Disaster!

[Guest Keyoke]

So I think that's it for the tank, due to a bag of carbon that was soaked in hand-soap, and a panic'd aquarist trying to figure out what to do as the entire tank turned into a foaming mess. My wife thought the carbon bag was something the kids put in the sump, so she took it out and put it in the bathroom sink to dry off, I got home, noticed it was out, put it back and admonished the wife.

 

Little did I know that in the 2 hrs it was out, my daughter was using it as a scrub brush to clean her babies (she's 3)

 

Skimmer foamed over.

Sump/fuge foamed over.

Tank foamed over.

 

I tried to take the cup off of the skimmer, and the darn thing cracked, 1/2 of the lip the collection cup uses to sit into the little groove is busted off.

 

livestock looks ok, but I don't think anything will survive, I've done a 30% water change, but I'm wondering if I should just cut my losses. I was just now floating my 2nd set of fish getting ready to aclimlate 'em (a scooter and a yellow chromis). Guess I'll take 'em back to the LFS. No sense in killin 'em by trying to get them to survive in a tank as comrpomised as this one.

 

anyone have any suggestions? I might be able to bubble-gum & duct-tape the skimmer back into a working order. anyone know what the soap will do to the LR? DSB? zooanthids?

 

-jeff

[marinap]

Ouch! :(

 

I have an empty 20G and lots of pieces of equipment that you are welcome to borrow. I also have about 50G of water ready to go, along with some LR and seeded foam filters. You can take a stab at saving your live stock.

 

 

 

So I think that's it for the tank, due to a bag of carbon that was soaked in hand-soap, and a panic'd aquarist trying to figure out what to do as the entire tank turned into a foaming mess. My wife thought the carbon bag was something the kids put in the sump, so she took it out and put it in the bathroom sink to dry off, I got home, noticed it was out, put it back and admonished the wife.

 

Little did I know that in the 2 hrs it was out, my daughter was using it as a scrub brush to clean her babies (she's 3)

 

Skimmer foamed over.

Sump/fuge foamed over.

Tank foamed over.

 

I tried to take the cup off of the skimmer, and the darn thing cracked, 1/2 of the lip the collection cup uses to sit into the little groove is busted off.

 

livestock looks ok, but I don't think anything will survive, I've done a 30% water change, but I'm wondering if I should just cut my losses. I was just now floating my 2nd set of fish getting ready to aclimlate 'em (a scooter and a yellow chromis). Guess I'll take 'em back to the LFS. No sense in killin 'em by trying to get them to survive in a tank as comrpomised as this one.

 

anyone have any suggestions? I might be able to bubble-gum & duct-tape the skimmer back into a working order. anyone know what the soap will do to the LR? DSB? zooanthids?

 

-jeff

30595[/snapback]

[flowerseller]

Make new, same temp water right from the tap with declor and put some of the rocks from the tank in it. Move all live stock to the new water and empty the main tank and refill with new ro/di saltwater. Dispose of the carbon.

Bring me your skimmer and all the pieces, I'll repair it, glue it back together for you.

On the way to or from stop and get some **** Boyds chemipure and run it after you refill.

Apoligize to your wife, and hug your kid!

Call now.

Chip

571.220.0776 cell

[Guest clownfish4]

I would follow Chip's instructions and throw some kind of sponge filter or carbon, etc. in the sump.

[xeon]

Well, stuff like this happens... unfortunately. I spent the last two hours doing a water change, fragging some RTN'ing corals, cleaning some pumps while I was at it and so on... after discovering my autistic son had thrown some stuff in my refuge.

 

I had a bag of some shells I picked up while diving on a recent trip he had come across. The smell of them resembles the most "uncured" and decaying rock you could ever lay your hand on. Man, what a smell! That will teach me what happens when I just seal them up and put soaking and cleaning them on the back burner. Anyway, the first thing I noted unfortunately was my pink birdsnest RTN'ing. Ouch!

 

Chip has the right idea, it will take a while... and some patience. If I were closer, I'd come over and help.

[Guest Keyoke]

First off, thanks to all for the offers of help. I moved my LR into spare 20G I have, I've only got about 10 lbs. I drained the main tank, and I think the skimmer is going to be OK. Only about 1/2 of the ridge snapped.. I'm missing a peice or two tho. It's a cheap skimmer, one of those SEN/Won Brothers things, but it's worked remarkably well... now I have an excuse for a deltec.

