Tank Broke, trying to save the reef!

[TwiTch18]

So my neighbour's tank broke this morning and he called me to salvage what I could. His tank was probably 55-75 gallons without the sump and had a bunch of coral, a clownfish, and a cowfish. (His hardwood floor was messed up real bad and he's wanted it all gone for a while prior to the leak).

Only currently having a nano, I wasn't sure what to do, but couldn't let all his beautiful coral and fish die. I set up another nano I had laying around but this will require a fish and coral in cycle... However, I did add live beneficial bacteria and rocks that were just In my neighbor's tank. Hopefully that helps.

After getting the correct temp and salinity I added the recently dipped corals. They began opening up right away (not bad considering they were in a dirty garbage bin for 4+hours). But my alkalinity is very high, like 25+ from what I tested (probably all the tab water from the countryside). I'll do my best to change water with RO daily until it's lowered. Not much else I can do. Ph is around 7.6-8.0 currently.

It's a small tank but it's what I have until I can repair the large tank (probably like 2 weeks from now). I'm slightly worried about the cowfish being in my nano and being waaay to small, but again, better than a pale I suppose. In this next photo the cowfish is in the bottom right of the tank. I've named it Cheddar.

But do you have any advice how I can deal with this and have minimal losses? Unfortunately, I don't have any stores close that would babysit anything for me. I know it's a longshot but I had to at least try. All the advice and help is much appreciated.
Cheers,
J.S

 

[Gtinnel]

It shouldn’t really go through a traditional cycle because you transferred live rock to the tank. I would be most concerned about using tap water and the alkalinity, but I get that you did what you had to in an emergency. With the nano being a temporary solution I wouldn’t worry about the fish being too big for the tank, it’s not much different than some quarantine tanks.

Good for you for trying to save the animals for a tank that wasn’t even yours.

 

[Cell]

Scrapping the sand would be highly recommended, but it looks like you already transferred and everything is ok?

 

[dadnjesse]

Looks like you did all you could. Good luck

 

[TwiTch18]

Looks like you did all you could. Good luck

Thanks!

It shouldn’t really go through a traditional cycle because you transferred live rock to the tank. I would be most concerned about using tap water and the alkalinity, but I get that you did what you had to in an emergency. With the nano being a temporary solution I wouldn’t worry about the fish being too big for the tank, it’s not much different than some quarantine tanks.

Good for you for trying to save the animals for a tank that wasn’t even yours.

Thanks for the reply! I appreciate the encouragement :')
The tank was slightly cloudy today but it reduced a bit after a 25% water change using RO water and better reef salt. I'll continue this for a few more days until the Alk is lowered. Poor clownfish has to suffer through it for now.

 

[TwiTch18]

Scrapping the sand would be highly recommended, but it looks like you already transferred and everything is ok?

Sand was removed but I kept what rocks I could. Is there any particular reason it was good to scrap the sand?
I did it just to avoid the hassle. Looking back it might helped buffer the Alk but I'm not really sure.

 

[ChiCity]

But my alkalinity is very high, like 25+ from what I tested (probably all the tab water from the countryside). I'll do my best to change water with RO daily until it's lowered.

if your alk is really that high
(and you used tap water) i highly suggest running and grabbing some distilled water and mixing up new salt water…
i’m guessing you don’t have a rodi?
so stuff distilled water will work in a pinch.