What are your "favorite" blunders - Page 2

LB · #26 09/03/2007, 07:40 PM

Trust me I have about a hundred stories of how ins companies have screwed me !! Just happened to get lucky once.Kind of like buying lottery tickets every day for a year and then winning 20$

cybrsufr · #27 09/03/2007, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Neptune777
I had a good one just last night...........3 snails made their way into the overflow drain and caused a blockage......I had a nice wet living room floor this AM when I was trying to get to work

Must be the week for snails. I had that happen just this morning. My 75 FOWLR tank is just outside my bedroom door and at 6:00 am this morning I could hear the MAG3 rattling. Got up and looked at the sump and it was almost dry in the pump side, so I added top off (still half asleep) and about half way through the top off water started flowing over the side of the tank. I was think what the heck, still low in sump but overflowing tank. Jumped up to check the drain and one of my huge turbos was sucking in the return. Though about having escargot for breakfast

Talk about stupidity

, I now know to check the drain first

WreckDiver
aka: CyBrSuFr

Neptune777 · #28 09/05/2007, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cybrsufr
Must be the week for snails. I had that happen just this morning. My 75 FOWLR tank is just outside my bedroom door and at 6:00 am this morning I could hear the MAG3 rattling. Got up and looked at the sump and it was almost dry in the pump side, so I added top off (still half asleep) and about half way through the top off water started flowing over the side of the tank. I was think what the heck, still low in sump but overflowing tank. Jumped up to check the drain and one of my huge turbos was sucking in the return. Though about having escargot for breakfast Talk about stupidity , I now know to check the drain first

WreckDiver
aka: CyBrSuFr

Ahhh snails........Love 'em and hate 'em at the same time.

jdieck · #29 09/05/2007, 07:34 AM

1. To go with the group. Allowing a snail get into the drain pipe of my frag tank flooding part of my basement.

2. Buying a second bluespotted jawfish after the first one jumped trough the eggcrate cover holes thinking that acrylic cover will hold him back. the second went also carpet surfing after jumping through the hole in the cover used for the powerhead cables.

3. The biggest of them all..... trying to test if a large derassa clam was alive and reacting well by touching the mantle with my index finger. Trapped for two minutes, cuts to the bone that took over a month to heal. Very painful.

cybrsufr · #30 09/05/2007, 08:59 AM

Holy cow, I never knew clams were that strong. I guess I will never touch mine unless it is on the sides

New to the whole clam thing and glad I saw this warning.

WreckDiver
aka: CyBrSuFr

Neptune777 · #31 09/05/2007, 09:07 AM

Imagine getting your arm stuck in a Giant clam while diving.....I bet people have had some serious and potentially lethal encounters with them.......Look out for the KILLER CLAMS!!!!

jdiek: That must have been pretty painful..... Imagine going to the hospital emergency room with a clam locked on your finger

jdieck · #32 09/05/2007, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Neptune777
Imagine getting your arm stuck in a Giant clam while diving.....I bet people have had some serious and potentially lethal encounters with them.......Look out for the KILLER CLAMS!!!!

jdiek: That must have been pretty painful..... Imagine going to the hospital emergency room with a clam locked on your finger

When it closed on my finger I really broke a yell, my wife came running down stairs all alarmed and when she saw me on top of the ladder, arm in the tank down to my armpit and my finger trapped in there she just could not contain the laugh. I wanted to kill her. I had to stay very still for about two long and painful minutes while the cleaners were all over the bleeding.

prop-frags · #33 09/28/2007, 11:45 AM

Wow, Jose that is one helluva story.
I was just paging back through some older threads here and saw your post. I have a derasa that is starting to get rather large, so I will definitely remember to keep fingers clear!!

jdieck · #34 09/28/2007, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by prop-frags
Wow, Jose that is one helluva story.
I was just paging back through some older threads here and saw your post. I have a derasa that is starting to get rather large, so I will definitely remember to keep fingers clear!!

Please insure you do. This clam is so large now I think it might well weight about 1o to 15 pounds last time I tried to move it.

