Hello all,
For those of you who don’t know, my 38-gallon-not-a-reef tank has been the object of my nightmares for the past 5 months. After 27 pages of troubleshooting, two ICP analysis, and countless hours of continuous headaches, we finally found the source of the deadly levels of copper, zinc, and other metals in the water: a brass fitting in the return line I didn’t realize was there (Hubby plumbed the tank and I didn’t even think twice about it).
That being said, here I am. 20lbs coralline base live rock, 20lbs premium deco live rock, and 50lbs live sand on order from Gulf Live Rocks (should be arriving Tuesday), and a complete rip clean reboot with 100% new water on my schedule for this weekend in preparation for the new rock and sand coming.
Thankfully, I have a 10-gallon coral/invert QT I can use to house my bullseye pistol, tiger pistol, and neon goby for the 2 days or so. I know I’m going to need to erect a barrier between the two pistols, but that’s to be determined tomorrow.
Anyway, wish me luck! This will be a photo-heavy rebuild thread
Thank you for following along!
The troubleshooting thread, thank you all again!!
The current swamp nightmare:
For those of you who don’t know, my 38-gallon-not-a-reef tank has been the object of my nightmares for the past 5 months. After 27 pages of troubleshooting, two ICP analysis, and countless hours of continuous headaches, we finally found the source of the deadly levels of copper, zinc, and other metals in the water: a brass fitting in the return line I didn’t realize was there (Hubby plumbed the tank and I didn’t even think twice about it).
That being said, here I am. 20lbs coralline base live rock, 20lbs premium deco live rock, and 50lbs live sand on order from Gulf Live Rocks (should be arriving Tuesday), and a complete rip clean reboot with 100% new water on my schedule for this weekend in preparation for the new rock and sand coming.
Thankfully, I have a 10-gallon coral/invert QT I can use to house my bullseye pistol, tiger pistol, and neon goby for the 2 days or so. I know I’m going to need to erect a barrier between the two pistols, but that’s to be determined tomorrow.
Anyway, wish me luck! This will be a photo-heavy rebuild thread
Thank you for following along!
The troubleshooting thread, thank you all again!!
About to Quit
TLDR (07/04/21): After a full spectrum of troubleshooting, I sent in an ATI ICP test. Results can be found in post #366, but the short story is I have heavy metal contamination (copper, aluminum, tin, zinc, and manganese if I remember correctly) in my water stemming from an unknown source. I...
www.reef2reef.com
The current swamp nightmare:
Last edited: