ctenophore February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 So I think I've managed to accidentally massively overdose my main system with a carbon source. Basically the equivalent of pouring in about a pound of sugar. Needless to say, all my corals are really upset right now. Does anyone else have experience with this? If so, did you do anything to remedy besides water changes? I have about 150 gallons on hand but total volume is about 900. My RO is making water, but it will be 2 days before the saltwater tank is full. Maybe 150 now is better than 600 on Saturday.
AlanM February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 Seems like maybe you oxygenate heavily because the bacteria bloom will remove oxygen and you start changing out water? I know you got a big enough skimmer to take out the bacteria bloom.
www.fishnreef.com February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 Justin, If in dire straits, and if your tap water is not too bad, you may want to consider using a water conditioner (Amquel, etc.) to make enough aerated/aged salt water for tomorrow and do a 40% change. Then you can use RODI over the next few days to dilute the pollution further.
AlanM February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 Kind of sounds like what happened in hawaii when that molasses tanker leaked in the harbor and everything died of suffocation from all the oxygen being used up.
ctenophore February 7, 2014 Author February 7, 2014 Good thinking both of you. I wish I had that continuous tank monitor that supposedly will track dissolved oxygen. I think something could be learned from this (besides don't pour a pound of hydrocarbons in your system). I think my uv is keeping the bacteria in check. Water is a little cloudy but not bad. Skimmer isn't really pulling anything unusual.
TheyCallMeMr.703 February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 (edited) Water changes... fun fun... lol. Best of luck. Edited February 7, 2014 by TheyCallMeMr.703
monkiboy February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 justin, sorry to hear. i got a 300gpd RO if you want to use in tandem i can bring it over. what happened? maybe i can avoid doing the same one day...
sen5241b February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 50% water change immediately Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Origami February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 I don't think there's an easy way, Justin, in your situation. A water change is the best place to start. Maybe drop the temperature in the tank to increase oxygen saturation and slow bacteria growth. This will also slow fish respiration, too, saving oxygen. Add aeration. Turn the light on to increase photosynthesis. If you can test for dissolved oxygen, great. Otherwise, watch the fish closely. If distressed, you can use hydrogen peroxide to boost dissolved oxygen, but dosage is tricky. Steer clear if possible.Sent from my LG-V510 using Tapatalk
sen5241b February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 You might try 2x 50% changes. Most of the beneficial bacteria is in the sand and rock so changing out a total of 75% of the water should not cause any problem BUT ensure salinity and temp match very close with a 50% change out.
ctenophore February 7, 2014 Author February 7, 2014 I changed 200 gallons last night, everything looks a touch better this morning but still not back to normal. All the fish are totally fine, no sign of distress. I even found a pair of blue gudgeons that went over the falls a few days ago and were in the sump. So I'm actually net positive in fish, in a sense. Strangely, the coral that looks the worst are my two little mini colonies of monti setosa, which is otherwise really hardy IMO. A few of the pickier acros (icefire) wouldn't surprise me if they died. But polyps are mostly back out on the rest.
ctenophore February 7, 2014 Author February 7, 2014 Also, the 200 gallons of new water was at 55F, which dropped the system temp to 73 (from 78). This didn't seem to bother anything either.
Sharkey18 February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 I hope everything continues to improve. Keep us posted on how things go. How did that much carbon get into the system in the first place?
ctenophore February 7, 2014 Author February 7, 2014 More interesting observations: - I have some of those blue/grey hairy mushrooms with the lavender colored mouths. They are completely shriveled up, and look the worst of anything except the setosa. But they are not disintegrating. - my silvery giant tree xenia, the kind that grows the very thick main stalk, has turned bleach white in the polyps/arms, but the stalks are still the same dark grey/purple. It's actually very pretty, I hope it stays like that for a while
Origami February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 More interesting observations: - I have some of those blue/grey hairy mushrooms with the lavender colored mouths. They are completely shriveled up, and look the worst of anything except the setosa. But they are not disintegrating. - my silvery giant tree xenia, the kind that grows the very thick main stalk, has turned bleach white in the polyps/arms, but the stalks are still the same dark grey/purple. It's actually very pretty, I hope it stays like that for a while You're going to have to take some pictures of the xenia, Justin. Use that new porthole, smartphone edition that you guys put out. (How's that for a plug? )
ctenophore February 7, 2014 Author February 7, 2014 I hope everything continues to improve. Keep us posted on how things go. How did that much carbon get into the system in the first place? me being stupid with a food supplement and being off by two orders of magnitude in math
Sharkey18 February 7, 2014 February 7, 2014 Yep, that'll do it... +1 to the pics. Hope everything makes it.
ctenophore February 7, 2014 Author February 7, 2014 You're going to have to take some pictures of the xenia, Justin. Use that new porthole, smartphone edition that you guys put out. (How's that for a plug? )
ctenophore February 7, 2014 Author February 7, 2014 The mushrooms look mad but they are pretty like this too
John Ford February 8, 2014 February 8, 2014 Maybe slightly off topic (I'm good for that) but I can not fathom using an entire 200 gallon box of salt and it's not even a 25% water change... I sure hope everything recovers fast! I'd offer the 15 gallons I have mixed but I don't think it will even fill your skimmer!
Sharkey18 February 9, 2014 February 9, 2014 That xenia is awesome. You could make a fortune selling it as some rare white xenia... not that I'm suggesting you should...
ctenophore February 9, 2014 Author February 9, 2014 Thanks for checking in for an update. Pretty much back to normal. Only one of my setosa mini colonies still looks bad, but I guess that everything else will be fine. White xenia is now going back to silver though :( I think doing that 22.5% water change was key. Everything looked much better the next morning after that. Also having a big emperor aquatics 150w uv probably kept free floating bacteria in check, preventing a major bloom. I could tell there was one trying to happen as the water was getting cloudy right before the water change when the corals looked their worst. I also ran a half pound of rox 0.8 carbon right after that water change which probably also helped clean up any toxins or general crud that might have otherwise further stressed the coral. I'm still going to do another big water change when the ro is finished, but the pressure is off for any immediate action.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now