A dying question? - Page 2

mike31154 · #1 11-13-2009, 04:47 PM

Using the grocery store water is a good start, but ultimately it's going to be another chore and expense that would be better addressed by getting an RO DI system. I'm pretty sure that the water from the store is RO (reverse osmosis) only and it will still have some TDS (total dissolved solids) in it. The DI (de-ionization or demineralization by ionization) stage of a RO DI system will bring the TDS of your water to 0 so you're mixing your salt in absolutely pure water. Check out some of the threads and info on RODI systems and you will find plenty of information. The initial investment may seem costly and although I don't know what your store charges for the bottled water, in the long run you will have better results and save money with your own RO DI system, especially with a 72 gal tank. The trips to the store for water will get old fairly quickly. As mentioned I do fairly large water changes on my 77 gal, about 25 gallons each time and I would not enjoy hauling that amount of water from the store every few weeks.

Marlin65 · #2 11-13-2009, 05:13 PM

Just a few thoughts to throw out there.
Do you have a ground probe. Maybe you have a short somewhere it will kill your fish.
What about that prime you added maybe it is a bad bottle and the chlorine killed them.
Also having the circulation off for the water change dropped your oxygen levels to low.
Just some things to think about.

shrimpchips · #3 11-13-2009, 05:14 PM

Perhaps I read wrong, but one thing that struck me is that you said all the fish are dying/dead but the corals all remained fine?

I've had SPS corals survive out of a bag that reeked of death and were probably off the chart in ammonia - but fish would have been dead in that water for sure so maybe you had an ammonia burn or something similar due to stirring up crap, and also having a lower total volume (due to water displacement by the buckets of water). Maybe you had a dissolved oxygen issue also? I find that a lot of mysterious mass deaths in the night can usually be attributed to DO issues.

That being said, this is one of those "crashes" where the source is going to be difficult or impossible to pinpoint. But a better water change regimen would be a good place to start.