Guide to Reef Tank Fumigation

Dipan00

187g Peninsula Mixed Reef
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#1
I had to go through fumigation with my reef tank and searching high and low there just was not that much info out there. Dana Riddle had a good one and one other person (Singlefin). Pretty much everything else I saw out there was stating to remove all live stock. Having a 187g system with 75g sump stocked seemed stressful and not ideal.

They used Vikane and tear gas in my house. Fumigators showed up first thing on Monday morning at 7am. We were out by 8am house sealed and pumped full of gas. We were back in on Wed by 12pm. So roughly 2 nights 3 days for Drywood Termite Fumigation. There some wins, losses and lessons learned. My fault on losses. So lets get into it.

I needed to keep positive pressure in the system so if there was a leak gas would not be allowed in and would be pushed out. for that I bought a air pump.
20191223_114626.jpg

Next I didn't just want to throw the pump outside and risk any gas getting in when they vented the house. So I got a bucket from home depot and put a bunch of holes at the bottom.
20191215_124252.jpg

Then put a piece of paper towel on the inside to cover the holes but still vent.
20191215_124356.jpg

Next step filled with Carbon
20191215_125055.jpg

Final step before pump goes in was putting a heater filter pad I got from home depot over the carbon and sealing it up.
20191215_125618.jpg

Next I put a hole for the air pump and connected the pump.
20191215_130105.jpg

20191215_130651.jpg

20191215_130648.jpg

I added a ball valve to regulate the air coming out of the pump to ensure the seal did not pop. Here is how I tested everything. I had 1 line split into two. 1 for the display and 1 for the sump to make sure both kept positive pressure.
20191215_135757.jpg

3/8 airline in with 1/4in out.
20191215_135803.jpg

Sealing the tank I had the fumigation company give me lots of Nylofume bags for the first seal. I taped enough bags to cover the display and also made one big enough for the sump. I Used 0 residue duct tape for all of this.
20191215_084716.jpg

Lets seal this bad boy up.
20191216_212150.jpg

Yay positive pressure! Things are working great. Sealing the display wasn't to bad as there was not too much to work around. The sump on the other hand was a total pain in the ass as I had to work around all the plumbing to seal it up.

Being super paranoid I added a 2nd seal just to be safe to the display and sump. I bought a roll of 6 mil plastic sheeting to go over everything once again for an extra seal.
20191216_212136.jpg

20191216_212159.jpg

Sealed the top and bottom twice. Then I used the leftover 6 mil sheet to seal the whole bottom shut one more time (Yeah I was paranoid) if you cant tell.
20191216_234517.jpg

20191216_234529.jpg

20191216_234537.jpg

Looks like my sump seal must suck cause the outside seal started to balloon also so I put a tiny slit in the plastic sheet to allow air to escape but stay full.
20191217_080001.jpg

Ran the pump and all airlines outside about 10ft away from the tenting. Sealed the top of the bucket shut.
20191219_105033.jpg


3 day waiting game now. I kept sump pump running and also gyre in display, along with still dosing alk, only as my ca, and mag was high. I did stop my ATO. I also kept my lights on as well. I had a camera set up to watch everything while away. Yeah pure torture. I could have watched my entire system die right in front of my eyes without being able to do anything.

But guess what? This was a 100% survival. No losses at all. All sps are fine and thriving along with about 15 fish.

Now for the bad. I did have a frag tank connected to this set up with 4 snails and tons of pods. I took most of frags out minus a few zoas i didnt care for. I sealed it up with a heater, but didn't add any flow or positive air pressure. Everything in there died except for 1 snail. This was def my fault and avoidable.

Happy Tank
20191221_162349.jpg


I hope this information helps anyone in the future deciding on what to do with your system during this stressful time. You dont have to remove your tank but you do have to seal it up.
 

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djrice69

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#2
I had to go through fumigation with my reef tank and searching high and low there just was not that much info out there. Dana Riddle had a good one and one other person (Singlefin). Pretty much everything else I saw out there was stating to remove all live stock. Having a 187g system with 75g sump stocked seemed stressful and not ideal.

They used Vikane and tear gas in my house. Fumigators showed up first thing on Monday morning at 7am. We were out by 8am house sealed and pumped full of gas. We were back in on Wed by 12pm. So roughly 2 nights 3 days for Drywood Termite Fumigation. There some wins, losses and lessons learned. My fault on losses. So lets get into it.

