Accident in tank spiked Nitrites and Nitrate.

[Pbernardo711]

Morning everyone..

Brief History:
My newly purchased BTA decided to get to close to my wavemaker Monday afternoon when I was at work and basically got disintegrated. When I got home my water was so murky...i could barely see my LR's.

I dont have an extra tank so with help from peeps from other reef websites, I took their advice..I changed 20% of my water, ran a protein skimmer (luckily had a protein skimmer purchased a day before), ran carbon and also added Amquel...then prayed.

Well - my prayers werent answered and both my clowns died the next day, so did my brain coral,cleaner shrimp, starfish, and about half of my hermit crabs.

I changed the water again on Tuesday afternoon - another 20% and added more amquel. ( I have a 24 gallon aquapod btw) and again waited...

As of yesterday - the water cleared up a bit but my condy anemone died and so did my turbo snail. I checked the levels and my nitrate was at 160 and Nitrite was at 2.0 ( im using the API master reef kit) Amazingly, it seems that my Nassarius snails are holding their own although they are clinging on the glass and are not on the bottom of the sand ( does anyone know why they are doing this?)

So my next question is...should I keep changing my water everyday? 20%? or more until my levels are back again? Or just wait it out cause it seems that it my water is cycling all over again. FYI - I have about 25-30 lbs of LR.

Thanks everyone.

 

[carey]

I would continue to do water changes, even larger ones and maybe even twice a day if needed. You need to get those levels down if you have any livestock left.

So sorry to hear about your nightmare, it sucks....

Welcome to the forum btw,

 

[new to the scene]

i would say the same do more of a water change daily i would say to keep doing it until your numbers go to normal try to save what you have left

 

[Pbernardo711]

Thanks Carey for the welcome and for your advice. I'll change it again once I get home today.

 

[Pbernardo711]

Thanks new to the scene.

 

[Mjpendrey]

Sorry bout that, what's a BTA?

 

[carey]

bubble tip anenome.

 

[Mjpendrey]

Thanks can always count on you Carey

 

[carey]

I'm usually bored so I figure why not spend the time to help when I know the answers. LOL

I;ve been playing ALOT of warcraft lately so I haven't been up to snuff on responding so quickly. hehe...I feel the urge to play some wow now....

 

[slitherbomb]

I would've done a 95% water change. 20% is nothing for a situation like this. An anemone dying is the same as getting a bottle of ammonia and just dumping it in.

 

[carey]

Well it is what it is now. I'm sure he knows better now. let's just hope he doesnt every have the same issue again.

 

[slitherbomb]

Yeah definitely.

 

[Pbernardo711]

I learned the hard way...


I'm thinking of putting some kind of screen on my wavemaker to prevent it from happening again..I have a Koralia. Any ideas of where I can get some type of screen or offer any ideas on how to protect my future inhabitants?

 

[slitherbomb]

I have no idea, but my powerheads are towards the frog of my tank, away from any lr, so none of the coral would be able to get caught.

 

[Pbernardo711]

I recently placed my wavemaker on the right side glass of my tank (blowing water from right to left). It was previously attached to the back of my tank (top right) facing the front - thats how my BTA got caught. When I left monday morning, I saw my BTA attached to the back of my tank and not to any LR's. I guess it just kept crawling towards the wavemaker.