Did I nuke my tank? Phosban Cloud of Death?

[thomasvision]

Sigh.... So I just installed a new Phosban reactor to our new 150 Gallon tank yesterday evening. As the directions stated I gently rinsed the media. However in hindsight I should have ran it into a bucket until it cleared. After installation of the phos reactor I checked it and the media was not rapidly tumbling so I thought we were fine. An hour later our tank looked like.. Well our daughter said it best a BIG ARNOLD PALMER!!!

We just started the tank so we have no fish in it yet but we have about 7 Coral frags (SPS) and a carpet anemone and a bubble tip anemone. So do any of you think everything is going to die now. I would try to take the rocks out with the anemones on them and place them in our 30 g frag tank but I can't see anything in the tank.

I have posted pics below of our 150 gallon Ice Tea tank and its Tea Bag filtration system. Please try not to laugh to hard at our expense :-)





Needed to add this ---I know I seem like a newbie but I have been in the hobby for 3 years now (I know some people have been in 20 or more). So I am not an expert but I know a few things. So I guess I should have given back story but I just wanted to know if the Phosban would kill my corals an anemones. I just took down a 93Gallon Reef three weeks ago. I have all of my filtration in the closet behind the 93 gallon (and now the 150). We kept all of the water, live rock, and sand about 130 gallons (when you include the sump and refugium) from the 93 gallon tank and put it into our new 150 gallon tank. So all we had to add was about 50 gallons or new RO water. So the tank is cycled we have the 93 gallon tank for a year. And just to make sure there was no changes or increases in Nitrates and nitrites etc.. We put the anemones in our 30 gallon frag tank while I tested the system everyday for 2 weeks. So this tank is cycled. I never used a phosphate reactor before so this is a first for me in my 3 years of the hobby. It was a noob move not letting it run in a bucket before I unleashed it in my tank.

[Dragon moray ki]

That sucks never had that problem have no idea why it would do that sorry though.

[Dragon moray ki]

What brand media are you using cheap media can do that sometimes.

[thomasvision]

Using PhosBan by two little fishes. Didn't seem cheap. I am just hoping all my corals and anemones won't die. I am thinking of doing a 80% water change of the display tank on Friday. I will leave all the original water from the sump and the refugium. Or maybe I should drain it and take everything out and start over with 100% new water?

P.S just seen someone started an EPIC FAIL thread on here I guess this should be on it :-(

[FishNFun]

Do big water change, run a filter sock (100 micron if you got it - you'll need more than one) and probably some carbon wouldn't hurt (rinse it WELL). Make sure you have good flow going in the tank to keep the crap from settling on everything before you can filter it out. If you can get your hands on a diatom filter that would help filter the particles out too.

On a different topic, the general guideline for anemones is to wait 6 months to a year before adding them to a tank. The tank needs to be very established an mature for long term success with nems. Good luck!

[89Foxbody]

2 anemones in a brand new tank...not good. You should do more research before adding any more life to that tank. Anyways, carbon and filter socks, and a big water change like was recommended above should help clear it. Prognosis is not good however....If you can get it cleared up quickly you might not have too many losses.

[brad65ford]

+1 time to run some filters what every you got, HOB / Canister filter floss and carbon.

[thomasvision]

FishnFun, Thanks for the reply!

I know I seem like a newbie but I have been in the hobby for 3 years now (I know some people have been in 20 or more). So I am not an expert but I know a few things. So I guess I should have given back story but I just wanted to know if the Phosban would kill my corals an anemones. I just took down a 93Gallon Reef three weeks ago. I have all of my filtration in the closet behind the 93 gallon (and now the 150). We kept all of the water, live rock, and sand about 130 gallons (when you include the sump and refugium) from the 93 gallon tank and put it into our new 150 gallon tank. So all we had to add was about 50 gallons or new RO water. So the tank is cycled we have the 93 gallon tank for a year. And just to make sure there was no changes or increases in Nitrates and nitrites etc.. We put the anemones in our 30 gallon frag tank while I tested the system everyday for 2 weeks. So this tank is cycled.

[89Foxbody]

It's not so much the cycle as the instability of new tanks. Even though you used a large amount of stuff from your previous tank, there is still instability involved in any new setup. Anyway, I don't think the phosban itself will kill your livestock, but they certainly won't be able to photosynthesize in water like that.

[thomasvision]

89 thanks for the reply. I appreciate your opinion on the cycle subject and while my opinion and test results differ I won't get into a debate over that. As soon as I can start seeing in the tank I am just going to take everything out (Corals and Anemones) and put them in the 30 gallon Frag tank. I am also debating if I should buy a canister filter like one of you suggested to help speed the process. I hope the anemones are ok. This sucks...

[sporto0]

Don't be so hard on yourself, it may not be a total disaster just yet, if you have a spare HOB Aquaclear or any mechanical filter, now would be a good time to employ it & rinse out the sponges every few hours, 3 years experience is enough for you to be able to save your tank. I am curious if your reactor has sponges in it to catch a lot of that sediment or did you forget to put them in, because honestly that looks like the phosban ran straight into your tank?

