Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
Sorry, this is so long. I have been absent for so long! Last year, a harassment battle with a neighbor and taking him to court took up 6 months of my life. Tanks suffered horribly. I was just too emotionally spent. Then in November, after court in Sept. I lost my mother who lived with us for past almost 16 years. Came to us with stage 4 lung cancers and beat it. She got sick without warning. 1 day in hospital, 2 ambulance calls, and another night in the er and we learned she had colon cancer, spread to lungs and brain. She had a seizure, never came out of it and passed fairy peacefully in the er. Her body just shut down. She'd have been pleased to have gone this way. She never knew she had cancer again.
Then, we had to redo her room--gave her the master bedroom and turned it into a studio. She still smoked in that room, so painters used a strong primer. What I didn't know was it would affect my tanks. Even though once I smelled how bad, and put towels under door, and closed screen doors, it was too late. Next day all the tanks were cloudy white. did emergency water changes. And cleared it up. Later I realized I was missing a lot of fish. Some I'd had from the beginning. No sign of them. So I think the cloudy water was from dead fish. Prob. lost 3-4 in one tank, 5-6 in another. And some corals too. Bummed over some of the losses.
Fast forward to now. I'm going to croatia and italy in the fall for daughter's destination wedding. Be gone 2 weeks and have decided that a) I can't keep up with 4 tanks (65 gal, 40 gal, 125 gal, and 30 gal qt). And I don't want whoever house sits to have to worry about topping off 4 tanks or making that much water. Also, the 125 is stable. I want to add more fish, and some yellow tangs, but have decided it is best to wait until October as I don't want ick or anything else to wipe out fish and cause a crash while I'm gone.
So I'm taking down the qt tank. And I'm also taking down the rs mx 250. Transferred all live rock to the 40 and 125. Just some snails left.
As I'm also working part time (earn money for trip) I think I'm just going to sell the red sea max 250 and concentrate on the 125. I'm trying to figure out how much to ask, esp. as it has the led light retrofit hood now. If there are ideas, you could pm me.
So one question: I want it real clean. How much vinegar can I add to run with the skimmer and pumps to clean. Is it better to just buy powdered citric acid? Do I want half salt water and half vinegar? I want to run it for a few days to clean out the pumps and help get rid of the coraline on the glass.
Then, we had to redo her room--gave her the master bedroom and turned it into a studio. She still smoked in that room, so painters used a strong primer. What I didn't know was it would affect my tanks. Even though once I smelled how bad, and put towels under door, and closed screen doors, it was too late. Next day all the tanks were cloudy white. did emergency water changes. And cleared it up. Later I realized I was missing a lot of fish. Some I'd had from the beginning. No sign of them. So I think the cloudy water was from dead fish. Prob. lost 3-4 in one tank, 5-6 in another. And some corals too. Bummed over some of the losses.
Fast forward to now. I'm going to croatia and italy in the fall for daughter's destination wedding. Be gone 2 weeks and have decided that a) I can't keep up with 4 tanks (65 gal, 40 gal, 125 gal, and 30 gal qt). And I don't want whoever house sits to have to worry about topping off 4 tanks or making that much water. Also, the 125 is stable. I want to add more fish, and some yellow tangs, but have decided it is best to wait until October as I don't want ick or anything else to wipe out fish and cause a crash while I'm gone.
So I'm taking down the qt tank. And I'm also taking down the rs mx 250. Transferred all live rock to the 40 and 125. Just some snails left.
As I'm also working part time (earn money for trip) I think I'm just going to sell the red sea max 250 and concentrate on the 125. I'm trying to figure out how much to ask, esp. as it has the led light retrofit hood now. If there are ideas, you could pm me.
So one question: I want it real clean. How much vinegar can I add to run with the skimmer and pumps to clean. Is it better to just buy powdered citric acid? Do I want half salt water and half vinegar? I want to run it for a few days to clean out the pumps and help get rid of the coraline on the glass.
