :)
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fihsboy - Posts: 1837
- Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm
BTW I have a soft heart too.........if something is dying or I think I can save it...........I try to, certainly if they give me a huge discount or free.