I needed to keep positive pressure in the system so if there was a leak gas would not be allowed in and would be pushed out. for that I bought a air pump.
View attachment 68646
Next I didn't just want to throw the pump outside and risk any gas getting in when they vented the house. So I got a bucket from home depot and put a bunch of holes at the bottom.
View attachment 68647
Then put a piece of paper towel on the inside to cover the holes but still vent.
View attachment 68648
Next step filled with Carbon
View attachment 68649
Final step before pump goes in was putting a heater filter pad I got from home depot over the carbon and sealing it up.
View attachment 68650
Next I put a hole for the air pump and connected the pump.
View attachment 68652
View attachment 68653
View attachment 68654
I added a ball valve to regulate the air coming out of the pump to ensure the seal did not pop. Here is how I tested everything. I had 1 line split into two. 1 for the display and 1 for the sump to make sure both kept positive pressure.
View attachment 68655
3/8 airline in with 1/4in out.
View attachment 68656
Sealing the tank I had the fumigation company give me lots of Nylofume bags for the first seal. I taped enough bags to cover the display and also made one big enough for the sump. I Used 0 residue duct tape for all of this.
View attachment 68657
Lets seal this bad boy up.
View attachment 68658
Yay positive pressure! Things are working great. Sealing the display wasn't to bad as there was not too much to work around. The sump on the other hand was a total pain in the ass as I had to work around all the plumbing to seal it up.

Being super paranoid I added a 2nd seal just to be safe to the display and sump. I bought a roll of 6 mil plastic sheeting to go over everything once again for an extra seal.
View attachment 68659
Sealed the top and bottom twice. Then I used the leftover 6 mil sheet to seal the whole bottom shut one more time (Yeah I was paranoid) if you cant tell.
View attachment 68660
View attachment 68661
View attachment 68662
Looks like my sump seal must suck cause the outside seal started to balloon also so I put a tiny slit in the plastic sheet to allow air to escape but stay full.
View attachment 68663
Ran the pump and all airlines outside about 10ft away from the tenting. Sealed the top of the bucket shut.
View attachment 68664

3 day waiting game now. I kept sump pump running and also gyre in display, along with still dosing alk, only as my ca, and mag was high. I did stop my ATO. I also kept my lights on as well. I had a camera set up to watch everything while away. Yeah pure torture. I could have watched my entire system die right in front of my eyes without being able to do anything.

But guess what? This was a 100% survival. No losses at all. All sps are fine and thriving along with about 15 fish.

Now for the bad. I did have a frag tank connected to this set up with 4 snails and tons of pods. I took most of frags out minus a few zoas i didnt care for. I sealed it up with a heater, but didn't add any flow or positive air pressure. Everything in there died except for 1 snail. This was def my fault and avoidable.

Happy Tank
View attachment 68665

I hope this information helps anyone in the future deciding on what to do with your system during this stressful time. You dont have to remove your tank but you do have to seal it up.
So the frag setup had no flow was that the cause of stuff dieing? Or was it Bc it was bagged up but still the fumigation still got in?
 

Dipan00

187g Peninsula Mixed Reef
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#4
So the frag setup had no flow was that the cause of stuff dieing? Or was it Bc it was bagged up but still the fumigation still got in?
Honestly im not sure it could have been either or both. Personally I think it was lack of water movement and aeration. If I were to do it over again I would put a small powerhead in and positive pressure to that as well.
 

djrice69

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#5
The positive airflow is a must for sure we use it at my work for dehumidifying the space inside the box with an an compressor and regulated for proper cfm coming out
 

djrice69

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#9
How’s the corals doing now any updates?
 

Dipan00

187g Peninsula Mixed Reef
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#11
Update tank didnt skip a beat. 0 losses in the display tank and sump. All corals and fish survived and are thriving. First photo is one I just took now and the rest are within a few days. 100% success. Follow the instructions about and you should be fine.


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#12
OMG, my family is planning to do this in the next two months. I am so worry. I am happy to see this method work but if I fail, all my corals will died.

I have reefer 350 , should I temp move all of them out or do this method?


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Dipan00

187g Peninsula Mixed Reef
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#14
Yeah I would be more worried about temp than this method not working. Do you run a chiller? Just to give you some extra peace of mind we did this on my cousins 180g tank also a few months back and no issues either. He didnt have many fish or corals like me but everything survived. Its a super pain in the ass to seal up the tank but a bigger PIA to tear it all down.
 
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#15
I do have a chiller and my tank is full of corals and 6 fishies.

I thought you cannot run any electronic inside the house while they run the fume.


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#17
If it come down to it. Would you like to lend my a hand setting it up. I can pay for your service?


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