Water Question

[Grassman]

When my tank showed signs of ich on Wednesday, I drained 6 gallons from it to put in my hospital tank. Since I had all the fish out of the I did another 5 gallons water change and clean all the red slime off the substrate and scrapped the anenomie & sponges off the rocks and put them back in the tank. Would that cause a partial cycles cause the red is back on the bottom again and I haven't put any food in since Wednesday. My test kit tells me the following.

pH - 8.1
NO2 - 0
NH3/NH4 - 0.25ppm
NO3 - 80ppm

Any input on how to clear this up would be great.

 

[ErinCahir]

Maybe because you moved some stuff around? I don't really know much about water chemistry... but that would be my guess...

 

[lilduud]

nitrates can become trapped under the surface of the sand and if you move everything around can cause spikes in nitrates... thats pretty dramatic though

 

[little_fish]

Good thing they are in the QT tank!

I would monitor your water as if you were cycling, and then when its over do a few water changes to get those nirtates down.

I would think that they came from you stirring stuff up like they said, so maybe when you clean your tank normally try to suck up the stuff that is settling. That should help get rid of the red stuff too

 

[tankedchemist]

Agreed... but also, remember that sponges and anemones are well known for releasing crap into the water column when they're disturbed, or (in the case of sponges) exposed to air. So... don't do that.

As for the red stuff, that will probably stick around for a while. Increase flow to the areas that it crops up in, reduce feeding schedule, manually remove it regularly, change your water regularly (weekly 10%), and you can try running a GFO reactor... you said you had phosphate media, but is it in a reactor or just sittin in your sump? If the last one, a reactor increases efficiency.

Also, are you running your tank with a lid of some sort or without?

 

[Grassman]

Agreed... but also, remember that sponges and anemones are well known for releasing crap into the water column when they're disturbed, or (in the case of sponges) exposed to air. So... don't do that.

Thank you. I didn't know that about the sponges and anemones. I think I took care of them all.

As for the red stuff, that will probably stick around for a while. Increase flow to the areas that it crops up in, reduce feeding schedule, manually remove it regularly, change your water regularly (weekly 10%), and you can try running a GFO reactor... you said you had phosphate media, but is it in a reactor or just sittin in your sump? If the last one, a reactor increases efficiency.

I was doing 5 gallon water changes and adding 5 gallons a week for what evaporated, but after reading the comments I thought if the water is evaporating the chemicals in the water aren't. So I think I might have to talk my wife into letting me get a RO/DI system as it will be cheaper in the long run over spending $10 a week on water. I have built a phospahate remove/algae scrubber but haven't put it in the sump yet. I turned the lights off in the sump and DT and my red has gone away by about 75% in 2 days. Instead of being stringy masses on the bottom it's just a pink tinge on the substrate. I'm going to leave the lights on for 4 hours a day for the zoas. Until I put the fish back in the tank.

Also, are you running your tank with a lid of some sort or without?

No lid, hence the evaporation. Furnace sucks a lot of water out of the tanks. I can see the level in the sump drop everyday.

 

[tankedchemist]

well, that's normal. my tank looses about 3-5 gallons a day. When I had a solid glass lid on top, I lost 2-5 gallons... so it happens even with a lid. :) You should top off your tank with fresh RO/DI water on a regular basis.

The algae scrubber is a great idea. Doing a black out will only kill the algae for now... once you return to a normal lighting schedule, it will come back. Also, be sure to keep up water changes through the blackout, because dying algae can cause an ammonia spike also. good luck!