I have a disaster story for my saltwater aquarium. I know a good chunk of this is my fault, and I am trying to make things right again, but am at kind of a loss.
I started this tank about 2 years ago, and for over a year everything was perfect. The corraline algae was beautiful, and everybody who visited loved looking at it. Then I had to move from one apartment into another apartment, and then started the disaster. I hadn't counted on the level of die-off that would occur even though the rock was only out of the water for about 2 hours and I did my best to keep it moist with wet newspaper. I had a serious ammonia spike which killed my shrimp and some of my snails. I was getting things back under control when my skimmer broke!
Because of the changes in my life that forced me to move, I had neither the resources to buy a new skimmer or the time to do regular maintenance. I have made 3 attempts to get the skimmer running again (full cleaning) and it will work beautifully for about 3 days and then the pump seems to lose power. If I just turn up the skim level, that will work, and then later on, the pump will go back to full force and at one point pumped over 5 gallons out the top onto the floor from the skimmer before I caught it (that was lovely). I can't trust my skimmer!
Meanwhile, the algae has literally gotten out of control. I can't figure out where the source of the problem is. There is currently now one fish in there, I feed him very lightly every couple days, and there may be a couple crabs in there crawling around in the algae. I use only reverse osmosis water purchased from my local grocery store (it's clean), have never used tap water. I try to keep my filter running, but I can't trust the skimmer, and without that running, I don't know how to solve this!
I have decided that the best thing for this aquarium is to sell it off to someone who will have the time and resources to properly care for it, but it is in absolutely no condition to sell right now! I know some will ask for water parameters, and I will try to get those online later today, but my fish is wonderfully healthy and showing no signs of stress.
I have decided I may need to invest in a new skimmer in order to get the aquarium into saleable condition, but I want to make sure I get one that will help the problem, and get me into a resolving situation, instead of just spending more money. Any suggestions? Help!
46 gallon aquarium
60 pounds live rock
live sand bed
Penguin 330 filter
Broken Coralife Super Skimmer (not sure what size, 65? sounds right)
Orbit 192-watt lighting system, lights run 10 hours a day
I started this tank about 2 years ago, and for over a year everything was perfect. The corraline algae was beautiful, and everybody who visited loved looking at it. Then I had to move from one apartment into another apartment, and then started the disaster. I hadn't counted on the level of die-off that would occur even though the rock was only out of the water for about 2 hours and I did my best to keep it moist with wet newspaper. I had a serious ammonia spike which killed my shrimp and some of my snails. I was getting things back under control when my skimmer broke!
Because of the changes in my life that forced me to move, I had neither the resources to buy a new skimmer or the time to do regular maintenance. I have made 3 attempts to get the skimmer running again (full cleaning) and it will work beautifully for about 3 days and then the pump seems to lose power. If I just turn up the skim level, that will work, and then later on, the pump will go back to full force and at one point pumped over 5 gallons out the top onto the floor from the skimmer before I caught it (that was lovely). I can't trust my skimmer!
Meanwhile, the algae has literally gotten out of control. I can't figure out where the source of the problem is. There is currently now one fish in there, I feed him very lightly every couple days, and there may be a couple crabs in there crawling around in the algae. I use only reverse osmosis water purchased from my local grocery store (it's clean), have never used tap water. I try to keep my filter running, but I can't trust the skimmer, and without that running, I don't know how to solve this!
I have decided that the best thing for this aquarium is to sell it off to someone who will have the time and resources to properly care for it, but it is in absolutely no condition to sell right now! I know some will ask for water parameters, and I will try to get those online later today, but my fish is wonderfully healthy and showing no signs of stress.
I have decided I may need to invest in a new skimmer in order to get the aquarium into saleable condition, but I want to make sure I get one that will help the problem, and get me into a resolving situation, instead of just spending more money. Any suggestions? Help!
46 gallon aquarium
60 pounds live rock
live sand bed
Penguin 330 filter
Broken Coralife Super Skimmer (not sure what size, 65? sounds right)
Orbit 192-watt lighting system, lights run 10 hours a day