Charlie Davidson · #35 09/28/2007, 03:28 PM

Buying $100 worth of pepperment shrimp.. Finding out my Wrasse "Really" likes them

Favorite equipment..? Wet Vac

(Don't go there Mike)

cmoresps · #36 09/28/2007, 09:30 PM

Getting in a bunch of maximas, only then to find out my gorgeous "reef safe wrasse" was a lunar wrasse, 6 clams later

aqua11878 · #37 09/30/2007, 06:19 PM

i would have to say spilling my whole collection cup of thick nasty skim nog back into my sump............yea that was the worst

SaltyClone · #38 10/03/2007, 10:57 AM

When I had a 10gal nano going, I would let my son feed the fish. Most of the time we used a cup of water from the tank to thaw out the shrimp.

Well, he thought since his cup resembled the feeding cup, he would feed the fish with his milk.

Nothing like coming home to a milky tank. Suprisingly, everything made it out alive.

Peter RC · #39 10/07/2007, 04:37 PM

I appreciate this thread. I am new to the hobby and haven't yet had an experience on par with any of the above. I just started a 50 gal FOWLR and will add some coral shortly. I am trying to decide if I need a quarantine tank or not - sounds like a good idea. I have a 15 gallon high that it free, but I don't know if that is large enough for a QT. Any thoughts?

J. Montgomery · #40 10/07/2007, 05:23 PM

Yeah, 15 gallon is enough for a QT tank. Do you plan on using it for fish QT, or corals?

Peter RC · #41 10/07/2007, 07:17 PM

I think I'll use it for coral QT and keep some fish and live rock in it.

cybrsufr · #42 10/07/2007, 07:39 PM

If you are going to use it for a true QT tank (Highly recommended), then you will not want to keep anything in it. Keep it bare bottom, no live rock at all, and don't be tempted to use it as another fish tank. Keep it broke down until you need it. Get a sponge filter and run it in your sump of your display tank so that you have a biological filter ready when you need to run the QT tank. Then when you get new fish or corals you can just siphon 15 gallons of water from your main tank (do a water change) and use that water in the QT. For fish you will want to keep them in the QT for a minimum of 4 weeks before adding them to the display tank. This will allow them time to develop any illnesses or diseases and for you to treat them effectively. For corals I think 2 weeks is good for QT unless they have a problem (like red bugs, or monti nudis). If you put a substrate or live rock in the QT then you cannot effectively treat any diseases or illnesses. This is because if you use the safest method for fish which is Hyposalinity, it will kill any beneficial organisms growing on the live rock. and if you use any chemical treatments like Copper, then it will render the rock useless FOREVER, and make the treatment ineffective as the calcium in the rock will absorb the copper making less available for the treatment of the fish, and when finished the rock will leech copper back into the water, which will KILL any corals or invertebrates in the tank with it. It is just a good practice to keep the QT bare bottom and do not use it for anything else except QT.

WreckDiver
aka: CyBrSuFr

Neptune777 · #43 10/08/2007, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cybrsufr
If you are going to use it for a true QT tank (Highly recommended), then you will not want to keep anything in it. Keep it bare bottom, no live rock at all, and don't be tempted to use it as another fish tank. Keep it broke down until you need it. Get a sponge filter and run it in your sump of your display tank so that you have a biological filter ready when you need to run the QT tank. Then when you get new fish or corals you can just siphon 15 gallons of water from your main tank (do a water change) and use that water in the QT. For fish you will want to keep them in the QT for a minimum of 4 weeks before adding them to the display tank. This will allow them time to develop any illnesses or diseases and for you to treat them effectively. For corals I think 2 weeks is good for QT unless they have a problem (like red bugs, or monti nudis). If you put a substrate or live rock in the QT then you cannot effectively treat any diseases or illnesses. This is because if you use the safest method for fish which is Hyposalinity, it will kill any beneficial organisms growing on the live rock. and if you use any chemical treatments like Copper, then it will render the rock useless FOREVER, and make the treatment ineffective as the calcium in the rock will absorb the copper making less available for the treatment of the fish, and when finished the rock will leech copper back into the water, which will KILL any corals or invertebrates in the tank with it. It is just a good practice to keep the QT bare bottom and do not use it for anything else except QT.

WreckDiver
aka: CyBrSuFr

This is really good advice.......don't be tempted to skip a QT (you WILL pay for it later). The hardest part of the QT is maintaining good water parameters. This is why I prefer to always have one running so that it achieves stability ....which will be less stressful on new fish. Also, instead of sand and live rocks you can put sections of PVC pipe in there for shelter ...which will also reduce stress on the fish. The PVC can be removed and sterilized easily as needed.

