Nooo.. look what the tank maitenence guy did!!

[NinaStarr]

I'm helping a friend who recently bought a house with a 240gal inwall tank, upgrade it.

They have a maintenance guy who works at a lfs and cleans the glass & does water changes. Last week we drained the tank, added a sump and overflow, and called the maintenance guy to fill the tank back up.

The maintenance guy literally took the hose from outside and filled up the tank and then mixed in the saltwater. I was not there to see this, but I would have stopped it if I saw it. What is this going to do to the tank? Is there anything I should do besides a lot of PWC's? Please help! TIA.

 

[roka64]

That can be bad indeed. Are they on city water? If so, I would use something like dechlor to get the chlorine out. I am not sure on the exact product, since I am on well water.
Did you drain the whole tank? If so, you may need to recycle the tank. Personally I like to premix my water for at least 24 hours as the salt mix is cuastic. I run a ph and heater in my mixing bucket.
I would keep up on testing the parameters and do appropriate PWCs, as needed.

 

[Innovator]

First off, is there anything in the tank or was everything removed in order to complete the work beforehand?

 

[NinaStarr]

Roka & Innovator, yes they are on city water... and Southern California city water. we are in the middle of a "water emergency" where reserves of water are low so know knows what is coming out of the hose right now.

Yes the whole tank was drained so we could drill the bottom and add the overflow. I forgot to mention the tank has NO livestock in it... just cycling live rock & sand.

Im scared of having a cyano/HA outbreak in the long run... should I just refill with a mix of salt & ro/di?

 

[melosu58]

If there was nothing in the tank then I would add some Prime water conditioner that will help remove any chlorine or chloramines or ammonia. I`m assuming there was nothing in the tank.I personally would not have filled the tank up with tap water but since it already is then add the prime and cycle the tank. Might want to find another LFS guy. There is nothing wrong with mixing salt with water as long as nothing is in the tank. Make sure the next couple days you check the salinity out before you cycle the tank.

 

[Innovator]

I agree in that no harm other than adding a dechlorinator and finding a more reliable person for maintenance. As a side note, I used to live in OC and used tap for my reefs without any algae outbreaks and minimal filtration. You can call up your water provider and ask for a full water quality report...

 

[austinsdad]

Since you gotta cycle the tank anyway, add rock, sand, etc, and do large water changes anyway I wouldn't be worried at all for now. Check the hose water for the readings on your test kit (include phosphate), and maybe total dissolved solids (TDS meter if available). Still, IMO you have a ways to go before you start adding RO/DI or otherwise filtered water.

 

[KurtsReef]

I would drain it all if not most of it, the chlorine is a problem but even worse are the heavy metals and other problem items found in the tap water. If it were at least filtered water leaving it in to cycle would not sound like such a bad idea too me.