toxic tank trouble

[Neptune 55]

My established 7 yr old FOWLR + shrimps and clean up crew DIED while I was on vacation!! Apparently a heater broke and one of my powerheads stopped working and the dead fish were not removed! Neighbor was coming over every other day to feed?

I have a 47 gallon / 55lbs LR / Coralife super skimmer / aquaclear HOB filter / two powerheads / Powercompacts / yellow tang / two clowns / royal gramma / fire shrimp / cleaner shrimp / mandarin / snails & hermits & crabs. Only the two clowns and royal gramma survived. I am planning on beginner corals after I fix this situation.

My tank is now TOXIC. I am rebuilding but have two specific questions.

Will my live rock rejuvenate? It was beautiful purple now slimy red? Will I need to seed it with new live rock? I am nervous b/c of critters that come with live rock etc?

Suggestions on substrates? Originally I used a 2 inch layer of crushed coral - the expensive stuff from the LFS. I have read previous posts re: Home depot sand but am still a tad unclear. What is better: Kolorscape or Tropicana Play Sand and can we add to the debate bare bottom? Previously my crushed coral did not look great and I suffered from sand storms that would make my rock look dusty? Could I go bare bottom and still keep my beloved mandarin, shrimps, and hermits? The mandarin mainly eats from the live rock?

Given the grave situation I was going to dedicate every night this week to fixing the tank so responses very much appreciated!!

 

[SteveDola]

dont buy that sand from home depot;it has silicates. People were talking about southdown play sand but HD no longer carries it. if you go BB then you should seriously read about that decision and its impact on equipment and husbandry...look on RC or search BRS for old articles.
as for sand-
buy 80lbs of carib sea or some other reefsand.
do you have the existing tank still running? if so do many waterchanges. The rock has cyano bacteria (sounds like, w/o pics its tough to tell). It should be fine, just suck off the slime when doing the water changes and add another powerhead...cyano is usally from overfeeding and low flow.

start with a 20-25 gallon waterchange and go from there. Make sure to take proper steps for waterchanges. match temp and salinity and try to age it first.

 

[SteveDola]

make sure to use RO water.

 

[JayM]

My established 7 yr old FOWLR + shrimps and clean up crew DIED while I was on vacation!! Apparently a heater broke and one of my powerheads stopped working and the dead fish were not removed! Neighbor was coming over every other day to feed?

I have a 47 gallon / 55lbs LR / Coralife super skimmer / aquaclear HOB filter / two powerheads / Powercompacts / yellow tang / two clowns / royal gramma / fire shrimp / cleaner shrimp / mandarin / snails & hermits & crabs. Only the two clowns and royal gramma survived. I am planning on beginner corals after I fix this situation.

My tank is now TOXIC. I am rebuilding but have two specific questions.

Will my live rock rejuvenate? It was beautiful purple now slimy red? Will I need to seed it with new live rock? I am nervous b/c of critters that come with live rock etc?

Suggestions on substrates? Originally I used a 2 inch layer of crushed coral - the expensive stuff from the LFS. I have read previous posts re: Home depot sand but am still a tad unclear. What is better: Kolorscape or Tropicana Play Sand and can we add to the debate bare bottom? Previously my crushed coral did not look great and I suffered from sand storms that would make my rock look dusty? Could I go bare bottom and still keep my beloved mandarin, shrimps, and hermits? The mandarin mainly eats from the live rock?

Given the grave situation I was going to dedicate every night this week to fixing the tank so responses very much appreciated!!

Your live rock will rejuvenate, given time. You need to treat your nutrient bloom, which has caused your cyano (red slime) outbreak. Water changes, remove the dead, replace your broken powerhead, get your temp under control. Watch for ammonia or nitrates to spike up as well. Siphon out the slime wherever you can, increase flow to help alleviate it.

Skim heavilly (or as heavy as you can with a SuperSkimmer ), add carbon, maintain your salinity.

I would not do a bare bottom, but that's just me. You can keep your existing sand bed, or augment it with other substrate, but I would deal with one issue at a time. If a few fish survived, it may not be as toxic as you think....

 

[RayD]

Starting over could definitely put your Mandarin in danger of starvation especially if he is not eating frozen/prepared foods.

I would find your fish a temporary home while you re-establish, ditch the crushed coral and use reef sand from the LFS or online, and RO/DI water only. Never tap water.

 

[Neptune 55]

Wow that was quick thanks for the information!! My Nitrate reading is 160+ I didn't say that in the first note b/c to embarrassed.

Regarding the Home Depot Kolorscape sand I did read some past threads that indicated the Home Depot Southdown sand was no longer available but that Kolorscape was good and passed the vinegar test? Did I miss the alerts that said that also did not work? I can get Carib Sea sand tonight but the cost of it scares me? No cheap alternative? Does the Carib Sea need to be rinsed?

 

[RayD]

Get the Carib Sea dry sand for the bulk of it and only 1 bag of live sand to seed the sand bed. That will work great and keep the cost lower.

You will have to rinse any sand that you get except the live sand.

 

[SteveDola]

Ive never read any info that said kolorscape was reefsafe. I read that HD sand had silicates which is bad.

