Boogie

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My mr fam. I'm stressed out and need help. I had to tanks set up one reef and one fowlr it took me a year and a half to get my tanks running right and step up to how I wanted it. And all it took was 5 mins to shut them down. Bleach was poured in my tanks and everything was destroyed. Since then I have wasted the rocks and sand over and over and over again till my hands was sore and all tanks pump etc was clean and soaked. Is there any wAy I can tell if my rocks and sand are cleaned good. As of right now I don't smell any bleach in my sand rocks or tank. Wats the next step of getting my tanks back up and running
 

evoIX_Reefer

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What others have said. I usually wait a minimum of 3 weeks after I finish my clean process. Have to be patient.

I brush and rinse through about 2-3 cycles then ro/di for about a week then dry it out for 3 weeks.
 

marrone

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You need to do some water changes, large ones, and put in something that will remove the chlorine. Use activated charcoal and poly pads to help remove the ammonia from things dying off. I wouldn't have remove the sand or rock, but you did that and probably killed a lot of bacteria on it. So what you need to do is reset the tank back up, put the sand and LR back in, and add a bacteria source, get Special Blend or one of those type products. Also, you want to add a lot of water movement, maybe even a air pump, this will help. It's bad, and you probably lost most of your fish and coral right away, but it's not the end of the world and the tank will comeback in a short time.
 
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marrone

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You also need to check your level, ammonia, nitrites, and very important your Ph, as the Bleach would have caused it to rise, which probably killed most of your fish and shocked the system. The purple coralie on the rock will comeback, so don't worry about that, it's more important that the bacteria in the tank is working. If your tank is clear looking, not cloudy, then that's a good sign that the bleach is coming out of the system.
 
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LatinP

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Don't do anything too drastic, a series of large water changes should do it. Do a 50%, followed by another 50% and finally another 25% water change back, to back, to back.

By then the bleach will be so diluted you can pour a double dose of Seachem Prime in the water column and completely eliminate all traces of it. Taking everything out and scrubbing down isn't at all necessary, eliminate it without disturbing too in the tank and you should be ok.

I would invest in either a top or a locking lid if that was done on purpose though, highly recommend it!
 

marrone

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If you have already remove the sand, and rinsed it in fresh water, you probably killed all the bacteria in it. At this point to play it safe I would just get new sand. Basically you should remove all the dead things for the tank, I would think most of the fish and inverts are dead, though some of the coral may have survived, things like soft corals and leathers.


Put the LR and sand back in and do some water changes. You need to run some carbon and an chlorine remover, also add bacteria, Dr Tims will work just fine. After the water changes check the levels, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Ph, and Chlorine and see where everything is at. The tank itself should start to clear up, not look cloudy, at that point you should be ok. The effects are usually right away, things die but you can turn it around with water changes, carbon, and chlorine removal products.
 
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tunicata

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Wow, I'm sorry to hear this man.
But like folks said, you'll be able to bounce back. Just a few months ago I purposely ran some of my rocks in bleach to clean out the surface layer of organics.
It only took a lot of water changes, some Prime, drying out and then testing to get to put them in a tank.

Whew, I'm glad they are going to replace your stuff too. Wow, let me know if you need any corals I have spare of, or chaeto, etc when you get everything back and running.
 

Boogie

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Thanks everyone for there input of my situation right now. And now I know it's not as bad as I thought. I can't post pic lol ok I don't know how to. But soon as I get someone to do it. I'll show u how it looks. ..... @latin no it was done on purpose it's just grown ppl that can't hold the liquor and started acting stupid.
 

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