Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Wow, that's a crappy break. As Davek said, you can recover from it fairly quickly, but really disheartening.
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Wow, that's a big crash. Something must be way out of whack.
If everything is dead, yup, it's time to start over.
Your goal appears to be to keep an anenome with ocellaris.

I have been keeping anenomes and ocellaris pairs for more than 25 years so can I share what works for me.

1. If everything is dead let's start with fresh saltwater 100%. Put the live rock back in, lighting at this point is not required.
2. Let's clean the filter and run charcoal to absorb any toxins which remain.
3. Let get the power head and pumps running again.
4. Then do a weekly change of water until all water parameters are set and zero on the ammonia and nitrate. At this point we are cycled, maybe 4-8 weeks.
5. At this point look for stability in temp, SG, and zero ammonia and nitrates.
6. Be careful on SG. Most people use one of those plastic SG Meters which is OK but they are only good for 6 months.

At this point, if your test show absolute stability, then OK to proceed with inhabitants. But go slow. An anenome and ocellaris would be a great start cause that seems to be your intention.

Now let's talk equipment:
1. The best way to keep a clean tank is 20% water change weekly. I keep 2 50 gallon garbage pails of water, 1 fresh, 1 salt kept at 1.024 or 1.025 and that water should be reverse osmosis.
3. I have no skimmer, and have a hang on back of tank filter with a sponge, a bag of charcoal, and a bag of phosphate remover change every 2 months. Skimming is a plus, but with weekly changes of water, I have never needed. In addition, I employ what is called a deep sand substrate. I use half inch plastic pipe on the bottom glass and that white plastic 1/2 inch stuff they use to defuse florescant light on top, then a layer of plastic window screen, then 2 inches of live coral sand, another screen, another 2 inches of coral sand. This creates an open space on the bottom of the tank. Then I use the power head to drag the water up from the bottom. This means the water is pulled constantly through the substrate. The best filter I have ever had. Allows for maximum surface area contact.
4. Lighting, like water is really important. I got rid of my florescant lights years ago, just too expensive. Best lighting is now LED. I use a VISPARSPECTRA 165 watt LED, which is absolutely great because once purchased good for 10 years. I run it at only 40% white, and 70% blue. You will find this on the Internet for in US dollars about 125 bucks. At 55 gallons one will work unless to are going to add corals, then 2. These hang about 12 inches above the tank, no cover, so your PH does rise.

Odds and ends:
1. Never once did any of my pairs of ocellaris refuse an anenome. Now, in 1 case it took 6 months for the pair to use, but all finally made it home. 1 pair even accepted a pink tip. I have now done this 12 times.
2. I never use hermit crabs as clean up. They will eat anything they can catch. Early one morning years ago I watched a hermit walk around my tank with "nemo" in his claws. Last time ever used.
3. Right now my "nemo" fish eat but they feed their anenome as well, Occasionally I target feed with a turkey baster.
4. When putting in new inhabitants, temperature changes from bag to tank are dangerous. I have been more successful in floating the bag in my tank for 1 hour, every 15 minutes I add some tank water. I also measure the SG in the bag to see how much different it is.
5. Never add something you can't test for!

Summary:
Correct water, adjustable lighting, regular water changes and stability are keys to success. Additives, expensive equipment, dosing are for people who do not want to do the water changes. Any saltwater mix like seachem, instant ocean, Red Sea, and the like along with Reverse Osomosis water will keep the correct levels of the multitude of those things that make up sea water which are listed on the bag.

We are sorry to hear of your crash. Something big time seems to be wrong to have wiped out everything. I am not familiar with the poisoning thinking of the anenome, so I will go with the others on this. It's impossible for me to pinpoint the root cause.

You seem to have a good working knowledge of saltwater and if your tank was running for 3 months before, it is odd that everything died so suddenly. Like I said, something killed everything so go slow on your rebuild.

Keep us posted please on your rebuild. My way is not the only way and some may disagree, that OK. Good luck.

This is a pic of one of 3 current softy tanks full of corals, running more than 3 years.View attachment 47577

This is an awesome post just on its own. Taught me some things.

