A cautionary tale (Observancy is your friend)

Myrphie · #1 04/02/2007, 02:04 PM

For the last few weeks I've been helping a client battle the nitrates in their tank. Unfortunately, they hadn't been too concerned with water changes or testing parameters before I showed up. Anyway, their bta and zoos were looking rather stressed and I'd been plugging away with water changes and advising them to reduce feeding since they'd pretty much just been dumping in flake food prior to hiring me.

Despite the water changes and the lowering of the nitrates, none of the inverts seemed any happier. The fish looked great and they've been a breeze to keep content. I was at my wit's end when I was cleaning out one of the clutter in the area of the stand where the return pump was hidden. This is an in-wall setup at a business and they have a bad habit of using all the available space for equipment storage. Turns out about a month ago their return pump failed and they had one of the employees replace it without telling me. The new pump was a bit bigger and the old fittings didn't line up so they used what they had on hand. One of those being a copper coupling to attach the pump to the union.

I was close to pulling my hair out trying to solve the problem in the tank. I'd been absolutely convinced it was a nitrate issue so I didn't bother looking for another solution. The offending copper piece has been removed and massive water changes and fresh carbon will follow. Fortunately the coupling was outside of the sump and only a small portion of it actually was exposed to the water, so I feel good about the tank's chances of recovery.

I just wanted to post this to remind everyone that sometimes the answer is right in front of us, if we just take the time to look.

goldmaniac · #2 04/02/2007, 02:13 PM

so the cause of the problem was ignorance outside of the tank!

Myrphie · #3 04/02/2007, 10:05 PM

Basically. An employee with no knowledge of marine aquaria was tasked with replumbing a tank and made an critical error.

DarthBaiter · #4 04/02/2007, 10:14 PM

Bet he told the boss "I know plumbing..."...
Hope you caught it in time.

Myrphie · #5 04/02/2007, 10:22 PM

I guess only time will tell. The fitting was replaced today and I changed out as much water as I could. I'm going to go back on Friday with fresh carbon and more saltwater.

eskymick · #6 04/02/2007, 11:03 PM

A Polyfilter might be in order, as well.

Myrphie · #7 04/03/2007, 12:21 AM

That's a good point. I will pop one in as well.