And...CRASH! After 7years. :-( Solana 34

[Playapixie]

I’m back....and recovering from my 2nd crash in 7 years.

 

In May of 2011 I started a little Solana 34 mixed reef tank.  What a journey it’s been.  It’s been amazing to watch this ecosystem evolve over the years, and I’ve learned a lot in that time period.  I’ve also gone through phases of extreme interest and time investment (where I was able to keep SPS alive and at one point also had a whole second frag tank going for cultivating and fragging, as well as babysitting another nano tank for a friend for two years,) to periods of no time and reduced interst, leading to shutting down the frag tank, returning the friend’s tank, and letting my own tank suffer.  But several of the tank inhabitants have been with me since month one, and it’s always been a pretty and fascinating centerpiece in our home.

 

Unfortunately I recently suffered my 2nd crash in that time period, and I’m now back to as close to bare rock as I’ve been since 2011.  When I left for vacation for 3 weeks in February, my ATO died and my heater thermostat went haywire.  Roomie didn’t recognize any problems until the tank had massive bubbles spewing into the display and tons of corals melting.  When I cam home, the salinity was sky high, and the temp was too.  My refugium light was also dead, but I’m not actually sure when that happened.  On top of it, I’d become lazy with maintenance so I honestly didn’t leave it in the best condition.

 

So....what was once a thriving well-established reef dropped down to:

Well...

The fish that were present at the time lived (an ocelearis and a yellow watchman goby.)

The Randall’s shrimp lived.

1 hermit crab lived.

A fighinting conch lived

A few polyps of blasto lived.

I think a few polyps of a really pretty clove polyp are going to live.

All of the mini-maxi anemones lived  (those things are bulletproof, beautiful, and I love them!)

A large leather softie (my very first coral) seems like it’s going to bounce back

A whole lot of cyano and algae owned everything

 

What died?

All the Sexy shrimp 

all the snails

Emerald crab

pom pom crab

tuxedo urchin 

xenia

Acans

all the zoas & plays

all but one hermit crab

Frogspawn

hammer

all the chaeto macroalge in the refugium

 

What recovery looks like:

Two treatments with chemiclean for cyano, followed by four 30% water changes within a week, with aggressive siphoning of detritus from the bottom, sump, and rocks

Removal of remaining decaying coral tisuse from a few rocks

Complete disassembly and cleaning of all the pumps, filters, and returns

Changing carbon every few days 

Ordered a new skimmer (Tunze 9001) to replace the stock solana skimmer that has become insanely noisy

Replaced the heater

New ATO (Tunze nano)

New CheatoMax Refugim light to replace the dead JBJ nano refugium light

 

Restocked with clean-up crew: 15 astrea snails, 5 nassarius snails, 5 cerith snails, 5 hermits, one Mexican turbo snail (which i’ll Probably give away once the tank is cleaned up.) They’re all doing great.

All parameters are now totally normal, with super low nitrate (FWIW I never had detectable ammonia, and weirdly nitrate never spiked either, I think because the algae in the main tank was using it all.)

Have started restocking with some ricordea, flower anemones, some pulsing Xenia, trumpet/candy canes, and a small hammer.  The new corals see to be adapting just fine.

Added 3 sexy shrimp; haven’t seen more than 2 at once since then but they seem fine

Added a scarlet cleaner shrimp and an emerald crab.  They seem fine.

 

All seems like it’s on its way back to Health.  And it’s only cost me oh, some 60 hours of labor in the last few weeks,  about $300 in updated equipment, and I’m already another $300 in on corals and inverts.  And will be shelling out several (several several?) hundred more over the next couple of months while restocking.  God this is an expensive hobby. Good thing I make more than I did when I started.

