Need help! friends tank is crashing...

[mikearoni]

hey guys, I need some help for a really good friend of mine. He is the one that got me into reef keeping and I keep looking to him for inspiration and knowledge to make my tank as nice as his. He has a 90g that has been established for more than a year, and has never had any problems as bad as this. Yesterday we both went to get some saltwater from a well known fish store to do a water change. We have bought water from this store before and never had a problem with the water. He changed about 15 gallons. During the water change we smelled something burning, and did not notice what it was. About 10 minutes later he found out that the metal fan that was cooling the refugium lamp had fallen into the sump. It might have been there for more than an hour he says. Later that night he calls me to tell me that all his sps are dead, his zoos are closed up, but all his lps, a purple monti, and his fish are fine. I know it is not the water because I did a 15g water change on my 55 with the same water and my tank is doing fine. But on his tank the water is cloudy and his corals are dying. Could that fan have leeched something out that is causing this? If so, what can he do?

 

[Reef'in Colorado]

I'm not too sure if the fan caused the issue, but it sounds likely. I would add a LOT of carbon to try and absorb whatever the crap is in the tank, and skim heavily. Probably do another water change....maybe more than 1.

 

[mikearoni]

I can only guess that the fan had some rust and leeched copper in the tank. He is running a bag of carbon as well as carbon filled phosban reactor. Last night I had spare 5g of saltwater and it improved a bit but not much. He is going to do another water change but how much water should he change?

 

[stingythingy45]

He needs to test for copper and ammonia.
Copper breaks down very fast in SW and the windings of the fan are copper.He also should do another water change and run Poly pads or Cuprizorb in a filter sock or HOB.

 

[useskaforevil]

i hate to laugh because this really sucks for your freind, but i like how you post that an object with one of the strongest poisens for our tanks fell in the tank and assume we'll blame the water.

 

[Grumpy Falco]

water changes, water changes. you will probably need to do them every couple of days. I personally would cut the sump off to my main tank and drain it. Then I would make sure if I was going to keep a light under there that I secured it very well. Sorry to hear about your friends disaster.

 

[widmer]

Well an electric fan would contain an electric motor. One of the main parts of most small motors I know of is a big copper coil. Granted the copper is coated in a super thin film to keep adjacent turns from conducting, but it it overheated and fried I could see that film melting and revealing bare copper. After all, that's what happened when I put the battery in backwards in my mercedes, frying the alternator and part of wiring system.

 

[mikearoni]

The only thing that seems strange is that only the sps and some of the zoo's were affected. There are some other zoos and all lps and softies that are doing fine. Even the purple monti is ok. If it was copper wouldnt everything wipe out?