TeenyReef's 4g PicoParadise

[RIP Sebastian]

As I was going to work this morning I noticed a ton of precipitation in the tank. I manually dosed some Alk last night and the doser got stuck on. I know I turned it off but somehow it didn't take and the Apex was set to on instead of auto this morning.

 

Alk is at 16.8 which is the max measurable level on the Hanna checker.

 

The pom pom crabs and sexy shrimp look dead - I think all the inverts are probably gone.

 

I only had about 1/2 gallon of water made up so I changed what I could and added some vinegar to bring the Ph down a bit. Then I moved all the frags and most of the rocks to the 10g tank and the frag tank to see if anything can be saved.

 

I'll post later tonight when I get home and see what's left, but right now it looks like I'll have to do a complete reset in this tank even if anything survives

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[holy carp]

Holy EFF!!! this is terrible. I can't believe you did this just to have an excuse to rescape the tank!!!

 

Seriously, though, this is terrible news, and I'm sorry to hear it. I hope you can save most of it. That makes me scared of using the Apex's manual ON. I think it will override emergency programming. Were you set up with those BRS pumps? Maybe in the future you could program 1 of your feed setting to manual dose X ml for making adjustments, and then it will go back to its regular schedule.

 

 

Fingers crossed.

[Droy008]

Sorry Teeny,

I love this tank. Hopefully everything make a successful recovery, if you've showed us anything, it's that you can work miracles.

[jedimasterben]

What relay number was the doser connected to? I think only 4/8 or something like that can be used with low wattage devices like dosing pumps. Sucks

[teenyreef]

Thanks everyone!

Holy EFF!!! this is terrible. I can't believe you did this just to have an excuse to rescape the tank!!!

 

Seriously, though, this is terrible news, and I'm sorry to hear it. I hope you can save most of it. That makes me scared of using the Apex's manual ON. I think it will override emergency programming. Were you set up with those BRS pumps? Maybe in the future you could program 1 of your feed setting to manual dose X ml for making adjustments, and then it will go back to its regular schedule.

 

 

Fingers crossed.

You're completely right about manual mode. The really embarrassing part about this is I did the same thing last month in the 10g tank, so I was super careful this time.

 

I think the problem might have been that the change back from manual on to automatic just didn't make it from my cell phone through Fusion to the controller. I didn't refresh the browser after hitting the button so I didn't really completely confirm the change took.

 

Using feed mode is a great idea! Or just manually dose with a pipette or measuring cup

What relay number was the doser connected to? I think only 4/8 or something like that can be used with low wattage devices like dosing pumps. Sucks

I'll check on it but in this case the controller was still set to manual on, so it wasn't a relay problem.

[jedimasterben]

I'll check on it but in this case the controller was still set to manual on, so it wasn't a relay problem.

It's the relay itself that has the issue, not the Apex software, even manually flipping the relay on/off without the proper load will still lead to it staying on

[Tamberav]

Oh my gosh! I am so sorry ((

[ReefWeeds]

OH NO! TEENY! I'm so sorry

[reefernanoman]

As I was going to work this morning I noticed a ton of precipitation in the tank. I manually dosed some Alk last night and the doser got stuck on. I know I turned it off but somehow it didn't take and the Apex was set to on instead of auto this morning.

 

Alk is at 16.8 which is the max measurable level on the Hanna checker.

 

The pom pom crabs and sexy shrimp look dead - I think all the inverts are probably gone.

 

I only had about 1/2 gallon of water made up so I changed what I could and added some vinegar to bring the Ph down a bit. Then I moved all the frags and most of the rocks to the 10g tank and the frag tank to see if anything can be saved.

 

I'll post later tonight when I get home and see what's left, but right now it looks like I'll have to do a complete reset in this tank even if anything survives

Oh no teeny! that sucks! we were just talking about how delicate it is to keep our little pieces of the ocean. So the doser was being controlled by APex and it still failed somehow?

[jimmyree]

Do we gotta tape your fingers to your toes toe keep you away from that manual Apex switch? Hope you can save some stuff!

[teenyreef]

Thanks all the well wishes! Unfortunately it looks like an almost complete loss. All the fish, as well as the sexy shrimp, pom pom crabs, snails, and other inverts are dead. Anything sps is completely gone.

 

A few of the zoas, rics, and other softies like acans and dendros are still alive so maybe they'll pull through.

 

I'm going to get everything off of the rocks and onto frag plugs tonight so I can get the rocks out of the tanks. There's so much dead stuff on the rocks that the other tanks are being affected already. I think I'll just have to bleach the rocks before they can be used again.

