Windex, how bad?

[Triggreef]

Short story I came home to catch kids running around spraying Windex (original regular) glass cleaner all over basically making a slip and slide out of my second floor while my wife was taking a shower. Happens to be that this floor is level with the top of my tank which has railings behind it so it's all open behind the tank. Closest I saw the spray is about 10 feet away from where the tank is but who knows. 300g total system.

Didn't notice any access bubbles or anything like that figured I was good. I changed 30g anyway and changed fresh carbon. I run a while reactor full at a time been running that much for last 3 years of so. Next day all my acros have no polyps. Everything was great previously I check over my system on a daily basis very close. Following this, Tracy Morgan gorgonian closed up tight. Never seen this coral pull polyps in for more than 10 minutes. All stylos pulling in polyps as well. 2 different colors of hydnophora all sucked in tight. Sat, Sunday, no changes.

I tried adding some triton detox Saturday as I had issues with heavy metals in the past however I've been sending tests regular and those issues have been long gone. I did a very small dose of the detox but not enough time to wait the 3 days before adding carbon so I let it mix as much as possible and kept carbon going. Added a second reactor with more carbon this morning. As of right now, no changes aside from stylos looking slightly better.

All other lps and zoas seem fine through all this. This is from Friday.

This from today.

And some other lps zoas doing just fine.

@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Triggreef]

Oh btw very stable parameters for the last year. Alk 7.8 (that did dip to about 7.4 a month ago as I got some extra growth I did not compensate for). CA always 410 to 440, mg around 1240 usually. I tested ammonia due to this and it is zero. No3 about 4ppm almost always, po4 around .1 which is way down from where I always kept it with no issues. Some of these acros are 3 years old in my own tank and survived a tank crash a year ago. Red planet, that pic is a frag of mommy, sarmentosa, Hawkins, slimer, blueberry muffin, all those were fine through that other crash. Never looked this bad.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Wow that's to bad.. I would think your skimmer would be going nuts if windex got in your tank, my kids are in there 30's now so hopefully I don't have to worry about that kinda stuff anymore lol but when they where young I had more than one close call.. When I wasn't looking my daughter loved to climb up on things so she could reach my canopy and dump huge amounts of food into my reef :mad: she was always a good little helper when doing water changes though Good Luck!

 

[Triggreef]

Wow that's to bad.. I would think your skimmer would be going nuts if windex got in your tank, my kids are in there 30's now so hopefully I don't have to worry about that kinda stuff anymore lol but when they where young I had more than one close call.. When I wasn't looking my daughter loved to climb up on things so she could reach my canopy and dump huge amounts of food into my reef :mad: she was always a good little helper when doing water changes though Good Luck!

No skimmer I've never run one on this tank. I have a ton of splashing going on where the water drains to the sump. So I would think if some actually got in I would see some foam and it's running normal.

My kids are 2.5 and 4 so eveytime I hear them pulling something across the floor I think stool... tank... what are they dumping in...? But they usually are just trying to get to the snack cabinet. Lol.

I tried moving an acro frag to my kids tank. Not sure if it can sustain an acro but I guess I'll find out. Other corals are doing fine in there. But I have high alk issues in his tank I can't figure out so it's a 4dkh jump to put them in there.

I can also move them to my qt but I'm not crazy about that idea since there are un treated fish currently residing there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I cannot tell how much ammonia is in it, but the issues might be that or it might be the various surfactants in it. There are several and they may certainly irritate delicate membranes.

Carbon is definitely a good choice for the surfactants, especially if you do not have a skimmer. In this case, a skimmer might have made it worse initially by sucking in a lot more of the Windex from the air. Other organic binders like Purigen might also be useful.

I doubt the Triton Detox will help.

One time I had an emergency (can't even recall what it was, since it was years ago), I just scattered GAC across the bottom of the sump to try to rapidly bind up organics from the water. My sump is deep enough that it didn't get caught up by the return pump.

 

[Triggreef]

I cannot tell how much ammonia is in it, but the issues might be that or it might be the various surfactants in it. There are several and they may certainly irritate delicate membranes.

