crashing tank situation: soap

[gimmic]

So this is a probable crash thread due to a momentary slip of memory.

I made a blunder of all blunders today. I was using a 2 liter soda bottle to drain my skimmate into and while setting it up with surgical tubing I must have accidentally adjusted the skimmer.

I had put dial soap in the bottom of the 2 liter bottle earlier.

Fast forward 30 minutes, I noticed the bottle was overflowing with saltwater, the intake must have gotten blocked on the skimmer. Without thinking, I take the 2L full of saltwater and pour it into my return, 'to keep the saltwater', forgetting about the soap in the bottom of the bottle.. 20 minutes later the skimmer looks like a bubble bath! I must have mixed approximately a tablespoon or two worth of Dial antibacterial soap into the tank.

Thankfully, we had been preparing a water change. The tank setup probably has about 80-90 gallons total water volume. I had 25 gallons of fresh saltwater on hand. I did an immediate water change of all 25 gallons. I ran to a LFS and got another 30 gallons of saltwater. They keep theirs at about 022 or 023, so i will need to raise the salt level slightly. I'm filling up another barrel with RODI. I bought a polyfilter and that is running in my sump near the return. I will also put a sock with active carbon in the outlet of the overflow. I'm planning on doing another 30 gallon water change tonight.

Done:
- 25 gallon WC, skimming suds off.
- Polyfilter
- Cleaned out skimmer/
- Active carbon in a sock filter in overflow.
+ 30 gallon water change later tonight

Is there anything more I can do? Anyone have any suggestions?

[reefwizz]

all i can think of is what you said, big water change and A LOT of carbon. also heavy duty skimming will help. Intersted to see how this turns out. Hopefully nothing bad happens. Good luck

[Billybeau1]

I think you've taken the necessary steps. Not much else to do but wait.

Good luck. I'll bet you don't do that again.

[gimmic]

Heh, the downside of having an in-sump skimmer. The skimmer is doing great at making suds, but it was overflowing right back into the tank. I had to tape up all the air ventilation and force all the suds out through the drain spout into a 5 gal bucket. The skimmer is nice and pressurized now.

[Ebisan]

Hope everything works out. Why the soap in the bottle?

[gimmic]

The soap was a bright idea that since only skimmate would end up in the bottle it would make it much easier to clean out/stink less. Won't be making that brilliant move again.

Things are looking much better now. The water is easily clearer than its ever been! I'm going to have to start running poly and active carbon more often. I don't plan on getting dish soap into the tank again though..

I taped over the skimmer to force the suds into a 5gal bucket, after about 6 hours the suds have died down.
Everything except for the star polyps and xenia are looking fine. Fish are no longer stressed. I think doing the 30% water change immediately probably helped the most.