Have I just made a bigger mess of things?

[DefStatic]

Tank in signature, 29 gallon Biocube.

So I have been going through my back three chambers, cleaning things up. It started technically a week ago when I noticed in my first chamber there was a lot of debris. So I sucked a bunch up when I did the water change.

Then I decided to try to tame my Sixline Wrasse, I would clean out the second chamber and put him in there for a few days. So I yanked out my two DIY media baskets, made a temp thing to hold some filter floss for the time being, and put my chaeto in a ziplock bag with some tank water in it. Just a couple cups.

I stirred up a bunch of stuff, my coral did not seem to much care for it, and the mess it made freaked out the fish a bit, but all seemed ok so far.

Part of what I stirred up with small pieces of chaeto. This got all over the place and also caught up in my circ pump in the main display. I also noticed that the water level in the back seemed higher and the water level in the display a hair lower. And my rotating deflector seemed slower. So I figured that some stuff had got sucked into and stuck in my main pump. Plus is I have never cleaned it.

Well, I turned off the pumps, cleaned the crap off the circ pump in the display, and then pulled out the main pump in the 3rd chamber. Nothing was lodged in there, it was all clear. Nothing in the tube either. So I put it back together. Now it was barely moving water. I was about ready to blow a gasket. Then I noticed the rotating deflector was barely moving at all.

So then I yanked that off... LOADED with chaeto. Ripped it all out, put it back on. WOOOAAAAAAAHHHHHHH. I guess it had been slowly losing power for a while, because now it was blasting stuff. I might have to move some corals, now my GSP on the other side of the tank looks like it just about got blown away.

And on top of that, the water level in the third chamber is now down an inch from where it was!!!

Here are my questions...

1.) How much damage have I done? Could i have possibly made things worse?
2.) Should I top off with RO/DI water or leave it be for now? Or would that be too much and drop my salinity?
3.) Would it hurt to do a water change tomorrow or Friday or should I leave it alone for now?

[HarryPotter]

First of all, water changes never hurt haha (unless bacterial bloom or dirty water though )

 

So basically you stirred up a bunch of shit (pardon my French) and cleaned out the equipment? Sounds like a very through cleaning! Prolongs the life of the equipment as well

 

I assume you have a refractometer to test the salinity, right? If the level in the back dropped you need to compensate with salt water.

 

I'm guessing you'll have some diatom algae on the sand for a week or so from mixing up the poo, but nothing beyond that

[Exodus]

1.) How much damage have I done? Could i have possibly made things worse?

2.) Should I top off with RO/DI water or leave it be for now? Or would that be too much and drop my salinity?

3.) Would it hurt to do a water change tomorrow or Friday or should I leave it alone for now?

 

It's hard be sure on exactly what damage you caused, I don't think anything terrible but more than anything created a bigger mess for yourself to tackle. I'm willing to bet if you check the phosphate levels in the tank at this moment they are going to be higher than usual. As you kicked up a bunch of crap thats now all over your tank. In the future when you go vacuuming out the back chambers (You should be doing this) Turn off the return pump and keep it off till your done.

 

The best way to approach this mess would be to get a turkey baster, shut off return pump blow off your rocks, then using a vacuum, go after the top layer of the sand bed removing what was left behind from your previous escapades, and then suck the rest out you can with the hose, if water is getting less than 50% you might want to revert to a fish net to grab all the suspended crap in the water, refill with fresh salt water and you should be good to go.