davelin315 January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 So over winter break the impeller on the skimmer that was on a 90 gallon tank in our school library finished breaking in half and stopped working. I took the pump off a few days ago and then replaced it with a new pump yesterday. I figured that since the skimmer was a downdraft and that water was able to freely enter and exit it while it was shut down that the water wouldn't pose any sort of threat so I turned on the pump and then cleaned out the inside of the skimmer while it was running. Well, came in this morning to the librarian being very depressed and telling me that we had lost all of the fish. I went down and sure enough, the fish were all dead and so was a large maxima clam in the tank. The soft corals were all hunched over and shriveled and only a few zoanthids and a RBTA were open. Looks like the amount of detritus and the water that it was sitting in were enough to foul the entire tank and send the levels way out of whack. Very saddened by this as the tank was doing fantastic and had just finished going through the hair algae cycle and diatoms. The losses were a large yellow tang, 4 yellow tail blue damsels, and a small lawnmower blenny in addition to the maxima clam and possibly a few other soft corals. I'm letting the tank go dark for a day or two and just allowing the water to clean itself out and then will do a water change and start to restock... very sad day for the librarian and all of the kids who visit our library. To think, just a few days ago I was telling the guy who delivered the tank to Floris for us how well it was doing... Anyway, beware skimmers that have sat dormant in your tank regardless of whether water can get in and out. My thinking is that the amount of built up detritus that was in there that didn't get skimmed out fouled the tank just like a sitting skimmer cup gets all nasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Wow, sorry to hear this!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Sorry for the losses, Dave. I'm sure you'll have it back to where the kids can enjoy it soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvreef January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 sorry to hear this I have some soft corals I can bring to the meeting if you want some....just let me know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Puckstable January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 That sucks man. I have a piece of yellow sinularia, and toadstool that I can donate. I plan on going to the meet, let me know if you want me to bring them. I also don't completely understand what went wrong. The skimmer stopped working, everything dies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 January 13, 2012 Author Share January 13, 2012 No, everything was still fine despite the skimmer not working. The problem that I think arose was that when the skimmer stopped working, even though water could flow through it, there was a pocket of nasty stuff at the top whereas the water at the bottom was still flowing slowly and interchanging. The stuff at the top, though, began to get really nasty and kind of sat there as there was a thick sludge built up in the skimmer that I didn't remove since it wasn't running. I figured that it wouldn't be an issue. When I put a new pump on it, all of the stuff that was concentrated in the top of the skimmer got mixed in with the water and didn't get pulled out quickly enough. This fouled the water and killed the fish and the clam. I am unsure of what else will die (nuking the tank was more nuking the fish and the clam, the corals I'm unsure of at this point in time). Thanks for the offers, right now I think we'll be OK as I saved some corals at my house in case of things like this. The one thing I'm glad of is that I haven't yet added the snails and other clean up crew animals. That would have been a huge problem if I had a full CUC in there when it went south... I can just picture a few hundred snails belly up in the water and the disaster that would have created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Puckstable January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Ah, now I follow. Thanks for making that clear for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbh January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 I can bring tiny snails to the meeting if the tank is ready for them. I can also offer fish when you are ready. LMK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Was it a recirculating skimmer, Dave, that had water actively flowing through it? Or could it have been stagnant and polluted with hydrogen sulfide which entered the tank when you restarted it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrrrMomma January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 So sorry to hear it! Having tanks at schools sounds so cool, though! When I get a little more seasoned, I would love to start on at my kids school.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar Magnolia January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Sorry for your losses Dave. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sen5241b January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Thanks for posting this. We can all learn from this sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 January 14, 2012 Author Share January 14, 2012 Not a recirc, it's got a feed pump and then the water empties out through a slot in the side that is about 1" wide. This side was facing towards a sump wall but the water was actively flowing past it so there was slight interchange between the water on the outside and the water on the inside. I think the real problem came up when the air and the water at the top was exchanged. On a strange note, the clam appears to actually still be alive, but it looks like absolute garbage. I didn't move it out of the tank because I didn't want to shock it and didn't know if moving it would simply cause it to go completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now