[Twan013]

hey guys, lots of problems for me... i broke my foot the other day, so i've been stuck at my bro's house (he's got all the good stuff, high-speed internet, and a ton of cable channels)... the doctors told me i have 6 to 8 weeks before things can go back to normal... the reason i'm sharing this with you guys is because i have just recently finihsed my 55 gallon aquarium (had just bought the skimmer, and all i need now is some good lights)... everything was cycled, and everything else... my question is how long will everything last without me being there to turn the light on and off, and feeding the fish? i've got 7 mollies... i'm not really worried about the fish, is what i'm worried about is if they do start dying, what will it do to the rest of the aquarium? i got the mollies just because i needed some motion in my aquarium while i was setting everything up... but now that i have almost everything, i'm considering returning them to the LFS or getting rid of them... i'm thinking my liverock will be fine for the most part, and if it does make it through fine, then when i am able to go back home, i'll just replace all of the water and start over...

[glampka]

Sorry to hear about the broken foot! Get yourself a timer for the lights & an automatic feeder for the fish. You're also going to have a problem with replacing evaporated water. As with most breaks you'll probably be down for a few days where you can't do much of anything & then you should be hobble to start hobbling around which should allow you to handle the easy maintenance. Hope you have a speedy recovery.

[ACE]

((get Well Soon)) ((get Well Soon)) ((get Well Soon)) ((get Well Soon)) ((get Well Soon))

I wish you the best of luck of luck (((GET WELL SOON)))

[crazygator]

hey maybe if you teach your bro to help he'll get hooked and the reefer community will have snagged another one. anyway good luck and get well soon.

[Reef-Daddy]

WOW, hope you have a speedy recovery!

I would take the fish back to the lfs and if the light you have is the standard issue (non-reef support), you could just leave it on for the live rock.

[Twan013]

well folks, (hopefully) tomorrow will be the big day! maybe i get to go back home... first of all, an update on myself... my foot's doing OK, still broken, but i can move around a little better on the crutches... the dr said i've got 3 more weeks before i can start walking on it... ok, on to my tank

hopefully, most of its still salvagable... last time i was at the house, all i had running was my heater and a powerhead.. since my skimmer was unplugged (i had just bought it and was having problems with it filling the cup WAY too quick) the worst i'm expecting is the heater to be burnt out (if the water evaporated, leaving the heater above the waterline), my powerhead burnt (running out of water), and my fish dead (as i said, all i have/had are mollies, so that's not a BIG loss)... as long as my liverock is still fine (or even if there is SOME life still on it), then i'll be satisfied... gives me a reason not to give up on the whole thing and buy a petrock to take care of.... if everything is wasted though, i'm giving it ONE MORE CHANCE... but im going back to freshwater, getting one heck of a wet-dry filter, and buying a single oscar... if there is hope for the saltwater though, then i'm gonna stick with it... but we won't know until i get back home... so wish me luck, pray for me!

[Ernie]

Man, if your tank didn't suffer a major meltdown over that time frame, congratulations. It's a miracle.

[ACE]

I hope things will turn out wright.

[Twan013]

ernie, i guess i'm just optimistic because when i had my first freshwater setup, i had unplugged everything and left it be for a good long while (a few months)... and in that timeframe, i only had one fish loss, if even that, i don't exactly remember... and this was without filtration, food, lights, OR heat.... all that i had in there was water, gravel, and fish... but, i realize that that was fresh, and this is salt... i just don't know what to expext... i figure as far as food goes, the fish will pick some off of the liverock, and since everything was cycled, the liverock would act as its own filtration... i mean, its not like 7 molllies willl make such a big amount of waste as to overload the bioload...right?? but, does liverock need light to stay "live"?? if so, then yeah, i'm screwed... even if that did happen, i could just replace some of the rock with more store bought, and it would repopulate, right? that would give me a chance to rearrange the rock... i think i have too much as it is... i was told approximately 80 lbs, and that's what i've got.. but the way its in there, it just doesn't seem natural... i see all these pics of 55 gallon tank with 80 lbs of liverock, nice beautiful arches, nice big caves, and still plenty of swimming room... and i don't have ANY of that...basically just a big pile of rock that covers the entire sandbed (almost) and pretty much reaches the top of the aquarium.. i'm thinking about making 2 "bases", one on each side of the aquarium, with a big open space in the middle, maybe using my bigger pieces of rock to make an arch going all the way across... but it being 4ft wide, i may have to put something in the middle, but kind of make it going toward the back... ugh, this is killing me.. i want a reef/fish aquarium so bad, that its killing me, but this broken foot is just a MAJOR setback... with the money i've invested so far, and the fact that i'll most likely have to replace everything... it just makes me want to cuss!

[Twan013]

HALLELUJAH!!! great news! its not a total loss! a very little die off of the liverock (it all looks the same, a lot of the pretty green and purple is still on there...) the water had evaporated just enough to have a very tiny bit of LR sticking out... and the powerhead had fallen off of the glass, so it fell deeper into the water, and its still running... 2 mollies are still alive, but swimming around like they don't have much more life left in them (fed them a little food, helped a little)... is what surprises me the most, is that i saw a hermit crab still alive (he had even grown a little, i think)... and my coco worm!! it may be just a regular feather duster, but the feather part is pure red, and it has definately grown since i saw it last.. either way, this is a HUGE relief... i haven't checked my parameters yet, but either way, i know i'm still going to drain it and put in fresh water... not fresh, but new... i'm thinking distilled water, or something that the LFS calls "jug water"... basically, it comes in about 2.5 gallon jugs, and its premade saltwater... this will give me a chance to aquascape the liverock, and possibly put in more sand, to have a thicker bed (currently, i have 40 lbs worth, and its pretty thinned out... i think one more 20 lb bag would be enough...