Everyone's worst nightmare and i'm losing my love for marine

[HWEP]

Hi everyone, i think i'm just venting, but i need to do it somewhere where people understand how frustrating this hobby can be.

 

 

I have a 30gal mixed reef and a while back set up my old evo 13.5 as i missed the little guy.

 

This saturday just gone, now cycled, i picked up a YWG for the evo whilst out on a day trip out to a further afield LFS. Due to severe traffic, i got home very late (well after 7pm) and walked in to my living room to find my 30 had sprung a big leak and was practically empty. All fish in huge panic and gasping for water, most coral and rock physically dry and some were actually warm from my light and 2/3 nems dead who nuked the water the fish were in. As it was well after LFS closing times...that left me one option, everybody alive or trying to be alive goes in the evo or i watch them die, not like i could just plonk a load of new SW in the tank and be good to go. Had it been a few hours earlier, my local lfs would have happily taken everything in and cleared a tank for me, typical isn't it.

 

This meant, in a NEWLY CYCLED tank, i had: 1 coral beauty, 2 ywg, 2 big clowns, 1 nem, many critters including an urchin, 1 algae blenny and a mandarin. You can imagine how stressed i was at the thought of doing this along with the fact i was quite literally splashing around on my soaked carpet. I added some of the still wet rock from my 30 and swapped out some of the newly cured stuff. It's not like i could use old media to help, it was completely dry so all dead.

 

I added ATM colony and fritz ammonia binder but one by one, things did die either from the shock of the 30 or the shock of the evo... or both. I stayed up until 4:30am when i had work at 8am trying to help everybody. I have left my 2 clowns and their one hosting nem, my blenny and some critters including the urchin. I have somehow managed to save MOST of my coral so I know, this is a surprisingly good outcome considering what i did and this morning everyone alive does seem generally ok, although still a little stressed from it all.

I've spoken to my LFS who said i did what's right in the time and thank god i even had that tank up and running, so i also know, that realistically, it was the only option i had but it doesn't help the fact it's just a bit sh*t really. I feel frustrated and upset at the loss of my CB and Mandarin the most and i have to admit i've lost some love for marine keeping. I do everything i can by the book and yet this happens. I check my tank seals every fortnight with a torch, it was sunday morning's job. 

 

Along with having a lone pity party, does anybody have anything at all, no matter the cost, that may help with the shock of it all or help my little evo? I'll keep on with Colony and amm binder as it's not good having that much livestock that fast. But I fear that if i have a spike that kills off the last of my tank it WILL cause me to pack it all in.

[debbeach13]

I am so sorry you had this happen. I think you did everything you could to try and save the live stock. I know it is frustrating and mostly sad. We try to provide for our critters but life happens. I hope this doesn't really cause you to pack it in. Can the 30 gallon be repaired? Now just stay on top of water changes and replacing filter media. 

[Tamberav]

So sorry that sucks. I think just dosing prime and do water changes is what’s best. A little bit of biospira maybe but also don’t want to overdose and cause a bacterial bloom as that can tank oxygen levels. 
 

 

What brand was the 30?

[Snow_Phoenix]

3 hours ago, HWEP said:

Hi everyone, i think i'm just venting, but i need to do it somewhere where people understand how frustrating this hobby can be.

 

 

I have a 30gal mixed reef and a while back set up my old evo 13.5 as i missed the little guy.

 

This saturday just gone, now cycled, i picked up a YWG for the evo whilst out on a day trip out to a further afield LFS. Due to severe traffic, i got home very late (well after 7pm) and walked in to my living room to find my 30 had sprung a big leak and was practically empty. All fish in huge panic and gasping for water, most coral and rock physically dry and some were actually warm from my light and 2/3 nems dead who nuked the water the fish were in. As it was well after LFS closing times...that left me one option, everybody alive or trying to be alive goes in the evo or i watch them die, not like i could just plonk a load of new SW in the tank and be good to go. Had it been a few hours earlier, my local lfs would have happily taken everything in and cleared a tank for me, typical isn't it.

