I need help please!!

[kmc08ups]

So my friend used the wrong silicone in my sump he built and now my tank is poisoned.. almost all my fish died.. I have the remaining two in a tub with a heater and a hydor blower.. with fresh salt water.. I am gonna drain the tank. throughly clean the sand. Tear my sump apart and build with aquarium safe silicone but what do I used to clean my tank and skimmer and equipment etc.. i heard vinegar but I have no idea what to use.. please help me on what I should do. PLEASE THIS SUCKS!!!

[bertoni]

So the silicone contained an antifungal? If so, I'd run a bunch of carbon and do water changes. The tank should be fine after the poison clears the system. Vinegar would be safe if you are going to tear the system down.

[Chris27]

Vinegar is good, 50/50 mix should do the trick. When tearing down your sump, use acetone to clean where the silicone was. When the tank is back up and running, use activated carbon as a precautionary measure to remove anything that may have been left behind.

[kmc08ups]

I'm pretty new to this hobby so how do I get the carbon in there?? Use on of those black carbon pads in my sump??

[bertoni]

Generally, carbon is useful only if it's in a canister filter, a reactor, or some other device that forces water through it.

[kmc08ups]

I dont have a canister or reactor. Could i put some carbon in a media bag and set it in my sump when i set the tank back up??

[bertoni]

People use that approach, but I don't think it works. I'd just skip the carbon and keep up the water changes.

[Chiefsurfer]

I would run out and buy yourself an AquaClear powerfilter at you LFS. You can probably go small, and if you can, try and upgrade the impeller to force more water through(some impellers are the same size, and just more blades to improve flow, but some are different diameters, which will not work) Then throw a bag of carbon in there. One should come with the filter. Do not add anything else that comes with it.

[kmc08ups]

Would it work to put carbon in a filter bag and sit it in my 1200GPH overflow??

[Michael]

even in a bag it will still absorb chemicals, not as effective as a canister or a reactor but imo certainely better than nothing at all.

[Flying_Hellfish]

Should he also be concerned with the remaining fish in fresh SW in a tub? I would be nervous about ammonia build up. I'm guessing this may depend on the amount of time that it will take to rebuild the sump but I would hate to see the saved fish go south as well.

[kmc08ups]

I actually lost the remaining fish but I tore the sump apart today and scraped all silicone out and used dap aquarium silicone and cleaned everyuthing with vinegar then hot water so its now curing.. gonna drain the tank here ina bit and rinse the sand throughly.

[bertoni]

I'm sorry to hear about the fish.

Putting carbon into the overflow might work, as long as water is being force through it. I worry about the bag plugging up, though, which could get messy. I had similar problems when I tried using a BakPak to run carbon. Sigh.

[kmc08ups]

Yeah it really sucks.. I have another question.. When I fill the tank back up should I use all RODI water from my LFS or should I use tap from my house and about how long should I let the tank cycle.. I wanna get everything right this time since I am getting a fresh start.. and I have bulkheads on my over flow so I dont see it getting clogged up at all.

[bertoni]

I stopped using tap water altogether a while back, and won't be using it again.

Are you reusing old live rock, or new live rock, or some other sort of filtration?

[kmc08ups]

Im gonna use the live rock I had in the tank.. I dont think it was affected by this whole mishap and if it filters for a while in my tank is should be okay. I have about 80-90 pounds.

[Chiefsurfer]

they can absorb some things, like phosphates, but likely you will be fine. Just run carbon while cycling as a double-safety. This can be done with a powerfilter as I said earlier.

[Chris27]

You'll be a much happier Reefer if you use RO/DI from the start - made the tap water mistake myself a few years back and it still makes me mad. FWIW there are just too many unknowns in tap water - better safe then sorry.

[kmc08ups]

Thanks man, I just wish I could get it somewhere other then the pet store I go to which is like 15 mins away..

[Chris27]

You have any fellow reefers close by - I was once bribed with beer by my neighbor for 50 Gals of FW for a water change in their 125 Gallon cichlid tank

[kmc08ups]

nice lol. I wish i could find someone who lives close by.. I do have a friend who has a 120 FOWLR and a 92 gal corner reef but he only does water changed every three months or so and he juss did one the other day so yeah out of luck haha

[Chiefsurfer]

If you can afford it, buy yourself a unit for your house. Should be all set with unit, storage containers, salt mix, everything for about 250.

[Chris27]

Originally Posted by Chiefsurfer

If you can afford it, buy yourself a unit for your house. Should be all set with unit, storage containers, salt mix, everything for about 250.

Not only do you save money on water and stress on you back, you save money not going to the fish store every few days. I don't know about you folks, but while I'm there I might as well buy something else since I'm already there....can't just leave with only water...

[travis32]

The other thing is, I wouldn't put anything else living in there for a few weeks after it gets back up and running. Not sure how you're keeping the live rock "alive" while rebuilding and getting water, but, I wouldn't be comfortable restocking the tank until it's had time to "recycle".

[kmc08ups]

Well i cant really purchase a ro unit and hook it into my water line being as i live in an apartment but i would love to have one of those and yeah I'm gonna take the restocking process as if it was a completely new set up..