Tank Flooded

[LAW66]

Hi Everyone, I'm new here and I have a question, I just noticed that my tank is flooded. (puddles of water).. What can I do to eliminate it and make it not happen again? ... Thanks in advance!

[Jamison]

Do you have any molters? If so you need to dig immediately. Your will probably will have to replace the substrate

[LAW66]

No, I don't have any molters. They are all above substrate.

[Jamison]

Remove them, then take all the substrate out. Do you have any extra?

[LAW66]

Yes, I have some, that will hold them until tomorrow. Thanks! ... I was afraid I would have to remove it.. uuugghhh!! LOL...

[curlysister]

You may not have to remove all of it. If you have extra EE, you can use it. Leave it in a dry brick, move some sub, and put the brick in the bottom to absorb water.
How deep is your current sub, and what is it (sand, EE, etc)?
Do you know why the flood happened? ie - bubblers or pools dumped or another reason?

[aussieJJDude]

If the sand hasn't changed colour or smells lile rotten eggs, you could dry it out by baking the sand in the oven for 30 mins at a moderate temp (150-250F) until dry. It be labour intensive and a lot easier to just buy new substrate.... but drying out half of the substrate, allowing to cool and then mix it back in may lead to the substrate becoming sand-castle consistency....

I've done it before - along with a wash prior to baking to ensure anaerobic bacteria was washed off.... - and found that it worked a treat.

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[Motörcrab]

Here is a comparison of what color substrate to look for. The darker sand on the right is a bacterial bloom sand and must be removed.

We had to do redo a 30 and 75 gallon tank on back to back weekends. We played it safe and replaced all the substrate in both tanks to be safe. Unfortunately I lost one purple that was molting near the bloom. We also uncovered our only E in it in the other tank. He is missing all but one leg. Currently he is still alive but in what I consider critical condition.

Floods are definitely something you don't want to put off.

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