I prefer to use a larger tank for QT because it is more stable.....Walmart sells 10, 29, and 55gal kits that come with just about everything needed for a good QT (Tank, lights, heater, filter etc.)....and they are pretty cheap (the 55gal is the one I use and it cost around $125 for the whole thing).

Hopeful Reefer · #44 10/08/2007, 10:06 AM

What about putting something like a 175MH over a small tank and using it also as a frag grow out tank?

cybrsufr · #45 10/08/2007, 11:37 AM

That sounds like a great plan but you have to think about what you are going to do the frags when you have something sick to QT and have to medicate and so forth. Using a QT for anything other than a QT will not be beneficial to you. In this scenario, you would have to find immediate homes (give to friends, put in display, setup another tank, etc) for the frags, then re-establish the tank for the QT, then possibly medicate. and most importantly, while you are trying to figure out what to do with the frags in your QT tank, you have a fish or coral suffering from an illness or disease. Best not to do it IMHO.

WreckDiver
aka: CyBrSuFr

Hopeful Reefer · #46 10/08/2007, 12:07 PM

10g with a 96w PC Quad light, heater and a powerhead or two should be sufficient then...with some PVC joints and such for hiding places...can always fill the QT with water from the main display during a water change so the water would have some bacteria from the water column...

Peter RC · #47 10/08/2007, 01:15 PM

I was a little reluctant to ask the question on the QT tank for fear that I might be thread-jacking... but your responses have all been very helpful.

It doesn't seem very appealing to have an empty tank in my cramped living quarters. I just have to manage to always have something in QT, and break down the QT and let it air-out before QTing the next coral or fish.

I would say that a 24 is about as large as I can go. Maybe I'll get an aquapod for QT.

I'm hoping that following these rules for QTing fish and corals will limit suffering due to excessive stupidity on my part.

Thanks all. I had heard of a quarantine tank but didn't have an idea as to how to use one.

cybrsufr · #48 10/08/2007, 02:44 PM

They are essential, take it from experience. When I first started I read and knew how important they were but ignored the entire process. This went well for the first 3-4 months, then got a batch of clownfish that developed an infection that killed them within 24 hours. I thought Ok, so they died now I will be OK, then my tang started getting a slime over its face and started thing oh crap, it must of been velvet and now the rest are going to die too. I literally spent over 7 hours, tearing down the entire reef to catch all of the fish and put them into a QT. At that point I realized my mistakes and have tried real hard to not duplicate them again. There are certain fish that do not do well with QT and those you may have to take a chance with, such as Leopard Wrasse's, Regal Angels, mandarin fish etc. these fish are notoriously difficult to get eating and the best thing if you get a healthy looking one is to get them into a reef environment ASAP, but you are taking the better of two risks (guaranteed dead fish from starvation or a calculated chance of getting a infection of some sort in your display). Since these fish are best left to people who have had their tanks up for a while, the risk is something we all think about before buying a species like that. QT is a must if you don't want the hassle of trying to catch fish out of your display, and believe me tangs and blennies are not the same as guppy's and mollies

. These saltwater fish are much better adapted at avoiding getting caught. I could not believe how difficult it was to remove just 6-7 fish from a reef tank.

WreckDiver
aka: CyBrSuFr

surfnvb7 · #49 10/08/2007, 04:39 PM

having 2 seperate QT tanks is the most ideal situation if you have the room and can afford it.....one for fish only and one for corals.

the tank for fish only treatment doesn't even need a light really, but don't put corals or any real live rock in it b/c once you treat it with medication, everything in the tank will be tainted with copper which will kill any corals.

i'm extremely savvy when picking out corals/fish, so i'm not too concerned about some of the major problems (i.e. AEFW, monti nudi's etc.) b/c if i see any sign at all of a problem, i wont get it.

red bugs on the other hand, are sooooooo common now (ahem, they are in EVERY LFS in richmond area...

). and they are relatively easy to treat for, so if i got a frag with red bugs on it, i'd just toss it in my frag tank system that way everything gets treated at once. and theres no real downside in treating a frag tank w/ healthy corals using interceptor. i just dont want to be treating my main tank all the time b/c it will kill off all the crabs/pods/shrimp.

gnrlee · #50 10/08/2007, 08:53 PM

First off, always mark your containers! I was doing a water change many years ago, and I replaced my water with fresh top off water. Dropped my salinity by 4 points. That sucked.