Is my tank crashing?
Let me begin by saying that about two weeks ago I got tired of dealing with my cynobacteria problem and decided to treat my tank chemically with Ultralife Red Slime Remover - my local store swears by it.
They indicated that when treating the tank, I should turn my protein skimmer off otherwise it would skim the treatment out. For the past two weeks I haven't been running my aquaC 150 - Although it never really skimmed all that well anyway. FYI I am cleaning and turning the skimmer on tonite.
The tank is a 120G AGA. Lights were swapped out in late March - I am running 2x400w Halogens with 2x40W Blue actinics on Icecap 660.
Tank specs currently are: 80 degrees, PH 8.2, 0 Nitrate, 0 Ammonia.
I added about 2.5g of RO/DI water this morning when I noticed I was spraying air. When I got back to work I noticed that the tank water level was to the glass tops.
Further investigation showed my prefilter sponge was clogged to hell. This was odd since I had cleaned it (and the entire prefilter box) when I treated the tank for red slime. Usually it doesn't clog that fast.
Things I've noticed over the past 2 weeks:
1) My Bubble tip aneneme either split or decided to seek a lower spot in the tank. It sure look like it split along it's torso, but at the moment I can't see whether there is one or two. It is open and healthy loking, although lower then were it has been for the past year. I attributed this to the new lights mostly.
2) About 3-4 days (let's say 10 days ago) after treating the cynobacteria I came home and noticed My Mandarin sitting on the glass tops, fried and DOA. I had had him for over 9 months, and he was fat and healthy, so although I was puzzled by his apparant suicide I thought i was just unlucky. I assumed he got out between the 1.5 - 2.0 inche cab at the back edge of the glass top.
3) Tank observations tonite show that the xenia (and I have a lot fo it ) on the Right side of the tank seems to be majorly crashing (about 60% of it on that side of the glass is gone) I was assuming that it's crashing was what clogged my prefilter.
4) Other observations tonite show that my Hammer doesn't look so good (it's closed up and is almost always extended with polyps waving this time of night). My orange tree sponge also looks worse for the wear. Granted I thought it had been covered with a film of cynobacteria, but I have two spots on one of the left main branches that appear to be almost white or translucent in nature, it appears to be some type of thick film covering the sponge.
Am I just having a bad run of luck? My tnak specs appear normal for my tank. Anyone got any suggestions?
Fred
FYI I use a plenum, and it appears fine when observing it form the bottom.
Let me begin by saying that about two weeks ago I got tired of dealing with my cynobacteria problem and decided to treat my tank chemically with Ultralife Red Slime Remover - my local store swears by it.
They indicated that when treating the tank, I should turn my protein skimmer off otherwise it would skim the treatment out. For the past two weeks I haven't been running my aquaC 150 - Although it never really skimmed all that well anyway. FYI I am cleaning and turning the skimmer on tonite.
The tank is a 120G AGA. Lights were swapped out in late March - I am running 2x400w Halogens with 2x40W Blue actinics on Icecap 660.
Tank specs currently are: 80 degrees, PH 8.2, 0 Nitrate, 0 Ammonia.
I added about 2.5g of RO/DI water this morning when I noticed I was spraying air. When I got back to work I noticed that the tank water level was to the glass tops.
Further investigation showed my prefilter sponge was clogged to hell. This was odd since I had cleaned it (and the entire prefilter box) when I treated the tank for red slime. Usually it doesn't clog that fast.
Things I've noticed over the past 2 weeks:
1) My Bubble tip aneneme either split or decided to seek a lower spot in the tank. It sure look like it split along it's torso, but at the moment I can't see whether there is one or two. It is open and healthy loking, although lower then were it has been for the past year. I attributed this to the new lights mostly.
2) About 3-4 days (let's say 10 days ago) after treating the cynobacteria I came home and noticed My Mandarin sitting on the glass tops, fried and DOA. I had had him for over 9 months, and he was fat and healthy, so although I was puzzled by his apparant suicide I thought i was just unlucky. I assumed he got out between the 1.5 - 2.0 inche cab at the back edge of the glass top.
3) Tank observations tonite show that the xenia (and I have a lot fo it ) on the Right side of the tank seems to be majorly crashing (about 60% of it on that side of the glass is gone) I was assuming that it's crashing was what clogged my prefilter.
4) Other observations tonite show that my Hammer doesn't look so good (it's closed up and is almost always extended with polyps waving this time of night). My orange tree sponge also looks worse for the wear. Granted I thought it had been covered with a film of cynobacteria, but I have two spots on one of the left main branches that appear to be almost white or translucent in nature, it appears to be some type of thick film covering the sponge.
Am I just having a bad run of luck? My tnak specs appear normal for my tank. Anyone got any suggestions?
Fred
FYI I use a plenum, and it appears fine when observing it form the bottom.
