Need help!

[tmccaff]

I am experiencing corals melting it looks like my soft corals. My SPS some just turned white; All my snails look dead; my urchin died the fish fine.

I did have a Tunze Pump basically smoke in my tank and pulled it out! This happened two days ago and I am thinking maybe copper leaked into tank? I did a 5 1/2 gallon water change just now. Please help what should I do? Check?

I also just added polyfilter as well as carbon. My skimmer is going crazy by the way. The aiptasia that I had in there as well died... something for sure caused this crash all of a sudden

 

[brandon429]

First step is lower light power no full lights or it'll burn

Off for a while is OK while working.


When on again, only at 20% current power then work up slowly
Light power and spectrum becomes the killer in these crash times

Next up is why not a full water change

Post a tank pic. Am assessing sandbed and other details. If you really want to help your tank do a rip clean

Anything less than that is shortcuts to real reef cpr. We have a thread on reef tank crash cpr those are the highlights above you can apply right now

 

[tmccaff]

I am thinking something released from the Tunze pump. It's kind of weird that this all happened after. Possibly carbon?

 

[brandon429]

It won't do any good currently to know

How many gallons is a full water change for your tank. If you have any filters that might catch and hold waste pockets those need to come offline for full cleaning


Post tank pic full shot

Things need to be cleaned using skip cycle control


Any mixing of waste clouding can harm the setup quickly.


such as pouring water back in from a partial water change, it lands in a dirty sandbed, kicking up clouding into the water


There's a way to clean things that will not cause a recycle, one thing we look for in pics is degree of waste retention if any in places like the sandbed cross section or piles of waste in the tank corners or sump/ filter areas.

Let's see how much of your tank we can save and we can update the reef cpr thread with a new run

 

[tmccaff]

My tank is 45 Gallons Sump 20 gallons. I do have polyfiber.

 

[tmccaff]

This tank has been running 2 years no issues. Until like I said the pump basically smoked and I took it out.

 

[tmccaff]

The snails not moving thinking possibly dead all of them.

 

[brandon429]

I am 100% sure you need to rip clean it.

The water column has lysed cellular materials in rapid degradation. There's nothing to add, subtraction and replacement of water is paramount.

If you can't get all that water made up right now, in two brute trash cans for example that'll cover 45 gallons, then go buy boxed water at petco and petsmart. It doesn't matter if it's a different brand to yours this is the triage for that reef.


We talk about a color palette shift to yellow and cream tones in eutrophic reefs this is a pattern above shown with good photo quality and detail. That helps to see such good pics.

The truth is some of those inverts might can be saved.


*no degree of melt will stall your cycle.


Once rinsed and dislodged, cycling bac on those rocks will be in full power. Cycle won't be harmed no matter what, we're not going to dry your tank out or boil it so the bacteria remain.

This thread will have application in updated cycling science threads if you're able to secure all this water so we can clean out the system.


** we aren't going to rinse with your expensive 45 gallons of saltwater that's just for final refill. Tap water is what we'll use most. It's indicated here in a certain way. I guarantee you if you can get 45 + 5 gallons water / slight extra as needed for these big jobs / we can save a lot about your reef

Even the sand can be reused easily. It'll be totally clean like new.

 

[brandon429]

Let me know how much reef water brand new you can access within two hours

 

[brandon429]

* it's possible to run your reef 2/3rds full upon refill till tomorrow. We would ensure water lines and pump layouts would work until you can get more water.

At the extreme you don't try to save the whole reef if you can't get the water right now.

We clean your rocks and store them clean in five gallon paint buckets for example. Cheap, fast, effective.

Clean storage holding is what arrests the crash


Technically your reef tank could be cleaned and dried sitting on the counter empty while your reef parts and remaining animals are held in covered aerated buckets.

Even ten gallons or fifteen could hold all your living material a few nights. Including all your rocks piled in


This allows you to get the most reef saved per gallon of available water.


I believe waiting overnight can kill it all
(Except the cycle, that stays if water stays)

There’s nothing you add to the system before or after cleaning

No form of bacteria

No Prime, or amquel additives

Nothing will be added, what saves the reef is what you take away. All we are doing is cleaning the rocks, storing them clean, rinsing the sand in full tap water and then one final rinse of sand in ro water to evacuate the tap water used for the bulk rinse, now it’s perfectly clean sand that cannot cloud. That means it’s inert, it cannot cause a recycle

We would refill with new water matching temp and salinity to the original setup.

Put back in clean rocks and animals

Lights off today, mega low tomorrow



The bacteria you need remain on the rocks, even after cleaning, and ride into the new tank

We aren’t adding anything to support them because that’s not needed. Only cleanliness and new water is needed. This order of ops is exactly how to arrest a tank crash it’s not by additives or adjusting something.

 

[Kooma]

Looks like you have some good advice. I would find the largest container you have and fill it with fresh saltwater, and take anything you want to try and save and move it pump and heater in the tub, and focus on keeping that stable (test for ammonia). Restart the rest of the tank.

 

[tmccaff]

Imagitarium Pacific Ocean Water, 5 gallons | Petco

www.petco.com

is that what you talking about?

 

[tmccaff]

Ok, let me get this straight.

take out everything and put it in buckets or rubbermaid container.

don't use any light or minimal light?

Take all water out of tank.

My lfs gave me Cloram-X telling me I should put this in rubbermaid container just in case have ammonia makes it less toxic. Should I use this?

I just got 10 gallons from Petco, put it in rubbermaid container? Should I test salinity? and temp of this water that I got from Petco?

Guess clean all equipment and glass with vinegar/water solution as well?

Rinse Sand in RoDI water? Or get new sand?

 

[Uncle99]

Did the pump “heat” or “electrify” the water when burning out?
Hope they come back for you they look damaged a lot in the pics.

Seen a LFS lose 45k in corals that way.

 

[tmccaff]

Did the pump “heat” or “electrify” the water when burning out?
Hope they come back for you they look damaged a lot in the pics.

Seen a LFS lose 45k in corals that way.

I am not sure but tested for copper and it's present.

 

[Uncle99]

I am not sure but tested for copper and it's present.

Strange that would add copper to the water so quickly but if it’s there, of course, keep mopping that up.

 

[tmccaff]

I am thinking just replace sand with new.

 

[brandon429]

No don't add anything

Mentioned above: match temp and salinity to your current water.

Is anything still alive today?

Start with rocks. Take them out and clean them off then rinse with a little saltwater and then set them in the bucket. Don't use any sand just throw it out we can prep new sand later. Your goal is to have totally clean rocks sitting in a bucket reef heated and circulated until we get your tank cleaned up.

Is that the water you've been using? Can you get more to do the whole tank at once?

 

[brandon429]

You can replace sand with new agreed but I'd wait to install it last step. We will rinse it so it doesn't cloud for five days blocking our cleanliness assessment. We don't need sand in reefs at all so it can wait till major stabilization is done

 

[tmccaff]

I have to check if anything is alive. Im about to clean rocks. MY SPS is for dead its completely white. IS there easy way to remove them from rocks? I did put some snails, corals and rocks in bucket last night. Will fish be ok? or remove them too?