ShannyG
10/14/2014, 11:08 AM
Hello all,
I am new to saltwater and have been having excellent luck with a 5 gal pico reef I built for my 4 yr old daughter. That is, until she dumped an entire jar of fish food into it Sunday morning. I quickly filled a bucket with saltwater and transferred everyone (snails, hermit crabs, one little goby, live rock and 3 corals) installed the filters in the bucket and re-established the tank. I lost all my live sand and algae on the glass in the process. I kept the original filter media and just gave it a thorough rinsing as I didn't want to lose that beneficial bacteria.
It seems everyone has survived,, although I am going to lose the bubble coral and maybe a juvenile hermit crab who hasn't been acting 'right' since the incident. Is there anything else I can do? I am overfeeding the tank since there really isn't anything for the reef custodians to eat (I noticed the snails have all come down off the glass and are cruising the new sand and rocks) and doing small water changes several times a day. I am starting to see a slight spike in ammonia/nitrite levels, which has further doomed my bubble coral.
I should mention I have excellent water; deep well, lots of minerals, no chlorine. It will promote algae growth fairly quickly, but I worry my little pets are going hungry in the meantime.
I am new to saltwater and have been having excellent luck with a 5 gal pico reef I built for my 4 yr old daughter. That is, until she dumped an entire jar of fish food into it Sunday morning. I quickly filled a bucket with saltwater and transferred everyone (snails, hermit crabs, one little goby, live rock and 3 corals) installed the filters in the bucket and re-established the tank. I lost all my live sand and algae on the glass in the process. I kept the original filter media and just gave it a thorough rinsing as I didn't want to lose that beneficial bacteria.
It seems everyone has survived,, although I am going to lose the bubble coral and maybe a juvenile hermit crab who hasn't been acting 'right' since the incident. Is there anything else I can do? I am overfeeding the tank since there really isn't anything for the reef custodians to eat (I noticed the snails have all come down off the glass and are cruising the new sand and rocks) and doing small water changes several times a day. I am starting to see a slight spike in ammonia/nitrite levels, which has further doomed my bubble coral.
I should mention I have excellent water; deep well, lots of minerals, no chlorine. It will promote algae growth fairly quickly, but I worry my little pets are going hungry in the meantime.