 

This meant, in a NEWLY CYCLED tank, i had: 1 coral beauty, 2 ywg, 2 big clowns, 1 nem, many critters including an urchin, 1 algae blenny and a mandarin. You can imagine how stressed i was at the thought of doing this along with the fact i was quite literally splashing around on my soaked carpet. I added some of the still wet rock from my 30 and swapped out some of the newly cured stuff. It's not like i could use old media to help, it was completely dry so all dead.

 

I added ATM colony and fritz ammonia binder but one by one, things did die either from the shock of the 30 or the shock of the evo... or both. I stayed up until 4:30am when i had work at 8am trying to help everybody. I have left my 2 clowns and their one hosting nem, my blenny and some critters including the urchin. I have somehow managed to save MOST of my coral so I know, this is a surprisingly good outcome considering what i did and this morning everyone alive does seem generally ok, although still a little stressed from it all.

I've spoken to my LFS who said i did what's right in the time and thank god i even had that tank up and running, so i also know, that realistically, it was the only option i had but it doesn't help the fact it's just a bit sh*t really. I feel frustrated and upset at the loss of my CB and Mandarin the most and i have to admit i've lost some love for marine keeping. I do everything i can by the book and yet this happens. I check my tank seals every fortnight with a torch, it was sunday morning's job. 

 

Along with having a lone pity party, does anybody have anything at all, no matter the cost, that may help with the shock of it all or help my little evo? I'll keep on with Colony and amm binder as it's not good having that much livestock that fast. But I fear that if i have a spike that kills off the last of my tank it WILL cause me to pack it all in.

I'm very sorry to hear about all of this - especially the losses. I've actually gone through the same thing (tank cracked, fish everywhere) *several times in both FW & SW fishkeeping. 

The shock and horror took a very long time to fade in those instances. You did the right thing transferring all the survivors into your evo. Even though the new tank is *new and the bioload is way overstocked, you still gave your animals a fighting chance, and sometimes that's all you could do in the moment. Do you by any chance have any large plastic storage bins at home?

 

I now keep a few of them as back up 'QT bins', but the bins can also double as a temporary 'tank' of sorts until you can get the animals transferred to your LFS for boarding, or set up a new tank (you'll need to keep testing the water in the bins, and stay on top of WCs - maybe even perform daily WCs). If you don't have a bin, then it might be something worth considering to acquire in the future - just in case.

Part and parcel of the hobby is trying to stay prepared for worst case scenarios, but life often has a nasty way of throwing really hard curveballs when you least expect it. Accidents and mistakes will happen, regardless of how good/bad you are at reefing/fishkeeping. Please don't blame yourself over this though. 😞 

Especially over the deaths of the CB & mandarin. Those will be hard to let go, but hang in there - you still got this! And I'm pretty sure there are many folk on this forum that are willing to help and provide guidance, as well as motivation. Don't give up. 

[DevilDuck]

This hobby has its ups and downs. I think unexpected tank failure is the absolute worse case scenario any fish keeper can go through.

 

Keep it mind this is no fault of your own, it's just the random chaos of the universe. Your quick thinking and action probably saved many of your livestock. Take @Snow_Phoenix 's advice and break them own into plastic bins. It will give you some time to breathe, re-assess and plan your next move. If the tank was new, I'd contact the manufacturer.

[banasophia]

I’m so sorry to hear this happened.
 

If you can get some, I would add a small bottle of BioSpira, I think it’s more reliable than Colony. I haven’t heard of it being a common problem with people getting bacterial blooms with BioSpira, but maybe do some research on this first… I've always been told you can’t really overdose with it and it’s designed to be added along with fish… if it was my tank that’s what I would add in this situation, and I would also have Prime on hand to detoxify ammonia if needed, then test ammonia and nitrite at least daily until I was sure it was stabilized. 
 

I would also add a media bag of matrix media to shore up the biological filtration.

