IS THERE ANYONE AS STUPID AS ME?

[Bubba002]

So to be clear. You soaked your rocks in bleach. THEN - you added vinegar to those rocks? or your Tank? or what? I assume 'out in the woods' meant you made a mistake rather than doing it 'out in the woods' lol...

1. Its good you didn't kill yourself if you did it inside. (Mixing bleach and vinegar creates potentially lethal chlorine gas. If you notice a pungent smell after mixing household cleaners, you should immediately leave the area and try to breathe in fresh air.)
2. Rinse everything VERY thoroughly. (the bubbles are probably chlorine).
3. You can add a very high concentration of a Chlorine neutralizer - change the water - and do it again. you can also get a chlorine tester.
4. Rinse and Rinse and Rinse. And you should be good to go - the problem here is the bleach - not the vinegar. And - you certainly will have nothing living on your rocks or tank

Hope this helps

Should I buy another new bag of live sand and mix it with the other three I just added

 

[Reefahholic]

Rocks were outside soaking in bleach. Tank inside with vinegar and rinsing and rinsing rinsing never would I put rocks, bleach and vinegar together

One time I used bleach and vinegar together IN MY 1 bedroom APARTMENT for hours in a 220/G. My throat was burning a bit. LOL. It was like boiling a pot full of jalapeño peppers. Yep…super smart!

Later on I found out that those two combined make a toxic Chlorine gas.

 

[Reefahholic]

Should I buy another new bag of live sand and mix it with the other three I just added

Let’s recap really quick. There’s some confusion as to what you really did.

The rock was cleaned with ——-?
The sand was cleaned with ———?
The tank was cleaned with ——-?

 

[hikermike]

Chlorine gas is NOT ok. It is highly irritating to the lungs and can cause permanent damage particullary if you're not young and a perfect specimen.

 

[Reefahholic]

Chlorine gas is NOT ok. It is highly irritating to the lungs and can cause permanent damage particullary if you're not young and a perfect specimen.

Yeah, exactly.

 

[Susan Edwards]

cleaning vinegar is just white vinegar that is stronger than what we use in our food which I think is 5%? I use it all the time. Esp. on a old tank I want to clean or on powerhead soaks etc.. Takes care of coraline fast.

 

[blaxsun]

cleaning vinegar is just white vinegar that is stronger than what we use in our food which I think is 5%? I use it all the time. Esp. on a old tank I want to clean or on powerhead soaks etc.. Takes care of coraline fast.

Just don’t add bleach, lol.

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

This is the most confusing but mildly entertaining thread ive ever read

 

[blaxsun]

This is the most confusing but mildly entertaining thread ive ever read

Envious that only corals can conduct chemical warfare? Now you can too!

 

[Susan Edwards]

Just don’t add bleach, lol.

lol's. No bleach anywhere near my tank!! Only a bit with filter socks in laundry

 

[blaxsun]

lol's. No bleach anywhere near my tank!! Only a bit with filter socks in laundry

We switched to oxyclean so I don’t inadvertently become next year’s Darwin Award recipient.

 

[Susan Edwards]

We switched to oxyclean so I don’t inadvertently become next year’s Darwin Award recipient.

might try that. I hate having to rinse 3 or 4 times to be sure all bleach is out

 

[blaxsun]

might try that. I hate having to rinse 3 or 4 times to be sure all bleach is out

We do two cycles: first very hot/sanitize with oxyclean, the second normal with a capful of Seachem prime in the rinse cycle. They don’t come out as white as with bleach, but they’re just as clean and we never have to worry about any bleach or chlorine remnants.

 

[Susan Edwards]

what a great idea!!

We do two cycles: first very hot/sanitize with oxyclean, the second normal with a capful of Seachem prime in the rinse cycle. They don’t come out as white as with bleach, but they’re just as clean and we never have to worry about any bleach or chlorine remnants.

 

[ApoIsland]

Cleaned tank totally out rocks soaking in Clorox sand somewhere out in woods and I used CLEANING VINEGAR…….God knows it was a mistake picked up several bottles not noticing one was cleaning. Bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles. Tried sprinkling with table salt……. Now I have 69 lb. live sand 4 cured rocks and bubbles. Does anyone know what I should do ? No, not a nube, 17 years in this and don’t intend to let a beautifully clean tank covered with bubbles Stop me, just need some wisdom here. And will the table salt and bubbles hurt my live sand?

I’ll to translate this:

You cleaned the tank out a few days ago which consisted of 4 rocks and 69lbs of live sand.

The rocks have been soaking in bleach. The sand has been soaking in vinegar and is full of bubbles because the vinegar is dissolving the organic matter in the once live sand.

