Air freshener screw up

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#1
Ok so...

I had a really bad fish tank emergency and recently finished trying to save the remaining two fish (a small clownfish and a yellow tang) just now by placing them in a makeshift quarantine tank. I used a ten gallon rectangular tank and bought an inexpensive filter fitted with a marineland Carbon filter cartridge. I also added some fluval CYCLE.
On Saturday I left home to spend some time with my cousins and entrusted my pet fish to my parents. Little did I know my mother would place an air wic plug in freshener right above my tank that (like all of them do) started leaking. My idiot brother then took it out of the wall plug in to make room for his charger and placed the thing on top of the glass top. He left it there yesterday afternoon. That whole time up until earlier today it was leaking that foul oily substance onto the glass top which then leaked into my tank. (40 gallon rectangular)
I came home today at around 2:30 to find most of my fish dead and two of them swimming unnaturally upside down in separate corners. I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I lifted the glass top and caught the smell of strong air freshener. The tank reeked of the stuff. I was pissed as hell. Anyway I fished out the dead fish and changed out about five gallons of water. I knew this wouldn't correct the problem so I went to the pet store and got a little tank and about thirty gallons of water since the lady there told me the only thing to do was to replace 100 percent of it and throw everything out. As in the sand and live rock. But here's the thing most troubling me. There was a lot of live rock in there and now all forty pounds of it smells of pure air freshener!!! My dads pretty angry about the whole thing because if it where up to him he wouldn't even let me do water changes on normal circumstances and now he thinks we might have to buy completely new live rock. What can I do to rid my rock of the chemicals?? Please help. It's currently sitting outside in a bucket. View attachment 452515 View attachment 452516





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reefes pieces

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#2
Sorry for the mishap but it happens. Easiest solution to ensure chemicals are out of the live rock is to give them a bath in muriatic acid and start over.
 
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#3
Sorry for the mishap but it happens. Easiest solution to ensure chemicals are out of the live rock is to give them a bath in muriatic acid and start over.
Thanks for the tip dude. I appreciate it. But um where do I get some of that? Or is there another liquid or solution I could use to achieve the same effect?



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#4
Thanks for the tip dude. I appreciate it. But um where do I get some of that? Or is there another liquid or solution I could use to achieve the same effect?



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Quick update my yellow tang is doing a bit better. He's swimming on the glass floor right side up now but he won't eat. Can I gets some tips as to how to feed it without over polluting the tank? I literally just set it up yesterday.


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805reef

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#5
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#6
Well if you bath with muriatic acid, then wouldn't be live rock anymore.
I suggest run fresh carbon for 48 hours and then test all your parameters.

Killing live rock to be the last resort.
 

innerspark

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#7
Lots and lots of carbon. This reminds me I should probably put some in my tank since I've done a bit of fragging the past week, hand my hands in the tank, and added a new fish.
 

reefes pieces

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#8
I agree and disagree at the same time. Carbon and a large water change can repair a lot. However, if the tank was nuked from the air freshener, it may be better to start over vs chancing it and any long term affects down the road. It's a chemical and it's obviously in the rock since it has that oh so fresh scent. If this was copper medication instead of air freshener, reefers would take much more drastic measures in cleaning out their rock from potential leaching in the future. I've had chemical related crashes before and felt the long term affects and disappointment of having nothing but trouble trying to keep things living let alone thriving. In the end, only to have lost tons of money on fish and corals just to ultimately starting over again as I should've done in the first place. Of course everyone's experiences may vary
Well if you bath with muriatic acid, then wouldn't be live rock anymore.
I suggest run fresh carbon for 48 hours and then test all your parameters.

Killing live rock to be the last resort.
 
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#9
Well if you bath with muriatic acid, then wouldn't be live rock anymore.
I suggest run fresh carbon for 48 hours and then test all your parameters.

Killing live rock to be the last resort.
Its not "live" rock anymore. It's a rock shaped air freshener. Best to ditch it and start over.
 
