In the middle of a meltdown - What else should i do?

[A;exr54]

Its bad!
And its because of a stupid mistake i made aboru 3-4 weeks ago late one night.
Long story short - i dumped in pure boric acid powder by mistake thinking it salt. I only noticed the screw up a few seconds too late.

Well established 125g tank +50g refugium. Been running for over 10 years.
Everything was really healthy.
TBH i was actually having a problem with RBTA's trying to take over the tank. I've been selling them off for super cheap to local hobbyists, but the more i get rid of the more it would split.

Now it looks like i'll be lucky if any RBTA's survive. I have already had large die off. A nice old maxxima has died.
Fish all look fine. Nothing died yet and they still look healthy.
Only corals that seem completely unphased are 2 toadstools. Which is surprising since a finger leather and a green kenya tree both look to be suffering badly. Some zoas are still opening up and still show nice coloration. Ricordias are all bleaching.

Levels are wacky and this is what i am not sure of, what steps to take next.
My PH is reading really high 8.5 to 8.66.

My Alkalinity is off the charts last i checked. 20DKh or above. I have turned off all dosing.
In the last 2 days i've done two 15g water changes. The change water was tested at 7.4DKh Alk.

Im unable to run any tests with the trident because everything is out of range except for magnesium (1250), but even if one reading is out of range they all fail with the trident.
Last i checked calcium was 200ppm which is also the lowest reading the hanna tester can go, but this was before the last water change.

Because of the die off which includes snails, shrimps.. My phosphate was reading at 2ppm. I started running a phosban reactor and got it down now to 0.07ppm.
Nitrates have been steady at about 20ppm.

Do you think i should continue with water changes? Or slow down with them?
Anything else recommended?
I have a ozone generator running, should i turn it off?
Should i stop the phosban reactor?

At this point my goal is to get the levels at least in range of the trident tests.
I also have a trident NP which is testing fine.
I have an Octo Elite 200int skimmer which is still doing its job good.

Salinity is at 35/1.026
Water temp is 76-77 degrees. Never fluctuates more than that.

 

[Jekyl]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[dwest]

I would do as large of a water change possible.

 

[JohnCol]

I probably would had took drastic measures and did a 100% water change.

Heck I got a new auto feeder. Tested it 20 times on the table put it on the tank hit the button to start it's program feed schedule. And it's like half the bottle you say. Right in the tank.

I netted what I could making water as I type to do a large water change and try to vacuum out what don't get picked up into the socks.

 

[ScottJ]

Large water changes seem reasonable to me.

 

[A;exr54]

Large water changes seem reasonable to me.

I dont want to shock any of the fish.

 

[A;exr54]

I probably would had took drastic measures and did a 100% water change.

Heck I got a new auto feeder. Tested it 20 times on the table put it on the tank hit the button to start it's program feed schedule. And it's like half the bottle you say. Right in the tank.

I netted what I could making water as I type to do a large water change and try to vacuum out what don't get picked up into the socks.

Doing a large change like that would trigger a cycle would it not? I would rather not unnecessarily harm any of the fish at the same time.

 

[A;exr54]

Do you think doing 15g water changes every day for about a week would be ok?
Or would that possibly trigger a cycle and harm the fish and whatever i have left?

 

[braaap]

Do you think doing 15g water changes every day for about a week would be ok?
Or would that possibly trigger a cycle and harm the fish and whatever i have left?

Changing water isn’t going to trigger a cycle. Your bacteria isn’t in the water column. It’s in the rock and sand. Do multiple 100% water changes.

 

[JohnCol]

Doing a large water change shouldn't cause a cycle. If anything it would be a mini cycle and a bottle of nytrifing bacteria would help with that. Versus the effects of boric acid and it's effects on salt itself.

I'm not a scientist by any means. But I believe your readings are so high because the salt structure itself has been changed.

If at this stage it's whipping out a tank very least large 50% back to back, a day to a few days apart.

 

[A;exr54]

Changing water isn’t going to trigger a cycle. Your bacteria isn’t in the water column. It’s in the rock and sand. Do multiple 100% water changes.

Thanks. I'll do as many as i can if thats the case.
I am limited as to the amount i can change at a time because all the water i use i source locally from a marine bio lab. I haven't mixed water in forever and dont even have the tools to do it.
I typically go there with three 5g water containers because thats all that will fit in my car.

 

[crazyfishmom]

Doing 15g water changes daily should not trigger a cycle. Bacterial populations multiply quickly. Most of the bacteria are on your rock. Watch your nutrients to make sure you don’t deplete with all the after changes but otherwise they’re just best bet to get you down to a reasonable ranges

 

[Reefering1]

Changing water won't effect the cycle. I'm no chemist(don't know what boric acid consists of or its effects) but if I accidentally poison my tank, I would want to get it out as fast as possible. Like making yourself throw up- might be un comfortable but should make things better faster. What do you have for corals? Fish are easy, match temp/salinity and change it all. Some corals won't like this

 

[JohnCol]

It really shouldn't affect your nutrients. Yeah your nitrate and phos might drop to 0 for a few days. But that's better than high readings on other things.

