Help appreciated.

[Zylumn]

My wife and I left friday night to go to our acreage for the weekend. We were called back saturday morning and among a huge list of damage we found someone had poured a 1/2 a bottle of port liqueur into my 30g fowler and 33 g reef. Both tanks are extremely cloudy and I have done 20% water change in each as that was all the salt water I had already made up and cleaned out the skimmers as they were going nuts and had a film on the inside. All my corals are closed in the 33 and the fish seem fine in the 30 but you can't see through the fowler tank as it is so cloudy. I am waiting for the r/o to make more water and have salt mixing in another pail right now and am doing water changes as soon as the salinity and temp are up. Any Suggestions????

Kevin

[digital-audiophile]

Who the hell would pour booze in your tank??

[AndyL]

Dont wait for RO - Mix up some temporary w/c water with tap water, start doing some big water changes... Make sure you're running fresh carbon, and if you've got some Prime - start dosing it at the recommended rates for neutralizing ammonia...

However the damage is already done - best you can do now is to try to keep down the ammonia spikes and keep everyone as comfortable as possible.

There's actually a fair bit of info out there on alcohol (vodka) in reefs, might be worth a read to see prognosis etc.

[marie]

:eek: All I can suggest is to do a large water change.
It is probably a bacterial bloom that is making the water cloudy and the skimmer go nuts (isn't that the theory behind dosing vodka?)

[findingnemo1]

Kevin

Let me know if you need anything at all. I can start my RO right now for you and pump out some water. I can also house some stuff if you want untill it gets worked out. Just let me know i can be over there to help in 10 min.
Pm'D you my number

[Zylumn]

There is approx 50 gal total volume each setup. My initial change was 10 g each. I noticed my fish were doing good not hyperventilating or acting strange. My reef now all my corals and clams are completely withdrawn so I have done an additional 20 g water change on it and thanks andyl I used 10 g of tap water. I have another 5g r/o nearly done and another 5g salt and temp nearly done. You can see the liqueur residue on the inside glass. I am going to try and wipe that out with paper towel.
kevin

[Delphinus]

I would put carbon on, indeed, forget about RO, tap water is fine.

Did someone break in and vandalize your place? I'm really sorry to hear this, good luck sorting it out. :neutral:

It's entirely possible that the film is bacterial. People actually do dose vodka into their reefs as it's a carbon source for bacteria to metabolize nitrates and phosphates, and it's a common occurence that if they overdose, that the bacteria forms a white film and the tanks are literally cloudy. But the usual prognosis is that it clears in a day or two and the nitrates and phosphates have disappeared. Soooo ... I've got my fingers crossed for you.

[Zylumn]

You can see through my fowler now but my fish are starting to stress with the water changes. I have a fluval 205 I am going to try and set up with carbon and wait a couple of hours on any more changes. When I wiped the inside glass it was like an out break of cyano. In my reef my feather dusters come out for a second to test and then close up again. I will continue water changes in the reef but will slow down. I dislike salt mixing in the tank so I will mix and heat again for 1 hour.
Thanks all for the help it has been a horrible day and I hope to possibly explain later.
Kevin

[AndyL]

On second thought...

Major issue besides the initial die-off from the overdose, is the bacterial bloom - and the resulting ammonia spike when it ends... May be worth considering dosing some vodka in order to prolong the bloom - and "weening" the system off the carbon, so the bloom doesn't have a mass die off - to reduce associated carbon spike...

[Delphinus]

You should try your hardest to match the temperature and salinities of the incoming and outgoing water, that will help ease your fish a little.

Also, fresh salt is quite caustic. Do let it mix before using it.

In an emergency, the best way to mix salt in a hurry is use a drill and a paint mixer attachment. This method of mixing salt oxygenates it or oxidizes it (or something - there's some in depth article about it you can read one day if you're interested, but for now don't worry about the theory). Anyhow with this method, mix for a couple minutes and then your water can be used right away. I don't know where you live but if you're in the south you're welcome to borrow one of mine, I have 2 that I use for just this purpose (emergency saltwater making) - they have never touched paint in their life.

[Delphinus]

I guess I sort of worded that poorly - technically even if you don't live in the south you're still welcome to borrow it - it's just that I live very far south and thus if you're in the north it will be a very long drive.