As a relative side note, why do you say the plastic SG meters are only good for 6 months? I didn't know that. I use a refractor anyway, but I'm curious.
 

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Use after use after use appears to affect the float likely a build up through the wet to dry process of use. Had used one for years and never thought a thing but when matched against a refractometer and a electronic gauge my reading of 1.025 was actually 1.042. So I did some reading and many suggested that they can lose their accuracy, some suggested 6 months. I bought a new one and its reading on the same water was 1.025 which I know is true, so I buy the thinking that after time, they lose calibration. So you can use but as you know refractometer is much more accurate and SG is critical. Some people say the meter just needs to be throughly rinsed after each use, but this I can say I did not do, or at least well. I have had the new one 3 months or so now ( good for a fast check) and it still matches refractometer. So will see over the next months if this data is actually 100% true.
 

Kendalls_reef

New Member
Wow, that's a big crash. Something must be way out of whack.
If everything is dead, yup, it's time to start over.
Your goal appears to be to keep an anenome with ocellaris.

I have been keeping anenomes and ocellaris pairs for more than 25 years so can I share what works for me.

1. If everything is dead let's start with fresh saltwater 100%. Put the live rock back in, lighting at this point is not required.
2. Let's clean the filter and run charcoal to absorb any toxins which remain.
3. Let get the power head and pumps running again.
4. Then do a weekly change of water until all water parameters are set and zero on the ammonia and nitrate. At this point we are cycled, maybe 4-8 weeks.
5. At this point look for stability in temp, SG, and zero ammonia and nitrates.
6. Be careful on SG. Most people use one of those plastic SG Meters which is OK but they are only good for 6 months.

At this point, if your test show absolute stability, then OK to proceed with inhabitants. But go slow. An anenome and ocellaris would be a great start cause that seems to be your intention.

Now let's talk equipment:
1. The best way to keep a clean tank is 20% water change weekly. I keep 2 50 gallon garbage pails of water, 1 fresh, 1 salt kept at 1.024 or 1.025 and that water should be reverse osmosis.
3. I have no skimmer, and have a hang on back of tank filter with a sponge, a bag of charcoal, and a bag of phosphate remover change every 2 months. Skimming is a plus, but with weekly changes of water, I have never needed. In addition, I employ what is called a deep sand substrate. I use half inch plastic pipe on the bottom glass and that white plastic 1/2 inch stuff they use to defuse florescant light on top, then a layer of plastic window screen, then 2 inches of live coral sand, another screen, another 2 inches of coral sand. This creates an open space on the bottom of the tank. Then I use the power head to drag the water up from the bottom. This means the water is pulled constantly through the substrate. The best filter I have ever had. Allows for maximum surface area contact.
4. Lighting, like water is really important. I got rid of my florescant lights years ago, just too expensive. Best lighting is now LED. I use a VISPARSPECTRA 165 watt LED, which is absolutely great because once purchased good for 10 years. I run it at only 40% white, and 70% blue. You will find this on the Internet for in US dollars about 125 bucks. At 55 gallons one will work unless to are going to add corals, then 2. These hang about 12 inches above the tank, no cover, so your PH does rise.

Odds and ends:
1. Never once did any of my pairs of ocellaris refuse an anenome. Now, in 1 case it took 6 months for the pair to use, but all finally made it home. 1 pair even accepted a pink tip. I have now done this 12 times.
2. I never use hermit crabs as clean up. They will eat anything they can catch. Early one morning years ago I watched a hermit walk around my tank with "nemo" in his claws. Last time ever used.
3. Right now my "nemo" fish eat but they feed their anenome as well, Occasionally I target feed with a turkey baster.
4. When putting in new inhabitants, temperature changes from bag to tank are dangerous. I have been more successful in floating the bag in my tank for 1 hour, every 15 minutes I add some tank water. I also measure the SG in the bag to see how much different it is.
5. Never add something you can't test for!

Summary:
Correct water, adjustable lighting, regular water changes and stability are keys to success. Additives, expensive equipment, dosing are for people who do not want to do the water changes. Any saltwater mix like seachem, instant ocean, Red Sea, and the like along with Reverse Osomosis water will keep the correct levels of the multitude of those things that make up sea water which are listed on the bag.

