Fire

so my house caught fire. all Inverts, corals, and fish perished from the smoke. the tanks are still intact. somebody told me that the glass can be weakend from the heat. it does make sense but the tanks were still standing full of water. Here are my questions: Could the smoke have left a chemical in all the tanks that would permently stain the glass that would make it inhabitable? What about the equipment? Need some info ASAP so I can go ahead and claim the tanks as a loss or as salvagable. Thanks

 

i would think that the adhesive would be weakend in the glass for piece of mind i would get a new tank and the rest .. ?? i really feel for you bro

 

what about the tanks that didnt experience that much heat, but experienced a lot of smoke damage?
\

 

im also worried about the chemicals, food, air pumps, lights, filters, and protein skimmer. I dont know if all of it should be put at a loss or not. I really want to keep some of the things ( i guess for sentimental value)

 

I took the live rock out and took it to my LFS to hold until I can set up another tank. I think im gonna go buy a 20L and set it up for to hold my live rock until we move back in to the house. Is a 20L with a single strip flursecent bulb, powerhead, and heater good enough to hold the live rock for about 5-6 months??

 

Live rock doesnt need light for the bacteria to survive, but your coralline algae my blanch and any corals will not do well. I stored my rock in a 40g rubbermaid bin for 12 weeks with out light to rid it of an ich infestation and it did just fine. I just reseeded it with coralline algae.

 

I feel for ya bro, had a similar experience years ago.

If the tanks were still holding together, and the stands were not charred or anything, then I would think the tanks would be ok, IMO. The heat probaly is what killed your fish and everything. If the water got to hot from the fire, then they were all boiled basically. Hard for smoke to damage the water. As for cleaning everything, In my experience, Cascade powder works wonders for smoke damaged equiptment, just be sure to rinse it REALLY well. I was amazed at how well it cleaned everything. Made it look as good as new. As for the stands, if they are wood and were not charred, little sanding and refinishing and they should be good to go, but watch out for warping from the water from the firemen. I had more water damage from the firemen then fire damage.

 

oh yeah, as for your equiptment still working, get one of those big plastic tubs and fill it full of water, test everything. I used a 40g plastic tub when I moved last year. I hung my lights above it, had powerheads in it along with my liverock/corals/fish, used a hang on filter and skimmer an it was good to go. If you need any frags , let me know, I might be able to help you out bro.

 

Oh man. Karma for your loss. How is the house?

 

Sorry to here of your troubles shorty590! As far as the glass I've also heard that heat can indeed affect its strength but I'm going to have to assume that would have alot to do with it's proximity to the flames-you may want to talk to your lfs for advice on this- as far as the smoke damage the glass can certainly be cleaned