Don't do what I just did....

[Clown79]

At 3:15am I was inspecting my tank via flashlight and doing an ammonia test because

 

I forgot to plug my pump in after feeding! 

 

I mean HOURS of no circulation in the tank. Close to 6 hrs. 

 

I can't believe I did that. I've never done that before.

 

Shock, worry...feeling bad.

 

Everything looks ok. Fish is still alive, rfa's seem to be fine, all else appears normal besides the temp dropping to 74.

 

No ammonia.

 

Now to try to sleep while I sit and worry. 

 

Hoping I lose nothing, plan a waterchange to be safe

 

 

Note to self...set a timer!

[Snow_Phoenix]

4 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

At 3:15am I was inspecting my tank via flashlight and doing an ammonia test because

 

I forgot to plug my pump in after feeding! 

 

I mean HOURS of no circulation in the tank. Close to 6 hrs. 

 

I can't believe I did that. I've never done that before.

 

Shock, worry...feeling bad.

 

Everything looks ok. Fish is still alive, rfa's seem to be fine, all else appears normal besides the temp dropping to 74.

 

No ammonia.

 

Now to try to sleep while I sit and worry. 

 

Hoping I lose nothing, plan a waterchange to be safe

 

 

Note to self...set a timer!

I made this same mistake twice with my 10G. I forgot to turn the pumps back on and in the second instance, there was zero circulation for 24 hours. Both my fish survived and everything was fine. I think older tanks are more resilient than we give them credit for. 

 

Don't worry. Everything should be fine. 😊

[Clown79]

2 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I made this same mistake twice with my 10G. I forgot to turn the pumps back on and in the second instance, there was zero circulation for 24 hours. Both my fish survived and everything was fine. I think older tanks are more resilient than we give them credit for. 

 

Don't worry. Everything should be fine. 😊

Thank you so much. It makes me feel better knowing I am not the only 1 who's done this as well as knowing there is a good chance of survival.

 

 

I'll tell you, that moment I realized the pump had been off...😮😔🤪

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

Thank you so much. It makes me feel better knowing I am not the only 1 who's done this as well as knowing there is a good chance of survival.

 

 

I'll tell you, that moment I realized the pump had been off...😮😔🤪

I know. I felt horrible too - and just imagine, it happened *twice! We all make mistakes in this hobby. Sometimes those mistakes are costly, but I think you're good. :) 

[Tamberav]

I have done this several times for much longer without anything noticing. 

 

Longest was probably 18 hours from a snow storm. Lost one cardinal and nothing else but I suspect that is because the tank dropped into the 60s and not the flow.

 

I also unplugged my QT tank that has live rock in it for weeks and the worms and starfish didn't even die. No cycle either. I plugged it back in and it was like it never happened.  Obviously can't do weeks for coral or fish but interesting result of no measurable change to the lesser life or bacteria. 

[SeaFurn]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

 

I'll tell you, that moment I realized the pump had been off...😮😔🤪

I would have been the exact same x3!

Like the others say - i think you’ll be fine. One time I turned off my pumps when my rfas were spawning and fell asleep! Turned them back on 6 hours later. Every thing was fine but I F R E A K E D !!!

[jbb]

My Apex has saved me from this exact situation so many times. Once I had left to go out of town for work without turning it back on. I got a text that the temp had dropped and that's when I remembered. 

 

 

[seabass]

During a power outage, I'm not very concerned about my tank for the first few hours; then I'll break out the battery air pumps (and generator if absolutely necessary).

 

However, like you, I've forgotten to turn my pumps back on before.  Recently, I was doing something on my 100 gallon tank.  Being an in-wall tank, I do most things looking top down, so I turn off the pumps so I can see clearly.  I must have gotten distracted, because the next day I noticed my pumps weren't running; so no circulation/aeration or heat (since the heater is in the sump) for nearly 20 hours.

 

The skimmer and heater were running in the sump, so warm aerated water was immediately circulated when I turned the pumps back on.  Like yours, afterwards, my tank showed no signs of anything wrong.  I suspect that mature, lightly stocked tanks can withstand longer power outages than most people expect.

[ReefGoat]

I know a lot of nano reefers like the low tech approach to reefing. But situations like these are why I absolutely love my apex. I push one button to feed or do maintenance and the entire system automatically powers back on based upon the time limit I set it for. With my forgetful nature, I'm sure my Apex has paid for itself 10 times over without me even knowing it. I hope your tank pulls through. I'm sure everything will be fine. Good luck

[jservedio]

4 hours ago, Clown79 said:

At 3:15am I was inspecting my tank via flashlight and doing an ammonia test because

 

I forgot to plug my pump in after feeding! 

 

I mean HOURS of no circulation in the tank. Close to 6 hrs. 

 

I can't believe I did that. I've never done that before.

 

Shock, worry...feeling bad.

