tank sitter wrecked my tank

[emoutz]

went away scuba diving in hawaii and belize for three weeks and the chick in charge of my 90 gallon tank did something horribly wrong. My best guess is that she failed to replace top-off water early in my vacation (causing the water level to drop and my sump to run dry) and overfed (despite the fact that I gave her a feeding schedule and amounts etc). Half my coral died, along with some shrimp, a fish, and my linka starfish. The rest of my coral is looking bad (polyps retracted and/or bleaching) and most of the tank is covered in various kinds of algae. My tank has never looked so ****ty. I'm totally bummed.

Im looking for advice as to what I can do to improve things, if anything. I've already changed 50% of the system water - 30 gallons yesterday immediately when I got home and 30 today. I'm planning to wait until next weekend and then do another 50% water change.

[prplfirefish]

pray

[murfman]

Throw some carbon and skim heavy.

[Madman133]

find a better tank sitter :) good luck...doesnt sound too good. Ask around on here next time you go away...maybe someone would be willing to do it and then you know its done right.

[Sk8r]

Skim very heavy, run lots of carbon. And change parameters slowly: the corals are already stressed...don't go even to correct readings too fast, because their tissues need to adjust. THink of it as acclimation in slow motion.

[emoutz]

yeah no kidding re: the tank sitter. I thought there was really no way she could screw up. Literally her only job was to feed a small cube of mysis once a week and keep the top-off bucket full (requiring about 15 minutes every three days). Everything else is automated.

How does one "skim heavy"? I mean, I've got a euroreef rated for a tank larger than the one I have. Can you adjust the skimmer to pull more out faster?

[Sk8r]

If you adjust it to pull wetter skimmate, as I understand it---which may or may not be accurate: it will certainly let you dump more often; but that euroreef should be up to the job running normally. I'm in the middle of an alk-and-mystery crisis RTN myself, and if it weren't for a potent skimmer I'd be up a creek. Getting the products of decay out via skimming will help a very great deal, and carbon and your water changes will adjust things as rapidly as is safe, imho. My corals are beginning to show signs of recovery [mine wasn't a tanksitter, it was while I was comatose with the flu]--and I'm testing nearly daily until I get things calmed down.

[calvin415]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9283205#post9283205 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by emoutz
Im looking for advice as to what I can do to improve things, if anything.

For starters, shoot the chick in charge of the tank :uzi:

[Thurge]

With your Euroreef you adjust the skimming by adjusting the tube the grey tube the water comes out of. If you push it down you erduce the water level in the skimmer and require the bubbles inside the skimmer to get dirtier before they spill over into the collection cup. And by pulling it up you raise the water level and the skimmer bubbles make it to the skimmer cup easier. So pull it up a couple inches and keep an eye on it. If you pull it too far up you will get practically water into your cup.

[zombiedust]

What I would do after heavy water changes and the heavy skimming is to take the tank sitter and pimp her out until I had enough money for all new stock and then sell her to the Yakuza in Japan............... LOL ! .....Good luck dude I am so hoping things turn out OK for you !

[MrPike]

Is it the tank sitter, or the person who hired "some chick" thats to blame for the tank going south?

[emoutz]

The girl is actually my wife's good friend (which is why I cant pimp her out, despite the fact that it would serve her right), I've known her for well over a year and took her to be responsible enough to refill a bucket every few days and drop a pre-chopped bit of food in the tank once a week (which, really, is all she had to do in order to not screw the system up).

Update on the tank: Nothing more has died. I've added carbon to the tank, changed 50% of the water, and removed any obviously dying organisms and as much algae as I could grab. Skimmer isnt pulling out as much now. Polyps are starting to extend a little more ... I'm going to do some smaller water changes this weekend, change out the carbon, and hope for the best.

[zombiedust]

Got my fingers crossed for you dude !

[emoutz]

Things are looking better. I dont think there will be any more losses due to the tank-sitter's action. Of course, the color of my corals leaves something to be desired at this point (most are anything but bright). Hopefully their colors come back with time.