Is everything in my tank going to die???

[kropcke]

Hi All.

I had a bit of a catastrophe last night...or so I think???

My tank:

29gal
saltwater
fish only
live sand
live rock

1 bicolored blennie
1 banded prawn gobie
3 turbo snails
3 nessarian snails
6 little crabs

So, here's the skinny.

I came home, ready to do a water change. Turns out, one of my powerheads (a Rio 600) burned out, and burnt/black/plastic/chips/crud had collected all around the edges at the water surface with a bunch of the same floating around the tank. My room smelled like burning plastic. I freaked.

01. I had only 5 gallons of water to change, so I do that immediately.

02. Clean filter.

03. Clean protein skimmer.

04. Suck out as much of the crap as possible

05. Clean as much of the inside surface of the tank as possible where the crud had collected (believe me that I was thorough).

06. Put in a second powerhead to create more flow (now a Rio 600 and a Rio 800).

It's been less than 12 hours, and my snails are still moving around, crabs are moving, blennie swimming, haven't seen the gobie, but I rarely do this early anyway.

I'm going to feed in 1/2 hour to see how well they respond.

Questions...

01. Should I do another 5 gallon water change today?

02. Should I continue doing 5 gallon water changes (or less) for the next few days to come and try to dillute the situation?

03. I don't have a second tank that I can put anything into, so should I just sit and wait and pretend all is normal?

04. Any thing else?

I'm just at a loss. Any advice would be 100% genuinely appreciated. I'm still a novice, maybe 9 months into the hobby.

Thanx so much in advance.

-kropcke

 

[MarksReef]

This is very common with Rio's.. Water changes are always good but you'll need to run some carbon too. Good luck

 

[wantahealthytank]

Was going to suggest running carbon too, and putting a polyfilter into your canister filter with the carbon. That sh ould pull out any unkowns for you.

 

[Wiskey]

I would also yank the remaning rio's, I have had one do this too, and there is a HUGE thread of people having the same problems. I would reccomend spending the cash for 2 new MJ1200's, they are only $18 each online, and don't dump oil in the tank.

Whiskey

 

[Elorian]

I'd *definitely* get rid of the rios- Maxijets have worked well for me as well.

 

[kropcke]

MarksReef:

OK...I'll do another water change then tomorrow - need to get some and bring it to tank temperature. Regarding the carbon, I have in my filter already a sponge, some carbon, and live rock-ish stuff. Should I get new carbon? I cleaned/rinsed it last night when cleaning the filter. I'm guessing it should still be good to go.

wantahealthytank:

I'm not sure what a polyfilter is, but I'll check it out when I go and get my water later today.

Wiskey:

Yes, I think I'll be chucking my Rio's...$36 on powerheads that don't leak oil is worth it to say the least. I'd like to get 2 of them for my tank (opposite sides to stimulate flow). Is a pair of MJ1200's too strong for a 29 gal tank?

Elorian:

You're the second to mention Maxijets, so it looks like that's what I'll be grabbing. Don't think I'll even try to get money for the Rio's on a return. Nobody needs this problem.

............

All:

Thanx so much for the responses - I totally appreciate it. The tank was acting pretty much normal when feeding this morning, so that's reassuring. I'm still a bit worried that I just completely poisoned the water, but I guess we'll see.

Sounds like another(+) water change, carbon filter, poly filter, and new powerheads is about all that I can do. And thanx to everyone for not saying "EVERYTHING'S GOING TO DIE!!!!! - Arrrggghhhh!!!" - heheh

Wish me luck!

I appreciate your help very, very much.

-kropcke

 

[MarksReef]

Should I get new carbon? I cleaned/rinsed it last night when cleaning the filter. I'm guessing it should still be good to go.

Cleaning carbon is not affective. I would replace it.

 

[Sk8r]

Polypads are resin-coated slabs of fiber that when placed in the water stream bind up various chemicals including metals and do not release them again: you can tell what they pulled out by the color they turn: some start looking like tie-dye, in a complex situation. They're not a bad thing to have going in an all-fish tank: imho, I'd be afraid to run them fulltime on corals for fear they'd pull things the corals need. And you don't want to leave them in past their expiration, because they can become biologically active. I think every tank owner should have some within reach, just like carbon, just in case of an accident.

 

[sttroyiii]

I believe you have to replace carbon. It sucks harmful stuff up inside it, and I dont think rinsing it will work. I feel like its effective, and I replace mine once a month.

 

[onereefnotenuf]

if the power head released oil into the tank one way to remove most of it is to turn all the pumps off and after everything has stopped moving the oil will rise to the top. take some paper towels and lay them on top of the water and quickly remove them. the oil should stick to the paper. if you leave the paper towel on the surface too long the oil will not stay on the towel. since you have run the tank for a while it might be too late and the oil has dispersed.

 

[kropcke]

MarksReef:

OK - thank you...I'll defintely replace the carbon filter

Sk8r:

I'm assuming poly pads and poly filters are one in the same. Yes, I have no coral so I'll defintely get one this afternoon - thank you.

sttroyiii:

I didn't know that it even needed replacing...the folks at the local aquarium should visit this site from time to time - well, actually, I should more often.

onereefnotenuf:

I'll do this between powerhead replacement. Thank you for the good tip.

............

Thanx again everyone for all the good advice - your knowledge is invaluable. Me and my tank friends really appreciate it!

Looks like I'll be getting out of work early today

-kropcke

 

[OnTheReef]

I had a heater melt its plastic guard in a tank once. A few things, mainly softies, looked stressed for a day or two; I attribute this to the rise in temperature from the overactive heater. I took the same approach suggested by others here, running fresh carbon, polypads and doing a few extra water changes. Everything was fine.

 

[suasponte2/75]

I had the same thing happen to me a few years back before I knew about the RIO issues. It was in a 60G. Luckily I was home at the time!! That was a late night (3AM in the morning).

I did a 50% (NSW, which was not cheap!!) water change, ran poly filter pads for a few days (it sucked up a lot of oily brown gunk), new carbon and did another 25% a few days later. I then chucked out all my RIOs and went w/ maxijets. The only thing I lost was a bubble coral . Fish freaked for a few days but 4 years later and they're still with me .

Hang in there. I thought it was the end of the world but now my tank's doing better than ever.

HTHs,

Minh

 

[kropcke]

OnTheReef:

Running fresh carbon now + polypads, and will do another water change in 1-2 days when my new water reaches tank temp.

suasponte2/75:

Yes, I'm in the process of getting MaxiJets to replace my Rio's. Will do the water change as soon as my new water temp is good to go. Did 25% last night, and another 25% next round (1-2 days).

All:

01. running fresh carbon
02. running polypads

03. water change in 1-2 days when new water reaches tank temp
04. finding MaxiJet's to replace my Rio's
05. will clear off any surface grime accumulated using paper towels (with powerheads off) when doing water change

06. everyone's swimming
07. my gobie seems a little spooked, but it sounds like that's par for the course based on your responses. I did poison their tank afterall - heheh...ummm, err :/

Thanx a TON!!! - TOTALLY APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP/FEEDBACK/SUGGESTIONS/GOOD WILL!!!

-kropcke