 

The good news: the bane of my existence, and the one thing I seriously regret ever introducing to my tank, blue death plays, are GONE.  Or at least please, god, let them be gone.  I hated those stupid blue polyps with every drop of hatred in my body.  They took over everything, and I am 95% certain that they made me INCREDIBLY sick with Palytoxin poisoning twice. So if they are really eradicated, I will actually consider this crash a blessing.  I am super reluctant to ever put zoas in my tank again (even though I think, after a lot of research, it was probably only those that were poisoning me.)

 

Plans:

Well now that I’m down to rock in most of the tank, I get to kind of start over, but with 7 years of knowledge.  My goals: beautiful aquascaping with hearty corals and anemones that can survive a minimalistic reefkeeping approach.  I’m planning to focus on rock flower anemones & mini maxis in two separate anemone gardensI love their colors and movement, and appreciate their heartiness.  Probably a mix of some heartier LPS and a few softies.  I’m undecided on zoas...I love them...but they scare me. I will definitely avoid anything that’s more clearly a paly.  I’m definitely done with SPS.

 

Additional livestock plans: royal gramma, a tailspot blenny, maybe a clown goby, maybe a neon goby.  More sexy shrimp. Pom Pom crab. Maybe another tuxedo urchin (though maybe not, because they chomp a lot of coralline algae, or at least not until the tank has fully recovered and abundant in it.)

 

I have to say that it’s kind of exciting to get to start from scratch...but with an already cool aquascape, cycled & established tank, and a lot more knowledge.

 

Onward...

[malacoda]

6 hours ago, Playapixie said:

I have to say that it’s kind of exciting to get to start from scratch...but with an already cool aquascape, cycled & established tank, and a lot more knowledge.

 

Onward...

Great way to look at it!  A clean slate and the opportunity for change can be rejuvenating and exciting.

[tdannhauser30]

lol whats a reef without a little bit of danger, keep the palys!!!  happy to hear your givin her another go!

[Clown79]

Sounds like you got a good handle on the crash.

You're doing all you can and it sounds great.

 

I agree with you. I won't do paly's again either. Not only can they take over but why have the risk if it can be avoided.

 

I never have much luck with zoas myself, they just don't like my 25g.

 

I love lps. I have a few sps but they are so finicky (the easy kind).

 

It's also hard pleasing all the corals. If I could do it all over again, I'd do lps and rics only. 

 

I think your plan sounds good

[burtbollinger]

I hate to be the one to break it to you but those palys will come back.  Worse pest I ever dealt with....trash palys.

[--chris--]

Good luck in the next seven years!!! You and I have both recovered from a 2018 crash and recovery lol. 

[Playapixie]

2 hours ago, burtbollinger said:

I hate to be the one to break it to you but those palys will come back.  Worse pest I ever dealt with....trash palys.

Ugh, don’t i know it.  I noticed 3 or 4 tiny buds on the rock where they were holding their last stand.  Fortunately I haven’t repopulated that area yet (for just this reason) and I smothered the entire region with epoxy putty (which I’ll take off in a week or two.) Plan is to leave the areas they were on bare for a while and keep attacking any hints of returns and keep attacking them like this.  I successfullly took out a few areas like this in the past.  This crash went to bare rock everywhere (except the hard-core survivors.  A girl can dream, right???

[Playapixie]

1 hour ago, --chris-- said:

Good luck in the next seven years!!! You and I have both recovered from a 2018 crash and recovery lol. 

Thanks!  Was just in my local aquarium shop today commiserating with someone else who is just recovering from a crash...his was quite a bit more costly than mine (his tank’s 130 gallons bigger than mine I think.). Ouch.

I’m not sure I have the temperament to start over another time if I crash again.  Hopefully I’ve learned my lessons though...*sigh*

Meanwhile, I’ve got all of my parameters well in check now, replaced several pieces of vital equipment, and have been restocking relatively fast with everything doing great so far.  :-) The advantage to a 7-year old system; it’s inherently stable at this point.  Fingers crossed.

[Playapixie]

3 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Sounds like you got a good handle on the crash.

You're doing all you can and it sounds great.