Carbon is definitely a good choice for the surfactants, especially if you do not have a skimmer. In this case, a skimmer might have made it worse initially by sucking in a lot more of the Windex from the air. Other organic binders like Purigen might also be useful.

I doubt the Triton Detox will help.

One time I had an emergency (can't even recall what it was, since it was years ago), I just scattered GAC across the bottom of the sump to try to rapidly bind up organics from the water. My sump is deep enough that it didn't get caught up by the return pump.

I'm in full fledged panic now. It's worse today. Could this be a reaction to using too much carbon too fast?

Idk what to do here I'm debating setting up a spare 75g with new water to house the coral but it would be a gigantic project.

Or I can use the 75 to make water and try a 100g water change.

Luckily my make up water is very close to the parameters I keep. So aside from being dry for a couple minutes it shouldn't be too stressful for the corals.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How much GAC and what brand?

 

[Triggreef]

How much GAC and what brand?

The day of the Windex spraying I had done my regular gac change. 2 little fishes reactor with about 3/4 full. I use marineland I know your not a fan of the brand. Been changing out about that amount every 3 to 4 weeks for as long as I can remember.

The yesterday or the day before I added another reactor set up the same. Can't get purigen local but I got a poly filter I'm about to throw in. And a 3rd reactor I'm going to add gfo right now.

Trying to prepare for a hundred gallon water change but I have to work at 4pm so I don't think I can do it tonight. That's a large process. I've never done that much before.

 

[Triggreef]

Current status... Acros turned that discussing shade of brown that comes just prior to rtn. Look at my poor pearl berry. Started from a half inch nub just under a year ago.

 

[Triggreef]

While most of the other corals seem fine.

 

[GobyApparatus]

I have purigen. Want to throw some in my frag tank and see if we can save them?

 

[Triggreef]

I have purigen. Want to throw some in my frag tank and see if we can save them?

I appreciate the offer Jeromy. I wouldn't want to put your stuff at risk though. Having crashed last year, I saw first hand sometimes once tissue necrosis set in, it can just keep moving through a system one after another as far as acros are concerned.

I may come by tomorrow for the purigen though. I meant to check for that yesterday actually.

 

[Triggreef]

I'm probably going to move a few colonies tomorrow if I get the ca and alk matched in another tank I have. I'm thinking if I move half of them I'll be happy if either half makes it.

 

[Cory]

Have you added ammonia remover? Like seachem prime?

 

[Triggreef]

Have you added ammonia remover? Like seachem prime?

I tested ammonia first and a couple times after and there is none. I also added a poly pad which would remove ammonia but it's not indicating ammonia. It's turning light tan which it says indicates organics. I guess that's a good thing.


I just found that my qt is actually very close in parameters aside from ca being slightly lower. The no3 is 1or2 ppm and po4 is .02 so I added a powerhead to that tank and I'm going to move what I can into there for now.

Only problem with that plan is I have to move the fish out first. So I'm going to bag them, then move corals to the qt, then complete the big water change, use some of that water to start up a new qt for those fish, and hopefully then drive out to grab some purigen to run as well. And hopefully make it to work after that. Lol this sucks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How's it looking today?

 

[Triggreef]

How's it looking today?

No better but no stn yet. My candy canes are shriveling up though. Never seen that before. About to begin the mission I outlined above.

 

[Mike in CT]

Good luck Dave......for the most part my kids have been good around my tank, besides playing in the sump once when I forgot to lock it. My kids like to spray and clean stuff like the windows once in a while, so I leave spray bottles with water and a little vinegar in them just in case they get crazy around the tank.

 

[Triggreef]

A little glimmer of hope... a few hours after moving the acros some were showing some polyps.

In my main tank after doing such a big water change I had a ton of corals exposed from removing so much water. I actually had enough pumps laying around to complete a 90g change in just under 16 minutes. But even that fast and splashing them with water I had a ton of mucus afterwards. They did not like it. We'll see if they liked it tomorrow I guess.

 

[Reef Able]

Oh man...sorry to hear this but I am impressed how u r holding yourself up. Stay strong and hope it works out for u. I know how u feel I got 2 boys too but they have been good citizens so far around my tank. It could be something else other than windex...I guess it's a wait game...good luck.