kindasleepy Posted February 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 Apparently the bulbs were replaced in january, they are Hagen marine glo bulbs. My plan of action as soon as they let me start getting my hands dirty is to do a 10-20% water change asap, then atleast a few days later change the filter media, then keep doing water changes every week until I get those nitrates down. I don't have access to RO water so it's tap water. Currently they have no chemicals or anything so my list of stuff included Seachem Prime, new food including frozen food, filter media, new airstones etc. I'm not sure what salt they have been using, I'm told it's from Aquarium Illusions. I dont mind doing all the work with the tank, what's frustrating is the fact that I have to make proposals, and now an exact timeline before I'm allowed to do anything. I've done three water tests in the past few weeks and those nitrites keep climbing. Hopefully they'll let me at it soon. I meet with one of the people tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted February 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 And to answer you MMAX, they don't know a thing about keeping fish PERIOD. Never mind saltwater. I had to explain why we have to dechlorinate water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitaminz Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 And to answer you MMAX, they don't know a thing about keeping fish PERIOD. Never mind saltwater. I had to explain why we have to dechlorinate water. dechlorinate water...really??? bahahahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted February 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 I work at petsmart in the specialty (fish/reptile/bird/small and fuzzy) and explain to people every single day why they need a water conditioner. I just didn't expect it from people with this apparently long standing salt water tank. I have no idea how those fish are still alive. I keep getting a lot of bureaucracy too which was a bit unexpected. The concept to me is really simple, "you give me money, I fix up your tank and maintain it. For free! Just fund the stuff to fix it!" Easy right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisher Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 You're doing a good job playing the cards you've been dealt Michelle. I hear that rum, tequilla or chocolate helps a bleeding tongue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted February 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hey! I had something magical happen today! There was a dirty bucket full of not so live rock in it left next to "my" tank. Apparently a student tore down their tank and donated it. It's all dried up and nasty so it's in my bathtub soaking. I've just been using my building's scalding hot water on it. Anything else I should disinfect that stuff with? I'm worried about introducing some bad microbes or parasites. To my logic, and I may really be out to lunch here, but if I had a salt water tank at home, I'd never tear it down totally and give up my live rock. Unless they screwed up and killed everything, I'm thinking. Watch on kijiji there might be a new tank up for sale from a frustrated student. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitaminz Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Using fresh water on the live rock, should kill everything marine in the rock, Just to make sure, I would dry it out for about a week. Then you can put it back in the tank, or sump. Most tank tear downs are because people just don't have the time it takes to maintain a tank, happens all the time. But good score on the live rock! Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMAX Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 You should do what's known as "cooking" your rock. Get a rubbermaid tub, add salt water, a heater and powerheads. Do regular water changes and test regularly. It will eventually cycle and you can re-seed it with a few pieces of cured live rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted February 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Thanks guys. Time be damned, if I had a salt tank at home I wouldn't tear that down ever! I'm considering turning my 10 gal into a salt maybe in the summer. Depends if I can find a better lighting set up for that tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitaminz Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Thanks guys. Time be damned, if I had a salt tank at home I wouldn't tear that down ever! I'm considering turning my 10 gal into a salt maybe in the summer. Depends if I can find a better lighting set up for that tank. Maybe able to help you out there....I have a 2 bulb T5HO fixture from Aquagiant that is currently on my daughters 10g fresh water tank....if you wanted to tradies...that would work out well. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted February 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 I'll let you know, don't wait on me however. I've got my hands full with all this other crap for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted February 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) Well I've got some bad and good news all rolled into one. It's not my f*cking problem anymore. Here's the low down, when I saw this tank I found out who owned it and sent them an email. They were super stoked to have help, but they needed a proposal from me. No biggie, I drew up a proposal of what I wanted to do. Then, they (now there's also a department head, and two other people who work in the area involved somehow) wanted a list of what was needed and prices. No biggie since I work for PetSmart so I got all that stuff together, and visited a few local saltwater shops to get prices for base and/or live rock. Submitted that. Then one of these people (who is one of those people that has a fresh water tank and thus they know EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERY FISH EVER) wanted a calendar of how things would work. I scoffed but she said it didn't have to be super detailed. So I drew up a calendar that was pretty much "Day 1- 10% water change Days 2-5 algae scrubbing and water testing. Day 8- filter maintenance Days 9-15- algae scrubbing, water testing, Day 16- 10% water change " etc. I even explained to her that you can't schedule this because the water quality is so bad that anything could happen once I start changing things. I tried to explain why I can't tell her exactly when the tank will be stable. So anyway, I send off the calendar thing 9 days ago. Then never heard a peep. So I sent a "nudge" email today and was told that the calendar was not specific enough and that she would need to know when exactly everything would be happening. My response was polite but blunt and I tried again to explain why I can't tell her what she wants to know. (Bio expert my *ss). Then I get a response back that I had never provided a game plan, which supplies to buy blah blah blah. As we kept emailing back and forth it was getting b*tchier but I was remaining professional. I then said in an email that if all of this bureaucratic nonsense was all because I had stepped on somebody's toes, that perhaps it was not in my best interest to stay involved. Then I got a response that was a form letter meaning GTFO. With a ps- we want our live rock back. So I told them that they should have told me straight off that they didn't want me around. I also suggested that they donate the fish to someone else and tear the tank down because keeping fish in that situation is tantamount to animal abuse. So yeah. That's the story. I'm going to give the live rock back even though it's sooooo not cured. So they'll dump it in and send the already horrifying nitrates through the ceiling and everything will die. Good times. If I was a fish I think I'd be pretty pissed off that red tape killed me. Edited February 23, 2012 by kindasleepy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandopsis Posted February 22, 2012 Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 Thats horrible. You should have told them a month and it would be stable. Then torn the tank down and started over properly. You did your best and i'm sure i'm not the only one who is proud of your efforts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted February 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 The thing that sucks is I got emotionally invested (which is just me, I do that over lots of stuff). I've put so much thought in to this tank, and the countless hours doing full chemistry set tests on it to track changes. That bothers me a bit but I sat on my half hour break at work tonight just vibrating because I'm so freaking ANGRY about this. It was so simple and they convoluted it into this big mess of idiocy. To me it was "Hand me supplies and a bit of time and I will hand you a kick @$$ low maintenance aquarium that a bio department at a SCHOOL can be proud of." Pretty simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitaminz Posted February 22, 2012 Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 The thing that sucks is I got emotionally invested (which is just me, I do that over lots of stuff). I've put so much thought in to this tank, and the countless hours doing full chemistry set tests on it to track changes. That bothers me a bit but I sat on my half hour break at work tonight just vibrating because I'm so freaking ANGRY about this. It was so simple and they convoluted it into this big mess of idiocy. To me it was "Hand me supplies and a bit of time and I will hand you a kick @$$ low maintenance aquarium that a bio department at a SCHOOL can be proud of." Pretty simple. That really sucks...sorry to hear that. But you have to remember that people will take advantage of any situation or person they can. To be honest, you allowed yourself to get in way to deep with them stringing you along. Are you more mad at yourself or them? Any time that I go into a business to do maintenance on a tank, I simply say this is my fee, my results speak for them selves, else you fire me. Simple as that...then you don't get caught up in all this BS. But because of your good nature, people see that, and will prey on that. Just my 2 cents worth. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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