[Tie]

I just got back from Vacation. We had a house sitter who was supposed to be taking care of things but when she cleaned the skimmer 2 days after we left she never turned the pump back on. To make it worse I'm sure she over fed. 4 weeks later we get back and my trates are 40!!!!!!!!!

Stuff looks HORRID..... Nothing dead, dead yet but I can tell somethings are close. Zoe's and buttons look BAD and brain corrals are even worse. The clams don't look too happy as well.

I did a 50% water change last night (100g system did 50g last night). Trates are now 20. I know I need to get them down to 0 but my question is how fast should I move on this. I was thinking to do another 20g change today and another 20 the next day and so on until the Trates where back down to 0. Is this too fast? Should I do a 20g every other day? Or proceed with the daily plan? Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Tie

[The R/C Man]

Tie,

Wow! Easy on the water changes.... I understand your concern about the nitrates but you do not want to shock your inhabitants any further considering their already stressful condition. I would have done a 10% change every day or every other day to bring them down gradually...... I hope everything goes smoothly. Just take it slow..... Good luck..