 

I _filled_ a 10G with all the sand, and I'm rinsing the main tank and sump out now. Wife was kind enough to take the skimmer into the tub, and rinse it out. I'll go pickup some Chemipure, that's a good idea and one I wouldn't have thought of on my own. Thankfully, the carbon bag was small.

 

I *think* I might be ok. Usually, if the water parameters go south, the Capenella shrivels up and looks like a uncircumsized, limp ... well, you know. So far, it's looking pretty perky. I wonder.. the carbon bag was only in there for about 20 minutes before I caught it. Maybe, just maybe the slow-flow thru the sump/fuge section of my tank is a blessing in disguise. I was going to work on incresing the flow this weekend, so much for that idea.

 

Thankfully, my losses won't be massive from a monentary standpoint. I have no fish except for the two that I just purchased, and those were cheapies since my last batch keeled over. Aside from the green/orange centered Zoas, a handfull of purple polyps some narssis, hermits, and a conch, that's about it. everything is looking pretty good though.. I'm not sure what's more sensitive, the bits of Acro on the LR, snails or hermits, or the 'pods. Everything is just moving around swimmingly though, acro peices still have polyp extension...

 

I'm about to refill the tank. I'll fill everyone in later.

 

Again I appreciate _all_ the offers of help.

-jeff

[Guest Keyoke]

First off, thanks to all for the offers of help. I moved my LR into spare 20G I have, I've only got about 10 lbs. I drained the main tank, and I think the skimmer is going to be OK. Only about 1/2 of the ridge snapped.. I'm missing a peice or two tho. It's a cheap skimmer, one of those SEN/Won Brothers things, but it's worked remarkably well... now I have an excuse for a deltec.

10 lbs.. more like 40lbs. fatfingers of mine.

[ErikS]

A bit late to the party....but....I have complete 38g setup laying fallow so if you need a place to store anything give me a shout. Also I have some weldon (#4 & #16) somewhere sound here, I imagine we could fix the skimmer.

[Guest Keyoke]

Ah, I think things are going to be OK. I've gotten everything back into the tank late last night, and nothing seemed to be the worse for wear.. The little bits of acro I had are dead for the most part though, they're already picking up algae. I do still have a few small spots of living tissue. I'm actually surprised they managed to live at all when I first put the LR into the tank, with nothing but 4 96W PC (2x 10k, 2x Actinic).

 

I was actually comfortable enough to toss the damsel (I asked for a black & yellow chromis, and I get a yellow/blue-finned damsel from petco.. yeah I know I should have dbl checked the fish in the bad, and yeah I know I shouldn't go to petco to begin with, but I had a gift certificate.) into the tank to see how it'd do. The scooter I bought yesterday is in my 10G QT, with about 1/2" sand substrate so he's got something to eat/dig/play/whatever with. Damsel was doin fine this morning, which is good, kinda, and bad, kinda, because since he's still alive, I'm gonna have to fish it out when I add more fish.

 

Lost some pods. Only reason I know this, is because the darn things used to look like swarms of Gnats, now I only see the occasional one scurrying, and I've seen quite a few transparent pod-bodies floating around in the tank.

 

I got up and checked params. Nitrates and amonia is a little high, but nothing to be alarmed about. I have noticed that the water has clouded significantly, and it's not the "floating sand" kind of cloud. I'd forgotten to trun off my Kalk drip lastnight, so maybe some leftover residue from the soap is causing precip, but only in uber-minute particles that causes the cloudnyness? Probably not. I'll get in and do another 20% water change, just to be safe.

 

I think I'm pretty much outta the woods. I might have overreacted a bit in my first post, but the absolute _last_ thing anyone wants to see is soap suds comming out from the doors of your tank stand where the sump is.. Drain the sump some to try and get it under control, air gets mixed into the return line, creates foam up top.. luckly it was all real big bubbles and not the fine stuff. Skimmer cup overflowed, so I got that nasty skimmate crap back behind my tank on the carpet..

 

Man. I tell you I about crapped myself. All I could do was sit there for about 10 minutes and blink stupidly. I wish I had a picture.

 

Again thanks for the offers of help and suggestions, restores my faith in the kindness of my fellow humans.

 

-Jeff

[ErikS]

Man. I tell you I about crapped myself. All I could do was sit there for about 10 minutes and blink stupidly

 

Seems like a natural reaction to me.

 

Glad to hear it's getting better, must have been just a mild soap or dose. Ah, the joys of parenthood (none of escape the innocent destruction ).

[fishface]

So then what has happened is that you've proven an old saying wrong.

 

You really can give a Fish a Bath?