And while I sleep my Phosban Reactor goes nuts, need some serious Help~

[lutz493]

Hello -
My Phosban Reactor been running for the last few days everything was fine.
I just woke up to find my entire fish tank Brown....
It looks like mud and the Phosban stuff is on everything.
My fish are skimming skiddish atleast the ones I can see........
My Yellow Tang is in my QT laying on the side and looks to be dead within the hour.
I assume the only true way for me to do this is to gut the entire tank of my corals/fish, get rid of all the sand that has the stuff resting on it...
Do a 100% percent Water change, clean off everything and basically start from scratch.
Am I mising anything?
Are my corals/inverts gonna surivive with the Phosban stuff in the water? I can't tell if I lost any fish or not I have thus far only caught 2.

 

[lutz493]

I think if my past reading have been correct.
The Tang is on the bottom of the QT breathing heavy and he is hemroging (Spelled totally wrong) slightly. I have been told when the Tangs (Yellows especially) start to show red through their scales it is due to lack of oxygen.
He tried to swim a few minutes ago then went back down to the corner.
My water is so brown I cannot see more then 2-3 inches into the tank, so I have no idea what else is going on in there I was only able to scoop 4 of the 7 fishes. I have a Watchman goby down there somewhere I probably won't even find until the tank is drained.
Does anyone know if the corals can be effected by this? I just spent $200 on some corals yesterday would be horrible if that died.
The inverts seem to be ok, my Peppermints are still moving around and moving fast enough to get away from the net when I can see them.
The fish that I caught were all acting very lathergic so I assume it was lack of oxygen? But they were not swimming near the tom they were resting on the bottom.
My pair of Clowns since I pulled them aren't resting on the bottom anymore and are acting normal bobbing around the tank for as stress as it is for them.
All my equipment is coated in a brown slime so it looks to me that today is gonna be a very long day indeed.
T

 

[lutz493]

Yeah -
I'm using tap water to mix up salt so I an try to get the LR and Corals into something. My QT isn't big enough to hold all my rock and that.
I need to know how to clean out tubs and my skimmer, Water and Vinegar?
This only happened in the 6 hours I was sleeping so I hope that what is in there can withstand it for another 2-3.
Now I am crossing my fingers I have enough saltwater...
I wanted to upgrade my tank and take out some of my DSB and change my rock around.....
What motivation I have now!

 

[lutz493]

I ran out of Carbon and didn't replace it. So no, I'm not running any carbon. I pulled a peice of LR out and it looks like the parts that were white from getting no light even are turning an orange/brown.
Its nasty in there I took a few pictures I'll post them when I have it all fixed.
Crossing my fingers on the coral, the LR will probably be ok.
The stuff is Reef Safe and your supposed to run it 24/7 so not sure how much real destruction it can do other then stress out the tank and make it look mebbe worse then it is.

 

[lutz493]

Levels in the QT are at zero - Its been up and running for little over a year. I haven't kept fish in it at all times but I used it to grow some pods/caulpera.
All of my LFS is out of the tank aside from my 2 cleaners and any scavenging red legs.
The Yellow for a longtime was laying on its side, he got up and hovered above the water then after about 30 min he is leaning on the glass.
The Green Chromis has blood around their gills as do the Clowns (whom are acting 100% normal) my Watch Goby is in the tank and he looks like he wasn't effected.
All of my Corals/LR is in a 40 gallon Breeder wish fresh Saltwater. (My Temp/Salinty matches that of my Display)
I put a few smaller peices of LR into the QT for some added filtration incase the Biowheel can't keep up.
In 4 hours I am gonna run to the LFS and get carbon, run it on both the 40 breeder and the 15 High.
After I get the powerheads cleaned and the carbon running, I'm gonna probably move some of the fish into the 40 breeder since the majory of my LR in is there.
I've been rinsing the LR out (using fresh saltwater) as I've been taking it out not to transport any excess water into the breeder.

 

[lutz493]

I used the overflow version of the unit and there wasn't a sponge that went there...
The fish are doing better one of the Chromis is still stressed and the Yellow is coming around.
Corals/Inverts seem to be alright.
I'm in the process of cleaning my stuff.
What should I be doing to clean out tubes?
I don't wanna replumb the entire sump/fuge/tank if I can clean everything.

 

[lestregus]

lutz493, i'm sorry you're having the problems with the phosban, but i'm glad you posted your problem here. unfortunatly i don't have any advice for you beyond what has already been mentioned.
guys, i've been thinking about getting one of these, is this a common problem?? i can't monitor my system 24/7, and don't want to risk this happening. i know steve said his system was a little cloudy after adding his deltec for a few days, but this sounds like a serious problem.
melody - you are getting one of these right? please keep us posted (or anyone else who gets one)
good luck lutz!

 

[lutz493]

Hello -
I bought a Lifeguard unit. Melody is getting a Phosban reactor made by Phosban so it is more specifically built for the application.
I am going to look more at the situation later tonight when I have things more under control.
I have everything in a 40 breeder with fresh saltwater and its all alive, still very stressed and I probably still have excess iron that was on the LR.
Thankfully the LFS finally has opened. Gonna get some carbon.

 

[steveweast]

Sounds like a reactor problem...not a Phosban problem. I'm only familiar with the Deltec reactors since that's all I've ever used. It is my understanding, though, that if too much water flows through these reactors, you take the risk of the media's getting flushed out of the unit...they need just enough flow through them to fluidized the media...no more. My unit has a sponge on the top and bottom of the unit to prevent such occurances...a great feature.
In this case, I would prepare water for a water change and vacuum out as much of the media that you can in the tank. I'm not fammilar with Phosban...but, Rowaphos is supposed to be harmless (although unsightly) if it gets into the main tank... but, who knows if you get a whole boat load of the stuff in there. I would go with trying to vaccum, as much as possible, the stuff out of the display...Good luck.

 

[lutz493]

Hello -
The tank and all the parts of it were covered in orange/brown slime.
I've moreless flushed out all the water and made new.
My Yellow is still very lathargic but doing much better then this morning.
I found a guy selling a 75 gallon with a Turbo 1000 Skimmer, 150lbs of Fiji, Icecap 660 w/ 110watt bulbs, stand, hood, his Maxi-Jet powerheads, 30 gallon sump (although it is drilled) a Genx Pump 1100gph, Frogspawn, Toadstool, some fish I'll probbaly give to my local lfs.
He $500 for all of it.
Figure between the corals/rock and lightning its worth my trip.

 

[zanemoseley]

from what I've seen, the lifeguard unit seems to be for biological filter use as opposed to phosban or rowaphos. you may have been set up for disaster from the start. Did the manual say you could use phosphate media in it? I've heard of rowaphos tinting water brown for a short time when using new media. Hope your inhabitants recover.

 

[lutz493]

Hello -
Everything seems to be recovering.
The 75gal deal wasn't as good as expected. I picked up another 55 with built-in overflow.
Running to Home Depot to get a Standpipe now.
The Lifegard unit probably is not the best way to run that Fluid Bed - I have a few ways I'm gonna try to alter it and test it in another tank with nothing in it.
Heading out to Home Depot now to get some new PvC hopefolly I can have it back online sometime tonight.