 

Everything looks ok. Fish is still alive, rfa's seem to be fine, all else appears normal besides the temp dropping to 74.

 

No ammonia.

 

Now to try to sleep while I sit and worry. 

 

Hoping I lose nothing, plan a waterchange to be safe

 

 

Note to self...set a timer!

 

I've done this dozens of times for 8-12 hours and it never caused an issue. I've done it so many times that I turn my sump light on every time I flip the switch so that if I forget to turn it back on, in a few hours when the sun goes down I'll see the light spilling out from under the stand.

 

When I moved into my new house, I found out the outlet I had everything plugged into was hooked up to a switch on the wall, which I instinctively flipped off as I left the room. The next day when I came downstairs, nothing was on - the tank was also 71 degrees. Everything survived and no ammonia.

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

I just had my inkbird controller shit out on me. About 3 days with a temp the fluctuated between 65-75. Didn't even no anything was wrong untill the high temp alarm sounded. The inkbird showed 87 and the water was ice cold.Tank went on like nothing happened. They really are hardy animals if you think about it. I was freaking out and everything ended up being fine. A new heater and inkbird and all is well.

[banasophia]

Yeah I feed my tanks for a long time each night because of my NPS corals and my mandarin. Sometimes I fall asleep on the couch while I’m still feeding and don’t turn it back on until I wake up in the middle of the night to head into bed... haven’t had any problems from this so far. 

[flypenfly]

Amazon Alexa routine, dead simple.

[Clown79]

Omg, thank you everyone for all the stories.

 

I feel so much better.

 

I felt like such an idiot last night and guilty too

 

[SoFit]

i honestly hate that feeling, im glad to hear the tank is okay though 🙂

[Christopher Marks]

 

We've all been there! On my last water change I did the opposite and forgot to unplug my heater. It ran dry for a good 10 minutes and got insanely hot before I realized what I did, fortunately it didn't shatter. I'm thinking that I should add some kind of visual reminder to myself, a big sticker on my water change bucket, inside the gear cabinet door, or something like that.

[jbb]

1 hour ago, flypenfly said:

Amazon Alexa routine, dead simple.

of all the posts in this thread, @Sancho only liked this one. 

 

 

completely unbiased opinion Im sure.  maybe they will give you a better car now. 

 

 

 

 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

9 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

 

We've all been there! On my last water change I did the opposite and forgot to unplug my heater. It ran dry for a good 10 minutes and got insanely hot before I realized what I did, fortunately it didn't shatter. I'm thinking that I should add some kind of visual reminder to myself, a big sticker on my water change bucket, inside the gear cabinet door, or something like that.

I actually cooked my cichlid tank heater like that. I went to do something and unplugged the heater and just pulled it out of the water...instant loud pop. Just shook my head cause I was like yup, I just did that. That's a 300 watt heater too lol

[MrObscura]

I think you'll be fine. I think most tanks would be fine with no power for some time(8-12 hours?) before you have to worry, as long as temps don't get out of hand and it's otherwise well oxygenated. 

[Tamberav]

Oh ya forgot..when I had a Mandy tank I left my pumps off for hours on purpose...every day... 👍

 

 

[Naekuh]

my wave maker has a feeding option on it incase i forget to do stuff like this....

And knowing how badly i do tend to forget stuff, i would of probably done the same thing.  

[flypenfly]

1 hour ago, jbb_00 said:

of all the posts in this thread, @Sancho only liked this one. 

 

 

completely unbiased opinion Im sure.  maybe they will give you a better car now. 

 

 

 

 

Huh?

[Tuan’s Reef]

I upgraded my return pump just so this does not happen! Got tHe mighty jet dc pump with feed mode.  I usually leave it on still even when feeding. 

[Sancho]

2 hours ago, jbb_00 said:

of all the posts in this thread, @Sancho only liked this one. 

 

 

completely unbiased opinion Im sure.  maybe they will give you a better car now. 

 

 

 

 

I love that you can now use Alexa to set timers for apex. I’ve left my pumps off over night serveral times. Beer drinking, tank maintenance and feeding doesn’t always work well. 🤷‍♂️ So it doesn’t happen anymore with me since Alexa came into my life..if you don’t have an apex you can still get a smart power strip and use the app to set timers for specific outlets. 

13 minutes ago, flypenfly said:

Huh?

I may or may not be employed by amazon 

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

 

We've all been there! On my last water change I did the opposite and forgot to unplug my heater. It ran dry for a good 10 minutes and got insanely hot before I realized what I did, fortunately it didn't shatter. I'm thinking that I should add some kind of visual reminder to myself, a big sticker on my water change bucket, inside the gear cabinet door, or something like that.

I did the same thing once, except my heater started smoking. It was definitely a wtf moment, then I remembered my heater was still on. Lol.

 

I have a visual marker and set system now too, so I don't do that again.