astroboy December 17, 2011 Share December 17, 2011 (edited) I've been using Bulk Reef Supply biopellets for about a year: a maxi jet 1200 runs water thru a canister and the pellets slowly dissolve, making a carbon source for bacteria. This morning I noticed the water in the canister wasn't circulating so I got the maxi jet going again and thought nothing of it. A few minutes later the whole house was filled with a hydrogen sulfide smell. What had happened was that the biopellets had sat in the canister fermenting for 3-4 days creating a really nasty brew. The canister empties into a sump and not a whole lot of bad water had gotten into the tank. I did a 100% water change, but I'm going to lose all my fish. The corals, surprisingly, are opening up again and perhaps they'll live. I guess the moral of the story is to never have anything hooked up to your tank that might decompose. In the future, I'll stick to vodka dosing. I'm not sure the biopellets were doing all that much anyway. Edited December 17, 2011 by astroboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan December 17, 2011 Share December 17, 2011 (edited) Take the fish out and put them in buckets with clean water. They'll survive. Mine were on their sides barely breathing and I took them out of a tank with bad water and put them in clean water. They made it. It's better then letting them get poisoned. Give them a chance. I've got water you can have. All you need is buckets and heater and powerhead.Please don't give up on them yet. Edited December 17, 2011 by Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni December 17, 2011 Share December 17, 2011 I've had the same thing happen with biopellets. It was a slow process for me and lost most of my corals. Catch your fish like Jan said. Put them in buckets with a couple air stones/powerheads and then do a large water change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan December 17, 2011 Share December 17, 2011 I pm'd you my address and contact information. I'm in Falls Church. I have mixed IO water for you if you need more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astroboy December 17, 2011 Author Share December 17, 2011 I should have said, I *lost* all my fish. It could have been much worse.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind December 17, 2011 Share December 17, 2011 Sorry to hear about the fish. How are the corals doing now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astroboy December 17, 2011 Author Share December 17, 2011 Sorry to hear about the fish. How are the corals doing now? The corals are opening up, slowly but surely. Looks like I dodged that bullet. As life's tragedies go this isn't a big one, but I'm grateful I dodged this bullet. I do feel bad about the fish, they're pets and I feel bad that they suffered, but at least they're relatively inexpensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim December 17, 2011 Share December 17, 2011 yeah the only bad thing about brs media reactors is they tend to clog and max 1200 aren't the best to use with the media reactors from brs. i've switched to mag 3, and it's flawless since the switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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