Back From Vacation Mess

[Eversurf]

I got back from Vacation right about now and checked on the tank. There were at least 7 cerith snails that had died. I picked them up and chuck them out.

Couple things.

1. My PH is way low, like 7.6...how does that occurs?
2. There are a bunch of little white fury spots on the windows. they don't seem to be on the rocks or anything. I need ID on that.
3. The nitrate is at 15 and the Amonia is a between 0 and .25

I will be making a water change about 10% and I will be installing a new pump to make the water flow as reccomended by ski

Thanx.

 

[Eversurf]

Ok well I think everything is good. I believe my testing tube were dirty and gave me wrong reading, because I tested again and everything was fine.

I still have those little white things hanging out

 

[Mr.September15]

Oo I just came back from vacation too. At about 8:30pm. I had those white things on the glass, but I just use an algae scraper and scraped them off

 

[SkiFletch]

Not sure how long you were on vacation, but what was your salinity? therein usually lies an aquarists' greatest vacation problem

 

[Eversurf]

Salinity was about the same I believe...I didn't check it that close, but it was in the green zone of my thing.

Also it wasn't the cerith snails, but the turbo snails.

That's what I did with some of the white stuff, I scrapped it off, but I i'd like to know what they are...

Thanx

BTW I got all sorts of new stuff coming out of my Live Rock now

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Not sure how long you were on vacation, but what was your salinity? therein usually lies an aquarists' greatest vacation problem

just out of interest what's the best way of dealing with this if you haven't got auto top off or anyone to come in for you?

my thoughts would be gradually lower the salinity over the few weeks before as low as you dare to go, then as water evaporates the salinity's not gonna end up too high

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, thats correct miss wiggle. Usually if you lower your salinity to the 1.021 range by the time you come back from a short vacation you'd prolly only be up in the 1.025 range tops When I go away for a 3 day weekend, I drop my salinity to 1.021 and it only bumps back up to 1.023

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Yeah, thats correct miss wiggle. Usually if you lower your salinity to the 1.021 range by the time you come back from a short vacation you'd prolly only be up in the 1.025 range tops When I go away for a 3 day weekend, I drop my salinity to 1.021 and it only bumps back up to 1.023

cool, good stuff

is 1.021 about the lowest you'd go?

 

[SkiFletch]

With corals in the tank, yeah. If I had something more sensetive like a nem or a clam, I'd prolly only go down to 1.023

 

[Miss Wiggle]

your not counting rock nem's as nem's are you?

 

[SkiFletch]

your not counting rock nem's as nem's are you?

No, larger more sensetive ones like BTAs, carpets, LTAs, seabaes.

 

[Eversurf]

Are Clam that sensitive to salinity. I have two of them somewhere in my tank. My shrimp and Brittle Stars seems to be ok and I even have a few plants or coral growing now.

Any Idea what could have cause the dead of my Turbo Snails?

 

[SkiFletch]

Fancy Tridacnid clams are sensitive, most others are not. Turbo snails usually die due to lack of food, predation by crabs, or heat

 

[Eversurf]

It was probably a lack of food. What do they eat if there are not enough algea in the Tank? When you say crabs could it be hermit crabs or just plain crabs

 

[Mr.September15]

It was probably a lack of food. What do they eat if there are not enough algea in the Tank? When you say crabs could it be hermit crabs or just plain crabs

I usually drop a few small pellets of algae wafers in there but the hermits and the cleaner shrimp usually get to them first before the snails