Tank sitter added city tap water...

Saltydrip · 02/09/2015, 06:44 PM

So a while back I had a fire in the restaurant below my apartment.. Moved everything out that day and didn't loss anything thanks to amazing friends. Well they have been tank sitting with my reef at their place for a while now and I noticed 3 weeks ago when I braught RODI over for the ATO that things didn't look as brilliant as usual but things were still looking good, figured it was nothing to worry about. I hoped for the best and left them with an extra five gallons of RODI because I wouldn't be able to get there the following weekend because I was insanely busy with work. As it turns out... They have been running the wood stove overtime and for the last month. My truly wonderful sweet friend has been adding tap water to the ATO when it gets low, to help me out... I guess some algae started to die and caused a crash. Fish are okay but it was bad enough to kill off all my corals that were still in the tank. That's about 15 really nice colonies of a mixed variety. When she asked what was wrong with the corals and explained trying to help keep up with the ATO I asured her I had no idea what could have caused the problem but I'll do some water changes and try to clear things up. If I would have told her the truth she would have been devastated. Oh well...

mcgyvr · 02/09/2015, 06:55 PM

All depends on whats in the tap water... More than likely tap will just cause an algae problem.. I doubt that would have caused a crash/algae to die off.. But anything is possible..

Could have been a PH drop from the stove.. or plenty of other things..
Sounds like luck is not on your side man.. sorry

fredro · 02/09/2015, 07:03 PM

Wow! So sorry to hear that! That's devastating. People mean well, but with a hobby so sensitive, if something gets messed up and causes a problem, I would want it to be my fault, not someone else's, or I would be so increadibly frustrated. Good luck getting everything back going! There are a lot of great people out there in this hobby (some crappy ones too) and I'm sure there are some local people that would be willing to make some donations to your tank. Heck, if you're anywhere near long island, if be willing to hook u up with a few pieces to get you back going. GL!

Saltydrip · 02/09/2015, 07:05 PM

At this point I'm just shrugging it off.. Hopefully I'll be adding water to my cube soon and just starting from scratch. I'll be trading in my tangs for some corals now.

Our water is totally packed with chlorine and chloramine. We are about 2 miles from the treatment facility that supplies all of Chester and most of philly. Chems are crazy strong here.

Saltydrip · 02/09/2015, 07:08 PM

Thanks for the offer.

My LFS that I get along with really well offered me some good discounts. I was in last night getting salt. He asked why I needed 2 buckets.... Explained I'm starting over... 35g brute is filling as a stock tank and the glass will hopefully be going in my 40B for the dump this weekend and then fire up the new system.

GroceryGetterS4 · 02/10/2015, 10:50 AM

Did you tell her she shouldn't use tap water, or that she should only use RO water?

PhaneSoul · 02/10/2015, 10:57 AM

that sucks.. she probably didn't even know to add prime in either, I think it was the chems that did it in, not the algae... I bet we have all learned a lesson.. if your going to have someone reefsit its best to leave a list of detailed instructions and tell them to give a friendly call if they decide they wanna do something on their own

02/09/2015, 06:44 PM	#1
Saltydrip Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 1,826	Tank sitter added city tap water... So a while back I had a fire in the restaurant below my apartment.. Moved everything out that day and didn't loss anything thanks to amazing friends. Well they have been tank sitting with my reef at their place for a while now and I noticed 3 weeks ago when I braught RODI over for the ATO that things didn't look as brilliant as usual but things were still looking good, figured it was nothing to worry about. I hoped for the best and left them with an extra five gallons of RODI because I wouldn't be able to get there the following weekend because I was insanely busy with work. As it turns out... They have been running the wood stove overtime and for the last month. My truly wonderful sweet friend has been adding tap water to the ATO when it gets low, to help me out... I guess some algae started to die and caused a crash. Fish are okay but it was bad enough to kill off all my corals that were still in the tank. That's about 15 really nice colonies of a mixed variety. When she asked what was wrong with the corals and explained trying to help keep up with the ATO I asured her I had no idea what could have caused the problem but I'll do some water changes and try to clear things up. If I would have told her the truth she would have been devastated. Oh well... __________________ Current tank 48" 75g DT w/ 55g sump/fuge.

02/09/2015, 07:05 PM	#4
Saltydrip Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 1,826	At this point I'm just shrugging it off.. Hopefully I'll be adding water to my cube soon and just starting from scratch. I'll be trading in my tangs for some corals now. Our water is totally packed with chlorine and chloramine. We are about 2 miles from the treatment facility that supplies all of Chester and most of philly. Chems are crazy strong here. __________________ Current tank 48" 75g DT w/ 55g sump/fuge.

02/09/2015, 07:08 PM	#5
Saltydrip Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 1,826	Thanks for the offer. My LFS that I get along with really well offered me some good discounts. I was in last night getting salt. He asked why I needed 2 buckets.... Explained I'm starting over... 35g brute is filling as a stock tank and the glass will hopefully be going in my 40B for the dump this weekend and then fire up the new system. __________________ Current tank 48" 75g DT w/ 55g sump/fuge.

02/09/2015, 06:55 PM	#2
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	All depends on whats in the tap water... More than likely tap will just cause an algae problem.. I doubt that would have caused a crash/algae to die off.. But anything is possible.. Could have been a PH drop from the stove.. or plenty of other things.. Sounds like luck is not on your side man.. sorry

02/09/2015, 07:03 PM	#3
fredro Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: East Coast Posts: 299	Wow! So sorry to hear that! That's devastating. People mean well, but with a hobby so sensitive, if something gets messed up and causes a problem, I would want it to be my fault, not someone else's, or I would be so increadibly frustrated. Good luck getting everything back going! There are a lot of great people out there in this hobby (some crappy ones too) and I'm sure there are some local people that would be willing to make some donations to your tank. Heck, if you're anywhere near long island, if be willing to hook u up with a few pieces to get you back going. GL!

02/10/2015, 10:50 AM	#6
GroceryGetterS4 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: North Carolina Posts: 111	Did you tell her she shouldn't use tap water, or that she should only use RO water?

02/10/2015, 10:57 AM	#7
PhaneSoul Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 949	that sucks.. she probably didn't even know to add prime in either, I think it was the chems that did it in, not the algae... I bet we have all learned a lesson.. if your going to have someone reefsit its best to leave a list of detailed instructions and tell them to give a friendly call if they decide they wanna do something on their own