Urgh seriously.

Sarah24!

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Hello,

First, please forgive me if I posted this in the wrong section, but I have never had this happen before and I am panicking.

So I have a 240 gallon tank with a 75 gallon sump tank. To be nice I let my brother and his children stay in my home for this week. (Long story) I just came home and found out that my nephews have been urinating in my sump tank. I don’t know how long they have been doing it, how often. I came home and caught my 5 year old nephew red handed.

I immediately shut down my return pumps, and shut the union valves underneath off and shut all flow from the tank to the sump off completely. I have no idea how much has already been sent into my main display tank, and how long. I’m doing a water test now to see where my parameters are now. I also have enough salt water stores to do 80 gallon water change.

The only thing I have added was I turned on my magnum 350 canister filter which there are two of them. One is a purification filter (it’s white) and the second is a straight carbon only. Any thing else I should be doing, I’m worried about my fish and corals.

Thanks
 
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Sarah24!

Sarah24!

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I am already running the carbon canister as we speak. What type of purigen do I need? The lfs I normally go to is closed on Tuesdays, and the other shop that I dread going to said my tank is toast. The other shop said they have no idea what to do. Yes both nephews are definitely in time out and banded from my living room.
 

jgvergo

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Test for ammonia and nitrates! If either are high, I'd go out and buy some denitrifying bacteria (e.g. BioSpira). In essence, they were doing exactly what your fish do, albeit in larger quantities. I bet with 300+ total gallons you won't have a problem unless they were consistently urinating, which would be hard to do without getting caught.
 

Mattrg02

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Is this not okay to do? :)

Have you done an ammonia test to see what level it may be at? Anything looking stressed?

I’d guess it’s just the ammonia to be worried about. Maybe something that binds ammonia?

Kids are weird AF.
 
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Sarah24!

Sarah24!

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Hi,

Well between work and school I am not home often when they are awake. My brother who is their dad should have been paying attention. Apparently they went behind the tank and did it since both of my bathrooms are upstairs.

Would an 80 gallon water change be too much? I have drained 35 at the moment. I can also drain the whole sump tank if needed. I have not noticed any of my fish or corals mad at the moment. But it doesn’t take long, I have also turned my lights to cloudy ⛅️ so they are not on as high.
 

csb123

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Are your creatures in any distress? I bet it is pretty nontoxic. The is no ammonia in urine, unless one of the kids has a rare metabolic disorder (I’m an MD.) I would expect a bump in your nutrient level. I would just do a 20% change and test for the next few days.
 

jsker

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Are your creatures in any distress? I bet it is pretty nontoxic. The is no ammonia in urine, unless one of the kids has a rare metabolic disorder (I’m an MD.) I would expect a bump in your nutrient level. I would just do a 20% change and test for the next few days.
Nice to know:)

I agree, test the water, see where you nutrients are at and go from there.
 

Caswal

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Are your creatures in any distress? I bet it is pretty nontoxic. The is no ammonia in urine, unless one of the kids has a rare metabolic disorder (I’m an MD.) I would expect a bump in your nutrient level. I would just do a 20% change and test for the next few days.

I thought there has to be ammonia in urine, as it is a by-product of amino acid metabolism, sort of essential to life. But the levels should generally be low enough to not have any noticeable ammonia odour.

I agree with others to test the levels. If the kids have been well watered, the urine could be quite dilute and it won't be much of an issue.
 

spiraling

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seachem prime will nutralize ammonia instantly if you test for anything above 0. Your bacteria might be enough. Other than that, and a possible nitrate spike from the amount that went in, you should be OK. Unless they have been eating your lead paint too. Then check for that. :)
 

Reef Jeff

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I agree with the rest. Test ammonia and nitrite twice a day and monitor. A partial Water change is in order but 20% to 30% would be the most I would do. Urine is not all that much different than fish waste. The tests will tell you how much exposure the tank had. Higher exposure = larger water change. The volume of water you have is large enough that the tank may well consume the urine without even doing a water change. Honestly I would not be too concerned as long as you stopped them from doing it anymore and your ammonia level isn’t spiking. Don’t feed fish till you are sure the levels are okay.
 
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tangtime

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Wow, sorry but reading this is pretty funny! Though I’d be upset, especially every time I put my hand in the tank I’d know there’s pee in it....

With your volume of water I highly doubt anything negative will happen unless they were going in gallons.
 
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Sarah24!

Sarah24!

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Okay,

So I tested my water and let’s see
Ammonia is normally 0 it’s at 0.25 now
Nitrate is at 0 but probably between 0 and 5.0
Nitrits is at 0
Ph is 8.2
Phosphate is 0
I did a 60 gallon water change, in the main display. I also drained the entire sump, ( just knowing my nephew used it as a toilet grosses me out). Still running the two canisters and added the proper dose of prime. My critters are mad at me now because of the water change, but they should bounce back.
 

ThUnDeR MoNkEy

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I would think that your skimmer should make short work of it. IMO a partial wc, maybe a little bac in a bottle and test test test would be your best course of action. In a tank that size your bio filter will probably handle it just fine.

Oh, a good old fashioned butt whoopin is in order. Not for the kids... for your brother.
 
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