 

Of course the worst part is this was caused by my own carelessness, and it wasn't even the first time I've made this mistake

 

Honestly the only reason I'm posting about this is so that someone else can learn from my embarrassing disaster.

 

But to end on a more positive note, since I'm going to have to break this tank down and completely clean it up, I'm starting to think about upgrade options

[Nano sapiens]

That is a shame. Looks like at least some things might pull through, so perhaps not a total loss.

 

Good to see that you are thinking positively about moving forward.

[Justind823]

aw man...sucks

 

I guess you don't have to worry about those dinos though!

[teenyreef]

aw man...sucks

 

I guess you don't have to worry about those dinos though!

LOL I was just thinking that!

That is a shame. Looks like at least some things might pull through, so perhaps not a total loss.

 

 

Good to see that you are thinking positively about moving forward.

Yes, I'm especially glad to see the dendros are still alive so far. That one little dendro was one of the very first corals I got.

 

I have to admit I'm already thinking about my next ASD order

Do we gotta tape your fingers to your toes toe keep you away from that manual Apex switch? Hope you can save some stuff!

I like how you put this! It's pretty much exactly what I was thinking to myself

[jimmyree]

LOL I was just thinking that!

 

Yes, I'm especially glad to see the dendros are still alive so far. That one little dendro was one of the very first corals I got.

 

I have to admit I'm already thinking about my next ASD order

I like how you put this! It's pretty much exactly what I was thinking to myself

Joking aside this breaks my heart, you grow beautiful tanks. Hoping the recovery (or possible upgrade) goes smoothly! Will be watching for sure.

[jedimasterben]

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

 

 

[teenyreef]

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

 

 

Very appropriate! I'm afraid it's the end of the line for this tank. Everything is taken down and the tank is rinsed out. The rocks and the tank are soaking overnight in bleach and I'll switch over to vinegar tomorrow to get everything nice and clean again.

 

I fragged off all I could from the rocks. There are still two rocks that have many zoas and acans still on them, and I didn't want to chop up those rocks yet, so they are still in the 10g tank for now. I did a big water change in both the 10g tank and the 4g tank after doing all the frags and disposing of all the dead corals.

 

There are still a few corals that I kept just in case they make it, but it now looks like nearly all the softies are melting including the dendros, acans, duncans, and hammer.

 

None of the zoas have outright melted so I'm hoping at least some of them will pull through. And the pipe organ coral seems to be OK, it's already opening back up.

 

Surprisingly, the blue plating sponge shows no sign of damage or stress whatsoever. Finally, some of the rics look like they may be OK, too. So it's not a complete loss...

 

I'm trying to keep a balance between keeping damaged corals in the tanks to recover, and pulling them out before they cause a crash in one of the other tanks. So far the corals in the 10g are a little pissed but not too bad, and the acros haven't shown any signs of stress. Of course with acros that could change in a couple hours

 

Here's the last FTS I took after removing all the rocks that had any coral on them

 

2016-05-20 Cadlights 4g FTS - Last One by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

This rock has the most corals that are still alive:

 

20160519_180128.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

The birdsnest frag in the foreground looked like it might be OK. But when I basted it, all the skin blew off

 

Here are the new frags. The bleached SPS frags are there because it looked like there might be a few tiny polyps left, but I expect they'll be gone tomorrow.

 

20160519_222025.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

Hopefully I can post a few pictures of recovering corals tomorrow night!

[ReefWeeds]

Thanks all the well wishes! Unfortunately it looks like an almost complete loss. All the fish, as well as the sexy shrimp, pom pom crabs, snails, and other inverts are dead. Anything sps is completely gone.

 

A few of the zoas, rics, and other softies like acans and dendros are still alive so maybe they'll pull through.

 

I'm going to get everything off of the rocks and onto frag plugs tonight so I can get the rocks out of the tanks. There's so much dead stuff on the rocks that the other tanks are being affected already. I think I'll just have to bleach the rocks before they can be used again.

 

Of course the worst part is this was caused by my own carelessness, and it wasn't even the first time I've made this mistake

 

Honestly the only reason I'm posting about this is so that someone else can learn from my embarrassing disaster.

 

But to end on a more positive note, since I'm going to have to break this tank down and completely clean it up, I'm starting to think about upgrade options

 

I'm so sorry, Teeny don't be so hard on yourself.

 

How is this affecting the other tanks? The ammonia?

 

but the upgrade options I like.

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

 

 

I know. That's how I felt. I got a bit choked up

[teenyreef]

 

I'm so sorry, Teeny don't be so hard on yourself.

 

How is this affecting the other tanks? The ammonia?

 

but the upgrade options I like.

