advice needed --> advice taken -->update July 27

[michika]

So um yeah, I totally hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but yeah, um when this happened to me we all know what happened...my tank suffered a complete wipe out. While I'd be thrilled for your tank to recover, and I hope it does, unfortunately in my experience it didn't.

I did water changes, I ran carbon, and loads of it. But really all I could do was wait it out. The milkiness is from your SPS dying off, and it takes about a week to clear, or did when it happened to me. The next step after the milk-water is the stench of doom, the smell is in the water, and it takes about another week of 5% daily water changes to get it out.

Something you should probably do as soon as you are able is to pick up a few new pieces of rock. The low temperature seems to kill off some of the much needed bacteria in your system, and in my case my system (back in 2007) was unable to sufficiently repopulate the lost bacteria. I experienced SPS death after SPS death for 8 months before I figured it out.

I'm so sad to read this.

[christyf5]

well bloody hell catherine, that is not what I wanted to hear at this point

naesco, I already have a powerhead in place at that location, hopefully it helps

as for the waterchange, I'm making water but it just isn't happening fast enough for my liking

[michika]

Sorry. I hope you can turn things around though with your WCs. Your tank is smaller then our 180g which makes WCs considerably simpler.

[PoonTang]

If you have rtn then i would start fragging fast. If the main tank is still OK then throw the frags in there and hope for the best. When i moved my tank it was in the middle of january during a cold snap. By the time I got everything home the water was 68 deg.F . I never lost a thing although I didnt have any SPS at the time. Hang in there, theres still hope.

[christyf5]

no its the main tank going down the crapper now, I had moved most of the stuff in the sump into the main tank. Not sure if that sparked it or it was inevitable anyways.

[PoonTang]

Well if you need a hand with anything, or a babysitter just let me know.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by michika

The milkiness is from your SPS dying off, and it takes about a week to clear, or did when it happened to me. The next step after the milk-water is the stench of doom, the smell is in the water, and it takes about another week of 5% daily water changes to get it out.

Yup, gotta agree with this. Cold temps moving into my 150 did the same thing. I did recover though, and after all was said and done, it turned out ok. Don't give up hope yet.

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Yup, gotta agree with this. Cold temps moving into my 150 did the same thing. I did recover though, and after all was said and done, it turned out ok. Don't give up hope yet.

did you wait it out? do waterchanges constantly?

I'm thinking its a good thing I stocked up on salt

[Aquattro]

After a couple of good water changes, I just left it with lots of GAC running. I found corals I tried to frag just got more stressed and I lost the whole colonies. Once you've got a decent handle on it, wait and see where it goes. Minimal lights for a couple of days too. keep temp a bit lower to increase O2 saturation, and lots of surface agitation.
I'd mix some new water and get the sump going, that will increase O2 uptake as well, and get the skimmer going and clean it as required to keep it empty.

[Jason McK]

Oh No Christy sorry to read of your troubles. I would get that Sump online. Maybe dump the water and give it a good rinse out. That way you'll be able to get your skimmer fired up. Get some filter floss in there and a ton of carbon.