CarrieMarie2990
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2017
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I made a huge mistake due to mis-reading information on how much of a dosage I should be adding to my tank. I was skeptical about this stuff in the first place and did a boat load of research on it. Never read anything about a possible overdose, only good things. So since my nitrates were high, reading between 20 & 40ppm. I decided to try it. This is where I made my mistake. I mis-read the dosage amount, seeing the number "3" and looking at the cap I filled it to 30ml. My 20 gallon tank should only have had about 2mls added.
My terror happened the next morning, I woke up to see my tank was a complete white cloud. One of my Blue Damisels were already dead. The other was gasping and tweaking for air. My 2 sea urchins, dead. Starfish, dead. And small crabs also dead. I don't think I need to go on about how my corals looked. I was completely mortified. I started googling and that was when I realized I overdosed my tank. Big time. I was even more mortified. I should have known better than to make such a mistake. My usual saltwater store does not open until 4pm, which is where I buy my water from. So I found another store where I immediately went and did a 15-20% water change. I tested my water. Ph 7.8, 0 ammonia, Nitrites between 0.25ppm & 0.50ppm, nitrates 20ppm. Now all I can do at that point is wait. The next day (which is today) I did another 20% water change. I tested the water a few hours later again. Ph stayed the same, but now a huge spike in ammonia nitrites and nitrates, ammonia being between 0.25ppm and 0.50ppm, nitrites 5.0ppm and nitrates at 160pm. The tank is still quite a bit cloudy, my corals have peeked and opened up a bit so I'm hoping they can still be saved. I'm not sure how often I should be doing a water change on the tank in the first place. The overdose cause an extensive bacteria bloom, which pretty much sucked all the o2 out of the tank, thus why my livestock died. So I'm not exactly sure, is this tank going to have to cycle all over again? With my coral in it? Should I leave it or keep changing the water daily to lower my levels? Anyone with any knowledge or ideas please let me know what you think I should do!!! Please & thank you !!
*photo is my tank healthy, before my mass crisis *
My terror happened the next morning, I woke up to see my tank was a complete white cloud. One of my Blue Damisels were already dead. The other was gasping and tweaking for air. My 2 sea urchins, dead. Starfish, dead. And small crabs also dead. I don't think I need to go on about how my corals looked. I was completely mortified. I started googling and that was when I realized I overdosed my tank. Big time. I was even more mortified. I should have known better than to make such a mistake. My usual saltwater store does not open until 4pm, which is where I buy my water from. So I found another store where I immediately went and did a 15-20% water change. I tested my water. Ph 7.8, 0 ammonia, Nitrites between 0.25ppm & 0.50ppm, nitrates 20ppm. Now all I can do at that point is wait. The next day (which is today) I did another 20% water change. I tested the water a few hours later again. Ph stayed the same, but now a huge spike in ammonia nitrites and nitrates, ammonia being between 0.25ppm and 0.50ppm, nitrites 5.0ppm and nitrates at 160pm. The tank is still quite a bit cloudy, my corals have peeked and opened up a bit so I'm hoping they can still be saved. I'm not sure how often I should be doing a water change on the tank in the first place. The overdose cause an extensive bacteria bloom, which pretty much sucked all the o2 out of the tank, thus why my livestock died. So I'm not exactly sure, is this tank going to have to cycle all over again? With my coral in it? Should I leave it or keep changing the water daily to lower my levels? Anyone with any knowledge or ideas please let me know what you think I should do!!! Please & thank you !!
*photo is my tank healthy, before my mass crisis *