And in like a weeks time they will be back to normal water change levels on there own.

All other needed elements and nutrients are in the salt used.

 

[A;exr54]

Thanks all. I have a good idea of what to do now.
Thanks!

 

[Silly clownfish]

15g water changes will take forever to correct levels in 175 g system. If you are not willing to set up an RO filter and make your own water, I would at least invest in a brute container to do larger changes, preferably 50%. Honestly an RO filter is a better investment than a Trident that won’t give you results if one parameter is out of range.

And yes stop dosing if your change water is at levels you like.

 

[A;exr54]

15g water changes will take forever to correct levels in 175 g system. If you are not willing to set up an RO filter and make your own water, I would at least invest in a brute container to do larger changes, preferably 50%. Honestly an RO filter is a better investment than a Trident that won’t give you results if one parameter is out of range.

And yes stop dosing if your change water is at levels you like.

I did stop dosing. I was wondering if i should stop the ozone generator and/or phosban reactor?
I already do have a 5 stage RODI that i use for all my top off water. Its fully automated, without a reservoir.

I have a 55g drum im going to fill up with RODI water tonight and will do a 55g+15g change tomorrow.
The RODI only does 90GPD, so its going to take a while.
I typically only use it for auto top off. Never once have i ran it for a water change like this.

Btw the trident has been great for me for years. Which is why i ended up getting the trident np.
But yep, when levels are out of range it is useless. Its great when you are keeping things steady.

 

[cooltowncorals]

Doing a large change like that would trigger a cycle would it not? I would rather not unnecessarily harm any of the fish at the same time.

Read the sand rinse thread your rocks hold all bacteria needed I would empty fish and surging things into totes or barrels empty tank completely remove sand, clean, put in new sand (rinsed if you have time) then put in all new water and rinse rocks in mixed new water as you put everything back in tank

Lots of people have done this either moving thier tanks or trying to clean them out

Some people call it a rip clean on here

I moved a 180 into a 300 using 80 percent new water and all new sand and a huge bioload with no problems

 

[A;exr54]

Read the sand rinse thread your rocks hold all bacteria needed I would empty fish and surging things into totes or barrels empty tank completely remove sand, clean, put in new sand (rinsed if you have time) then put in all new water and rinse rocks in mixed new water as you put everything back in tank

Lots of people have done this either moving thier tanks or trying to clean them out

Some people call it a rip clean on here

I moved a 180 into a 300 using 80 percent new water and all new sand and a huge bioload with no problems

Thanks!
Im an old head and still have some of the old stuff buried in my head. But this is why i ask, i never pretend to know it all.
Everyone has been super helpful and not judging me for my stupid mistake.
Believe me, i am already beating myself up over it more than anyone else ever could.

If anyone is wondering how someone could do such a dumb thing...
This is what happened;
I ordered a bag of salt mix a few days before i ordered a 10lb bag of boric acid powder to use as an exterminating solution for my backyard area.

I live in FL. My dogs poop around the pool, which is in a 2 story screened enclosure.

My kids have a daily chore to clean up after the dogs but sometimes some gets missed and the HUGE roaches, waterbugs, or whatever they are called come out at night there like its disney world for them with an all you can eat dog poop buffet.

I also have a summer kitchen there with a grill and sink. They can easily go through the sink plumbing into the house kitchen sink.
The boric acid powder is my insect solution - and it works amazingly well. Just add a bit of sugar to the boric acid powder, spread it around crevices and around the outside of the enclosure - and wala the backyard area is totally free of roaches and other nasty insects like that. I am always very careful not to spread any to where my dogs can get to.

The day this happened my wife mentions to me briefly (while i'm working - i wfh full time in IT) "hey looks like the salt you ordered came in"
Then at around 2am in zombie mode, i grab the "salt" to dump some in the refugium, salt was a bit low because of a new DOS-QD mis-calibration for auto water changes.
And you know the rest. It wasn't the salt.
I blame no one but myself.

All that said. Im doing at least a 70g water change tomorrow. I have only one 55g drum, plus three 5g water containers. Im using what i have. The drum is already in the process of being filled with RODI, ill let it go overnight. Based on calculations it should take about 14 1/2 hours to fill with the 90GPD RODI. So i set it on a timer for 13 hours to be safe.
I am surely going to wince at this months water bill.

If i see no improvements to parameters after at least 2 attempts at this. I will have no choice but to do a rip clean.

On the bright side, maybe anemones wont rule my tank after this and i can finally keep some sps.
It would suck if any fish died tho, i have some that i have had for 15+ years. And removing them is not an option without first removing all 200lbs of live rock. Impossible to catch otherwise.

 

[A;exr54]

Did a 70g water change. Got the Alk down to a readable level 16DKh.

Few anemones left do seem to look a bit better.
But i need to get it down more. So plan on doing another large water change like this in a few days.