Got Milk? The aftermath (with pics)

[TheOtherGuy]

So I am cleaning my tank and doing a little siphoning using my filter sock and tubing - no biggie. Oh no, I look down at my sump and it is about to spill over. So I stop and I try to figure out why my tank is full and sump is going to overflow. Baffled. I pause and take another sip of beer. After 1 more drink of the cold stuff (now gulping) I release what has happened. My top-off bucket has drained completely into my sump (float was stuck open). So not only did my salinity drop a bit, I just dumped 5 gallons of di water (mixed with a little kalk too!) into my tank. I started to realize this after my tank looked like skim milk. So I ran to the fridge to get one more cold one (or two or three-who is counting at this point) and while taking big gulps of beer and doing some big water changes, about 15-25 gallons in 30 minutes I began to calm down. After I could see into the tank I noticed that the zoo's look happy, very happy actually and brains are in full feed mode - they seem to like it too! Acros ok I think? Fish seem ok?

Anyway, here is a pic of what it looked like during the height of the panic
http://static.flickr.com/43/100663284_f40aff3294_o.jpg

Lesson Learned:
So, I now know to turn off auto-topoff bucket while doing cleaning to avoid this situation in the future. Ok - got to go check some parameters and see how much more work I have tonight?

[Richard]

Lesson #2
Clean the tank, then drink the beers.

Lemme know how it looks in the morning. I can go check it out if you want while you are doing the work thing.

[gjuarez]

I think i learned from your mistake. No cleaning tank while under the influence of alcohol. LOL. Good luck and I hope nothing serious happends to your livestock.

[LoneStar]

:lol

Don't worry I forget to unplug the Osmolator sometimes when I do a water change....

[jroescher]

I guess you could always say it was an elaborate freshwater dip.

After all that, you probably need a beer!

[Reef69]

..Dont drink and Reef..LOL

[cpreefguy]

..Dont drink and Reef..LOL
err dont drink the reef water :lol

[fishypets]

I milked my tank with kalk one time and my PH shot up over nine and stayed there for six hours. The only thing I lost was a gold stripe clownfish.

[TheOtherGuy]

Well other than blowing out some carbonates and probably screwing up the whole ionic balance of my tank things look ok. Gonna do some more W/c's tomorrow perhaps? There is lots of cottony stuff all over the place like on my rock and back glass.

Tank is still cloudy - here are some more pics of my inhabitants.

http://static.flickr.com/36/100691144_f463e4ed66_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/41/100691132_29226d615f_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/42/100691115_9ee15b3289_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/26/100691103_f09f0aed36_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/36/100691087_4aa55063ed_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/43/100691069_8ff2b2aba0_o.jpg

[Richard]

So we buy a glass box. Throw lots of of money into it. Spend lots of time keeping it clean. Talk about it all the time. Then something bad happens and we stay up late worrying if it is going to be "ok".

Then tell our friends how fun it is to have a glass box. :wacko

[TheOtherGuy]

One more that shows my beautiful cotton candy live rock. Very rare indeed!

http://static.flickr.com/26/100696114_1f760a20c7_o.jpg

[cpreefguy]

http://static.flickr.com/36/100691087_4aa55063ed_o.jpg
I'll go ahead and take a frag of that, thanks :)

[seamonkey2]

hey Mark, when are you going to stop by and take better....much better pics of my tanks??

Jose

[TheOtherGuy]

hey Mark, when are you going to stop by and take better....much better pics of my tanks??
Jose

Oh yeah!!!! Actually, I have not forgotten - weekends go by way to fast!

PM Sent!

P.S. - Just do not hand me a beer and ask me to clean your tank. LOL!

[dwdenny]

Glad to hear the tank is fine other then the cotton candy looking rock.

[TheOtherGuy]

Well it is Friday am and I think the tank is ok. Everyone seems happy. I think I saw a bristle worm giving me the finger! :o

Anyway, I took some pics with the lights off (my lights do not come on till 1 or so).

Here are a few snaps of the corals using a flash

http://static.flickr.com/30/100804399_8ec7f7139f_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/42/100804374_d7b2cf9a8a_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/40/100804357_e05f0498e6_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/34/100804110_8e5385563a_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/34/100804048_e58f4be1b8_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/27/100804078_1952d0ed69_o.jpg

Thx for all the comments and humor. Even I did crash it I would be pretty bummed but, I think I would fix it and move on. Five years ago I probably would have been so frustrated and put my fist through the tank. Who knows? I am now older & co-owner of my own business and both of these things can mellow you down quite a bit and you learn to just deal with things as they come eventhough that is not always an easy thing to do. Besides getting real mad gives me a headache. ^_^ Having a nice buzz helped too. LOL.

[TheOtherGuy]

Just a few more pics....

http://static.flickr.com/29/100814910_776a5be613_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/28/100814901_e020ff1f32_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/26/100814883_df02e5d59f_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/38/100814855_c6858954d4_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/34/100814812_08f1733807_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/19/100814789_14cd87b8e2_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/37/100814778_f99c58ff6e_o.jpg

[Andrew]

Great acro shots!!!

[TheOtherGuy]

Thx. The second round of pics is taken with my Nikon 105 Micro

[alton]

What no pictures of the Beer? Remember sometimes our aquariums give us too much excitement, for this we drink beer to settle our nerves.

[prof]

The cotton candy look is just precipitated kalk. Don't worry about it. It will disapate as your tank uses the kalk.

[TheOtherGuy]

The cotton candy look is just precipitated kalk. Don't worry about it. It will disapate as your tank uses the kalk.

Thx. That is what I was thinking. By morning it was all gone and dissolved. Tank needed some water changes anyway and now I should not have to do on Sunday.