My three year old killed my FOWLR tank with a can of coke.

[grynning4fish]

I bought a well established Fowlr setup a few years ago and had no problems with it.. that is until my son got curious and wondered if they liked pop.
I was able to save 5 out of 6 fish but they are currently crammed in a 15 gallon with 3 other fish and I need to get them into a bigger tank asap.
I have never set up a full tank myself. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to cycle a new tank faster.

 

[Chrisv.]

I bought a well established Fowlr setup a few years ago and had no problems with it.. that is until my son got curious and wondered if they liked pop.
I was able to save 5 out of 6 fish but they are currently crammed in a 15 gallon with 3 other fish and I need to get them into a bigger tank asap.
I have never set up a full tank myself. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to cycle a new tank faster.

As the parent of a 2.5 yr old, I feel your pain. If your rock is cycled, I bet it’s still fine. If this were my tank, I would do a 100% water change and run an over sized amount of carbon for a couple of days and dump in a bottle of bio spira bottled bacteria. I’m sure this was infuriating but I bet it isn’t as big of a catastrophe as it seems. I bet the bio filter on the rocks is intact.

 

[Garf]

Your bacteria will be experiencing a sugar rush. You got a skimmer?

 

[Cell]

Can this get moved to the chemistry forum #MODS?

I feel like Randy or someone else might have a better idea of what exactly caused the deaths and how to fix. Would it be a pH increase from the soda?

If it were me, I'd perform a 100% water change and observe.

If you are starting a new tank, Bio-Spira will cycle it quickly. Fritz or Dr Tim's as well.

 

[LAA]

Do a 100% water change and let it run for a few days. Live rock should be fine. After a few days test water if ok then you can add the fish back.

 

[redfishbluefish]

What are we talking about volume wise? For both the tank and the size of the Coke? Unless this was a small tank with a large 2L bottle of Coke, I can't see this killing your fish. You've basically just carbon dosed your tank. I'll tag @Randy Holmes-Farley and see what he has to say.

 

[James G]

Same thing happened to me in 2006 when I had my 60 gallon, but it was a glass of sprite and ice. It happened in the evening and I didn't notice it until morning. Someone thought it was "just water" and knocked out almost all my fish, did 2- 80% water changes and ran carbon for a month. My yellow polyps, several other softies and my 2 clowns made it. Tough guys pulled through!

 

[Chrisv.]

Same thing happened to me in 2006 when I had my 60 gallon, but it was a glass of sprite and ice. It happened in the evening and I didn't notice it until morning. Someone thought it was "just water" and knocked out almost all my fish, did 2- 80% water changes and ran carbon for a month. My yellow polyps, several other softies and my 2 clowns made it. Tough guys pulled through!

yikes!

 

[Miami Reef]

Go to the fish store and buy a bottle of bacteria to quickly cycle the tank - make sure the bottle is for saltwater use.

 

[grynning4fish]

Same thing happened to me in 2006 when I had my 60 gallon, but it was a glass of sprite and ice. It happened in the evening and I didn't notice it until morning. Someone thought it was "just water" and knocked out almost all my fish, did 2- 80% water changes and ran carbon for a month. My yellow polyps, several other softies and my 2 clowns made it. Tough guys pulled through!

Oh no! Glad you got yours back up and running! I’m not sure how long the pop was in my tank before I noticed. I have a sneaky little boy. I looked in my tank, my chalk bass was dead and my other fish were struggling to breathe..

 

[grynning4fish]

What are we talking about volume wise? For both the tank and the size of the Coke? Unless this was a small tank with a large 2L bottle of Coke, I can't see this killing your fish. You've basically just carbon dosed your tank. I'll tag @Randy Holmes-Farley and see what he has to say.

I have a 60 gallon and It was a full can. I didn’t notice when it was poured in there.. my fish were struggling to breathe, lying on the sand bed when I checked on them. I’m assuming it was in there for a decent amount of time.

 

[Chrisv.]

I have a 60 gallon and It was a full can. I didn’t notice when it was poured in there.. my fish were struggling to breathe, lying on the sand bed when I checked on them. I’m assuming it was in there for a decent amount of time.

So the two main things that come to mind are the low pH of the soda and the sugar, which would fuel a serious bacteria bloom leading to hypoxia. The acid in the soda is a weak acid, and in 60 gallons, I doubt it would bump pH. The sugar on the other hand can totally kick bacteria into high gear. The skimmer will probably go bananas.

I still think that your biological filter is probably intact.

 

[grynning4fish]

So the two main things that come to mind are the low pH of the soda and the sugar, which would fuel a serious bacteria bloom leading to hypoxia. The acid in the soda is a weak acid, and in 60 gallons, I doubt it would bump pH. The sugar on the other hand can totally kick bacteria into high gear. The skimmer will probably go bananas.

I still think that your biological filter is probably intact.

Thank you

 

[MoreReef]

I had a similar incident happen to me. It was a bottle of baby formula instead of soda pop. Most of my inverts and fish perished. I was able to save my corals though... id just do 100% water change without scrubbing or cleaning anything other than the sand bed. That I did rinse thoroughly... hope you can fix the problem...

 

[DeniseAndy]

I am so sorry. Kids are so helpful sometimes. I was lucky as mine were curious, but only when I was doing things outside the tank. They never played near the sump and they could not get near the tank itself (too high). My kids ae tiny like me. They had better things to climb after.

I would say the 100% water change, rinse out the rocks in saltwater, put is all together again (including fish). Run the protein skimmer hard, maybe some carbon. Keep an eye on anything struggling or dying off.
If you want a couple bottles of good bacteria designed and in date for saltwater (as I have never really used it before),

 

[GHOSTLY]

My 24k gold Asian arowana was almost killed by my sisters whos 5. Threw a bunch of stickers in

 

[LAA]

Now I feel lucky never have this happened yet. Fingers crossed.

 

[ClownSchool]

I bought a well established Fowlr setup a few years ago and had no problems with it.. that is until my son got curious and wondered if they liked pop.
I was able to save 5 out of 6 fish but they are currently crammed in a 15 gallon with 3 other fish and I need to get them into a bigger tank asap.
I have never set up a full tank myself. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to cycle a new tank faster.

Cycling products like Bactiv8 work very well.

 

[grynning4fish]

I had a similar incident happen to me. It was a bottle of baby formula instead of soda pop. Most of my inverts and fish perished. I was able to save my corals though... id just do 100% water change without scrubbing or cleaning anything other than the sand bed. That I did rinse thoroughly... hope you can fix the problem...

Oh no! Kids are great hahah

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

When I was a kid, I got the brilliant idea of ramming my Pedal Car into the Hubcaps of my Dad’s car. He sold the Pedal Car, and took me to the store, with Cash in hand, and bought new Hubcaps. Lesson learned, and I’ll never forget that. BTW, no Three Year Old, should be Drinking Pepsi’s or any other “Soft Drink.”