Toxic tank

[Cmarez93]

Hello, i’m having trouble with my acrylic QT tank. It had a dwarf angel in it for a month with copper before it jumped out. I then drained the tank and had it empty for about two weeks. I cleaned it with hot tap water and let it dry until I used it for the next group of fish. About a week ago I picked up a flameback angel and it’s looked like it was going great. But my the morning it was dead. I figured something was funky with my water so I drained it and soaked the tank in bleach. Rinsed and soaked with Prime. Set it up again checked parameters, ammonia was zero and salinity was perfect. Had a order of yellow tangs arrive. Drip acclimated and put them in. Looked great that afternoon, but by lunch the next day they were also dead. I have no idea what is causing this, the water is from my RO unit that goes to my other QR tanks with no adverse affect.

 

[RobZilla04]

Assuming the tank is bare bottom certainly the culprit has to be the water or tank acrylic. I'd try cleaning with vinegar & water, refilling, double checking salinity, then let it sit for a week. Get an ICP or ATI analysis done before placing anything else back into it. That should help determine what might be causing the death.

 

[MnFish1]

Depending on the amount of chlorine you bleached it with - you may have needed to use more prime. Also - the ammonia being zero when you put the tangs in doesnt mean that 5 hours later the ammonia wasn't high (depending on how many tangs/what size the tangs were - and what size/flow, etc he tank has). Did you use one of those 'ammonia badges' that are recommended for QT to monitor it continuously? Did you test the other things - pH, Alk, etc - was the temp the same? It seems hard to think of a 'toxin' that would have appeared in an acrylic after its been used - unless is 1) something in the water youre using to mix your salt, 2) something in the salt you're using 3) Ammonia from too many fish in a non-cycled tank 4) Chlorine from the bleach. 5) some other parameter that was off 6) a rapid case of velvet brought on by the stress of shipping (or another problem with shipping)

 

[Cmarez93]

Depending on the amount of chlorine you bleached it with - you may have needed to use more prime. Also - the ammonia being zero when you put the tangs in doesnt mean that 5 hours later the ammonia wasn't high (depending on how many tangs/what size the tangs were - and what size/flow, etc he tank has). Did you use one of those 'ammonia badges' that are recommended for QT to monitor it continuously? Did you test the other things - pH, Alk, etc - was the temp the same? It seems hard to think of a 'toxin' that would have appeared in an acrylic after its been used - unless is 1) something in the water youre using to mix your salt, 2) something in the salt you're using 3) Ammonia from too many fish in a non-cycled tank 4) Chlorine from the bleach. 5) some other parameter that was off 6) a rapid case of velvet brought on by the stress of shipping (or another problem with shipping)

I think I found my issue. I used a low splash bleach. A bit of searching the web says this is a no-no. Anyone know how to remove the residue with this type of bleach?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Never use hot water for any tank as it will soften seals. Acrylic is pourous and can retain bleach and any other compounds/chemicals. When using bleach or vinegar= Cold water rinse which neutralizes both bleach and ammonia. Rinse until you cant smell it anymore

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So it wasn’t rinsing out?


A fwiw , set all things cleaned in bleach out in the sun to dry.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-2120053.html

 

[HB AL]

I would do exacttly as saltyfilmfolks said with the bleach used, let it sit out in the sun, maybe for a week or so.