[thomasvision]

Sporto. I forgot to mention that. Yes when I checked my tank an hour later after I installed the phos reactor about 50% of the media was gone. I did not use a bag or sponges, so yes it all ran into my tank like the running of the bulls. My tank was so pretty too... The Phos Reactor slammed dunked on me and hung on the rim for good measure lol.

[sporto0]

Hang in there bro, I doubt it will be toxic, but certainly your inhabitants can't be too happy, worse things could have happened though, once the cloud starts to dissapate things will start to look up for you. I would try & employ another mechanical filter if you can, it will help you tremedously until the water column has cleared. Good luck to you, keep us posted.

[stoneyj33]

Did you follow the recommended dosage of phosban for your sized tank? I usually use just 1/4 of the recommended amount.

[thomasvision]

Everyone else thanks for all of your responses and advice!

Sporto,

I am going to take your advice. I just got a few buckets and filled them about half way with RO water. I am going to stay up late tonight and about every three hours I am going to rinse out all of my filtration. I added Mechanical like you said in about four different areas of my tank. One sock coming from the overflow to the Sump. 3 stages coming from the refugium (Carbon, Mechanical, and a poly Filter). I also just used a regular water filter that I never used and filled it with Carbon and Mech filtration and made a diy filter with an old pump. Will check back in tomorrow night with a new pic. Hopefully this will work.

If all else fails I will drain the tank tomorrow... Thanks again guys!

[sporto0]

Fantastic!

[kga943]

that suck hope everything turns out ok post more pics

[dublo8]

Pull the media out of the reactor if you haven't done so already and go buy a bag of filter floss. Stuff the TLF reactor full of it and run that baby wide open. it will clear it pretty quickly. Hope things work out for you. GL

[Reef264]

I mean look on the bright side bud, the PO4 is on the down low!

[convict3]

In my first tank i added 5bags of unrinsed live sand that turned the water to milk. What helped me was adding a normal water sadiment filter to a canister filter and all the fine sand was trapt.
About $20 at home depote

[thomasvision]

Update - 12:21AM. Changed filters out twice did not see any progress of tank clearing. Had F5 Massive Temper Tantrum drained tank half way took all coral out then drained the rest of main tank 100%...


Had another rage spike and said to myself "might as well drain the whole sump and 20% of refugium and start over. Ran out of RO water oh well grabbed the hose from outside (we do have an RO but it ran out so grabbed the hose and added some go old phosphate water to my tank; our house does have a filtration system though for metals etc...)

OK this is a pic of my tank after I drained main tank (didn't drain overflow), sump, and refugium. Also washed out all filters.


Yep, still serving arnold palmers....

[Erik72]

I had the same thing happen this week. I threw on a filter sock (had to change it out several times), ran carbon, skimmer running, did a 30% water change and it cleared up pretty quickly.

[dianezoo]

hang in there, i'd still run floss in any and all mechanical filters you have to help trap the stuff, also you can pull the floss and rinse it and put it back to hep keep up and dilute your brew. Temper tantrums come with the hobby when stuff like this occurrs we all get it. I flapped my arms runnng around my place when I dumped amaretto coffee creamer in my 90 gal by mistake. Everything survived after massive water changes. Hope all goes well for you.

[aleonn]

How many cups of GFO did you use? I think the cloudiness of the tank won't be much of a problem at this time. However, I think a quick drop of the phosphate level *might* cause RTN of the more sensitive corals. I like dublo8's idea of pulling out the rest of the GFO from the reactor for this reason. I think the BTA should be fine, but my understanding is that carpet anemones are quite sensitive to water parameters.

Once you get the water cleared up via carbon, filter floss, water changes, and wet skimming (you can do a water change by skimming wet), you might want to check your alkalinity, as GFO can drop alk as well.

Having said all this, I've done worse with my 180 gallon tank, and all fish, corals, and inverts survived.

[Wannabe29]

LOL...this just happened to a guy near me. Something happened with his BRS reactor and blew most of the GFO into the tank. You're going to have to clean every surface you can to get the stuff out. That means skimmers, sump, and any drain/return lines that you can. That stuff seems to settle out onto everything. So, if you want to truly remove it, you'll have to clean, clean, clean. Otherwise, everytime you do a water change and turn your pumps back on, you're likely to release some residual GFO back into the water and get at least some initial clouding.

Hate to say it but, you might have to take the rock out, swish it really well in a bucket of clean salt water and then put it all in a separate holding tub with heat and flow until you get all of your equipment clean. Otherwise, you might be left with a bunch of GFO trapped in your rocks. That stuff could continue to come out into the water with changes in current (like from water changes) and cause clouding as well. You could acieve the same thing over time by doing a massive initial cleaning while leaving the rocks in the tank, then blowing the rocks off with a powerhead with each subsequent water change. It might take a while doing it that way, though.