My 29G refugium had gotten out of control with all kinds of algaes that were out-competing my chaeto which isn't necessarily a bad thing, however it is a lot harder to harvest than chaeto. I decided to totally redo it and start over, sort of. It had about 30lbs of live rock, lots of algaes, about 2" of sand, a few astreas, one purple spiney urchin and a large brittle star.
I removed all the rock from my 29G QT, took it off line and moved the snails, urchin and the small rock the brittle star was hiding in to it.
I then pulled all the rock from the refugium, pulled as much algae off of it as I could and since I don't want to use it in the refugium anymore, I started it soaking in a tub with bleach water. After adding an HOB filter to the refugium I stirred the sand and syphoned as much detritus as I could and pulled out all the water. After refilling it I added a few more inches of old sand that had been sitting in a bucket after rinsing it very well. After all the dust settled I syphoned the top layer again and did another 95% water change.
If you're still reading this, here is what I messed up, but I don't know how. The QT now has all the critters listed above, about an inch of sand, a Koralia 2 for flow and a stealth heater. The day after doing all this the urchin, which had been moving all around the tank, was in a corner with all the spines fallen off and clearly had died. I've had it for a few years and thought it must just be its time to go. Just to be safe, I immediately did a 50% water change and then tested the water I pulled out. Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates are all zero, PH is 8.1, temp 77, and SG is 1.025.
This morning I found the brittle star out of the rock it was in, all the legs have fallen off in small pieces and even though it is not totaly dead I'm sure it will be very soon. The snails still seem to be OK though at least for now!
When I started this on Friday both the refugium and QT were flowing the same water as my 120G system. I shut off the returns for both and then started the work so the water is all still the same. I don't get it at all! I was going to open the valve to the QT to bring it back on line but now I'm afraid to.
I removed all the rock from my 29G QT, took it off line and moved the snails, urchin and the small rock the brittle star was hiding in to it.
I then pulled all the rock from the refugium, pulled as much algae off of it as I could and since I don't want to use it in the refugium anymore, I started it soaking in a tub with bleach water. After adding an HOB filter to the refugium I stirred the sand and syphoned as much detritus as I could and pulled out all the water. After refilling it I added a few more inches of old sand that had been sitting in a bucket after rinsing it very well. After all the dust settled I syphoned the top layer again and did another 95% water change.
If you're still reading this, here is what I messed up, but I don't know how. The QT now has all the critters listed above, about an inch of sand, a Koralia 2 for flow and a stealth heater. The day after doing all this the urchin, which had been moving all around the tank, was in a corner with all the spines fallen off and clearly had died. I've had it for a few years and thought it must just be its time to go. Just to be safe, I immediately did a 50% water change and then tested the water I pulled out. Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates are all zero, PH is 8.1, temp 77, and SG is 1.025.
This morning I found the brittle star out of the rock it was in, all the legs have fallen off in small pieces and even though it is not totaly dead I'm sure it will be very soon. The snails still seem to be OK though at least for now!
When I started this on Friday both the refugium and QT were flowing the same water as my 120G system. I shut off the returns for both and then started the work so the water is all still the same. I don't get it at all! I was going to open the valve to the QT to bring it back on line but now I'm afraid to.