 

I agree with you. I won't do paly's again either. Not only can they take over but why have the risk if it can be avoided.

 

I never have much luck with zoas myself, they just don't like my 25g.

 

I love lps. I have a few sps but they are so finicky (the easy kind).

 

It's also hard pleasing all the corals. If I could do it all over again, I'd do lps and rics only. 

 

I think your plan sounds good

Well I broke down an bought a fist sized rock with some really nice, small zoas.  Can’t help it, I love them.  Going to keep them contained to that one rock though.  

[ajmckay]

ATO died, heater failed, and (possibly) fuge light broke all in the same few week span?!?  That's quite the bad streak. 

 

I agree with you and the others - it's an opportunity to start with a clean slate.  May not even be a bad idea to introduce some new rock or take out some rock to further re-ignite your interests in the hobby. 

 

Anyways it sounds like you've gotten things under control.  Do you happen to have and pics from before the crash and after?

Good luck!

 

[--chris--]

What are you planning for temp control?

[ajmckay]

11 hours ago, --chris-- said:

What are you planning for temp control?

Actually that's a good point.  Since you last looked the cost of heater controllers has dropped significantly.  A lot of people here, myself included, run the basic Inkbird controller from Amazon.  It's like $35 and takes the crappy heater thermostat out of the equation and replaces it with a quality digital probe that actually beeps if it fails.  Well worth the investment - I won't run a tank without one now.

[Playapixie]

16 hours ago, ajmckay said:

Do you happen to have and pics from before the crash and after?

Ooooh, I kind of wish...but no way was I going to take a photo when it was looking like land of decay and demise!  I think the best pics I have it are actually several years old.  Will update my original build thread in a few days when I get some more current pics.  :-)

[Playapixie]

4 minutes ago, ajmckay said:

11 hours ago, --chris-- said:

What are you planning for temp control?

Actually that's a good point.  Since you last looked the cost of heater controllers has dropped significantly.  A lot of people here, myself included, run the basic Inkbird controller from Amazon.  It's like $35 and takes the crappy heater thermostat out of the equation and replaces it with a quality digital probe that actually beeps if it fails.  Well worth the investment - I won't run a tank without one now.

That’s a great point.  I’ll order one.  I need a new heater too I’m afraid; it’s holding steady at 77.5 with a spare heater I had on hand, but it’s a pre-set one which is in the 3rd chamber of my sump.  It’s only a 75 watt heater and I’m not sure if it’ll keep up if the house gets cold.  I like the idea of a powerful enough heater but with a controller...thanks for the suggestion.  

[--chris--]

17 hours ago, ajmckay said:

Actually that's a good point.  Since you last looked the cost of heater controllers has dropped significantly.  A lot of people here, myself included, run the basic Inkbird controller from Amazon.  It's like $35 and takes the crappy heater thermostat out of the equation and replaces it with a quality digital probe that actually beeps if it fails.  Well worth the investment - I won't run a tank without one now.

 

Solid controller, but not without its own problems.

 

17 hours ago, Playapixie said:

That’s a great point.  I’ll order one.  I need a new heater too I’m afraid; it’s holding steady at 77.5 with a spare heater I had on hand, but it’s a pre-set one which is in the 3rd chamber of my sump.  It’s only a 75 watt heater and I’m not sure if it’ll keep up if the house gets cold.  I like the idea of a powerful enough heater but with a controller...thanks for the suggestion.  

I too bought an inkbird to control the heaters better, but I placed too much faith in its ability to accurately do that and (between my blind trust and its failure) that ultimately led to my tank looking terrible and things falling apart....

 

tl:dr

 

I used an inkbird heater controller, it malfunctioned (it did not "fail" like you would expect) and read the tank temp as 10 degree higher than it was (there by not letting the heaters turn on unless the tank dropped 10 degrees...aka 70 F.   So when the tank started looking bad and I checked the heater controller, it reported a good temp of 80 F.  At that point I should have stopped and verified it (my mistake), but I didn't.  Instead I moved on to testing params and doing a big WC (using the inkbird controller to match tank temp & WC temp).  Things went downhill over the next 6 weeks until finally I tested the temp with a cooking thermometer I trust and I figured out the problem.  

