Help! I have poured milk into my tank!

[RocketSeason]

I just got home from a very long drive home from vacation, I was tired and cranky and I saw that my sump was really low and it was shooting bubbles into the display tank.

I only had a gallon of drinking water in the fridge handy at the time, and I decided that would probibly work considering the temp was a little high as well.

Before I knew it I had poured a half a gallon of milk into my sump.

I immediatly shut everything down and took emergency actions. luckily, none of the milk got a chance to run through the system and get into the display before I noticed my mistake. I drained as much water as I could out of the sump and fuge and cleaned all the pumps and equipment as thourghly as I could, rinsed the LR off completely, rinsed the sand in my fuge as best as I could, and replaced all the tainted water with fresh mixed water. (about 13 gallons worth. The tank holds about 50 gallons between the sump/fuge and display) and added a small bag of activated carbon.

So my question is, what do I do now? Do I just wait and see? Check for amonia spikes, etc? What should my next steps be?

Some specs: 37 gallon display, 13 gallon sump/ fuge, 90+ lbs of LR, 2 O. clowns, a Potters Angel, and various softies.

thanks! Hope you got a good laugh from my stupidity!

-Matt

[chemesgh]

I'd just blame it on this guy






Nah, it sounds like you've done about as much as you can for it. If you were able to suck it out of your sump before it got in your tank I wouldn't worry about it at all.

[mwwhite]

...that's one way to supplement calcium!

[Sk8r]

Your protein skimmer will help some. LEt it run wet and keep dumping---if it will run, because of the oils/fats. A sump-only 30% water change would help. Carbon and bluewhite filter material would help. A 1 micron filter might help---can't stop the liquid, but as it gets dirty it might start grabbing the solids.

Best rule: only work on your tank when your head is clear, not when you are fatigued or otherwise not atop your game.

[drstupid]

maybe toss in a tablespoon of ovaltine?

[bassettmd]

Kick the heater on full blast, throw in some sugar, and a couple of tea bags and have some friends over for a party.... English style

[Engine 7]

Originally posted by drstupid
maybe toss in a tablespoon of ovaltine?

Classic...

[RichConley]

Originally posted by drstupid
maybe toss in a tablespoon of ovaltine?

rich, chocolate ovaltine?

[MTB]

I got back from vacation yesterday. 11 hour drive from Ohio. Luckily a fellow reefer and good freind took care of my tank for me. At least the milk didn't make it into the tank. Also I really can't see it hurting much cause it sounds like you cleaned everything well.

[raskal311]

Another good reason to have a sump: D I don’t know how many times I’ve accidentally added too much additive and was able to shut off the return pump before it nuked the tank. Anyway, about a month ago I spilled a cup of coffee (w/ plenty of milk) in a 14gal bio cube. I did a large water change right away and the tank didn’t seem to have been affected in anyway.

[Frick-n-Frags]

nothing toxic in milk. only the nutrient spike when that starts getting broken down by the bacteria, so yeah, killing the return pump, and changing all the sump water would do it.

and no, oreos don't epoxy worth a crap either.

[vessxpress1]

I knew there'd be some bad calcium jokes in this. lol


Yeah, I don't think milk would be that bad for as little as you used and by the time it gets diluted. Not that I'd advocate dumping milk in a tank but it's better than a half gallon of most anything else.

[Musho3210]

Ive always wondered what watered down milk tastes like, except with salt added.....
This thread reminded me of some stupid guy who heard milk is good for your bones so put a betta (freshwater fish incase you didnt know) in PURE milk, it didnt last long. Then he went on another forum and told everyone of his "experiment" and told everyone not to do it because its not good for bones. Well he got flamed and then banned.... Funny thing was he never realized how stupid that was. Poor fishy

[TitusvileSurfer]

More ovaltine, please!!

[Gary Majchrzak]

there are much easier ways to process whole milk into skimmed milk...

[Peter Eichler]

Originally posted by RocketSeason
What should my next steps be?

-Matt

Hope that your fish aren't lactose intolerant.

[Musho3210]

as you can see from our jokes, your probably fine.....

[reefkoi]

I'd dunk some oreos in there, eat them and go to sleep. You must really need it.
C

[Gary Majchrzak]

somebody told me that pasteurized milk inhibits calcification...

[okdave]

I don't use bottled milk, I breast feed my fish.

[Sk8r]

IT's probably no comfort at all, but in my 40-odd years in the hobby I've heard of cheerios, fruit loops, cocktail shrimp, various mixed drinks, vodka, toy cars, wallets, car keys, whole cans of fish food, pieces of a tuna sandwich, and tv remotes [twice], but I've never known anyone to top off a tank with half a gallon of milk. Thank goodness for sumps, indeed.

[pony_killer]

Originally posted by Gary Majchrzak
there are much easier ways to process whole milk into skimmed milk...

lol good oen Gary..."skimmed" milk...clasSic

[Frick-n-Frags]

Originally posted by Gary Majchrzak
there are much easier ways to process whole milk into skimmed milk...

you win!

[monicaswizzle]

Matt--

Excuse all the jokers on this forum. I do hope that you will tell us all how it came out. I am with the group that doesn't expect much of a problem at all, since you got most of the milk out of the system ASAP. It would be interesting to know though what to expect if any of us ever make a similar mistake. Does your skimmer go crazy for a while? Do you get an algae bloom? Does something unexpected crash or bloom, etc?

I had a boxfish which poisoned my whole tank about six weeks back (major bummer!). I have been too depressed to write about it, but one thing that was very obvious was I immediately got the most horrific algae bloom I have ever had. I found all of the dead fish (7) within less than three hours of the meltdown, so I am pretty sure they didn't decompose much to add nutrients. Maybe the bloom was mostly the effect of the sudden loss of my algae eaters (two tangs and a coral beauty, plus a fair slice of the clean up crew), but I have also wondered if the toxin boxfish emit has high levels of phosphorus or other algae "food".

Anyway, lesson learned. I don't plan to keep any species that can take out the whole tank in the future. It is way to depressing if it actually happens! Milk, by comparison, is a pretty benign substance to put in the tank.

[RocketSeason]

Originally posted by okdave
I don't use bottled milk, I breast feed my fish.

I think this one is the winner.