Help! Massive Amount Of Food Dumped In My Tank.

RYOUNVS

RYOUNVS

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Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Location
Kerwood, Ontario
So I am away all week. My wife calls me and tells me that my son dumped an entire container of NLS pellet food in my tank. She didn't notice for an hour, so by the time she saw it was all dissolved and now the water is INCREDIBLY foggy.

Suggestions? I have already did a 25% water change; all of the RODI water I had prepared. I have my RODI running and will do another 25% water change tomorrow. Is this my only course of action?
 
averhoog

averhoog

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Mar 26, 2014
Location
Lucan, Ontario
I would get air stone in there and get more air and try to change as much water as can also I have 30 gallons ready to go if you want it but your like and hour away
 
RYOUNVS

RYOUNVS

Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Location
Kerwood, Ontario
averhoog said:
I would get air stone in there and get more air and try to change as much water as can also I have 30 gallons ready to go if you want it but your like and hour away
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Thanks, I really appreciate the offer. Everything in the tank looks fine. The fish are swimming around fine, all of my corals and my clam looks good. Looks like I'll need to wait for the RODI to do its thing. The skimmer is running, but it isn't picking out any more than it normally does.
 
SamB

SamB

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Aug 9, 2015
Location
GTA
Do you have any HOB or canister filters that you can temporarily run on the tank ? If so, crank them up for 24 hours and stuff them with filter floss
Water changes are good too so continue doing those over the next week
 
theyangman

theyangman

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May 22, 2013
Location
London, Ontario
I would do smaller water changes everyday for the next few days in a row. No need to go absolutely nuts after the first big one. 10% changes everyday for like 3 or 4 days will help. Keep an eye on your parameters, and test daily now to make sure everything is going down properly.

NLS tends to dissolve into the water so the only thing you can really do is water changes, to help swap out some of the water.
 
scubasteve

scubasteve

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May 4, 2014
Location
Cambridge, Ontario
algae is the least of your worries gotta clean that crap up quick id filter floss an hob asap and throw a fine sock in your sump and if you have a large media bag fill it with carbon and throw it near your return to help trap nitrates and such and definately get an airstone the airbubbles help rise the particles to the surface to be overflowed into floss
 
theyangman

theyangman

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May 22, 2013
Location
London, Ontario
scubasteve said:
algae is the least of your worries gotta clean that crap up quick id filter floss an hob asap and throw a fine sock in your sump and if you have a large media bag fill it with carbon and throw it near your return to help trap nitrates and such and definately get an airstone the airbubbles help rise the particles to the surface to be overflowed into floss
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A bag of carbon will not reduce nitrates. Carbon dosing lowers them but these are two completely different things.

Carbon that is either in a bag or fluidized is meant for the removal of organics, mainly we use it to increase water clarity and reduce the fish tank smell. Not much more than that to be honest.

NLS is designed to dissolve into the water so mechanical filtration at this point is almost impossible I would say. Stick to water changes and stay the course. You'll be fine.
 
scubasteve

scubasteve

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May 4, 2014
Location
Cambridge, Ontario
its the fine pourus ability if you read up about it its used for ammonia and nitrate removal in industry and is one of thebest for removing any kind of pollutants and besides yangman dissolved food is organics
 
theyangman

theyangman

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May 22, 2013
Location
London, Ontario
I have never read a single article in all of my reefing days about using activated carbon as a way to remove nitrates efficiently. (Or amonia for that matter)

And yes, dissolved food it but in an emergency situation like this we are looking at cleaning his water the fastest and safest way possible. At best, carbon binds the organics inside of itself and it doesn't allow them to it to break down further which would add to a nitrate issue, but it does not directly reduce nitrates.

That being said, do you care to post an article in specific regards to our tanks, where carbon is used to export nitrates? As far as I have always understood, carbon mainly was good for removing tannins and phenols. (color and smell) I guess we can always see what other chime in with as well.
 
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