Bonehead Mistake...what to do

[da_mob]

Well peoples, I have made a serious blunder I believe. I got my liverock in from Premium Aquatics last Friday, and put in tank. I've been noticing my water turning yellow over the past few days since. I'm mean really yellow. :eek1: Last night, I noticed particles circulating in the water column. Hmmm....the rock is sloughing I think to myself. I net the pieces out and notice they are pieces of the paper the rock was wrapped in. I lift one of my rocks up, and there is a noticeable piece I apparently missed when unwrapping the rocks. :headwally:

My concern is if I missed that, how much more did I miss? Up to now, I thought I had done a good job on cleaning and inspecting, now I'm not too sure.

So, what to do? Little pieces have invaded my sand bed, doubt I'll ever get them out. I've pulled a lot of rock, but have yet to find anymore paper. I know carbon should remove the yellow from the water, but is there anything else I should worry about? I'm planning on a massive water change after cycle is completed.

Basically, how detrimental will the little pieces in the sandbed be, and how bad is my water now?

[Ron Reefman]

I'm far from an expert, and even an expert would have a hard time answering your question because even you don't know how much paper and ink went into the tank. Given paper deteriorates pretty quickly, I'd suspect that after you are done with the cycle the paper should be history. Do a couple of water changes at that point. You might try running some carbon in a reactor or a bag and try clearing up some of the mess now. And I'd seriously recommend it after you do the water changes. Do you have any mechanical filtration (filter floss, sponge or socks)? If so, clean them every day or 2, if not, consider a sock or any other basic filter that can trap bits of paper that get lose in the system.

[da_mob]

The paper did not appear to have ink on it, rather brown shipping type paper, not a typical newspaper. I'm sure there was still ink in there somewhere though. The largest piece I found was about 2" x 3". It smells almost like cardboard, and that is one thing that set my alarm bells off...why does my water smell like wet cardboard.

Carbon is definitely going in it when I get off work this evening. I used to run carbon 24/7, and will definitely be doing that for at least the next few months to help, along with water changes, get everything out.

I've got a sock I can put on my drain line to help catch anything coming down to the sump.

[Raggamuffin]

Don't worry about it :) when you find a bit take it out. It wont make a speck of diffrence. Over the next couple months while you cycle it will go away. just do water changes every couple weeks and run carbon if it stinks to much for you. It will be fine.

[SC Reefaholic]

Sock, Carbon, Water Changes. I wouldn't get more than 8 hours of sleep tonight worrying about it. The tank is cycling. Unless the paper had heavy metals in it, which I'm sure it didnt, you will be fine. Trust me, you will make bigger blunders thant that. It happens.

Pull out any paper you see, Keep your sock rinsed out, change your carbon in a couple of days and do moderate water changes and you will be fine. Dont keep moving things around. Get it where you want it and leave it be. Keep good flow without any dead spots so all of the water turns over.

Happy reefing!

[Sk8r]

You're ok. Advice given above is good. It should just be one more piece of decay to get the cycle going. Ultimately give crabs and snails about 4 weeks to work before having fish in, once your cycle is done, and they should clean it up nicely. If you have floating bits installing a particulate filter briefly should pull it out.

[da_mob]

Thanks guys. Ya'll have helped put my mind to ease. I'll look at it as just a little extra fiber for the crabs once their times comes. I'll stay up on water changes and carbon.

[Sport507]

The kind of paper that Premium uses to wrap there rock it the kind you find in an old run down truck stop bathroom, it’s beige, real stiff and scratchy. I go to Premium often and they keep a roll of it on the cart by the scales.

So now that we have a clear ID of the paper type and the OP found out as I did at the truck stop. “A little dab’ll do ya.”

Following suggestion above you should be fine. It is more unsightly than harmful.