Possible tank crash due to ramen fire

[brayden2980]

Hello,
I have a 450 gallon system and it appears to be in the midst of a crash. I dosed the normal things I do everyday, 15 mls 99.5% ethyl alcohol and 20 mls distilled white vinegar for carbon dosing, 44ml all for reef, and 33ml chaeto gro for my fuge.
Everything was fine in the tank before I left at around two, and got back at around 6 and everything looked almost dead


Things differing today:
I added 20 mls of ph+ since alk was slightly low (I’ve been shooting for 10) and I could get away with it
I just put a bubble coral in yesterday using coral epoxy and aquarium directed super glue
I messed with the lights yesterday but put them back to the original settings at night
One of my power heads went out and I don’t know why. The elegance sometimes is bothered by the ethyl alcohol but I normally put the powerhead on to wash it off it’s tissue but it only affects the elegance

And my suspected culprit: my brother caught a package of ramen on fire in the microwave because he forgot to put water in it


Causes for concern: elegance, bubble, mushrooms, hammer, and a Montipora denai are all shriveled or closed.

Last sundays levels tested at the LFS measured as follows:
Nitrate- 15
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- 0
Alk: 168/ 9.4
Calcium- 461
Ph-8.1
Magnesium: 1153
Phosphates: 0.6 (theyve been elevated for about a month but have been going down and nothings been affected)

Todays phosphate and nitrate with a cheap api kit;
Nitrate: 5-10
Phosphate: 0.25-0.5

Levels from apex:
Ph:8.02
Orp: 316
Temp: 78.4

 

[fishguy242]

water cloudy ? pics ?

 

[jabberwock]

How close is the microwave to the tank?

 

[brayden2980]

The water isn’t cloudy but I’ll post a few pictures in a second

 

[brayden2980]

How close is the microwave to the tank?

Same room probably 30 ft away. The house is Smokey all throughout from it

 

[jabberwock]

Noodle poisoning? I don't think so.

Did it burn plastic or Styrofoam?

How old is the tank? Can you post a full tank shot?

 

[brayden2980]

Noodle poisoning? I don't think so.

Did it burn plastic or Styrofoam?

How old is the tank? Can you post a full tank shot?

Just asked my brother. He caught a microwave plastic and silicone cover on fire and is melted now.
The tank is 8 years old
Posting pics now

 

[Poseidon03]

I've had my house filled with smoke before (forgot to open up the chimney with a fire) and my tank never knew the difference. Even my pH didn't change. My guess would be the phosphates along with the low magnesium.

 

[brayden2980]

Better shots of the coral right now

 

[brayden2980]

What the tank normally is:

 

[Rjukan]

It's got to be something more drastic than any of that. A 450g system can buffer so much... I'm curious as to what will come out of this.

 

[brayden2980]

I've had my house filled with smoke before (forgot to open up the chimney with a fire) and my tank never knew the difference. Even my pH didn't change. My guess would be the phosphates along with the low magnesium.

Alright. I didn’t know magnesium could have that big of an impact on them especially so all of the sudden

 

[DanyL]

Alright. I didn’t know magnesium could have that big of an impact on them especially so all of the sudden

Corals may have a delayed response to changes in water levels.

Low magnesium and sky high phosphates can easily cause this to happen.

I had my house smoked before from food I forgot in the oven and nothing happened to my 206g system, I also frequently 3D print right next to my frag tank with no I’ll effects.
So, I doubt it had anything to do with it.

That being said, depending on the plastics/silicone used - it may indeed have produced toxic fumes, so just as a precaution I would do a good WC.
But again - tank this size should be able to handle things like that imo, even if the fumes released were toxic.

