Rookie Mistake

[jjh302]

I made a true rookie mistake today and I hope somebody else learns from it. It started because today I had to rehome my 9" Blue Hippo Tang and my 6" Tomini Tang. They were sold to me with my tank setup and after doing my research I found that hippo tangs need much larger than my 92 gallon corner tank in order to be happy. In order to catch them I had to remove 100 pounds of live rock. Well I got them and did some weekly tank maintenance. With those gone I was given a flame angel and a yellow eye tang in trade. I asked the kid at my lfs while I was there, if since I disturbed my ecosystem so much today, if it would be smart of me to use Stress Coat to help my fish and critters with all of the stressful day. (Kinda like how us humans take a shot or two after a stressful day at work!) if course he said "sure, couldn't hurt". So I read the bottle and sure enough it says for saltwater also. Great! So I put in the recommended amount via the return side of the sump. Bad idea. Now my protien skimmer is over flowing like crazy and won't stop! The drain side of my sump is filled with foam and bubbles even though I have had it unplugged for 20 minutes now. Crap! I wonder how long this will last? Has anyone else run into this situation?

 

[jjh302]

Any idea how to fix this?

 

[Rutrag]

Water changes is about it. The aloe in that stuff is like adding soap when it comes to the protein skimmer. Also, monitor your nitrates. IMO, Stress Coat is 50% over priced chlorine remover and 50% snake oil. Unless you dumped a lot in there, it won't really hurt anything in the long run. Just keep emptying the skimmer cup.

 

[jjh302]

Ok since I obviously need to do a major water change, will it harm anything if I grab 20 gallons of distilled water an mix it up and use it almost immediately?

 

[Rutrag]

It depends on how the water was distilled, which is difficult if not impossible to ascertain. Sometimes it's distilled with copper tubing which could cause a problem for invertebrates. Regardless, make sure your salt is completely dissolved before adding the new saltwater to the tank.

 

[jjh302]

Ah crap here I thought store bought distilled water was all the same. Lol. I currently don't have a TDS meter. Is it worth taking a gamble on?

 

[Rutrag]

Is it distilled or out of one of those machines? The machines are typically RO water, not distilled. Regardless, I'd invest in a pen-style TDS meter. You can probably find one for about $20. Sometimes the places (grocery or LFS) where you can buy RO or RODI water don't change their filters as often as they should and they will start producing less than pure water.

 

[jjh302]

Well I have been using one gallon jugs of distilled water costing me about 25 bucks a week. The grocery store does have a water machine that is much cheaper but I didn't know if it was ok to use or not so I haven't. this is the gallon jug label

this is the water machine label.

 

[trnewsom]

The water machine is better.