A Mistake That Can't Be Made!

So...had the tank up for about a year now, doing great, look at my signature for all the belongings. Anyway tanks just dandy but about a month ago I got a hair algae outbreak and after fighting it I decided saturday to stick it to the algae and kick it...butt...so, I took the rock out but it in a bucket and scraped the algae off with a toothbrush. That worked perfectly except for the fact that I used FRESH water in the bucket to collect the algae that is scraped off. Being the dullest bulb on this site I thought this would be fine...today went upstairs to look at the tank...All fish are dead and corals don't look good...

So, if you get an algae outbreak and its all over your rock the best way I found to get it off is scrub the rock with a toothbrush except you HAVE to use saltwater. As soon as the rock hits the fresh water the bacteria that is good for your tank dies and if you kill enough the nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia will all raise overnight killing all your animals. And with a year and couple thousand invested that really sucks. Now, I may be the only one dumb enough to do this but I thought I should help anyone who thought like me.

 

So...had the tank up for about a year now, doing great, look at my signature for all the belongings. Anyway tanks just dandy but about a month ago I got a hair algae outbreak and after fighting it I decided saturday to stick it to the algae and kick it...butt...so, I took the rock out but it in a bucket and scraped the algae off with a toothbrush. That worked perfectly except for the fact that I used FRESH water in the bucket to collect the algae that is scraped off. Being the dullest bulb on this site I thought this would be fine...today went upstairs to look at the tank...All fish are dead and corals don't look good...

So, if you get an algae outbreak and its all over your rock the best way I found to get it off is scrub the rock with a toothbrush except you HAVE to use saltwater. As soon as the rock hits the fresh water the bacteria that is good for your tank dies and if you kill enough the nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia will all raise overnight killing all your animals. And with a year and couple thousand invested that really sucks. Now, I may be the only one dumb enough to do this but I thought I should help anyone who thought like me.

 

Hey, PackerFan12. So sorry for your mishap. We all make mistakes. It happens to the best of us.

FWIW, scrubbing your LR with a brush in SW will only remove the existing algae, and if the true source is left unaddressed, the algae will be back, just as heavy, in a few weeks. There are quite a few good threads on 3reef regarding algae removal, but suffice it to say you must rob them of food to win the war. That means depriving them of nitrates and phosphates. Learn the source of these and you'll suceed.

 

Omgooses, very sorry for your troubles and losses. Hope your able to learn and move on to be more successful than even before!

 

sorry about your loss, but you should never dip anything from a saltwater tank in freshwater(i found out the hard way too a couple years ago)

 

I've use freshwater instead of salt on a few things...

I got a tube anemone in the mail and after floating it I wanted to put it in a pitcher to look at it's condition before I put it in the tank. So I walked over to the RO/DI tub..got a big scoop..dropped the nem in...looked at for about 5 seconds and said S**T!!! Everything turned out okay though lol

Everyone makes mistakes..some bigger than others. But I guarantee you that you won't do it again!

 

Dude, Don't be so hard on yourself...We all make mistakes, and sometimes costly ones. But it only makes you better. Sorry for your loss!!

 

Sorry for your loss, we all make those mistakes, hang in there and make it better this time around.

 

we have all made mistakes brother don't feel to bad.

 

Dang.