Woke up to some bad stuff

[skierbri10]

Apparently, someone on my household took it upon themselves to screw with my tank. They threw in 2 huge chunks of fish for my new anemone. He didn’t eat them of course because they were too big. So I go to take them out and the disintegrated in the tank. Also they decided to move my rocks around because the anemone wasn’t getting light. Causing the water to be cloudy from the sand. I have two clownfish and a bubble tip anemone and I’m worried all of this is going to cause spikes in the water and other things. I give my fish and anemone 50/50 shot at survival. Anything I can do? I have some saltwater available but I need to heat it up so I can’t do the water change right now until it heats up. Will be a few hours if lucky. So ticked.

 

[Not an IT guy]

Water volume :
Skimmer:
Filtration:

that’s the information needed to give you an answer.

 

[skierbri10]

41 gallons
No skimmer
Using a canister at the moment.

 

[LuizW13]

Chances are, you probably don't have much to worry about. I don't suspect the cloudy water from sand/detritus particles are going to cause any harm; it'll probably clear up soon enough, if it hasn't already.

As far as the food goes, get some new saltwater ready. If you need to change some water, you have it handy.

 

[skierbri10]

Chances are, you probably don't have much to worry about. I don't suspect the cloudy water from sand/detritus particles are going to cause any harm; it's probably clear up soon enough, if it hasn't already.

As far as the food goes, get some new saltwater ready. If you need to change some water, you have it handy.

I have some saltwater but it isn’t heated yet. I have to wait for that. Do t think putting in water that’s 64 degrees would be very good.

 

[waterbox15aio]

Plan to do water changes for next few days. Debris in the water column isn’t the problem, its when that debris deteriorates and creates ammonia. Clean any mechanical filter pads every couple days to remove trapped debris before it breaks down and pollutes the water.

 

[waterbox15aio]

I have some saltwater but it isn’t heated yet. I have to wait for that. Do t think putting in water that’s 64 degrees would be very good.

Be patient and heat the water first. Cloudy water does not necessarily mean dirty water though high organics in the water will break down over time if not removed.

 

[skierbri10]

Plan to do water changes for next few days. Debris in the water column isn’t the problem, its when that debris deteriorates and creates ammonia. Clean any mechanical filter pads every couple days to remove trapped debris before it breaks down and pollutes the water.

How big of water changes? It’s a 41 gallon tank by volume. With the filter. I have enough right now to do 10 gallons, but my ro won’t produce 10 more for 4 hours.

 

[waterbox15aio]

How big of water changes? It’s a 41 gallon tank by volume. With the filter. I have enough right now to do 10 gallons, but my ro won’t produce 10 more for 4 hours

25% is 10g which is fine. I generally don’t like doing much more than that at once. Get the 10g up to temp and ensure salt is well mixed and at correct salinity. Clean mech filter pads and do w/c then make more water for another w/c tomorrow.

 

[skierbri10]

25% is 10g which is fine. I generally don’t like doing much more than that at once. Get the 10g up to temp and ensure salt is well mixed and at correct salinity. Clean mech filter pads and do w/c then make more water for another w/c tomorrow.

Thank you! Hoping for the best.

 

[waterbox15aio]

Thank you! Hoping for the best.

imo your tank should be fine, just do some w/c and don’t overreact and do anything rash or overkill which could stress fish/corals even further.

 

[tharbin]

I agree with all the advice waterbox15aio gave you. Also, anemones and clownfish are remarkably resilient.

 

[LuizW13]

I have some saltwater but it isn’t heated yet. I have to wait for that. Do t think putting in water that’s 64 degrees would be very good.

So, this is probably not optimal, but I never heat up my new saltwater for water changes. It's usually too small of water volume to make much of difference in the overall temperature of the system.

But since you have time, i'm saying this because there's no need to panic or rush right now, heat it up first.

 

[tharbin]

Heat the water, dropping the temperature would just make things worse. You do not need to, and should not, hurry. Hurrying only makes bad things worse in a reef tank.

 

[Jedi1199]

I have some saltwater but it isn’t heated yet. I have to wait for that. Do t think putting in water that’s 64 degrees would be very good.

Is your water already mixed? If not, take out a gallon and bring it to a boil on the stove and dump it back in. Simple hack for quick water. Do NOT put 10g of water that cold into your tank.


Edit: Dump the boiling water back with the COLD water in your holding container... NOT into the tank... lol

Edit 2: You can do the same thing with saltwater but be sure to double check your salinity before adding it to the tank. You may raise the salinity a bit due to evaporation during the boiling time.

 

[tharbin]

Is your water already mixed? If not, take out a gallon and bring it to a boil on the stove and dump it back in. Simple hack for quick water. Do NOT put 10g of water that cold into your tank.


Edit: Dump the boiling water back with the COLD water in your holding container... NOT into the tank... lol

GREAT edit...

 

[skierbri10]

My water is mixed already and almost up to temp. Usually I do small 5 gallon water changes and when I do that I don’t bother with heating. I also put the water in slowly and away from fish and anemone.

 

[tharbin]

My water is mixed already and almost up to temp. Usually I do small 5 gallon water changes and when I do that I don’t bother with heating. I also put the water in slowly and away from fish and anemone.

I know it is more work but it is really better to warm the new water up to tank temperature before adding. In fact it is best to verify the salinity at tank temp. Even though most salinity checkers have temperature compensation it is still better to know that the salinity reads the same between your new mix and tank when they are at the same temperature. You normally do water changes of around 12%, a 10 degree difference could lower the temp in your tank up to a degree. Not huge but why stress stuff, besides it is easier and cheaper to heat 5 gallons than 41 gallons.

 

[Jedi1199]

GREAT edit...

HAHA! Would be just my luck that someone would read my post, dump 9 gallons of cold water into their tank and then a gallon of boiling water on top, then blame ME for nuking their tank... lol

 

[skierbri10]

I know it is more work but it is really better to warm the new water up to tank temperature before adding. In fact it is best to verify the salinity at tank temp. Even though most salinity checkers have temperature compensation it is still better to know that the salinity reads the same between your new mix and tank when they are at the same temperature. You normally do water changes of around 12%, a 10 degree difference could lower the temp in your tank up to a degree. Not huge but why stress stuff, besides it is easier and cheaper to heat 5 gallons than 41 gallons.

Agree. Now I’m looking for a tank of some sort around 20 gallons that I can have premixed at temp saltwater. Haven’t found any yet. Not really want a brute even though it would work. Want something I can put a valve on and is ready for water.