Hi all

lv

Joined
30 Jul 2008
Posts
144
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Location
Cape Town
Hi all

Just started my first marine tank and having a ball.

Everything has gone well for the last 8 months, but 3 days ago had my first mishap.

My heater gave up the ghost, allowing my water temp to drop to 16 deg.

I nearly had a heart attack, my fish were on the brink.

Luckily I had a spare heater, I also put 10L of O R water to boil in a pot (it was the quickest way to get my water temp up).

My fish have have not been feeding, they seem disoriented and unable to swim normally

I have 1x blue tang, 1x yellow tang, 2x clown fish, 2x purple and yellow blenny and a host of invertebrates.

If anyone has suffered the same experience and has advice for me, please let me know.

In trouble

lv
 
Hi, welcome to MASA, the fish may be inj shock if you bought the temp up too quick, give them a few days, hopefully they will settle again.
 
Hi Iv - a very WARM WELCOME to MASA! OUCH! That must have been a terrible experience..... Hhhhmmm - cannot say that I ever heard of this happening.... Unfortunately, I MUST give you the bad news - getting the temp back up FAST was a VERY BAD thing to do.
REMEMBER - ONLY BAD THINGS HAPPEN FAST in this hobby.

At this stage - all I can say - IF your temperature is good at this stage again, then you will unfortunately have to bear and grin it for a while.... To give the fish chance to adapt to the temp differences again.

What's the salinity/SG of the tank water, now that you have added quite a bit of RO water?

If the SG is still above 1.024, then VERY SLOWLY lower it to +-1.020.... This should remove a LOT of stress from the fish.... don't keep at this level for TOO long (a day or so maximum).... Then very slowly (over a matter of hours) increase the SG/salinity again....
Remember - the temperature drop also happened over a matter of hours....

BTW: Perhaps you could elaborate on your tank? Perhaps post some pictures?

Many thanks and welcome again!
 
welcometomasa

Sorry for the temp. mishap, I reckon Jacques has pretty much covered the suggestions.

Love to know more about your setup :)
 
Welcome to MASA :)
Is it just one heater that you are running?
My suggestion would be to run atleast 2 heaters,so incase one fails,you know the other/s are still there as a backup :)
 
Thanx for the quick response and advice.

First let me say that I,m really impressed with the site and all the support that you guys offer. If only I had become a member sooner I think getting going would have been much easier.

My tank consists of a second hand:
  1. AD serries tank(300L)
  2. 130L sump
  3. A EHEIM canister filter
  4. A WEIPRO 2011 skimmer
  5. 2x ASTRO 1000 powerheads
  6. A AQUA H2O AF1500 bio filter
  7. and a 3 bulb 35watt in lid lighting system
That about it guys.

Sorry I,m unable to upload any pics right now, seeing as my cam was stolen recently on a trip.

If you have any comments or advice on my tank, please feel free to let me know.

Thanx once again

lv
 
welcome bud.. sorry to hear but it looks like we have alot of work ahead of us here...
 
Welcome to MASA! i'm sure you'd find this site better than the others around, seeing as how experience is measured in people that take their tanks over their girlfriends you've hit the jack pot here:)
 
Warm welcome to you. Jacques must be doing a lot of advertising as there are a huge amount of Cape Town guys joining- you guys must have a secret Lfs nearby....LoL
 
Welcome buddy, you've chosen wisely. Sorry to hear about the mishap, just hang in there like jaques said.
 
:welcometomasa2: enjoy your stay and don't be affraid to ask any questions!!
 
Hey IV welcome, sorry to read about the fish as Jacques has said the best is to keep the tank as stable as possible at the moment and hope for the best, good luck and let us know how it turns out.
 
IV - OK - there's quite a few improvements that we should and can suggest to your setup. BUT, let's just get the fish out of problems first.

See this as the REAL start to your marine journey...... There's a lot of stuff that we will be suggesting.... and will cost you quite some work, time and money....

BUT, let's take things slow.

Get the fish healthy again, then we talk again about your tank....

In the meanwhile - have a look around MASA. Read through as many of the "New Members" threads that you have time for..... You will start to see a pattern, and start to learn a LOT already.

Then ask as many questions as necessary..... Don't worry - you don't get "stupid" questions....

Just remember - one of the BIGGEST things in this hobby, is PATIENCE....

Good luck mate.
And keep us updated on the status of your fish!
 
What's the salinity/SG of the tank water, now that you have added quite a bit of RO water?

If the SG is still above 1.024, then VERY SLOWLY lower it to +-1.020.... This should remove a LOT of stress from the fish.

Good advice for the fish, but...


I have 1x blue tang, 1x yellow tang, 2x clown fish, 2x purple and yellow blenny and a host of invertebrates.

Most inverts are very sensitive to low salinity, and (depending on the type of invert) I would not lower the SG if the inverts are corals, snails, clams, etc.

Your fish will most likely develop marine Ich (white spot disease) if they survive the initial shock - if this happens you will have to treat them with either low salinity (SG at 0.018 for about 3 weeks), and/or copper, but either treatment will be deadly to the inverts and bad for any LR. You would thus have to set up a hospital tank, or remove the LR, sand and inverts from the display tank.

Good luck

Hennie
 
welcome and sorry to hear bout what happend, i dont have a spare heater going to get a spare tomorrow. never happend to me befor, the guys here knows there stuff, but let me know what happend?
all the best
 
Looks like everyones made it.

Hi all

Firstly thanx for all the concern and advice.

Looks like everyone has made it. :thumbup: My fish are all feeding well and seem to be fine. After all the good advice I received, I decided time was the best medicine. Seems to have worked,THANX

As to all the queries on my setup:

I've spent quite a lot of time browsing the sight and I,m convinced I'v "screwed the proverbial cat" as they, in respect to my tank setup.

  1. My sump is to big
  2. I'm concerned about my lighting(big time)
  3. The AFT1500 biofilter makes my tank look cluttered
  4. The same applies for my power heads
  5. The tank never had a sump with it so the previous owner fitted the skimmer to the tank
  6. Last but not least, I bought what ever my local Lfs advised(like the canister filter)
If I left out anything feel free to let me know.

If anyone has any advice as to how can rectify my mistakes please let me know.
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