Tank Crash during night

[Plauri55]

LOL... good one!

Why did you add the Dr. Tim's product?

It's supposed to eat up detritus with beneficial bacteria

 

[Dom]

So then what do you believe happened? A massive release of detritus? The tank was stable for over a year, no body moved anything, nothing stirred up sand bed.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not doubting any possibility. I'm heart broken over this and wish there was an explanation that didn't put the blame on me, which my theory does.

Kids in the house? Kids=mischief.

Perhaps something was dumped in the tank? That could explain the cloudy water and inhabitant deaths.

How does the water in the tank smell? Sometimes you can detect if something was dumped into your tank by taking a whiff of the water line.

 

[brandon429]

People never accept any explanation for fish loss other than tank issues. They can't have hemorrhages or aneurysms or genetic liver disease etc, too many variables to list but one thing is certain: one loss in a small dense system at night is a real challenge. Even a single snail

It's better you don't store up tank detritus in a system like that, not that it was disturbed but the detritus itself is a great oxygen command in the tank, or at least highly competing at night

Our entire sand rinse thread here is discussing, fixing and photographing detritus before and after conditions.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/page-18

that's a lot of tank analyses.


Starting in the clean condition is the most surface area you can have, the lowest oxygen command setting, it makes your tank breathe... Then we accumulate it all again over time.

 

[Dom]

It's supposed to eat up detritus with beneficial bacteria

I call your attention to the fine print under my signature line.

 

[Plauri55]

I call your attention to the fine print under my signature line.

No kids. No possible way anything was mistakenly put in tank.

The theory that there was a natural death that cascaded over night is a possibility. Just didn't see it coming.

I assure you though that when I do get to the point of adding fish back in they will be species that stay small and it will be slowly with a limit of 2-3.

 

[Pntbll687]

It was probably a bacterial bloom from the waste away.

On the bottled variety it says to turn off the skimmer, but if the water becomes cloudy immediately turn on skimmer. I'm guessing this is because the bacterial bloom is using up all the oxygen and you need to get the water airated.

I'm not sure how the gel ones work. Was it the right size gel pack for the tank? I imagine using an oversized pack would release more of the bacteria and cause such a bloom in a small tank.

 

[Plauri55]

It was probably a bacterial bloom from the waste away.

On the bottled variety it says to turn off the skimmer, but if the water becomes cloudy immediately turn on skimmer. I'm guessing this is because the bacterial bloom is using up all the oxygen and you need to get the water airated.

I'm not sure how the gel ones work. Was it the right size gel pack for the tank? I imagine using an oversized pack would release more of the bacteria and cause such a bloom in a small tank.

Correct size was used but maybe too much flow in that area over released? I'll never know for sure.
Just learned a sad lesson and I'll move on.

 

[MnFish1]

Sorry for your losses. 100% water change makes sense to save the corals.

It’s very likely waste away caused this. The bacteria is claimed to target detritus. If added too fast to an older tank without proper flow it can certainly deplete oxygen, this is furthe amplified in a small tank.

Nitrate spike resulted from an increase in ammonia following fish deaths, means the cycle is working.

Do you mean it caused it 'directly' or 'indirectly'. I think it probably caused the problem by depleting O2 which killed one thing - that caused a chain reaction.

In this case a 100% water change will help remove some bacteria from the water column and increase O2, some other benefits would include helping with the NO3 spike etc.

So ironically and funny enough - as I was reading another thread on here - I was like what the heck is going on in my discus tank (a 210 gallon reefer xxl) - it looked (almost) like the water was milk. Turns out a big 'can' of flake food had fallen onto the water - and though the food didn't get in to the tank - the water got into the can (cardboard/plastic) -and when I picked it out of the water and opened the cap it was like - oh wow - this is bad news (i.e the smell). So I ended up doing a (nearly) 100% water change lol - funny since it was just discussed earlier - but everything looks fine now.

 

[EmdeReef]

Do you mean it caused it 'directly' or 'indirectly'. I think it probably caused the problem by depleting O2 which killed one thing - that caused a chain reaction.

You're right, indirectly. Apologies, reading back what I wrote that was not clear.
I recently used waste away on a dirty bio cube I used for quarantine. Out of curiosity dropped in the Seneye and the DO meter. After about an hour, O2 dropped from 7 to 4 and ammonia went up to 0.2 (Seneye isn't exactly reliable so could've been more or less). Water was milky. The bottle comes with a warning to use half the dose and build up to full dose over a few weeks. I would probably advise using even less. I expected this to happen and the tank didn't have any fish. I would be very careful with Waste Away in older established tanks that aren't regularly cleaned for detritus (all of my tanks). On the bright side, it really works for cleaning the sludge etc.

