Please, Please, Help calling all experienced Reefers!!

J4Life

J4Life

Premium Member
Ok very quickly I came home this afternoon to find that my top off system has flood my tank with about 35 gallons of RO water mixed with Pickling Lime. My tank looks like it is covered in snow from all of the settlement.

I have no idea how this happened but all my fish are dead and I want to know if I can save everything else. My snails and hermits are actually moving around but my corals are all withdrawn.

Please help, anybody. I have never been through this before.

I feel like I am going to be sick:sad2:
 
Probably too late. Massive water changes are all you can do to try to salvage what is left.
 
Actually concentrate on getting your salt level up first & foremost. The snow is preciptate as the water cannot absorb all the calc & alk that fast

Get your salt up first. Once it is stabilized start changing water with same salinity until your ph is below 9.0
 
Thanks Guys I have already drained most of the water from the main display tank and begun filling it back with RO water mixed to me original SG of 1.026. Sadly I have run out of RO water on hand and either will have to use tap water or go and by some 5 gallon jugs of RO water from either Lowes or local grocery store.

Would you use tap water? I need about 20 gallons more and that is it, or don't risk it and get some RO water.


Thanks again,

Bill
 
I would not risk it, I would go spend the $ on RO water. You will need to declorinate the water at least if you use tap water. I keep a bottle of declorinator in case I need to use tap but have never used it. Also the tap water will have a bunch of stuff in it that will further stress the tank.
Just my 2 cents
 
Thanks tcinaustin. Well after getting the tank filled back up I tested my PH and it was right at 8.2 which is really not bad considering what just happened.

Casualties so far are:

Yellow Tang (going to miss him the most) :(
Sixline wrasse
2 - blue Chromis

Believe it or not when I drained my tank down I saw my Royal Gramma and went to grab him thinking he was dead and he swam away. I can't believe it.

Maybe he will survive along with my Honey Damsel and Fancy Tail blenny. I haven't found those guys or my Blood Shrimp.

What a day this has been for sure. Regardless about the fish I am praying all my coral make it through this.

Trying to stay up beat through it all. I do praise God that I am fortunate to have the resources to be experiencing this problem even though it isn't a good one. I am learning somethings about myself as well.

God Bless America!:D
 
tap water is fine in a pinch however i only use tap water now no nitrates but a little po4 nothing gfo can't fix
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15339703#post15339703 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dudley moray
tap water is fine in a pinch however i only use tap water now no nitrates but a little po4 nothing gfo can't fix
Click to expand...

The water may be different in Canada....I wouldn't risk it. There will be enough fuel for disaster without pouring gas on the fire.

I have used Culligan water for top off for the last few years. 20 gallons will cost you about $7.50 at Walmart if you have containers.
 
Thanks Guys, I used a little tap water to make up the difference. I have a TDS meter and my tap water measured at 74 which is pretty darn good for county water.

The worst is behind me now. Still trying to get the tank cleared up and believe it or not my Royal Gramma is still alive. I am just shocked.
 
My tap water is 190 tds and causes brown turf algae to explode.

Sorry if I was skeptical about tap....seems it works fine for some.
 
Be wary of using too much tap, in an emergency it should be fine like this, but if you have water that tends to be on the hard side with minerals and such sometimes copper (or even copper from plumbing fittings) can escape into your tank and you dont want that.

Best wishes for getting everything under control and a speedy recovery.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15343458#post15343458 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chrisstie
Be wary of using too much tap, in an emergency it should be fine like this, but if you have water that tends to be on the hard side with minerals and such sometimes copper (or even copper from plumbing fittings) can escape into your tank and you don't want that.

Best wishes for getting everything under control and a speedy recovery.
Click to expand...

That's a good point chrisstie. Lucky for me my house was built in 2004 so no copper pipes accept for a 1 Ft. section connected to my hot water heater. I usually would not use tap water just because of the chlorine and fluoride they put in the water. Too much of those can be lethal but in this case I was desperate and $13 for a 5 gallon jug of RO at the local Lowes was too much.

To give everyone and updated. I did another big water change today and got my water parameters up to par but still not where they were before this.

I am using my Reef Octopus NW-200 to help clean the water up. Along with carbon and I added some Microbacter 7 from Brightwell aquatics since my water was decimated from the RO water with pickling lime.

The great news is that my Royal Gramma and my Fancy Tail Blenny along with my Fire/Blood Shrimp all survived the ordeal. I am truly amazed.

The bad news is that my chalice, wall hammer, and a couple other LPS took a hard hit. My efflo table acro is completely lost. It was really a beautiful piece that I got from a freebie frag from my LFS. It was an attempt to save it and it was thriving in my tank until this disaster hit.

I am optimistic though that those things that have survived will recover and look healthy and great again. I am going to replace my fish with some damsels once everything settles down just to add a bio load to the tank.

Thanks again for all those that offered help. I appreciate it.

:D
 
the problem you are having is high ph, why don't you lower it with CO2, or Canadian Club bubbly water, worked for me within 10 mins.

Thats what Randy from the Chemistry forum had me do.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15350499#post15350499 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ConsultantERP
the problem you are having is high pH, why don't you lower it with CO2, or Canadian Club bubbly water, worked for me within 10 mins.

Thats what Randy from the Chemistry forum had me do.
Click to expand...

I think you should read my entire thread. I never had high PH and as of yesterday my PH tested at 8.0. I don't use a lot of pickling lime to raise it that significant. Just enough to maintain my Alk, Cal, & PH levels.

I typically add 10 tsp, per 6-1/2 gallons of water. The issue that hurt the tank more was the precipitate and dropping the SG.

Thanks for the suggestion but I am back under normal conditions. Now I just need to give everything time to re-adjust.
 
Last edited:
I was using a do-it-yourself made ATO setup using a float switch, 35 gallon brute trash can, and a small power head/pump.
 
I was actualy thinking of doing the same thing.I think i might go with a reef fanatic set up instead(or something similar).Thanks for your answer.
 
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