600G SPS Reef Disaster

[KPersico]

All,

This past weekend I’ve suffered my first tank crash. It was a total wipeout, with all my livestock and volleyball size acro colonies. All because of human error.

I was cleaning my storage vats with 5 pounds of citric acid (approx 150 gallons of water) and dumped it into my tank by accident. Essentially 5 pounds of citric acid was mixed with my system.

overnight my system became extremely cloudy and before you know it everything was lost. In 48 hours with the help of a great Local shop nearby, we were able to do a 100% water change. I am now in the process of doing 100g water changes daily. The tank is bare bottom.

my ph crashed to 3.4 and now remains at around 8. The water isn’t cloudy anymore. The skimmer I’m running barely due to an insane amount of foam being produced by it. Constant overflow. My sump looks like a bubble bath.

any idea what The lasting effects of this terrible mistake will be? I’m ashamed to be writing this but appreciate any knowledge one may have on the subject and what I can expect.

I’m concerned about my live rock also. It hasn’t crumbled to touch but it’s hard to tell how much may have been lost (melted).

the corals have been with me for 10 years. From a 180g at 17, a 300 at 20, and now a 600g system I had built in my first house at 25. Now two years later and everything gone in a matter of days. Just hope this doesn’t taint my system and I can rebuild.

 

[LDog74]

Man sorry to hear! We take so much time & effort with our tanks to grow & nurture the animals within them. I have lost a few corals but to lose everything I could not imagine. Just devastating to hear. Again, sorry!

 

[KPersico]

@Randy Holmes-Farley any chance you can help me?

 

[vetteguy53081]

OH NOOOOO and that would do it. I have a 660g and would be devastated ! I have no words but encouragement to repack it and restart. Unfortunately, nothing in the form of livestock has gotten any cheaper but create a stocking list, change scape if you need to and Rebound !

 

[jccaclimber]

I’m really sorry to hear this. Having a tank that size, I know the stress it would cause me if that happened.

There is a long conversation on practices and backups after you recover, but until then there are two pieces of good news.

1. Bacteria use citric acid as a carbon source, so any that was not removed in the water change will be consumed in the near future. It’s not going to cling with you forever like say a massive copper dose would.

2. Even if the citric acid was fully reacted with the rock in your tank (the pH says it wasn’t), the total amount of calcium carbonate/aragonite that 5 pounds of citric acid can dissolve is minor compared to the amount in your system. It’s not going to get the live rock equivalent of osteoporosis and turn to dust on you at some random future date.

Other than the massive carbon dose, I would treat the system as if it was just flooded from a dry rock start. I suspect a surprising amount of bacteria will have actually survived that, so you’re probably much better off than a true dry start. Presumably you’ve either removed any obviously dead coral, or resigned to letting your tank process it out in the hope that some sliver survives?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So sorry to hear this!

Other than decaying dead organisms, I expect few lasting problems from a citric acid overdose that was followed by a 100% water change.