Aquarium emergency

Amy406 · Feb 16, 2023

brandon429 said:
thats safe agreed.

*it can still cloud for days though if unrinsed, but only in about 5% of cases. in 95% of cases it clears in a day or two. on page one of our thread we collected about fifteen examples where new unrinsed sand totally opaqued out the tank and had to be redone (first pic in the thread)

it's taking a risk not to pre rinse, but only about a 5% one when using new sand. new sand was a good move. if the wrasse dives in it, expect recurring clouding for a good while but it's just cosmetic / does not crash reefs like old sand clouding does.

More than likely, I will pre-rents, there’s no reason to take any more risks after everything my life stock will be going through

Amy406 · Feb 16, 2023

brandon429 said:
we are doing two brand new jobs in the sand rinse thread and they will be using new sand

we are for sure pre rinsing them even though that seems like a waste of time. it's how we get and keep perfect results on every page, all the time. not pre rinsing sand = this risk:

pdxmonkeyboy opaqued tank. that's new sand from a bag marked 'no rinse required' from caribsea. taken from a post about why unrinsed new sand clouds so badly for some. the majority of bags don't do that, but some do, pre test in a cup to know how you want the display to look once you fill it all up.

another reason we pre rinse: when you set up the new tank if it goes cloudy independent from the sand that's a signal of a cycle, something went wrong in your transfer steps, and the clouding gives you time to intervene

if you purposefully cloud up your water with unrinsed sand, we immediately lose the ability to gauge clear water as a skip cycle proof. not rinsing only has risks, it requires luck vs command to win.

rinsing is commanding a win every single time.

Definitely thinking that I will pre-rinse mine before I start adding things to the aquarium. Once it’s finally here and set up, I think the corals would rather stay in their temporary home a little longer once set up then have to deal with a super cloudy tank.

Amy406 · Feb 16, 2023

brandon429 said:
we are doing two brand new jobs in the sand rinse thread and they will be using new sand

we are for sure pre rinsing them even though that seems like a waste of time. it's how we get and keep perfect results on every page, all the time. not pre rinsing sand = this risk:

pdxmonkeyboy opaqued tank. that's new sand from a bag marked 'no rinse required' from caribsea. taken from a post about why unrinsed new sand clouds so badly for some. the majority of bags don't do that, but some do, pre test in a cup to know how you want the display to look once you fill it all up.

another reason we pre rinse: when you set up the new tank if it goes cloudy independent from the sand that's a signal of a cycle, something went wrong in your transfer steps, and the clouding gives you time to intervene

if you purposefully cloud up your water with unrinsed sand, we immediately lose the ability to gauge clear water as a skip cycle proof. not rinsing only has risks, it requires luck vs command to win.

rinsing is commanding a win every single time.

Adorable security by the way lol

WestMI-Reefer · Feb 16, 2023

brandon429 said:
bulkheads aren't carrying the pressure that seals do

saltwater slowly erodes epoxy after setting as well. goes brittle over time = cracks

Amy

take some of the new sand and put it in a clean cup of water, that's what the tank will do upon fill

you can at least know a little about the clouding with a cup test vs just hoping for compliance. not getting compliance and getting a ten day cloud on new sand would be heartbreaking...rinsing solves that, for eight straight years we did perfect setups using this back alley rule.

epoxy resin is 100% saltwater resistant and has tons of marine applications in commercial and industrial. For example, those things that float in the ocean, boats.

i sealed the whole bottom, not the bulkhead.

looks like Amy went with a new tank, congrats!

Amy406 · Feb 17, 2023

Sorry guys I’ve been so busy trying to get a stock tank set up and now I’m just heartbroken because I lost so much, I lost all of my fish, but the two clown fish and I am waiting to see whether or not my Colorado is going to leave hospice or whether things are worse for it than I thought, everything‘s either dead or melted, I’m just in shock and speechless

Amy406 · Feb 17, 2023

Just have no idea what to say, in the short, four years that I’ve been doing this, it’s just never happened to me

brandon429 · Feb 17, 2023

I believe that is legit ammonia poisoning. ammonia happens in low surface area holding systems and acts on all the animals vs just one or two. so sorry, that's so hard to keep them alive in water with no filtration for ammonia backup

Amy406 · Feb 17, 2023

brandon429 said:
I believe that is legit ammonia poisoning. ammonia happens in low surface area holding systems and acts on all the animals vs just one or two. so sorry, that's so hard to keep them alive in water with no filtration for ammonia backup

Well, I was able to get the stock tank from my LRS and they checked my numbers and ammonia had spiked so incredibly high overnight, I’m hoping now that it’s had a complete water change and I’ll be doing water changes every day now that it will level out and everything that has survived. Will stay alive.

brandon429 · Feb 17, 2023

I'm checking with chemists in the chem forum to future ensure better holding fish emergency setups less likely to crash in case we see more of these events

It doesn't help those animals am aware but it will help drive studies that save future ones when reliable methods arrive, did the best we could given the timeframe

None of this killed your cycle bacteria if it's any help. The rocks can be cleaned and set back on clean sand for a continuance, no bottle bac no additives required

For example, any common pet store would have recommended you buy and use Prime to detox ammonia but the very thing the chemists discovered here is that prime doesn't remove ammonia its a sales gimmick and they're brainstorming currently what would best handle ammonia given your emergency timing and holding conditions for the fish
Use of prime would have still killed them, they're searching for better ways

Here's the thread

Does Prime actually "Detoxify" free ammonia, NH3?

Do these only bind ammonia for a short period of time? I do not know what happens to the aminomethanesulfonate that forms. It might eventually break down to release ammonia, or not.

www.reef2reef.com

brandon429 · Feb 17, 2023

Were the fish held with the rocks all together or separate in the tote/ no rocks

Amy406 · Feb 17, 2023

brandon429 said:
I'm checking with chemists in the chem forum to future ensure better holding fish emergency setups less likely to crash in case we see more of these events

It doesn't help those animals am aware but it will help drive studies that save future ones when reliable methods arrive, did the best we could given the timeframe

None of this killed your cycle bacteria if it's any help. The rocks can be cleaned and set back on clean sand for a continuance, no bottle bac no additives required

For example, any common pet store would have recommended you buy and use Prime to detox ammonia but the very thing the chemists discovered here is that prime doesn't remove ammonia its a sales gimmick and they're brainstorming currently what would best handle ammonia given your emergency timing and holding conditions for the fish
Use of prime would have still killed them, they're searching for better ways

Here's the thread

Does Prime actually "Detoxify" free ammonia, NH3?

Do these only bind ammonia for a short period of time? I do not know what happens to the aminomethanesulfonate that forms. It might eventually break down to release ammonia, or not.

www.reef2reef.com

I am keeping all that in mind. Well I’m going through this process. Wc, Wc,wc