Don't Make the same mistake I made

[Peacocksm]

So I've been building a reef tank for a couple years now and it was looking really good. I did a water change and I could see that my sump had seen better days. So I decided to clean the sump because it didn't look so good and I didnt want the wife to have a reason to complain about how it looked. I drained the sump and scrubbed it down. Looked nice and clean and was proud of how good it looked. I put it back into the system and did the water change to just the sump and didnt think anything of it because its not that big of a water change. Well I was wrong. As soon as i got it up and running I could tell something was wrong. My tangs started sitting at the bottom of the tank and all my coral closed up. I checked all the levels and everything seemed perfect. So I didnt think anything of it. The next day I could smell the bacteria had started to die in the tank and my water was cloudy. Instant reaction was to do another water change to help save my tank. That was another mistake. I looked at all the forums and I have caused my tank to go unbalanced. Once that happens there really is nothing you can do. You need to let it cycle again. All my coral have died and I have a couple fish still hanging in there. Biggest mistake I ever made and now I have to watch my tank die. I'm letting it get back to being balance but I have paid a huge cost. So if you are reading this. There is a such thing as cleaning too much. If you are going to clean do it in stages and nothing over the top. I'm happy I have a nicee clean sump but my tank is not doing good at all. Very sad lesson I've learned and one I'll never do again. yes yes yes I know I'm stupid.

 

[nuxx]

How much of your tanks water volume was in your sump?

Seems drastic for just cleaning the sump. Did you use any chemicals to clean the sump?

Would there there would be well more than enough in your tank with the rock, sand, etc... to keep everything on the up and up. I've never done it before, but I'm sure people have changed our or cleaned out their sumps before.

 

[Lavey29]

Something doesn't quite add up here. I've had power out for 13 hours so no sump activity for the main tank and everything was fine. What exactly did you have in your sump that you cleaned and or removed. How did you scrub it? Yes there is beneficial bacteria in the sump but primarily it's in the tank. Curious to find the source of the issue.

 

[Peacocksm]

How much of your tanks water volume was in your sump?

Seems drastic for just cleaning the sump. Did you use any chemicals to clean the sump?

Would there there would be well more than enough in your tank with the rock, sand, etc... to keep everything on the up and up. I've never done it before, but I'm sure people have changed our or cleaned out their sumps before.

40 gallon sump and re removed all the bio sand from the sump. It was drastic

 

[Peacocksm]

Something doesn't quite add up here. I've had power out for 13 hours so no sump activity for the main tank and everything was fine. What exactly did you have in your sump that you cleaned and or removed. How did you scrub it? Yes there is beneficial bacteria in the sump but primarily it's in the tank. Curious to find the source of the issue.

I scrubbed all the refugium that had live sand in it and added new sand to it. I also used a different salt by mistake.

 

[Peacocksm]

I made a lot of rookie mistakes on this cleaning. I was hoping there was enough bacteria in the tank itself but the cleeaning caused a drastic unbalance. Pretty much shocked the tank into a cycle

 

[Lavey29]

40 gallon sump and re removed all the bio sand from the sump. It was drastic

I guess I can see a big sump like that causing an imbalance. Sorry for your losses. Don't sandbed the sump. Some nice chunks of rock suffice and you can clean around them or move them into a bucket during water changes and clean your sump as needed.

 

[EZKLR]

you can run tanks without sump, relying on rock and sand, which I have done and currently do. something must have happened to cause such a rapid decline. chemical reaction would seem more likely

 

[davidcalgary29]

It sounds like an algal bloom caused by the cleaning compounded with, or resulting in, anoxic conditions.

I've also had fish (and some snail) kill from a bleaching accident, but there the deaths were almost immediate -- not something that evolved over a couple of days.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I'm sorry you had to go through this, but thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sure it will help others

 

[Jared Bryant]

I drain and clean my sump every year. Done it for 15+ years. Something else happened.

 

[Peacocksm]

you can run tanks without sump, relying on rock and sand, which I have done and currently do. something must have happened to cause such a rapid decline. chemical reaction would seem more likely

ill have to look to see what I used. I only used fresh water and sprayed it out and then put salt water back into it. I dont think i used a brush or washcloth to clean it so im unsure of what chemicals could have got into it but it for sure caught me by surprise. Maybe the fresh live sand did it but i didnt think one small bag would do that. I thought my 200 gallon tank would be fine with all the rock and sand that was in it. This is my first salt water tank that ive put some time and money into so i still have a lot to learn. Ive only been doing it for 4 years

 

[Peacocksm]

I guess I can see a big sump like that causing an imbalance. Sorry for your losses. Don't sandbed the sump. Some nice chunks of rock suffice and you can clean around them or move them into a bucket during water changes and clean your sump as needed.

Thats something im going to have to look into doing. i didnt think about doing just rock. Ive always had mangrove plants in there so ive always had sand but I might look into just rock thanks for that

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Sounds like you had a chemical reaction from a cleaning product or your fresh live sand stirred up a bacteria reaction. I have cleaned my sump out but don't keep any media in it.

 

[Peacocksm]

I drain and clean my sump every year. Done it for 15+ years. Something else happened.

would changing the salt i normally use or the use of a new bag of live sand cause an issue?

 

[tsharpe291]

would changing the salt i normally use or the use of a new bag of live sand cause an issue?

With the volume of your DT I sure wouldn’t think so

 

[Jared Bryant]

would changing the salt i normally use or the use of a new bag of live sand cause an issue?

Doubt. Contamination is the most likely culprit. I would run carbon heavy for a few days and follow up on water changes.

 

[dedragon]

Sounds like you had a chemical reaction from a cleaning product or your fresh live sand stirred up a bacteria reaction. I have cleaned my sump out but don't keep any media in it.

Given the bacteria smell op talked about before, I would think it is the old sand as well. Maybe they took the sump offline and cleaned it out and dumped the whole of the sand and water out though, cant be too sure.

Have you checked the levels of the salt, maybe a really bad batch or messed up refractometer causing salinity and parameter issues?

 

[Peacocksm]

Sooo I figured out what happened to my tank. I've been using a Hanna digital refractometer for the last year and gave never had an issue with it. My salinity has been reading low on my digital gauge so I tried to compensate for the low salinity. I zero calibrated it and cleaned several times not thinking much of it. I looked everywhere else other than the refrectometer. Something told me to go get the original refractometer and my readings were off by .025. I went and got a brand new one and it's reading the same. So my water was sitting at 1.050 . I at least know where the problem is. Thank you all for your input. Always double check your testing equipment. Lesson learned

 

[TalkinTangie]

I am still learning... many years in, but always still learning. So I was following this thread and the comments. I am not the expert, but is the salinity difference mentioned by OP the cause of his tank crash?