Rehype Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I was out of town for two weeks. I had a friend check in on my tank 3x while I was gone. I kept things simple for him to check. I had RO water made up for the ato and the food set out. They just needed to add water to the reservoir, feed, and make sure there was no water on the floor. He checked in and said the reservoir was full of top off water. I wasn't surprised considering the glass lid on the tank and the chiller hooked up. He said there was a lot of algae on the glass, but I didn't think anything of it. I get home and hear a sucking sound before I can even unlock the door. I get in to find the pump sucking nothing but air. I look at the ATO and it was completely full. I checked the controller for the ATO and the light was blinking red. I jiggled the line and the water started flowing. Apparently there was an air bubble in the line for the ATO. I've had this happen on occasion when filling up the reservoir. I thought I would have made sure it was working before I left. Anyway, there was no sump turn over, the salinity must have been through the rough, i was still dosing alk and cal, and worst of all, the lid was on the tank and with the pump not being able to pump water to the tank that the chiller had cooled, the tank must have BAKED with 400 watts of MH over it. All from an air bubble in the ATO line. Almost all of SPS are completely wiped out. The saddest thing is my strawberry shortcake. It's just a skeleton. All of the fish, lps, and softies are fine. Just the SPS and it looks like most of the crabs were wiped out. The tank glass is covered in filamentous algae brown algae. I'm totally bummed. I'm just going to spend the month getting the water parameters back in line, and cleaning things up. Then I'll start back with SPS. I don't know how to put in words how I feel right now. It really sucks. Really sorry man....i totally know how u feel. Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Awe..sad story. Good luck with the reload. Link to comment
teamschreiba Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I'm really sorry to hear this as well It always seems to be the smallest and simplest things that cause the problems. Link to comment
kevantheman35 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Really sorry to hear Med I look forward to seeing all of you're pics and have enjoyed watching your tank mature. Hope you can get things back on track Link to comment
Joe'sInTheHouse Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Sorry about the loss It really sucks how things always go wrong when you aren't around to do anything about it. Glad to hear that the fish and other corals are alright. It would have been even worse if you had lost the whole lot. Link to comment
gena Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 So very sorry to read this!!!! As horrible as it is, at least there is a bright side in that you didn't lose the whole thing. ((((Hugs)))) Keep your chin up. Link to comment
parishilton Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Very sorry to hear this. Totally understand how you feel. I do not know why everything has to go wrong when we are away. Everything runs smoothly when we are home. It happened to me a couple of times. Link to comment
Scorched Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Im sorry about the tank Med. Atleast there weren't more losses than there were. Stay strong and bring the beauty back to its glory. Link to comment
Arkayology Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 No! That totally sucks Med! Good luck getting everything back to the way it was! Link to comment
MedRed Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 Thanks for the condolences everyone. I haven't wanted to come in this thread since the mishap. Last night I cleaned off the glass and removed all of the skeletons. I do have a few pieces that made it out ok although they are really bleached. My pearlberry is probably the best piece that made it. I damaged my front pillar pulling off corals to the point where I needed to re-epoxy it. Luckily the zoas had encrusted enough to hold it together. I'll finish reapplying the salvaged pieces tomorrow. All in all I'm surprised at the resilience of the tank. Alkalinity, salinity, and temperature would have been pretty big spikes that subsequently would have spiked ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates from the die off. The tank must have converted the nutrients pretty quickly with the result being the thick carpet of algae on the glass. I could have ended up with a total loss. 1 Link to comment
gena Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 The reef angels were looking out for you 2 Link to comment
Deleted User 4 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Yeah, glad all the fishes were doing fine Link to comment
Asureef Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Wow, Med I'm deeply sorry to hear about your tank's mishap. I can't imagine how you felt coming home to that, especially losing that show piece SSC. Link to comment
latteslave Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Wow. Med - so sorry... Link to comment
Kfmmartin19 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 update por favor? Link to comment
MedRed Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 Update coming soon! Sorry to leave you guys hanging! I haven't been visiting this thread as its depressing. I've made some significant upgrades to the system. On a happy note, my clowns are going to be parents! On a sad note, the babies are going to be eaten by the corals and skimmer :-( Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Can't wait to hear bout the new goodies! Link to comment
ReefNoobie21 Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hope you get this back or better to what it was! Link to comment
MGDMIRAGE Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Dang sorry about what happened, but look forward to what you do next. Link to comment
PODPIMP Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Dust yourself off and get back in the game! Link to comment
MedRed Posted March 29, 2013 Author Share Posted March 29, 2013 A picture of my tank went (mildly) viral on facebook this week! Link to comment
PODPIMP Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 That's an awesome cluster of zoos. Link to comment
MedRed Posted March 29, 2013 Author Share Posted March 29, 2013 It looks even better now. although a few zoas have lost the battle. The spidermans have really spread out. Link to comment
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