Josh Blaylock's 125 gallon stream tank. Build and updates.

I read your thread from the beginning. Did you figure out what was going on?

I get nervous every time I see a new post on this thread, and you are the most recent poster, Josh....

I get nervous every time I see a new post on this thread, and you are the most recent poster, Josh....

 Yeah. Waiting for the 125 to just turn into a black hole and start sucking the contents of the house into an alternate dimension, or something slightly less disastrous.

I get nervous every time I see a new post on this thread, and you are the most recent poster, Josh....

As time moves on with this tank, I really feel like the 3D Background is causing some type of issue.  I've had other tanks that run fine with little issues, but this one seems to always have something weird going on, fish kills, low DO, etc...  It doesn't make sense, I have enough filtration for 300gallon, but yet my fish do not seem to thrive in that tank.

I have my doubts about commercial 3D backgrounds being a problem, but I guess it's possible.  

After re-reading the posts since you started having a problem, I still think it's a biological filtration issue, ammonia, nitrites, etc.  I think Nick's post makes sense to me.  Every time I've ever had problems with my fish dying like that, it was because I did something to upset that balance (washed all the gravel at the same time, changed all the filters, trying to keep my tank pristine, not realizing that I was actually upsetting my mini ecosystem).  Then, my LFS guy suggested that it might be a biological filtration issue, problems with ammonia and nitrite.  After that, I only siphoned off excess food and washed smaller portions of gravel, also fed them less.  It helped, but my system became much more stable when I added a sump and kept plants in it.  The tank lasted several years until I had to move.  After that, I went to saltwater only.

Have you tested for that ammonia and nitrites regularly?  Maybe adding a sump for more biological filtration, or growing plants or algae (perhaps add a scrubber)...???  No matter what, I wish the best for your tank to get it to where it's fun again for you.

I found this on DF&S that seems to back up what my LFS guy told me years ago:

• Balance the bacteria - Medications and clogged filters can lower the number of beneficial bacteria needed to keep your aquarium healthy. Both ammonia and nitrites prevent fish from drawing oxygen from water. Ammonia burns fish gills and makes them ineffective, and nitrite makes it hard for blood to circulate oxygen. If a test kit indicates the presence of either in any amount, the bacteria level in your aquarium needs to be increased. Clean filters maximize the effectiveness of bacterial additives.

   

Josh you and Chasmodes are truely inspirations. I hope you got this figured out and have that beautiful tank running again.

Wow, thank you for the compliment!  Josh's tanks are an inspiration to me as well.