Chemiclean Nuked tank!

[twilliard]

I think you may be thinking along the lines of Co2. That would be best answered by a chemist the relation between O2 and Co2 in conjunction with Ph.

 

[Knapp870]

Co2 lowers pH and dissolved o2 increases. PH never dropped below 8.1

 

[Knapp870]

In any case I ran an air pump and the overflow the entire time so I wouldn't have thought oxygen dropped too low

 

[Brew12]

I'm finding 3 main theories on why this can cause a tank crash.

1) Loss of oxygen.
2) Ammonia due to rapidly killing more life than bacteria can instantly handle.
3) Killing a bacteria/organism that releases a toxin in the water.

I can't find any instance where someone actually came up with a more concrete solution. It does seem like this problem occurs much more commonly in well established tanks.

 

[twilliard]

you can have a reduction of O2 and still maintain a desired Ph level

 

[Knapp870]

you can have a reduction of O2 and still maintain a desired Ph level

I just find it hard to believe with an overflow and air pump oxygen depletes so low to have drastic impact on sps in less than 24 hrs and all fish remain fine....

 

[Reeferdood]

Also,
If the skimmer isn't going crazy something else is wrong... The skimmer should be pumping a ton of micro bubbles at this point.

 

[Brew12]

and all fish remain fine

I missed this... most of the cases I have been looking through have also had major fish die offs. You may have caught it early because the typical chain looks like inverts - corals - fish.

 

[Knapp870]

Saw my emerald, snails, hermits and fire shrimp this morning. All fish act fine

 

[Knapp870]

Also,
If the skimmer isn't going crazy something else is wrong... The skimmer should be pumping a ton of micro bubbles at this point.

I attributed lack of skimmer action to the 35 gallons of water changed to date

 

[Bob Escher]

I have always looked at it but reading about chemi clean gives me enough scare to not use it even if I needed it I will always look for a alternative first before I use chemicals

 

[twilliard]

Through all my testing with chemiclean all I can say is we can not blame the product but we all must have a clear idea on how fast our tanks can be depleted of O2. People who have gone through power outages knows well of this but chemiclean can do the same only 10X faster.
Sorry for your tank and hope it pulls through quickly.

 

[Knapp870]

Through all my testing with chemiclean all I can say is we can not blame the product but we all must have a clear idea on how fast our tanks can be depleted of O2. People who have gone through power outages knows well of this but chemiclean can do the same only 10X faster.
Sorry for your tank and hope it pulls through quickly.

I've had day or more long outages no issues. I continue to find it hard to believe a coral utilizes oxygen at a higher level than a fish. SPS are bleached white but fish are fine and hopefully LPS and softies just mad. I disagree with your causation but thanks.

 

[kashman100]

Did you account for rock/sand displacement when figuring how much chemiclean to use?

 

[Knapp870]

Did you account for rock/sand displacement when figuring how much chemiclean to use?

I thought I did but who knows for certain? 8 scoops into a 75 gallon with 30 gallon sump with sand and rock. My hypothesis is the dosage was too high or shelf life had expired or...idk. If dosage was too high it blows my mind that the line between success and disaster is so fine. It's not like I used teaspoons of the stuff on accident. The tank in current form has been up for years and some parts of it carried forward from various tanks over the course of 10 years.

 

[aaron23]

thats a real shame. i've used this before many years ago with no problems best of luck

 

[Knapp870]

thats a real shame. i've used this before many years ago with no problems best of luck

So did I

 

[Knapp870]

I'm going to hold out hope on anything that has any color left. I've rehabbed worse things in the past. Would just be nice to figure out a fairly certain root cause for others.

 

[Knapp870]

FYI I was able to dig this up. Hopefully it is ok to link.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2453082

 

[Brew12]

\I thought I did but who knows for certain? 8 scoops into a 75 gallon with 30 gallon sump with sand and rock. My hypothesis is the dosage was too high or shelf life had expired or...idk. If dosage was too high it blows my mind that the line between success and disaster is so fine. It's not like I used teaspoons of the stuff on accident. The tank in current form has been up for years and some parts of it carried forward from various tanks over the course of 10 years.

I've still been digging (I'm a research junky) and still nothing definitive. I have found cases where people doubled the recommended dose and got good results.

I'm leaning toward two separate causes with 2 separate symptoms. The first is O2 deprivation however this seems to also take out the fish. In every case I have come across where individuals should have had good O2 (skimmer or airstone) they either have Zoa's or don't mention specific coral types. Wide variety in the loss of tank life but SPS's always go first.

Makes me think that this may stress some forms of Zoa's and cause them to release a toxin in the water. Maybe depending on the type of Zoa the poisons would impact other corals/fish differently?