[Zylumn]

Thank you Tony I got a 203 not a fluval 205 up and running with zeo-carb in all 3 levels. I have changed 80% in the fowler and 100% in the reef. My nass snails are out now in the fowler but in the reef they are staying embedded in the sand.

To shed light on why there is booze in my tanks is my wife and I left for the weekend and our (no longer trusted 17 y/o) decided to have a few friends over. His party was crashed by a calgary gang of punks and a vehicle and our house was heavily damaged, as was our son received a total of 37 stitches and I thought this only happened in GVTA and GTA.

[Delphinus]

I hope he recovers well. Best of luck.

Man it's like kids needs to hire bouncers and rent-a-cops if they want to throw a party. The stories I hear are terrible! :(

[Van-rookie]

Kevin,

I know how you feel.
My nephew (who is staying with me) decided to have a "little" party with some friends while I was working last week. It ended up with me getting some bills for the 911 and dry cleaning the carpet in the lobby building.

And now he is already wondering around again with his friends :(
Have to send him back to his parents

[Zylumn]

He is fine, I think in shock still, but will have permanent reminders of this. Every room in our house has some sort of damage and we feel so violated. We need to stop these kids. But as I said to my wife we have a boy thats still walking and a house thats still standing , it could be worse.

I never noticed my tanks till later in the day as they were one of the first things I checked. But my lights had not come on yet and couldn't tell they were cloudy in the dark. So they have been polluted for about 14-16 hours. I will change out water at it is ready for the next few hours. My skimmers have been working like crazy. Each of them er 5-3 and er 6-3 have been filling up with watery skim you can't see through every 2 hours or so. I will keep you posted.
Kevin

[skylord]

A lot of small water changes can be very stressful....I think I would rather wait a little longer for salt to mix so I could do at least 25% or 50% changes, provided I could get the water warmed up fast enough.

Scott

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Kevin! This is TERRIBLE! Let me know if I can help with the tank in any way.

As well, I'm assuming you've pressed charges? I have plenty of experience charging $%#&-disturbing youth, as well...so just let me know if there's anything I can do. Good luck.

[midgetwaiter]

I had to deal with this once in a FOWLR, I just did a couple w/c and ran carbon for a week. It scuzzed up bad afterwards but everything came through ok. Stopped keeping the booze on the shelf over the tank after that.

I've heard a few nasty stories like this and it's awful, I can't understand what comes over these kids. It almost happened to a friend of mine about 15 years ago too, she was just lucky most of my rugby team was hanging out in the back yard at the time. I wasn't there but heard it was a bloodbath.

[Zylumn]

Well my fowler is so cloudy this morning that I can't see an inch into it. But my reef is doing excellent as the snails are now out and about and the water looks clear. My lights are not on yet but everything looks like it is tentatively opening. I lost 3 small Damsels in my reef but everything in the Fowler is still alive (I think). I am going to close down the fowler and put the fish in the reef. Any thoughts on this, could the move be harmful and what would be the best way to acclimate them.

Drew We don't have anyone as yet to press charges against. But I am close to getting the id of the kid that brought in the gang.
Kevin

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Kevin....if you haven't already, you should involve the police.

As for combining tanks....I'm not sure if it would cause everything more stress, or actually help. The cloudiness is getting worse in the FOWLR eh? *sigh* So not cool.

Again, let me/us know if I/we can help at all. I feel for ya, friend.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Time for a sw skimmate enema I think:twised:

That totally sucks man. Did you get the police in to fingerprint or anything so you have evidence later on?

Anthony

[Zylumn]

The police were involved as they were called and showed up that night. The problem is my neighbor called the police and made the report. They had to leave for a day and wont be back till late this afternoon and I forgot to get their police report. I have called down to the police station to get the names of the officers that came but was told they cannot give out that information. No finger prints were taken.

My lights should turn on in the reef in a few minutes so I will see if anything opens up fully.
Kevin

[Snappy]

Wow Kevin, that sucks. I'll help you with anything I can.

[Slipstream]

thats sucks.. too bad i live Central/Northern BC, otherwise i could offer help.

[Zylumn]

Thank You everyone. I have moved my fish to the reef tank and they seem to be fine. I fed them and they ate greedily.
Thanks again
Kevin

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Good to hear, Kevin. *phew*

[fishytime]

Aw Kevin...dude... why didnt you call me bud?...I havent been on the site much lately and didnt read this til now. I am so sorry. Let me know if there is ANYthing I can help with at this point.