Thanks, Stella!

 

Yeah, I'm concerned about ammonia from the die off in the other tanks. Alk also went up after putting the alk-encrusted rocks in there, but not too bad. I put some Prime in both tanks just in case the ammonia was building up, and I'm going to do another 50% water change tomorrow.

 

So I did one of those deals with the devil with my wife, which involved getting a new bed (first) and a new tank (second).

 

I'm thinking about moving the 10g tank to my desk where the 4g tank was, and putting in either an IM 25 Lagoon, or an IM 40 Fusion, where the 10g is now. I'm leaning towards the 40 just to have more gallons for fish and stability, although I really like the look of the shallow lagoon tank.

 

I'll probably use the 4g Cadlights as the frag tank instead of the 4g Evolve, because I can run a skimmer in the Cadlights (there's no place for a skimmer in the Evolve). But I'd like to get rid of the little frag tank, it's a lot of extra work for a very small frag tank. I'm hoping with a 40g tank I'll have a little more room for frag racks and I won't need a separate frag tank.

 

Who am I kidding, though...a coral hoarder like me will never clear out enough frags to get rid of the frag tank

[ReefWeeds]

Thanks, Stella!

 

Yeah, I'm concerned about ammonia from the die off in the other tanks. Alk also went up after putting the alk-encrusted rocks in there, but not too bad. I put some Prime in both tanks just in case the ammonia was building up, and I'm going to do another 50% water change tomorrow.

 

So I did one of those deals with the devil with my wife, which involved getting a new bed (first) and a new tank (second).

 

I'm thinking about moving the 10g tank to my desk where the 4g tank was, and putting in either an IM 25 Lagoon, or an IM 40 Fusion, where the 10g is now. I'm leaning towards the 40 just to have more gallons for fish and stability, although I really like the look of the shallow lagoon tank.

 

I'll probably use the 4g Cadlights as the frag tank instead of the 4g Evolve, because I can run a skimmer in the Cadlights (there's no place for a skimmer in the Evolve). But I'd like to get rid of the little frag tank, it's a lot of extra work for a very small frag tank. I'm hoping with a 40g tank I'll have a little more room for frag racks and I won't need a separate frag tank.

 

Who am I kidding, though...a coral hoarder like me will never clear out enough frags to get rid of the frag tank

 

OOOOORRRRRR you can use either your frag tank OR the Cadlights as a rock flower only tank No dosing, feed once or twice a week with some meaty pieces!

And add some macros! I have some with your name on them

[DaveFason]

Sad, sad day.

 

The 25G Lagoon is an amazing tank with fun dimensions. If you want to go a different route I can not say better things about the Reefer series. Maybe a Reefer Nano. Pitch it to the wife and say how the equipment will be hidden, looks great and will impress your NR cult.

[ReefWeeds]

Sad, sad day.

 

The 25G Lagoon is an amazing tank with fun dimensions. If you want to go a different route I can not say better things about the Reefer series. Maybe a Reefer Nano. Pitch it to the wife and say how the equipment will be hidden, looks great and will impress your NR cult.

 

OOO! Sumped tank! Teeny, yes. I think the Reefer would be PERFECT! More water volume for more fish

[RIP Sebastian]

Thanks all the well wishes! Unfortunately it looks like an almost complete loss. All the fish, as well as the sexy shrimp, pom pom crabs, snails, and other inverts are dead. Anything sps is completely gone.

 

A few of the zoas, rics, and other softies like acans and dendros are still alive so maybe they'll pull through.

 

I'm going to get everything off of the rocks and onto frag plugs tonight so I can get the rocks out of the tanks. There's so much dead stuff on the rocks that the other tanks are being affected already. I think I'll just have to bleach the rocks before they can be used again.

 

Of course the worst part is this was caused by my own carelessness, and it wasn't even the first time I've made this mistake

 

Honestly the only reason I'm posting about this is so that someone else can learn from my embarrassing disaster.

 

But to end on a more positive note, since I'm going to have to break this tank down and completely clean it up, I'm starting to think about upgrade options

I'm so sorry. It was so pretty. It will be missed by many. At least it wasn't in vain- you learned from it! If you don't want the tank, I'll take it, XD.

 

NIck

[jimmyree]

Bed in a box, super comfy and not bad for the "bow-chika-wow". If you put your new tank next to your new bed you could watch your tank and get your freak on at the same time.

 

Or you could go full-retro-70's-tacky and get a huge waterbed with LED running boards and a reef tank headboard!

[holy carp]

Teeny, is this the tank where your avatar GBG lived?

 

On the bright side, I think I smell another TOTM in the making...