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#10
Its not "live" rock anymore. It's a rock shaped air freshener. Best to ditch it and start over.
Ditch as in throw it away? Bc that's hardly an option since I'd be throwing away money. I'm trying to find the best option to rid it of the chemicals


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#12
i would've just taken it out of the water column... how much freshener could be in the water... most likely the protein skimmer took most out... i would just do that and water change... if, you think it's in the rock, the bacteria in the rock will eventually eat it up. you'll go through another slow cycle...


i also sorta did the same thing... put a rare hybrid pitcher plant under one of them spray things that were off... my nephew put on batteries, and killed my plant in a week... 120 bucks down the drain... FML... people man...


good luck and keep us updated on what you decide to do....
 

reefes pieces

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#13
There's no reason to toss that rock. You have a few options and it just depends how far you're willing to go to clean off the mess.
 
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#14
i would've just taken it out of the water column... how much freshener could be in the water... most likely the protein skimmer took most out... i would just do that and water change... if, you think it's in the rock, the bacteria in the rock will eventually eat it up. you'll go through another slow cycle...


i also sorta did the same thing... put a rare hybrid pitcher plant under one of them spray things that were off... my nephew put on batteries, and killed my plant in a week... 120 bucks down the drain... FML... people man...


good luck and keep us updated on what you decide to do....
Ok well Ima get a lot of negative feed back for this but um.... I don't have a ...... Protein skimmer..
Ik I should get one and I will soon but the thing is I don't have much of a budget when it comes to reef related stuff. Mostly because I'm in high school and don't have a job.
So far what I've done with the main tank is just empty it out. And throw away the sand. Btw in doing so getting a major headache from the stench of air wic mixed w seawater. I have the live rock still but I don't want to start another tank without completely ridding the rock of the chemicals and I've decided to go through the process of cycling and building up new bacteria again. The thing I'm unsure of is how exactly to do it. I'm getting suggestions like bathing it with acid and afterwards running a bunch of carbon but idk how to do all that or if it'll work.


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reefes pieces

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#16
No static for not running a skimmer. Just know ur limitations and you'll be fine. Try soaking the rock in some regular water for a few days. Do this outside or in the garage cuz it'll stink. Hose water is fine. Rinse a few times and change the water out a few times tip the air freshener smell is gone. If it goes away then scrub and rinse it and let it dry. If it still stinks of air freshener then you may need to get more aggressive with the cleaning and then look into acid or bleach. If it seems fine then start the cycle again with plenty of carbon and do a decent water change before you add livestock again
Ok well Ima get a lot of negative feed back for this but um.... I don't have a ...... Protein skimmer..
Ik I should get one and I will soon but the thing is I don't have much of a budget when it comes to reef related stuff. Mostly because I'm in high school and don't have a job.
So far what I've done with the main tank is just empty it out. And throw away the sand. Btw in doing so getting a major headache from the stench of air wic mixed w seawater. I have the live rock still but I don't want to start another tank without completely ridding the rock of the chemicals and I've decided to go through the process of cycling and building up new bacteria again. The thing I'm unsure of is how exactly to do it. I'm getting suggestions like bathing it with acid and afterwards running a bunch of carbon but idk how to do all that or if it'll work.


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#18
Aha ha no :3



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aww... i was going to give you a cadlight cone skimmer... i don't have a HOB... do you have room for a sump....



btw, all you people that supposedly, "need" a skimmer, don't send me pm's, i'll just ignore you...
 
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#19
Ditch as in throw it away? Bc that's hardly an option since I'd be throwing away money. I'm trying to find the best option to rid it of the chemicals


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Thinking of it as throwing away money will get you in to trouble... Thats basically what you do in this hobby lol. I can't recall how many times I tried to save money and ended up making things worse. It took me 5 attempts to keep saltwater fish alive when I first started because I didn't want to throw away money. Actually, now that i think about it, I didn't throw away that money because I learned from those experiences. I basically paid to gain knowledge.

Wether you keep the rock or start over, your going to spend money to fix the problem. Every one is giving you good advise, there are so many ways to fix these kind of things just do it right. Keep us posted and we will help you as much as we can. Sorry for your losses and I hope the remaining fish recover.
 

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