So ironically and funny enough - as I was reading another thread on here - I was like what the heck is going on in my discus tank (a 210 gallon reefer xxl) - it looked (almost) like the water was milk. Turns out a big 'can' of flake food had fallen onto the water - and though the food didn't get in to the tank - the water got into the can (cardboard/plastic) -and when I picked it out of the water and opened the cap it was like - oh wow - this is bad news (i.e the smell). So I ended up doing a (nearly) 100% water change lol - funny since it was just discussed earlier - but everything looks fine now.

Lol there's always something in this hobby.

 

[Porkstar]

I’d do a nice size water change and see where it goes

 

[Plauri55]

I’d do a nice size water change and see where it goes

My plan exactly.

 

[Plauri55]

My plan exactly.

For all of you that offered help and advice, I want to let you know that my Nano has bounced back very well. In fact, all the Corals that survived the crash are looking better than they ever did. Put my first fish in last night. Yellow Lined Possum Wrasse. Still a bit camera shy!
Also put in a Seneye monitor. Makes me feel I can head off another disaster.

Thanks again!

 

[Eagle_Steve]

For all of you that offered help and advice, I want to let you know that my Nano has bounced back very well. In fact, all the Corals that survived the crash are looking better than they ever did. Put my first fish in last night. Yellow Lined Possum Wrasse. Still a bit camera shy!
Also put in a Seneye monitor. Makes me feel I can head off another disaster.

Thanks again!

Awesome to hear. Glad it bounced back.

 

[Ghost463]

Is there such a thing as over-dosing your tank on beneficial bacteria?

In.my experience it would have to be a large abundance. Micro tanks are tricky though.
In most cases those bac things are ment for fresh and salt water.
Basic rule is 10ml per gal fresh twice that for salt. With micro tanks and this stuff u have to watch water temp and lighting both of these will amp any pre exsisting issues.
We all no live rock has small holes and crevices that alowe a build up of bac.
What i would suggest moving forwards.
Once ur eco system is up and running regular water changes are enough without bac. Most times i use bac for fresh tank setup to speed up the "cycling" of the tank. Once the stones are "live" they will create new bac to sustain the new water.

On the other hand i have used twice the recomended dosage for 1 client in the city. His water is way to hard out of the tap and way to chlorinated. Takes forever to get that water good for fish.

End of the day. The bac is essential for a fresh start. But unless u have very hard tap water its not totally necessary to use with each water change.
Also had a wierd issue woth a 35 and another client. Long story short he added a silent fart machine (fabreez) that had contaminated the water supply in the tank. Plants melted fish died water would not stay clear.
Sorry for ur loss.

 

[Plauri55]

In.my experience it would have to be a large abundance. Micro tanks are tricky though.
In most cases those bac things are ment for fresh and salt water.
Basic rule is 10ml per gal fresh twice that for salt. With micro tanks and this stuff u have to watch water temp and lighting both of these will amp any pre exsisting issues.
We all no live rock has small holes and crevices that alowe a build up of bac.
What i would suggest moving forwards.
Once ur eco system is up and running regular water changes are enough without bac. Most times i use bac for fresh tank setup to speed up the "cycling" of the tank. Once the stones are "live" they will create new bac to sustain the new water.

On the other hand i have used twice the recomended dosage for 1 client in the city. His water is way to hard out of the tap and way to chlorinated. Takes forever to get that water good for fish.

End of the day. The bac is essential for a fresh start. But unless u have very hard tap water its not totally necessary to use with each water change.
Also had a wierd issue woth a 35 and another client. Long story short he added a silent fart machine (fabreez) that had contaminated the water supply in the tank. Plants melted fish died water would not stay clear.
Sorry for ur loss.

Yep, I totally agree. I over did it and really upset the tanks balance. And being a nano things went bad fast. Lesson learned!

 

[Ghost463]

Yep, I totally agree. I over did it and really upset the tanks balance. And being a nano things went bad fast. Lesson learned!

Sorry m8. Sucks just the same.
Imo something was already growing and the added beneficial bac plus a great eco system just blew it out of hand.
Happens to the best of us.