 

[brayden2980]

Yeah that sounds fair. I know high phosphates can bring tanks right near their tipping point and any new stress can push it over. I’ll focus on bringing my levels to where they should be. I dose all for reef and calcium isn’t being consumed as fast as I need it to be so I can’t up the dosage to bring everything else up

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello,
I have a 450 gallon system and it appears to be in the midst of a crash. I dosed the normal things I do everyday, 15 mls 99.5% ethyl alcohol and 20 mls distilled white vinegar for carbon dosing, 44ml all for reef, and 33ml chaeto gro for my fuge.
Everything was fine in the tank before I left at around two, and got back at around 6 and everything looked almost dead


Things differing today:
I added 20 mls of ph+ since alk was slightly low (I’ve been shooting for 10) and I could get away with it
I just put a bubble coral in yesterday using coral epoxy and aquarium directed super glue
I messed with the lights yesterday but put them back to the original settings at night
One of my power heads went out and I don’t know why. The elegance sometimes is bothered by the ethyl alcohol but I normally put the powerhead on to wash it off it’s tissue but it only affects the elegance

And my suspected culprit: my brother caught a package of ramen on fire in the microwave because he forgot to put water in it


Causes for concern: elegance, bubble, mushrooms, hammer, and a Montipora denai are all shriveled or closed.

Last sundays levels tested at the LFS measured as follows:
Nitrate- 15
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- 0
Alk: 168/ 9.4
Calcium- 461
Ph-8.1
Magnesium: 1153
Phosphates: 0.6 (theyve been elevated for about a month but have been going down and nothings been affected)

Todays phosphate and nitrate with a cheap api kit;
Nitrate: 5-10
Phosphate: 0.25-0.5

Levels from apex:
Ph:8.02
Orp: 316
Temp: 78.4

Fumes are a contributor but cause. . . Im wondering why all these chemicals added regularly when most of this could be alleviated with water changes or a need for such additives determined by an ICP test. I would not alter alk with addition of PH additives and carbon dosing. Phos could actually increase slightly, but so much tinkering and change ups likely the cause (and not to bash you as we see this by others periodically)

 

[DanyL]

Yeah that sounds fair. I know high phosphates can bring tanks right near their tipping point and any new stress can push it over. I’ll focus on bringing my levels to where they should be. I dose all for reef and calcium isn’t being consumed as fast as I need it to be so I can’t up the dosage to bring everything else up

There’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to use a magnesium supplement separately.
If I remember correctly tropic marine sells it as bio-magnesium and it should keep your ionic balance in place.

You can probably also use other magnesium supplements with no I’ll effects, but depending on how A4R balances everything it may cause a slight ionic imbalance - not sure if it really matters, Randy can probably elaborate on this more than I can do.

 

[brayden2980]

Fumes are a contributor but cause. . . Im wondering why all these chemicals added regularly when most of this could be alleviated with water changes or a need for such additives determined by an ICP test. I would not alter alk with addition of PH additives and carbon dosing. Phos could actually increase slightly, but so much tinkering and change ups likely the cause (and not to bash you as we see this by others periodically)

I would love to do frequent water changes as I know that’s ideal but doing a weekly %10 water change or monthly %30 gets very costly on a tank this big. The only way I would consider doing frequent water changes is daily 1.5% to prevent swings that all for reef also prevents in this method.

The carbon dosing deals with nutrients and all for reef. I didn’t use ph+ to change alk I used it because I could in this case and alleviate a ph swing from carbon dosing.

 

[brayden2980]

There’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to use a magnesium supplement separately.
If I remember correctly tropic marine sells it as bio-magnesium and it should keep your ionic balance in place.

You can probably also use other magnesium supplements with no I’ll effects, but depending on how A4R balances everything it may cause a slight ionic imbalance - not sure if it really matters, Randy can probably elaborate on this more than I can do.

I’ll probably go out and buy all the individual buffers/ additives and get the levels right and then continue using all for reef

 

[vetteguy53081]

I would love to do frequent water changes as I know that’s ideal but doing a weekly %10 water change or monthly %30 gets very costly on a tank this big. The only way I would consider doing frequent water changes is daily 1.5% to prevent swings that all for reef also prevents in this method.

The carbon dosing deals with nutrients and all for reef. I didn’t use ph+ to change alk I used it because I could in this case and alleviate a ph swing from carbon dosing.

I do 2gal water changes daily on a 400g, same was done on 660g and takes about 8 minutes. I do it while watching the news

 

[brayden2980]

I do 2gal water changes daily on a 400g, same was done on 660g and takes about 8 minutes. I do it while watching the news

I do a monthly 60 gallon water change. I’ll consider the two gallons a day as that comes to about the same