We are sorry to hear of your crash. Something big time seems to be wrong to have wiped out everything. I am not familiar with the poisoning thinking of the anenome, so I will go with the others on this. It's impossible for me to pinpoint the root cause.

You seem to have a good working knowledge of saltwater and if your tank was running for 3 months before, it is odd that everything died so suddenly. Like I said, something killed everything so go slow on your rebuild.

Keep us posted please on your rebuild. My way is not the only way and some may disagree, that OK. Good luck.

This is a pic of one of 3 current softy tanks full of corals, running more than 3 years.View attachment 47577


wow, sorry it took me so long to see this! thank you for all the great information, and since you wanted me to keep you updated, here's what has happened since the total loss.

my local fish store has helped me and i did a 80% water change. i got everything cycled again, and my live rock had life to it even after the loss! i got new LED lighting, so i'm no longer using my flourescent.

i got fresh, pre-filtered water so it wasn't from the tap! mixed my saltwater, my salinity is at 1.025. all of my water parameters are perfect, in fact, they're better than they were last time! my PH is at 8.3. nitrites and ammonia are at zero. everything is perfect! life is thriving in my live rocks, in fact, i have stuff in my rocks that weren't there before, or at least i never noticed them. i cleaned out my filter, got the charcoal to remove the remaining toxins and everything is better than it was last time!!

i checked in with the guys at th fish store and they said it was all good to put some life in there, but nothing too extreme.

i decided not to get another anemone for awhile, as i want to wait another couple months until i'm more experienced. i currently have a six lined wrasse and an engineer goby, who are both thriving better than the last tank inhabitants! not only those two, but i have a few snails in the tank as well.

i'm not positive what was fully wrong last time, all i know is that my bubble tip anemone was extremely stressed and when i woke up, the tank was cloudy and everything was dead. the nem is my current culprit as to why everything failed, but who knows, it could've been something bigger? all in all, i'm not getting another anemone for a long while, and sticking to simple things while i'm still a beginner. just thought i'd keep you all updated as to what happened!!

thank you so much for all of the help, it's been greatly appreciated and i will definitely be using this information if something else happens again (keeping fingers crossed that all goes well).

the current fish are eating better, more active, and great the turkey baster as soon as i put it in the tank. they know who feeds them, lol. my engineer goby has a little cave that he made under one of my rocks, and he comes out to feed, then goes right back in his cave, leaving his head out for most of the day. it's like having a mini, safer eel in the tank. my six line wrasse is very active and vibrant, and he greets the food when it comes as well. i will gradually add fish as time goes on.

i will be doing water changes every week, probably 10-20% as it's needed.

again, thank you so much for all the information!! i appreciate it so much and it's taught me a lot.
 

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the update and the group hopes some of the advice was helpful. We have all been there. What I like to hear is that your back at it again!

Never give up, you will find answers. Anenomes are not hard at all. Lots of light, great water, perfect salinity and some light feed once in a while.

Best of luck
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
... i decided not to get another anemone for awhile, as i want to wait another couple months until i'm more experienced. ...

Not a couple of months, or you'll be repeating your original mistake.

Wait for a year before you attempt another anemone. I know this seems forever, but it's what you want to do so you'll have success with it.

Meanwhile consider if you need any lighting or filtration upgrades is your getting an anemone.
 

Kendalls_reef

New Member
i
Not a couple of months, or you'll be repeating your original mistake.

Wait for a year before you attempt another anemone. I know this seems forever, but it's what you want to do so you'll have success with it.

Meanwhile consider if you need any lighting or filtration upgrades is your getting an anemone.


if i must wait a year, then i will wait a year. thank you so much for all the help!!
 

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
I have never waited a year.
Just until cycled, usually 4-6 weeks, and all water parameters remain stable for 4 weeks in a row.
In addition, lighting is absolutely key, the animal gets most of its needs from the light, must be correct spectrum.
The animal is quite hardy
 
Top