Some of the carib sea is prerinsed and some isnot. Id prolly rinse it just in case unless otherwise stated.

If you have nitrates at 160 then you better make ALOT of water to do WCs over the next few days.

when you do the sand change over post in the forum that you want a cup or 2 of sand to seed the new stuff. Just tell us the area your in and most wouldnt have a problem helping out.

 

[stingythingy45]

Silicates leaching from silica sand is all bunk.
There are a good many discussions on this at RC.
Many play sand companys don't sell silica sand because it is dangerous for children.And alot of Home Depot tropical play sand is calcium based(vinegar test).
Any sand,yes even silica will work for a DSB as long as the particles at .080 and smaller.The problem with some play sand is there might be small traces of metal in there.But the stuff I used was very white,clean and fine grained.
Tank set up since July and no ill effects to report.

 

[Neptune 55]

thank you... yes lots of WC.. I was just going to upgrade to a 90 gallon with a sump but I dont know how I would do this in a 90 gallon!! and honestly before this I had never lost a fish? lost many crabs and snails but not a fish unless I was moving : (

 

[Neptune 55]

yes so the home depot sand what brand and how do you find? yes the threads I found said that Kolorscape was good however I searched home depot website and could not find a listing for it? Others chime in if you have used Home Depot sand w/ success. What I did read is that the Southdown sand is no longer available?

 

[stingythingy45]

Listen Neptune,
I'm hardly an expert on this stuff.And I just took the chance with H.D. sand because I really didn't have a lot of $$$ and felt it was needed for other things.But,I have read about this over and over from all different forums and for me it worked,well so far anyways.The sand I used is called High Dessert Playsand.It's very white and from what I understand it really pulverised limestone.At least that's the term used now in the SW world.It will fizz like crazy under vinegar.I rinsed the crap out of it until the water ran clear.
But $7 for 50 lbs a bag.......hey,worked for me.

 

[willray]

Get the Carib Sea dry sand for the bulk of it and only 1 bag of live sand to seed the sand bed. That will work great and keep the cost lower.

You will have to rinse any sand that you get except the live sand.

I agree! This would be the best and cheapest way.

 

[JayM]

If your nitrates are at 160, you need to do at LEAST a 50% water change. That should get your 'trates down to ~80, which is still pretty high, even for a FO tank.

Where are you located? There's probably a member nearby who can re-seed your sandbed.....

 

[Greg Hiller]

I just saw one of the nicest tanks I've ever seen, and the tank used all silicate sand, FWIW.

Anyhow, if I were you I would do a 100% water change. Get some clean new trashcans and mix up enough freshly prepared saltwater (using high quality freshwater) in one shot to do your whole tank. Get the water to at least room temp, maybe a bit warmer. You can warm small batches of the water in the microwave or on the stove if you like (use glass or a nonstick pan) and add it to the water in the trashcans to get it up to at least room temp. When you are all set, drain the entire tank down to the very bottom. Then pump or dump the new water in ASAP before the rocks dry. If need be, you can splash the rocks with saltwater to re-wet them if it takes a long time to fill the tank.

You may want to consider removing all the sand/gravel. I'd use a fine grained sand. The stuff at the shops is not all that expensive, but you can use the silica sand if you want.

You may need to reseed your tank with critters depending upon how bad the wipe out was. Get a small piece of rock from someone that does not have any thing 'bad' on it. Your old rock might be okay, but leaving it in might allow the toxins in it to slowly leach out.

Put a very large amount of carbon on the system ASAP. Preferrably forcing water though the carbon.

 

[MikeG]

I don't recall any problems with the silica based sand either. If I recall one of Randy Holmes-Farley's articles discusses algae in the reef aquarium and mentions that silica is not a limiting factor for algae growth. I could be remembering this completely wrong though.

As far as other sand, I think live sand is a complete waste of money since your rock will seed your sand very quickly with bacteria. The one reason I can think of it being beneficial in this case is if you had large bacterial die off when this happened. In that case this could help to quickly reinforce your bacterial populations to keep ammonia and nitrite from accumulating while you still have fish present.

I agree with Greg, a large water change should help but I would try to match your parameters as close as you can (salinity, temp, pH, alkalinity). No need to stress your remaining livestock more than needed.

 

[Neptune 55]

Wow thanks Boston Reefers!! I am just back from LFS and thrilled to see the response and support. YES b/c so much did die I purchased the live sand to help restock my tank. The tank parameters are sooo bad I am going to hold my tiny remaining live stock (3 fish) in a bucket with LR and use my tank to mix, heat and circulate my new saltwater. I figure this is my chance to build the new sand bottom and start will all fresh water. My goal is to be restocked by new year and then to start a *few* corals.

I look forward to attending a few of the upcoming meetings and expanding my knowledge!!

 

[ReeferMedic]

Just make sure you keep the water in the bucket aerated and warm.

 

[SteveDola]

i thought silica would lead to uncontrollable algea...just a myth?

 

[stingythingy45]

"I look forward to attending a few of the upcoming meetings and expanding my knowledge!!"

Now you're talking.