iceet

Thank you very much. Will be buying a 20 gallon

Ouch. Safety is not one area you want to skimp on or rush.

You are right in that I should have thrown the dead fish away rather than trying to feed him to my other creatures. I learned my lesson.

True I have some inverts in my sump and they help keep it clean. I have many inverts in my display as well, which includes 2 cleaners. I did not want to add a third cleaner to the display since I hear the odd one out will get killed and you end up with two. I never feed my sump, all of the creatures there survive on food that was fed to the display but entered my overflow into my sump. I don't run filter socks for this reason, that would starve my sump inverts. Also filter socks require too much maintenance and are unnecessary in my opinion if you keep a small clean up crew in your sump/refugium. Good idea in the foam, I don't want to risk losing another creature.

Yea let us know we're here to help

Dear Bailey, That was an amazing story. You are wise beyond your years. I wish I was as smart as you when I was your age.

Dear Sharlene and the tranzed class, Thanks for taking the time to update us about your tranzed class. I just stumbled upon this thread and it makes me feel good to know that you guys have tanks up and running and are supporting such a project. It's not always easy and it takes effort, so keep up the good work. As far as the chocolate chip starfish dying, they are very sensitive to changes in salinity. One time I was trying to increase my salinity and did a water change with water of a much higher salinity. My chocolate chip starfish was the only thing that got affected and died. Everything else was fine. However that is not to say that is why mine died, as there's no way to be certain. As far as videos to watch, I think these videos will help your students develop a grand plan to tackle tank maintenance, as that will be a key part of your future success. When in YouTube, search this: How to Reef Aquarium Maintenance Part 1 Introduction. The videos are by a guy named newyorksteelo. He is positive and educational and can be a stepping stone into learning more about reef aquariums for your students. Don't worry he is not negative. If you need any more help feel free to ask.

Hey Braden, really sorry about what happened to your tank. I know what it feels like to experience a tank crash and lose that much livestock at once. Only time really healed the pain for me. If you ever decide to get back in the hobby let me know, I got some frags for you also.

The dead body of my purple firefish was stuck on the grating of my PVC overflow. Was not sure if something killed him or he died from getting stuck. I decided instead of flushing him to throw him in my sump because I have a hefty clean-up crew there and his carcass could at least feed a few of them. Well when I tossed him into my sump he got sucked into my Eshopps S-200 skimmer and was promptly chased by one of my cleaner shrimp (have a pair in my sump). Needless to say the shrimp did not make it. I used a pair of tweezer to pick the dead shrimp out of the inlet of the skimmer, I was lucky and he did not get sucked in all the way or it would have been a long night. The firefish carcass did get sucked all the way but is still in the skimmer pump. Not too worried about it though because his body is a lot more dissolvable than a shrimp body. Moral of the story: Don't fiddle with your tank if you don't have to

thank God it wasn't a zoa

Not bad you got $100 credit for spending $500. If you were eyeing an apex this would have been the best time to get one. They are having a sale on these Coralife chillers I've been looking at, may bite the bullet...

Wish my back were better, can't make the drive at the moment

Even if you get rid of the clownfish, you're still gonna have a yellow tang, firefish, green clown goby, serpent star, and 2 shrimp. Meaning your feeding schedule will probably be the same as with the clownfish. My recommendation: Get rid of the tang. They require nori to be healthy which means you have to cut a piece and attach it to your tank. If you get rid of the tang your system could run on an automatic fish feeder. Not ideal but you're the one that said lazy, not me...

pics will help

New Life Spectrum saltwater flakes with garlic

Very cool, I especially like the SPS

Paul b thank you for sharing your story so openly and frankly. I respect the fact that you didn't take these little series of accidents too seriously and let them get to your head. Many a hole has been punched into drywall over reef tank accidents and catastrophes. I have been reading your posts for a while and your wisdom really shows. I was impressed with the speed and instinct in which you reacted to the crisis at hand. Since this is my first post on these forums, I have had my own mea culpa Homer Simpson moment recently that I would like to share with you guys. I was beginning my routine weekly water change in which I use a 16 gallon shop-vac to vacuum water from my sump before replacing it with mixed saltwater. I prefer using the shop-vac to siphoning water into 5 gallon buckets because it is much faster due to the larger capacity of the vac itself and the speed at which it sucks up water. So I begin sucking the water out, making sure not to accidentally suck up any inverts as the suction of the shop-vac is quite powerful and my sump is kind of an invert-only tank with 5 different shrimp. All of a sudden my socks get wet. I'm like what the hel. Water begins pooling up under the shop vac. I immediately turn it off but by then it has already sucked up at least 5 gallons. I then realize what is going on. To empty the shop vac, there is a cap underneath that you unscrew so the water drains out. You do this outside of course. Well the last time I took off the cap to drain it outside I forgot to put it back on. I immediately put my hand over the hole but by then I am too late, it has already emptied most of its contents. Thankfully the cap was nearby, on top of the shop vac on a groove it fits into. Murphy's law didn't get me that time. I screw the cap back onto the bottom of the shop vac so the remaining water doesn't spill out. 4 gallons of filfy reef tank saltwater are on the floor of my basement. Luckily however I was proactive and laid out several plastic office mats underneath the aquarium and surrounding it when I first set it up. These are the kinds of mats you can get from Staples or Office Depot. However it is not enough, water flowed all the way to the edge of the office mat island I made and onto my thick basement carpet. I grabbed some towels and immediately put them over the spot where the water spilled onto the carpet. At this point my pumps, protein skimmer, and canister filter with only carbon are all off. I decide to finish the water change first to get the tank operational again. Then begins the real work. After mopping up as much of the water as I could with towels I grabbed the regular vacuum and vacuumed the wet spot for a while. I mean a while. I got it as dry as I possibly could. Next I got my space heater and put it over the wet spot. It dried up in a few days. The basement still smells a little fishy but it is dissipating slowly (I think). Looks like there is no permanent damage, I got lucky this time. But it goes to show you we there's a little Homer Simpson in all of us. Never underestimate the power we have to screw ourselves over.