Reef Keeping Horror Story- Picture heavy ;)

[Poseidon's Reef]

Glad to hear you didn't lose anything during this experience mate. And your tank is very clean and beautiful

oh no, sry if that part wasnt clear
i lost $1000's+, all my sps died from the heater malfunction
ssc, red dragon, op, montis, millies, nanas, rare green dragon, plus tons more, many i had grown from tiny frags
i also lots several fish: naso tang, powder blue, midas blenny, and all 5 dispar anthias as well as coral banded shrimp, fire shrimp and 2 skunk shrimp

very disheartening, especially with the naso, i had him since he was 1'' basically, tiniest naso i had ever seen before, in 2 years he grew to 5''+

 

[zesty]

wow dude, that's some hardcore bad luck right there. Are you going to try and fix the rimless bowfront? It's and awesome looking tank, I'm sure it could be fixed and sent to me for final inspection. :wink::tongue: haha! Seriously though, your corals look like nothing ever happened, good job!

 

[hatfielj]

Yikes! What a nightmare! Sorry to hear about this. Glad you made it through it okay though

Either this was just a series of bad luck events or maybe there's something wrong with the stand you're putting the tanks on? If there's even the slightest degree of flexing in the top plane where the tank sits, that's going to cause tremendous stress on a glass tank and its seams. I would get out you're level and really check things thoroughly if you haven't already.

 

[tfp]

way to hang in there and be persistent! if i'd of had that 180g of water on the floor I would have quit for sure!

 

[TriggerThis]

OMG I almost threw up just reading this.
Now I'm freaked out about my tank.
This also just happened to a local guy here. The seam split and he had about an hour to find a new 125

 

[Poseidon's Reef]

Yikes! What a nightmare! Sorry to hear about this. Glad you made it through it okay though

Either this was just a series of bad luck events or maybe there's something wrong with the stand you're putting the tanks on? If there's even the slightest degree of flexing in the top plane where the tank sits, that's going to cause tremendous stress on a glass tank and its seams. I would get out you're level and really check things thoroughly if you haven't already.

yea both tanks were on different stands, and the first was setup for a year

for the 2nd disaster, the 130g bowfront, in hindsight there was a number of funny things about the tank, ie no bracing, floating bottom, etc etc
but still a new in box tank should split regardless lol

 

[KariRN]

Un-fricking-believable! I can't even imagine what you went thru. Thanks for sharing your story. It makes me feel very fortunate and lucky. Your tank is beautiful and you have amazing coral...AMAZING!!!

 

[Eric N]

Yikes. I had a leak once and moved everything I had into a new tank in 2 days. It scared me enough that I keep an extra 75g tank, two large coolers, a dozen buckets, and a written out plan. Plus these are useful for moving.

 

[Lyndya]

I think I would have been on the phone with my State Farm agent asking if my tank is covered! Hmmmm maybe I need to call him and go ahead and get it covered.

 

[Ginu]

Wow, I'm speechless and not sure what to say. I'm sorry for the losses and glad you're back in it again. Amazing.

Id like to suggest water sensors around the tank just in case. Did this to my apex and could not be happier .. Did get a water alarm go off once at 3am which happened to be just moisture built-up in the stand, but well worth the investment.

 

[Frag freak]

Man..glad ya got the rebound but so sorry for your luck!!!

 

[awdjosh]

TBH I was really scared to keep scrolling down after the 150 bowfront pics...I pretty much felt this was going to get even worst seeing as much bad luck that you'd had. haha

For us other reefers, what exact model was that heater that had failed and caused the SPS to die? JW as that is something that scares me very much so, so much time and money go into our hobby/love/investment/money pits that I seriously don't know if I could be sane after something like this happening...I'd just build a in ground pond in my house and that'd never leak LOL.

 

[vlangel]

TBH I was really scared to keep scrolling down after the 150 bowfront pics...I pretty much felt this was going to get even worst seeing as much bad luck that you'd had. haha

For us other reefers, what exact model was that heater that had failed and caused the SPS to die? .

As a person that serviced tanks for a number of years, the number one piece of equipment that castotrophically failed was heaters and different brands were involved. In my own tank I only use mine during the coldest months to prevent to large temp swings from day to night but most of the year I let my lights heat the tank. I do have a chiller so at least I have a safety net.

 

[Mtnbikedan01]

Wow, I'm sorry for all you had to go through. I'm glad to see others have the same passion for the animals in their care as I do. Good luck with your new system, I hope all goes well. By the way your system and livestock look great.

 

[redtop03]

sorry to hear you had such terrible luck with the previous tanks and the livestock losses, the 1st and 2nd tanks were both stunning too, I'm sure I would have thrown in the towel after the 2nd tank failure, glad you decided to stick with it though, you're obviousle good at it, those coral you lost and those you have still are remarkable beautiful, the newest tank looks awesome as well, wishing you the best of luck with this one

 

[tlove]

on 12-12-12, I came home to a totally smoke filled house, the lights and pump and skimmer on my 75g had been burning for hrs, 2 months later, I move back in, first thing I put in is a 180g bowfront, I pray I don't have another story like this to tell,

 

[Poseidon's Reef]

thanks for all the comments guys!
to the guy who said get a couple of water sensors i give a big + 1, i dont have a controller ( i did and i hated it) but theres lot of commercially available 10$ water sensors you can buy.

and for all those wondering.... nooo the new tank hasnt leaked yet haha

 

[cdgardner]

Wow that is an amazing story. You have a beautiful tank even though you went through all that heart ache.

 

[Ginu]

thanks for all the comments guys!
to the guy who said get a couple of water sensors i give a big + 1, i dont have a controller ( i did and i hated it) but theres lot of commercially available 10$ water sensors you can buy.

and for all those wondering.... nooo the new tank hasnt leaked yet haha

Which controller have you used? I switched over to the apex from the reefkeeper and love the control and network capability on it...

Saved my rear end a few times to be honest, from water leaks to heaters stuck in the on position.

 

[Poseidon's Reef]

i had the reefkeeper... always issues with it, one dumb software issue to the next, ive heard the apex is much better, but i dont mind just standard old timers...
admitedly it would be handy to have a temp controller at least, but those are available for 100$+/-