Help - detergent in tank??

[RonS]

Hi all,

The 13-yr-old wanted to help with the tank this afternoon by swapping out the seaweed for the yellow tang. I said sure, but make sure you wash your hands - I know how much lotion is involved, there : ) Later on, I noted there was a bunch of soap on the faucet, but it didn't sink in... that was becuase there was a bunch of soap still on her hands when she dipped them into the tank!

I opened the cabinet a few minutes ago to find my skimmer going crazy (which also means about 2 weeks of effluent was washed back into the system), and suds in the bubble trap area. I am not seeing suds in the display tank, but the water is noticeably cloudy.

The fish certainly seem to be fine, and I'm seeing good extension on my corals.

Anybody have any direct experience with this? All I've ever seen is that detergent (this is unscented dish washing soap) in the tank is "very bad", but never a description as to what/why.

Should I assume my bacterial colony is dead?

Any pointers are welcome! I'm making RODI water right now, but it will be tomorrow morning before I could do about a 40% water change.

Thanks for joining us with the drama : )

 

[kullas]

Eek I'm following along because I dont know.

 

[bhodges82]

No experience here, but I would assume that it being residual soap on a hand going in to the tank rather than liquid soap being added to the tank, you are probably fine. The bacteria should be fine as well. If any measures are taken, I would suggest a water change, the skimmer will probably be running a little crazy but it should take the soap out.

 

[york1]

Water change and I would throw in some fresh carbon just in case

 

[jcook54]

Water change and fresh carbon and you should be alright. It doesn't take much to make a skimmer go crazy. If it were me, I'd let the skimmer skim really wet and suck out the water that collects as fast as I could.

 

[RonS]

@york1 @jcook54

Great suggestions - thank you!! For some dumb reason, carbon never occurred to me!

I backed my skimmer pump off about 15% (gotta love a DC pump) and instead of a gushing overflow I now have a fast/wet skimmate forming. Emptying should be manageable.

Thanks again!!!

--Ron

 

[civics14]

somewhat off topic - when my youngest son was 3, he wanted to feed the fish. well, he drinks a lot of milk, so... fish drink milk too right? cup of milk right into the sump....

 

[RonS]

Tank is looking good this morning - whew! Water has cleared up. Livestock seem happy, except for this one plate coral that's always been picky. I have 30 gallons of saltwater cooking, and it's going in as soon as it shows clear in the mixing tank.

Thank you all for the ideas/encouragement!

--Ron

 

[NanCrab]

Tank is looking good this morning - whew! Water has cleared up. Livestock seem happy, except for this one plate coral that's always been picky. I have 30 gallons of saltwater cooking, and it's going in as soon as it shows clear in the mixing tank.

Thank you all for the ideas/encouragement!

--Ron

Happy to hear everything is ok! That was probably pretty nerve wracking!!!

 

[RonS]

Definitely nerve wracking!! Looks like the skimmer at lower speed got most of the suds. Water change really cleared things up. Everything seems to be happy. Will be doing a full battery of chem tests here in a few minutes. Adding liberal amounts of Seed.

it looks like maybe my ‘pods got wiped out. Will add some new stock and see what happens.

as much as I hate the process, I may just do another 50% change here in a few days, just to be safe.

thanks again for everyone’s support!! Hopefully this experience can help someone else in the future...

—Ron