 

Many many many people use them without issue.  I can't say DONT buy and use it, but don't blindly trust it like I did.  For the record, I moved on to a RKL w/temp probe for temp control...I need to install and set it up.....but I won't be blindly trusting it.  

[ajmckay]

Well obviously no piece of equipment can be 100% reliable...  Every piece of electronic equipment I own has at one point or another failed to perform as expected.  Circuits wear, they're exposed to varying environments, varying loads, input power quality, etc...

 

Statistically though, I feel that an electronic sensor/relay based controller is much less likely to fail than the mechanical switch prevalent in most hobby heater designs...  Still, it's best to have multiple layers of redundancy where possible.  In the case of a heater controller a simple glass thermometer will do to occasionally verify the controller's calibration.

[Playapixie]

And... the heater controller question lead me down a long dark pathway of learning all about aquarium controllers.  And after a week of compulsive research, I bit the bullet and ordered a Neptune Apex.  And a dosing pump.  We’re going to automate the and alarm the crap out of this little tank this weekend.  Pocketbook says OUCH.  Tech-geek reef girl says “yippee!” Almost makes me wish I had a 60 gallon tank instead of a 34.  :-0

[Playapixie]

Got this little baby purring like a happy kitty post-crash.  Spent a small fortune updating old equipment, adding an Apex controller, and restocking.  Parameters are now spiffy and stable. I’m glad I started out with the “recommended” 1 lb per gallon of live rock.  7 years later, and following a bad crash, this tank is actually super stable.  Hopefully won’t be going through that again.  Can’t wait to see it grow out.  

Of course, having to plan around such a small space has me wishing I could move up to 60 gallons or so...if I ever move, I probably will.

[1891Bro]

On 4/4/2018 at 8:06 AM, --chris-- said:

 

Solid controller, but not without its own problems.

 

I too bought an inkbird to control the heaters better, but I placed too much faith in its ability to accurately do that and (between my blind trust and its failure) that ultimately led to my tank looking terrible and things falling apart....

 

tl:dr

 

I used an inkbird heater controller, it malfunctioned (it did not "fail" like you would expect) and read the tank temp as 10 degree higher than it was (there by not letting the heaters turn on unless the tank dropped 10 degrees...aka 70 F.   So when the tank started looking bad and I checked the heater controller, it reported a good temp of 80 F.  At that point I should have stopped and verified it (my mistake), but I didn't.  Instead I moved on to testing params and doing a big WC (using the inkbird controller to match tank temp & WC temp).  Things went downhill over the next 6 weeks until finally I tested the temp with a cooking thermometer I trust and I figured out the problem.  

 

Many many many people use them without issue.  I can't say DONT buy and use it, but don't blindly trust it like I did.  For the record, I moved on to a RKL w/temp probe for temp control...I need to install and set it up.....but I won't be blindly trusting it.  

I’m kinda blindsided by the fact anyone, ever would trust just a digital readout/controller without having a good ol’ fashioned thermometer in the tank as well. I’m gonna start another thread for this. 

[ajmckay]

3 hours ago, Playapixie said:

Got this little baby purring like a happy kitty post-crash.  Spent a small fortune updating old equipment, adding an Apex controller, and restocking.  Parameters are now spiffy and stable. I’m glad I started out with the “recommended” 1 lb per gallon of live rock.  7 years later, and following a bad crash, this tank is actually super stable.  Hopefully won’t be going through that again.  Can’t wait to see it grow out.  

Of course, having to plan around such a small space has me wishing I could move up to 60 gallons or so...if I ever move, I probably will.

Nice FTS.   Also if you ever move I'll buy your old house lol...   I want to move west pretty bad but I still have some convincing of the family :/