[Clown79]

I'm sorry to hear about your current situation and losses.

 

I can imagine the frustration, anger, and exhaustion you are going through.

 

Its not anything you could have prevented and tank leaks, cracks, etc i think causes many worries amongst a lot of us.

 

I kept a large rubbermaid on hand in my tank supplies just from this very concern.

 

The hobby is a wonderfully fulfilling one but certainly can become not only a pocket drainer but 24/7 work because at any moment, it can go from relaxing/enjoyable to constant struggle. 

 

 

[HWEP]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I've been getting my head down balancing out what i can, I can say i've managed to successfully stop fish/critter deaths and they are all healthy and happy. 

As you'd expect, my coral are not best pleased, some are a bit closed and reduced, but i have faith in them. I have a new AI Prime 16HD and a jecod OW-10 powerhead with standard output nozzles on the evo, i have an ATO with 0 TDS water set up and i'm keeping the tank pretty oxygenated (wavemaker kept a bit too high) for now. 
 

My toadstool has started shedding so that's a good sign. It's only really my Gonioporas that are staying 20% open and refusing to extend and one frogspawn, but that may be a location issue, it's not getting a great flow through it.

 

**QUESTION**

I'm dosing Salifert trace hard as i have ALOT of LPS for that volume of water. I'm dosing as per instructions, but would you up it slightly considering? I feel LPS will consume more than the recommended due to the size of the tank 

x3 torches, one of which has 4 heads.
x3 hammers. one is very large. about 20cm wide 
x2 frogpawn 
x1 medium elegance 

x1 duncan 

x2 galaxia 

x1 candy cane 

X2 Goniopora

 

Thank you again everyone for your unparalleled advice!!!!

[aclman88]

2 hours ago, HWEP said:

Thank you everyone for your replies. I've been getting my head down balancing out what i can, I can say i've managed to successfully stop fish/critter deaths and they are all healthy and happy. 

As you'd expect, my coral are not best pleased, some are a bit closed and reduced, but i have faith in them. I have a new AI Prime 16HD and a jecod OW-10 powerhead with standard output nozzles on the evo, i have an ATO with 0 TDS water set up and i'm keeping the tank pretty oxygenated (wavemaker kept a bit too high) for now. 
 

My toadstool has started shedding so that's a good sign. It's only really my Gonioporas that are staying 20% open and refusing to extend and one frogspawn, but that may be a location issue, it's not getting a great flow through it.

 

**QUESTION**

I'm dosing Salifert trace hard as i have ALOT of LPS for that volume of water. I'm dosing as per instructions, but would you up it slightly considering? I feel LPS will consume more than the recommended due to the size of the tank 

x3 torches, one of which has 4 heads.
x3 hammers. one is very large. about 20cm wide 
x2 frogpawn 
x1 medium elegance 

x1 duncan 

x2 galaxia 

x1 candy cane 

X2 Goniopora

 

Thank you again everyone for your unparalleled advice!!!!

First off, I'm really happy to hear your coral and fish are doing well thanks to your swift and concerted effort!  You should be proud.

 

Are you testing your water for alk and cal consumption?  If you dosing, my opinion is you should also be testing to figure out what the rate of consumption of alk and calcium is.

 

My advice would be, if you aren't testing at least alk and cal, to not dose more than you already are.  An alk spike would not be good, especially if your corals are just recovering from a pretty severe experience like you just had. 

[Clown79]

What are you dosing currently? 2 part?

 

You should only dose to replenish what is consumed and the target number should be what your salt mixes at. 

 

This requires testing your newly mixed Sw.

 

Testing alk every day for a week.

 

If you use a 2 part doser like esv bionic, you should be targeting alk and dose equal parts alk/ca to keep them balanced. 

 

No need to test ca so frequently with using 2 part dosers for this reason.

 

Now since so much has been going on, your corals may not be consuming as much as normal, so once everything is back on track, you'll need to do the week of testing again.