You now have 4 bleach soaked rocks and 69lbs of vinegar soaked dead sand and want to know how to proceed.

If that is the correct translationhere is how to proceed:

Rinse both the rocks and sand very well with the hose. You want to get all that dead decaying waste out of the sand and want to get as much bleach out of the rocks as possible.

The sand can go back in the tank immediately after rinsing well.

After rinsing the bleached rocks you should give them a good soak in fresh water and then let them completely dry out so the bleach evaporates. Give them a good soaking again just to be safe and then add back to the tank.

Everything is now dead so you will need to start over with a long cycle. I would get a few pieces of live rock and a scoop of live sand from someone to kickstart that cycle.

hope that helps

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

I’ll to translate this:

You cleaned the tank out a few days ago which consisted of 4 rocks and 69lbs of live sand.

The rocks have been soaking in bleach. The sand has been soaking in vinegar and is full of bubbles because the vinegar is dissolving the organic matter in the once live sand.

You now have 4 bleach soaked rocks and 69lbs of vinegar soaked dead sand and want to know how to proceed.

If that is the correct translationhere is how to proceed:

Rinse both the rocks and sand very well with the hose. You want to get all that dead decaying waste out of the sand and want to get as much bleach out of the rocks as possible.

The sand can go back in the tank immediately after rinsing well.

After rinsing the bleached rocks you should give them a good soak in fresh water and then let them completely dry out so the bleach evaporates. Give them a good soaking again just to be safe and then add back to the tank.

Everything is now dead so you will need to start over with a long cycle. I would get a few pieces of live rock and a scoop of live sand from someone to kickstart that cycle.

hope that helps

I should have skipped to this post. Dead on, assuming i am no longer confused.

 

[attiland]

I’ll to translate this:

You cleaned the tank out a few days ago which consisted of 4 rocks and 69lbs of live sand.

The rocks have been soaking in bleach. The sand has been soaking in vinegar and is full of bubbles because the vinegar is dissolving the organic matter in the once live sand.

You now have 4 bleach soaked rocks and 69lbs of vinegar soaked dead sand and want to know how to proceed.

If that is the correct translationhere is how to proceed:

Rinse both the rocks and sand very well with the hose. You want to get all that dead decaying waste out of the sand and want to get as much bleach out of the rocks as possible.

The sand can go back in the tank immediately after rinsing well.

After rinsing the bleached rocks you should give them a good soak in fresh water and then let them completely dry out so the bleach evaporates. Give them a good soaking again just to be safe and then add back to the tank.

Everything is now dead so you will need to start over with a long cycle. I would get a few pieces of live rock and a scoop of live sand from someone to kickstart that cycle.

hope that helps

Yep. Not much more to add. Fresh start with dead ingredients

 

[MnFish1]

Thank you for your kind reply. Husband is going to use power washer on rocks after the come out of baking soda bath.

did not clean the tank with the live sand in it. Cleaned tank totally empty did 3 rinses added new live sand after rinsing. That’s when the bubbles started.. live rock is still outside waiting to be power washed

What kind of water did you use? If it was tap water - it could just be nitrogen.

 

[MnFish1]

I should have skipped to this post. Dead on, assuming i am no longer confused.

Unfortunately he translated it wrong - they did not add vinegar to the live sand only to the tank. They rinsed the tank - and added the sand - then added water - and there were then bubbles.

 

[MnFish1]

I’ll to translate this:

You cleaned the tank out a few days ago which consisted of 4 rocks and 69lbs of live sand.

The rocks have been soaking in bleach. The sand has been soaking in vinegar and is full of bubbles because the vinegar is dissolving the organic matter in the once live sand.

You now have 4 bleach soaked rocks and 69lbs of vinegar soaked dead sand and want to know how to proceed.

If that is the correct translationhere is how to proceed:

Rinse both the rocks and sand very well with the hose. You want to get all that dead decaying waste out of the sand and want to get as much bleach out of the rocks as possible.

The sand can go back in the tank immediately after rinsing well.

After rinsing the bleached rocks you should give them a good soak in fresh water and then let them completely dry out so the bleach evaporates. Give them a good soaking again just to be safe and then add back to the tank.

Everything is now dead so you will need to start over with a long cycle. I would get a few pieces of live rock and a scoop of live sand from someone to kickstart that cycle.

hope that helps

This isn't correct. The sand didn't soak in vinegar. The tank was cleaned with vinegar. The sand was rinsed. The tank was rinsed - the sand was put in the tank, water was added. Bubbles formed.