Hypo'ed display tank. Did I mess up?

[Freed]

Don't add directly to hypo. You need to acclimate them over a day or two to the lowered salinity. I believe that longer periods of hypo can supposedly damage some fishs kidneys but that will have to be answered by someone else. I have never heard of cycling a tank while it is being hypo'd so hopefully someone else can answer that for you.

 

[rrrrob]

a good trick for introducing new fish while avoiding aggression if your setup will allow: every time you introduce a new fish/fishes, rearrange the tank so that everyone is disoriented. Of course, not every tank can handle that--depends on what your set-up is like.

Good luck!

P.S.: what test kit were you using in the first place that gave you the false readings?

 

[kevin2000]

My 02

Your siggested method of fully stocking your new tank with fish using hypo will likely end in disaster. Remember that a new tank has no ability to convert toxic ammonia ... thats one of the reasons that "SLOW" is the operative word in SW tanks. People add one or two fish and then wait weeks for the tank to adjust before adding another fish. Same prinicple applies here.

Your best bet is to start off your tank with normal SG and slowly add fish that have been QT'd in hypo ... will take along time to fully stock your tank but it will be a healthy mature tank.

Hope this helps.

 

[prostaff]

Thats what I meant by CYCLING the tank first. I was going to put in some liverock from my 3 yr old tanks that has some nuisance algae on it anyway into the main display. Then bring that down to 14ppt which will kill algae and worms and produce ammonia. I will let that cycle the main display before SLOWLY adding the fish in.
I am just not sure how long I can keep the fish in hypo without causing damage. I have about 12 fish that have been in hypo in a 180gal fowlr display tank for about 6 weeks now with no ill effects so far. How much longer can they stay there?

 

[rrrrob]

can you tell us what test kit(s) you were using that gave the false readings? I would like to avoid...Thanks!

 

[luke33]

I'll add my .02 as well. If you removed your inverts and all you have is fowlr, no corals. Here's what'll happen. Your going to have some die off on your LR and your hitchhikers will die off......most of them, some may live, and reproduce if your lucky. Your LR will recover just fine but it may take a few months, the bacteria will still be there but you may have a spike in Ammonia and nitrites, as well as trates. This will be from the die off, but all in all, you'll be ok and ick free in the end. Its definately not recommended to do but it'll work.

 

[prostaff]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10034739#post10034739 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rrrrob
can you tell us what test kit(s) you were using that gave the false readings? I would like to avoid...Thanks!

Sorry rrrrob. I was so ****ed that I threw it out immediately and now I am not so sure which one it was. I have so many test kits down there. I usually use Salifert but I did not have ammonia available since I obviously have not needed to test for that in a long long time

 

[prostaff]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10034825#post10034825 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luke33
I'll add my .02 as well. If you removed your inverts and all you have is fowlr, no corals. Here's what'll happen. Your going to have some die off on your LR and your hitchhikers will die off......most of them, some may live, and reproduce if your lucky. Your LR will recover just fine but it may take a few months, the bacteria will still be there but you may have a spike in Ammonia and nitrites, as well as trates. This will be from the die off, but all in all, you'll be ok and ick free in the end. Its definately not recommended to do but it'll work.

So most people hypo in a seperate tank. How do you prevent ammonia build up? just with frequent water changes? I was hoping to be able to accomplish the same thing on a larger scale to prevent stressing the fish with the extra moves. If I could get them all in the final resting place without allowing for parasites due to hypo conditions and then slowly bring the whole system to regular SG with everyone in place before adding corals. This would also allow the rest of the liverock/corals which would have been fish free for 8 weeks to be parasite free???

 

[luke33]

If you hypo your fish in a qt thats been set up and is established, you don't have to worry about Ammonia, its cycled and the hypo conditions won't hurt the good bacteria. No if you use copper, thats different, or any other medication. That'll destroy the good bacteria and here comes the ammonia and trites.

 

[prostaff]

So how do you keep thr hypo tank always ready? do you just feed it food or keep a damsel in there constantly or do you have to plan 2 months ahead for fish all the time?

 

[luke33]

I personally keep some jumk fish in there, a couple columbia sharks, and a giant hermit crab. When and if i need a hospital tank i put the hermit in my sump and hypo the tank, then after 4-6weeks i throw tith new fish into the display tank. And throw the evil hermit back into it. lol Fish poker!

 

[prostaff]

A few questions
1) are you not afraid that the hermit will carry something into your sump
2) What do you have running the qt tank
3) do you go thru a cycle when you hypo the QT tank

 

[luke33]

Answers

Answers

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10054719#post10054719 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by prostaff
A few questions
1) are you not afraid that the hermit will carry something into your sump
No, never worry about that, he can't be a host and the tank is fallow for 6 weeks with him anyhow.
2) What do you have running the qt tank
MJ1200 and two emperer 400 filters
3) do you go thru a cycle when you hypo the QT tank
after your first set up cycle, you won't go through anymore. When you hypo the tank the beneficial bacteria are fine so no cycle.