bluce

Yeah probably oxygen issue plus other things - maybe the no3po4x caused the o2 to get used up without the return. The water I used was a few weeks old, and the lid was propped up 1/4 inch so I could keep a small power head in the container. Maybe something got into the water. I’m just surprised all died at once - wouldn’t you think if it was only an o2 issue that some fish could have stayed close to the surface where the water was being agitated by the vortech mp40? If I do restock I want to make sure this doesn’t happen again...

Haven’t checked in a week or so - tank is very mature, so everything stays pretty stable - until last night i guess. Last check am 0, nit 0, nitrate 25 (always runs a bit high, but don’t have any lps or spa).

On my 76 gallon tank - Last night fish were fine swimming around, ate well etc didn’t look to be in any distress. I made a mistake and didn’t turn the return pump back on; checked on them this am, and the water was cloudy and all fish dead. I had a yellow tang for almost 10 years! I’m surprised even with the mistake that all died (Yellow tang, blue tang, flame angel, 3 clowns, and shrimp) - the only things that survived are the rock anemones. The temp only dropped 2.5 degrees, the vortech was still on, so the water was moving, I’ve had the pump go out several times over the years and the fish never died - they have survived longer than 6 hours without return several times. I did a partial water change yesterday and I dosed with no3po4x. I’m thinking it was either the lack of return, or somehow the water was contaminated, or combo of both that did them in? Any thoughts? So now have to decide to wait a bit and slowly restock, or sell off and take a break from the hobby.

Does anyone think this submersible utility pump would be better From "Everbilt" at home depot 1/6 hp. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-6-HP-Submersible-Thermoplastic-Utility-Pump-SUP54-HD/205618696 It has a max head of 25' Or do you think the mag 24 would be better?

I'm trying to make water changes easier. I'm setting up a rubber maid for salt water mix / storage in the basement. When I want to do a water change I would like to unwind a hose from the container to the tank - probably will need about 18' head pressure. Does anyone have any good economical pump suggestions - other than a $180 mag 18 or $300 -$500 reeflow? It seems like most magnetic drives have max head of 12' or less. What other types of pumps would work. I will only be using it for short periods of time.

I have a pretty large LTA - for a few years now - looks like a smaller version of mine. I vote LTA.

China is pretty good at coming up with new ways to abuse. That is just terrible - and who would want a dead fish to carry around? They can't live more than a day or 2?

beautiful tank - nice pics Jon.

If you don't have any fish in QT that need to be moved to your display tank (which I gather by your post is empty now) I would err on the conservative side, and wait a full month - a full month of your DT being fallow should get rid of any ick that could be lingering. Also make sure you quarantine any new fish you get going forward, otherwise the problem could start all over again.

Thanks for the info Doug - at the time I saw them they were definitely "zipping" - I had all the pumps off. I haven't seen them since - I'll take a look tonight when I feed to see if any are still around. I wish I had a macro lens for my camera to take a super closeup!

Thanks for the replies! I do have peppermints, but if mogurnda is correct "Baby Lysmata (skunks and peppermints) don't zip" then they wouldn't be peppermints, cause when the moved they "zipped" around pretty good. I didn't think they were baby brine - but had to ask. When I add brine shrimp to the tank, they have such bad directionional control and locomotion - it would be hard to believe they could survive to reproduce. I guess the verdict is mysids. Nice to know - I imagine that baby mysids are another good sign of a healthy tank! It's interesting to look at the tank sometimes and find organisms I didn't even know were there nice to have more biodiversity.

So I'm feeding my fish last night - 76 gallon reef tank - a combination of some frozen foods + some of Scott's (from WAMAS) homemade frozen food. normally you see lots of particles suspended in the water column as I turn the pumps off so the fish have time to eat. Last night I notice a lot of the particles zipping around through the water and the fish are having a great time snacking on them. I look closer and they are not pods, but tiny little shrimps. How did they get there? Now I have added the live brine shrimp that you get from the pet store about once a month or so - but they usually all get eaten up or eventually sucked into the overflow. So did some of those brine shrimps survive and reproduce? or is there another way that these baby shrimps made it into my tank - a nice surprise as the fish like them, and maybe even come corals (the tentacles on my candy cane were fully extended when this was happening), but still a mystery.

Cats - YUCK

Hi RJT - welcome to the club. Chad gives some pretty good information / advice. I'm not a seahorse guy, but you may also want to message Jan - she has a really nice hexagon seahorse tank with gorgonia's and macros that looks great.

Great chart and response Tom - WAMAS definitely has some great resources. "(it was 1978 and everybody had Disco Fever while I had my nose in my chemistry book)" See being a nerd back in the day has paid off again!

I have an RKL - so not sure about the elite, but I read that the RKE like the RKL is much easier to setup out of the box. I heard that neptune products require alot more tweaking and programming - that is not to say they are not as good, just a little more complicated to get going (what I have heard)

"Not really sure, but can this http://www.bulkreefs...el-cleaner.html help prime the pump you are trying to use? " Probably not, but thanks for the idea. I'm going to try out just leaving the maxjet 1200 in the sump and hopefully even though I will be moving the hose around to get at the different sections, it won't get too much air, and remain primed. If that doesn't work well enough I'm going to try the bucket head! Thanks for the info on the bucket head Rio - for $20.00 you can't go wrong. In fact I'm probably going to get one anyways (whether I use it for sump cleaning of not, as I currently do not have any wet / dry vac). It looks like a great value product - all the reviews I read were rated high.

"I use the Mag 5 to pump out what I need .." So your saying a Mag 5 doesn't need to be primed? I didn't know this. I think this would do the trick if it works, but on the decription of the mag 5 on Fosters it says "You need to siphon water into the pump before turning it on." Which to me indicates it does need to be primed. Please respond back if this is wrong and it really will work without any priming - don't forget I won't have any siphon affect at all, as my sump is floor level with the bucket. "One more though. Get something like a maxijet and put a hose one both ends. Leave the pump in the sump. When you move the hose from compartment to compartment turn off the pump. There should be enough water in the pump to get what little bit of air gets in the hose as you move from baffle to baffle. Maybe you could place a finger over it as it moves." Fishman - I will probable take your last solution if the Mag 5 needs to be primed - not a bad idea leaving it in the sump like that.

Steve - good idea, but one problem with my setup. The return pump is in the middle of the sump and as I said there are 5 baffles - 2 of which are on each side of the return. This would only allow me to empty the small section of the sump where the return is. This is why I need something with a hose so I can use it to empty any part of the sump I want too, and suck up some of the waste that settled to the bottom of the sump.