Tonya's 210 Gallon

Salty Lemon · Oct 20, 2019

Okay gang -- the short story is that I have epilepsy and I went three rounds with "status epilepticus" in July. I was essentially temporarily brain damaged and unable to use a computer for months. If you want the entire story entirely with drama, adventure, humor, heroism and tears -- send me a message. Thank you everyone who has been concerned and sending messages. I'm about 99% now and just getting back into what is considered a "normal life". ;Happy My fabulous hubby has been maintaining the tank for me. I love this forum and I'm glad to be back.

Peace River · Oct 20, 2019

...and we're glad to have you here!!! Heck, most of us aren't anywhere near 99%!!!

siggy · Oct 20, 2019

Glad to see you back. My mother inlaw and now my daughter has epilepsy. Thoughts and prayers you make a full recovery.

Salty Lemon · Oct 20, 2019

siggy said:
Glad to see you back. My mother inlaw and now my daughter has epilepsy. Thoughts and prayers you make a full recovery.

Thank you. Send me a message if you ever have a question about a drug or situation. I've been through it all.

NY_Caveman · Oct 20, 2019

Salty Lemon said:
Okay gang -- the short story is that I have epilepsy and I went three rounds with "status epilepticus" in July. I was essentially temporarily brain damaged and unable to use a computer for months. If you want the entire story entirely with drama, adventure, humor, heroism and tears -- send me a message. Thank you everyone who has been concerned and sending messages. I'm about 99% now and just getting back into what is considered a "normal life". ;Happy My fabulous hubby has been maintaining the tank for me. I love this forum and I'm glad to be back.

Nice to see you. Glad you are feeling better.

Raege · Oct 20, 2019

Good to hear from you again! Glad to hear your feeling better. Good thoughts heading your way to get back to 100% .

P-Dub · Oct 20, 2019

Good to have you with us again. Life throws lemons sometimes and if there is anyone who can turn it into lemonade, that would be you.

marco fish · Oct 20, 2019

Glad to see you back @Salty Lemon, we were concerned about you ! Happy Reefing

Salty Lemon · Nov 2, 2019

Okay...so while my fabulous husband has been doing the water changes for my tank over the last few months due to my inability to do so, it is time to test the water. Everyone inside looks fine, except a hammer that I think is a bit unhappy about the flow situation. I do believe we may have been overfeeding, but we will find out soon enough. I admit...I'm afraid to find out the results and I've put testing off the last couple weeks since my recovery because I'm a coward about what I might see with the results. I haven't purchased anything because I'm afraid my tank may be a death trap. So it is time to be strong and face my fears. Here goes... I'll get back in about fifteen minutes.

Raege · Nov 2, 2019

I’m betting your in ball park if everything looks ok. Glad your back and feeling better. Now where’s the pics?

Salty Lemon · Nov 2, 2019

This is going to take a wee bit longer. It looks like someone attempted to test my water while I was sick/out of it and my vials were not washed out (not by me). I have to clean out the dried chemicals. ;Sour

vetteguy53081 · Nov 2, 2019

Glad youre ok - Main thing. Wondered where you were and fully understand as I am in medical field as well as regular job.

siggy · Nov 2, 2019

;Watching

Salty Lemon · Nov 2, 2019

Well here it is... It looks like I have some work to do. Sigh. I was hoping for better results. It looks like I need to start doing some research.
It turns out my 13-year-old son was trying to help during my recovery. That explains the lack of clean up with my test kits. He likes to help me test water -- mostly he likes watching the water change colors. I think it was a sweet thing to do -- although he had no idea what he was doing. There are reasons why I keep him.

Nitrate (API) -- 8 ppm (highish)
Ammonia (API) -- .25 ppm (High)
Phosphate (Salifert) -- .5 (High)
Magnesium (Salifert) -- 1485 (High)
Alk/KH (Salifert) -- 6.2 (low)
pH (API) -- 8.1 (okay)
Calcium (API) -- 360 (okay)

Salty Lemon · Nov 2, 2019

Raege said:
I’m betting your in ball park if everything looks ok. Glad your back and feeling better. Now where’s the pics?

Other than water changes and algae scraping, there was not maintenance done on my tank over the last few months. It doesn't look the greatest. I'll clean it up and snap a shot. I'm due for one anyway.

NY_Caveman · Nov 3, 2019

Cannot wait to see it. We will consider it the “before” picture

Salty Lemon · Nov 3, 2019

Salty Lemon said:
Well here it is... It looks like I have some work to do. Sigh. I was hoping for better results. It looks like I need to start doing some research.
It turns out my 13-year-old son was trying to help during my recovery. That explains the lack of clean up with my test kits. He likes to help me test water -- mostly he likes watching the water change colors. I think it was a sweet thing to do -- although he had no idea what he was doing. There are reasons why I keep him.
Nitrate (API) -- 8 ppm (highish)
Ammonia (API) -- .25 ppm (High)
Phosphate (Salifert) -- .5 (High)
Magnesium (Salifert) -- 1485 (High)
Alk/KH (Salifert) -- 6.2 (low)
pH (API) -- 8.1 (okay)
Calcium (API) -- 360 (okay)

From what I've read, I think most of this can get fixed with a couple water changes. I was going to do a big one, but I don't want to stress out the fish too much. I have the water ready. But I think I'll do a smaller one today and then another in a few days. I know while I was recovering, the water wasn't changed as often as it should. I'll probably be dosing a couple things since the Alkalinity definitely needs to be taken care of. I figure I can get everything stabilized within a couple weeks. Any thoughts?

Salty Lemon · Nov 3, 2019

NY_Caveman said:
Cannot wait to see it. We will consider it the “before” picture

@Raege , @NY_Caveman -- Okay boys...I'll do a before and after pic. I'll get it up later today because:

I'm drinking coffee with a dog who just had surgery lying next to me and I don't want to disturb her. Yes...I'm a softie.
I'm not a morning person and do not want to move around much and this means I would have to get up and move to the kitchen -- a whole 30 feet. You just can't do that to a person.
My phone is charging.

Raege · Nov 3, 2019

Ahhh ok considering all ya had going on and going on now can cut ya some slack

Victoria M · Nov 3, 2019

LOL! That is lol worthy commentary right there. lol
Those numbers aint too terrible. The ammonia is a touch worrying. I would add some bottled bacteria products. Stability or Frits are my go tos with QT. A little bit of buffering products after a water change. Fish usually tolerate water changes just fine. Looking forward to some pictures.